The Refectory in South Norfolk

Unpleasant experience - clear lack of staff training and supervisor responsibility though food is very nice. The mostly teenage staff were clearly trying their best but the supervisor behaved extremely strangely, didn't seem to do much other than chat/deflect responsibility and clearly does not train her staff adequately. Problems started in the queue: the supervisor was chatting with a lady in front of us and didn't respond when we asked for help with food as we had a hungry party of 4. She waved at the display in front of her saying that's all they've got and that they're a bakery with a somewhat rude tone. She then got what looked like a large sausage roll from a heater on the back wall and gave it to the lady in front. We asked her whether we could have some of those too and she walked off saying that there are no more left (there were clearly 5-6 more in the heater), coming back to cover the front of the heater with a row of blue paper towels so we couldn't see the sausage rolls. What a weird thing to do. Next, at the till, we bought cakes but the staff member behind the till (who looked unsure about the environment and was probably new) stacked the cakes onto a single plate and remaining plates underneath, which I'd never seen before in a cafe and indicated that staff training wasn't on the top of the strange supervisor's priority list. Of course, the cakes scattered as soon as the plate was touched and thankfully the one that went on the floor was replaced without cost. Next, we waited for an espresso for 40 minutes (after the other coffees had arrived, we had asked different servers about the missing espresso 3-5 times and every group after us had been served). Other tables were cancelling orders due to slow service so my mum went up and demanded to speak to the supervisor. Initially, the supervisor wasn't keen to speak with her so sent over a teenage employee (most there) to apologise, which is just spineless - the responsibility of customer service and the running of a business falls on a supervisor. If you can't take responsibility, you shouldn't be a manager. Eventually, the supervisor came over and apologised offering cakes and using the party of 15 they had (who arrived a while after us) as an excuse for poor service. Ultimately, the staff other than the supervisor looked like they were doing their best but didn't appear to have been trained in operation of the coffee machines or other aspects of the business. I felt really sorry for the employees. What disgusted me most was that the supervisor sent the young lad over to apologise instead coming over herself. How shameful to send a junior employee to apologise for something that is your responsibility!

The Refectory is a modern building in an iconic setting which doesn't detract from the grandeur of the Cathedral. The atmosphere is busy, but relaxed and a must when visiting the Cathedral Close.

Now I’m not a regular here (maybe once a fortnight) usually staff are friendly and welcoming, sadly not today. No ‘hello’ or acknowledgement at all. Maybe they’ve just had a busy lunch session or been overwhelmed by Paddington visitors, who knows, I guess we all have off days.

Would have spent more but there was no food left. Miserable unhelpful staff who didn't want to be there.

Lovely environment and good service albeit the price point of certain item was in my opinion very expensive. Sausage rolls over £4! Unfortunately this is not London

Excellent artisan bakery with plenty of tables for eating in. Perfect for lunch, coffee and afternoon tea. Background music was very slightly intrusive, but otherwise this is a beautiful refectory in a stunning location. The ancient cathedral library next door is also worth a peek.

The coffee and pastries were amazing. We also bought a loaf of bread which was amongst the best loaves we have ever bought.

Great place but not many options if you have dairy and egg allergy, also cashier was rude and really did not understand concept of allergy in kids, i felt somewhat being on convier belt talking to her

Very good for snacks, cakes, scones, rolls etc. The soup was lovely and nicely presented. Service is quick and staff are always polite and helpful.

Nice place for a bite to eat in lovely surroundings. Pasty was served cold, otherwise great.

really liked the food and the atmosphere, everything was very pleasant, the staff were also very friendly!!

Wasted 10 minutes queuing to order, only to be told you can’t order unless you already have a table for them to serve it to. Either do proper table service or proper self-service, but mixing the two up just makes things unnecessarily complicated and frustrating. And they were quoting a 15 minute wait for drinks. We went elsewhere.

Great location next to the cathedral.

Lovely little coffee stop with the famous Cinamon Bun #Yum

Beautiful place but the music too high.

Food was nice, but a little expensive. Pleasent service, lovely place to eat lunch

Nice seating area. Food expensive to eat in.

Disappointing choice of food for lunch. Only filled rolls, pastries and drinks. For a restaurant of this size one would expect some hot meals.

Gorgeous gorgeous. Perfect for a spot of coffee in the sunshine. The bakery is delightful.

This café occupies an interesting modern architectural space within Norwich Cathedral. The cathedral doesn’t open until 10 o’clock, but the café is open beforehand. Unfortunately, the morning we visited the coffee machine was out of action. So we had tea, which was fine.

It's the best cafe I have ever been to. I have been to many cafes in my time, but this is the best one I have ever been to. The selection of sandwichs were wide, and varied, and I had one of the best brownies of my life. This is hands down a must visit when in Norwich.

