ThisTime Bar in Carlisle

Came upon this great cafe while on a day trip to Carlisle, from our weeks holiday in Keswick. Food was excellent - we had ham hero sandwich, bbq panini, bacon Brie panini and gorgeous homemade soup. All tasty- the side salad with the sarny was best side salad I’ve had after a week of cafes lunches in lakes. Nice friendly service🙂

Amazing sandwiches, cakes and afternoon tea boxes! Highly recommended!

We visited on 29 Sep 2024, booked for 6.45pm. Lovely looking restaurant, and staff were great. Food was disappointing for the price unfortunately. The wife had the mozzarella and roasted peach salad starter. My wife enjoyed this, I thought it was ok but the mozzarella balls could've been fresher. I had the calamari. It looked lovely, but tasted only okay as the squid also could've been fresher. The wife had the bang bag cauliflower mains. The sauce was nice but rice was a little too hard, The cauliflower was done in a crumbly batter, which would've been nice if crunchier. The problem probably was that the cauliflower was very soft, and it was mixed through the sauce, therefore softening the batter. I just had fish and chips as I already had the other 2 options recently elsewhere; Sunday roast and lamb with mint. The fish was cooked nicely and not overcooked. However, it would taste better if salted or seasoned before battering and frying. It was incredibly oily too. The mushy peas wasn't anything special at all, nor the tartar sauce. We shared a mango Panna cotta. I prefer Panna cotta to be lighter weight but it was still okay. The short breads with them seemed a bit random to me, really didn't compliment the dish plus were very mediocre. The 2 course was £25. The 3 course was £30. I just felt it wasn't worth the price. We chose this restaurant as it has really good reviews, and was near the motorway at the right time as we were driving up from Liverpool back to Glasgow. I'm not sure if Fini's is a restaurant that runs there all week long or just part of the time. If only part of the time, it is not clear. If it is all week, I'm very disappointed with the food. Plus, why was a Sunday lunch menu available only for 6.45pm? Thankfully the staff were nice and it was a lovely clean venue.

Popped in for a quick bite to eat and went for the chicken burger which went down well with a few pints and rum

I can't comment on food as we walked out before ordering. Small about 5 foot skinny man brown short spikey hair foreign accent no idea maybe italian who knows not English who works behind the bar his attitude is appalling. Shouldn't be in the job he must surely be the owner otherwise why on earth is a man like this even working in a front line job with the public. When we went in he was having a fight with an older couple waiting at the bar it was day time there was noone else there except us. They were arguing with each other think it was because he short changed the man and was having none of it when man challenged him. Then to serve us. I had lost an item the night before as had been drinking in the hotel and spent alot of money with friends behind the bar. I asked him nicely if it had been handed in he replied very cheekily it is not my job to check for lost items. I only asked him to check if it had been handed in. Its not his job to check lost property what exactly is his job to serve and be nice to customers who are coming in to spend money on food and drinks. But all he can reply is its not my job to check lost property. I said I'm only asking you nicely if an item had been found to which he replied if you not happy please get out. We got over that sat down at a table with the menu we picked up from the bar. Sat for about 15 minutes and noone came near us to take our order or advise how the system worked. This man is appalling to be front of house. I can only assume he must own it if not the owners need to get rid of him as he is loosing you custom. In the very short time we were in he was arguing with both sets of customers at the bar. I've never came across a man as rude in my life as he was in his job role. Therefore would not recommend this establishment purely on him. Menu looked great too and we were in for 3 courses and drinks. It wasn't busy but clearly he didn't want the custom for food we must've been an inconvenience.