A very welcoming place with a good ambience. There is a good selection of food and it is very tasty and enjoyable. The tea, made with loose tea is to be recommended.

It's currently being run by Bread Source so there is a limited choice of food as it is literally all bread based. A few gluten free options which tasted nice and for a change, the same price as all the other cakes - just smaller 🙄

A Bread Source outlet now. Interesting food, good coffee. Usually a massive queue and no free tables. Expensive.

Great Café, great location. Be mindful that it can be very full at times

A sympathetic design with great produce available.

Beautiful place to eat tastey treats.

Lovely food, reasonably priced and great service.

Yet another overpriced coffee / cake shop. Nothing special about the coffee served and therefore nothing to warrant the prices. Over staffed to the point of all looking 'lost' for something to do. Nice surroundings though.

beautiful church The cafe inside lets us spend a good time Hang out with new Japanese friends Very brief reunion My first friend who got to know this city with Mamiko Because of this, I became familiar with Japanese friends. Nice to meet Nahomi Mamiko Michico Let’s have our first meal together in this cafe #Overseas is still friendly with Japan😍 #Norwich #day6 The Refectory The Cloisters

Lovely space in the beautiful Norwich Cathedral.

Came here recently with friends for breakfast once again. Friendly staff, fast service, great tasting food and decent prices for the portions all made for another good experience as expected!

Friendly staff. Good coffee, and they sell artisan bread loaves!

An oasis of calm following a visit to the Cathedral. Amazing food. If you read this, I can't do it justice. Just go and see for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Delicious cakes. Definitely have to try the carrot cake. The rolls are also delicious. If you like fudgy things then the chocolate and hazelnut brownie is 👌. Lovely place to sit and chat and no rush to leave. Great atmosphere aswell.

They have some great filling snack options for lunch which are made locally. The view of the old refectory wall makes a nice atmosphere. It is airy. Bit of a problem if lifts aren't working though.

The introduction of finding a table and a number before you sit down is ludicrous. The cafe is often busy so when you are on your own how do you find a table and then queue, only to have someone else come in and take your table? I have often in other venues left a jacket or a scarf but you will find most people will ignore that or even move it on another table or put it on the floor. As a solo traveller thanks to the staff member who made me feel really well and truly unwelcome. I always visit the cathedral and the cafe when I visit Norwich for shopping. In future I will go somewhere where I am not penalised for being on my own and get the service and welcome I deserve. The Cathedral Cafe needs to re think its policy there are many solo travellers or people that like to have coffee or lunch on their on. At present the cafe is offering zero hospitality or service to this sector of the community.

Good cafe with amazing ambience and tasty food.

We only came for drinks, but the filled rolls and cakes looked amazing. We had two lattes, one made with oat milk. Both were hot and creamy. All the staff we met were bright and cheery. The refectory was light and well presented. We'd definitely go back.

Great venue, great service ,great food. Had a savoury danish pastry with whipped hosts cheese, chilli jam,pecans and samphire- very innovative and delicious. We just wanted a light bite and this fitted the bill perfectly.

Ordered a cortado along with a sweet potato pastry and cake. Unfortunately, the cortado was disappointing as it tasted more like a latte and lacked the robust coffee flavor expected.

Came here recently for breakfast. Staff were friendly; great tasting food and drink as always; and service didn't take long either. Overall, another great experience!

We Visited the Refectory on Saturday 4th May 2024, about 10:50am, prior to looking around Norwich Cathedral. The Refectory is part of the Cathedral, some stairs up, but there is full disabled access. Bright, light, welcoming, lovely staff, all food baked right here, lovely filled rolls, we tried ham and cheese, and pastrami, and cheese and onion quiche, they sell a varied selection of quiches, sausage rolls, savoury and great pastries, cakes and scones, great coffee, and had two more they were so nice! lovely staff, and based on our positive experience, we will be visiting again before we go home on Monday to buy some breakfast and cheeses to take back! Highly recommended.

Great food but very popular so long wait to be served. Quite pricey but very tasty and very convenient when visiting the Cathedral.

Went to the cathedral cafe last week on our visit to Norwich. Very disappointed, had to ask for our table to be cleared of dirty cups twice, only food available was soup or a filled roll. Lots of tables with dirty dishes throughout the cafe. Not very busy. Won’t be rushing back.

We ordered tea and carrot and coriander soup. Well, the chap who delivered it to the table did a good Mrs Overall impression and a fair bit was on the tray. The soup was filled with carrot pulp and tasted like no other carrot and coriander soup I have ever tasted. Not in a good way! It was oily and looked like it would be spicy, but was very bland. The basket of bread looked amazing, but the bread was stale and incredibly dry, like it had been cut hours ago or was the end of a loaf left in the open air. For the price, we were very disappointed by the quality and certainly won't be returning in future. Norwich has so many lovely places to eat, and this just feels like bread source is somewhat overrated. This was our first experience of the brand, and we think it will be our last. Very much style over substance.

Prohibitively expensive. Service was very slow. Drinks were tepid when they arrived. For some bizarre reason the cappuccino is served in a very small cup half the size of all the other beverages. Norwich has so many great cafes - this place was disappointing.

It's good for a snack of pasta and a cappuccino.

Nothing here for gluten free people, apart from a small pepper and pesto quiche. I can’t have nuts, so that was out too. Cakes with nuts were mixed in with all the others. I wanted frothed milk with vanilla syrup and a gluten free cake, there was no syrup, I ended up with tap water. Wouldn’t recommend this place at all if you have allergies. Husband was happy with his sausage roll and coffee, I guess this place is fine if you don’t have any dietary restrictions.

Busy place always, must be a good sign.

Not sure why this Bread Source feels so different to the others in Norwich but we won't be coming back to this one and I wouldn't recommend. The coffee and pastries are 10/10, however the service here is really lacking. Dirty tables and not enough staff around to clean them up. Our coffee was brought over to our table and half of it was poured out of the mug onto the saucer without a word being uttered, the girl just walked away from the table. I asked another member of staff if it could be replaced please and again, not a word uttered or an apology given by her or the girl bringing our second coffee over. We'll stick to our more local Bread Source coffee shops in the centre where the service is much better!

Brilliant baked goods. BEST ever doughnut! Excellent coffee. Great ambiance and view of the Cathedral spire ! Lunch available. Fridge of handmade butter and cheese for sale.

Visited on march 2nd at about 2.15pm for a coffee, my husband went to order and I went to sit down at a table with my daughter, As I sat down I felt the floor under one of the chair legs move which caused me to lose balance and fall off my chair, after getting up, I noticed the flooring was broken, a hazard. I spoke to the staff who were making drinks, they didn’t care at all, my husband commented that after I returned to the table, they were all mumbling and grumbling and being quite rude about the issue. This is completely unacceptable. If my husband wasn’t in the middle of placing an order as this was happening then we would have walked out. When the girl arrived with our drinks, one was made incorrectly, we ordered an iced Americano and a hot latte, the latte was made iced too. I commented that there should be a sign near the broken floor, her response was oh sorry, would you like to move tables, I said it’s a bit late to suggest this after the issue has already happened. I’m glad they made one of the drinks wrong because it meant both of our drinks were in take away cups so we could leave this shambles of a cafe. If a manger of this cafe wishes to contact me privately regarding this then it would be much appreciated.

Came here recently for the first time after several recommendations, and we weren't disappointed! The venue looks great; the service is very friendly and helpful; all the food and drink tasted fantastic, and the price was fair. Overall, we had a great time - will be back again soon!

This is part of the cathedral although it is upstairs there is also a lift, food is limited and we was just going to have a sandwich for lunch but they looked very wilted so we moved on for lunch and just had a coffee, would I visit again yes but just for a coffee

First time in Norwich and had heard about Bread Source. They have about 6 places within Norwich. We chose this one as it is attached to the cathedral and was a nice setting. It is a lovely modern building with lifts and stairs access. The tables are numbered. You order your food, take that to your table and your drinks are brought to you which is nice rather than waiting by the drinks area. The choice of pastries was very good and the price was good value. We had some hot chocolate which was nice and rich. Down sides were one of the pastries was quite dry and the servers were not really friendly, and like with most places these days, lack of staff meant that the tables were not cleared quickly. Nevertheless would definitely go again. Enjoy

Pleasant enough environment, adjoining cathedral. Not very clean, drinks took ages to come and cakes OK but a bit dry. Service very poor from a tall surly dark haired bearded man. He needs customer service training and was not welcoming to customers (not just us) at all.

Terrible service, nowhere to sit, dirty plates left on our table when he finally did find somewhere, rude staff, overpriced.

The Refectory Cafe is connected to The Norwich Cathedral. There is a large area which can seat large numbers of people. The area is kept very clean and the staff are very friendly. The service also is fast. The food is delicious, specially all the different types of cakes and pastries. A lovely place to relax after walking around the Cathedral. 👍☕️😁

Very nice place for a coffee, cake and chat, they have Artisan bread for sale, it also overlooks part of the Cathedral Cloister exterior walls, there is a lift for wheelchair and disabled to get access to the Refectory, good architectural building design.

Great setting with fine coffee and pastries.

Great place to meet friends for lunch or coffee

A very long wait just for coffee, which was not very hot when finally served. Refectory itself was lovely though

Really tasty food, quite pricey but good quality and you get what you pay for. Nice mix of people, families, solo and people working or studying. I'd recommend the cheese and ham roll!

Great pastries, hot tea, wonderful designed building abutting the outer cathedral walls

The drinks were not very good but the service provided was excellent

Lovely choice of fresh food and pastries. Drinks lovely atmosphere nice. Pricey but a nice treat

Really nice coffee and selection on the counter. Bought bread to take away and it was wonderful as always

Perfectly brewed coffee, fantastic pastries and bread, beautiful setting, and all in a fine city

I'm so pleased bread source are at the refectory now. Their cinnamon buns and lemon and poppyseed cake is the main reason I walk my dog along the Riverside. My dog actually pulls me all the way there now because he knows he's going to get cake as a little treat after our walk

I went to an evening social event. It was catered by Breadsource. Excellent. It's on the first floor but there is a lift. It's attached to the cathedral and has a "kindly" atmosphere. There is parking too within the close.

A bit pricey but great quality.

Food quality and choice very good, however, service slow and expensive

Loved this place. So nice and cosy. Best pastries in Norwich.

Always have lunch here when visiting the cathedral.Great food and service.Highly recommend.

Beautiful place, architecture v interesting and warm. Food v good. Always interesting

Lovely spacious place with good food. I had a sausage roll and it was huge and tasty. The breads looked delicious too as did the other produce

Wow! A fantastic bakery runs this cafe and their savoury and sweet baked goods are just great! Nice coffee too, and helpful staff.

Good range of food and drinks. Lovely location.

Amazing array of cakes and pies,wow!!! Amazing building.

Part of the magnificent cathedral. It is quite a large area so can seat many people. The breakfast tea was very good, leaf tea rather than tea bags. Cakes were also very nice as was the fruit scone. Although it is up a flight of stairs there is a lift at one end if needed.

Incredible service, amazing staff who were really on the ball especially during a very busy lunchtime. The seasonal soup was incredible and the artistry on my hot chocolate 10/10

Wonderful selection of sandwiches and rolls. I had goats cheese, a very thick slice with salad. The pastries looked delicious, next time..... service was excellent. Tables cleared and cleaned quickly. Food and drink brought to the table.

Bread source cafe is always brilliant!

The biggest doughnut I've ever seen brilliant

Went to it first time, we had coffee and hot chocolate drinks. With cheese scones Very good, £17 total for3 of us.

After visiting the cathedral we called in here for a coffee break. The café is built in an attractive building alongside the walls of the cathedral. We enjoyed two flat white coffees which cost £6.40.

I had a sausage roll and my mum had a feta and tomato tart... both were absolutely divine. They also had bread to taste - we tried the olive, cranberry and garlic.... it was heavenly. Great little spot to have a light lunch/coffee break when in Norwich. There's a lift available to take you up to The Refectory too so it's accessible for all. 💜

The coffee was lovely but the cinnamon roll was a little dry

Took my mum here for coffee, there was easy access for her wheelchair via lifts

Really disappointed in the change in this cafe. We previously visited prior to Covid and this cafe was a stand out back then when they served a range of meals at lunch and also had a range of delicious and healthy options available. However, now, post Covid there were not even sandwiches available at lunch time, we were told by a staff member that only soup or pastries and cake were available. Cafes like this one selling pastries and cakes are a dime a dozen and there was nothing special about this one except the beautiful building it is in and its physical connection with the Cathedral. After asking why there was such a difference in what they now offered, we were told by a staff member that another company had now taken over the contract. What a shame!

Called in for tea and cake after walking round the cathedral, super looking building and bright inside, v friendly and efficient staff, v tasty cakes and large portions. Many thanks, a v good end to our trip.

Went and had coffee at the refectory cafe and it was very nice, you have to get a table first then go and order,plus tell them your table number and they bring your coffee to you, its very clean and friendly, there is a lift as well as stairs, and the staff a the entance of the cathedral are frendly and helpful.

Lovely food etc. Had to sit outside the main restaurant as we had the fog with us but staff were helpful and brought out a bowl of water gor our dog.

Nice selection of cakes to go with our coffee

What a brilliant cafe. Accessible for all with a small lift and just lovely modern architecture. The place was spotless, the drinks lovely and the range of cakes and pastries quite out of this world. Company running the refectory are called Bread Source - excellent!

Coffee is lovely, service is quick.

Extortionate prices and very little choice. I advise to eat and drink before you go there

I love coming here to escape the hustle and bustle of City cafes. The food is always great, the soups and scones especially so.

Fabulous place for light meals from a selection of high quality food and drink at very affordable prices. Bright, clean and airy. Accessible by a lift