Waitrose Cafe in North Dorset

Lovely food but no full English. Just lighter breakfast options. But lovely pastries. Went on a Sunday morning. Very short staffed.

Lunchtime, but no jacket potatoes despie being on the menu, and thr only thing close to a meal. Cutlery looked dirty. Lots of tables not cleared. Food on the floor. Serving staff were pleasant though.

Considering this is Waitrose with their so called high standards and this cafe has recently been refurbished, it not great tbh. The service when queuing for drinks is unbelievably slow. The woman behind the counter seemed reluctant to serve the next customer until the one in front actually had their drinks delivered. She was always yapping a lot to both customers and the member of staff making the drinks. Lack of sugar (only Canderel which is horrible) and no teaspoons ?? A lot of the tables were also uncleared including the one we say down on which contained about 7 empty cups on a tray. Very poor indeed.

I've used this cafe half a dozen times and each time have been told that my first, second and sometimes third choice is not available. Despite the fact that it's listed on the electronic menu, I'm told by management that they don't have ability to de-list items that have tune out (what's the point then of a digital menu). On one occasion the menu included a mouth-watering graphic of a cream tea, I waited in the queue for 15 minutes only to be told they'd run out of scones at 1pm in the afternoon, in a supermarket whose bakery department is full of scones. Why can't they use them? - some bulls**t health & safety reason. Why not use a chalk board menu and just cross items out once they're not available. Any independent cafe run like this would be out of business within weeks.

Waitrose use to be a great place to lunch , cardboard with bacon and egg , not an enjoyable experience

Visited cafe in Gillingham Saturday 27th November. Ordered the Welsh rarebit for two. Not Welsh rarebit! Just cheese on toast, the cheese was awful. It seemed to be like a cheese from a tube. Limited menu. Will not be visiting again.

Recently reopened after a complete refurb and extension, this café should be up there with other local coffee/eating spots. But it falls far short. Nice new ambience, granted, but I remember when this café not so long ago offered decent breakfasts and lunches. It now has a very limited range on offer - frankly, you're much better off going elsewhere for a better choice of food. Plus there aren't enough staff to cope with lunchtime demand. Would be one star if it wasn't for the decent cup of coffee. C'mon Waitrose, you must do better!

Disappointing after the refurbishment Went in for a light lunch nice space very disappointed with the selection and presentation. Compared to similar size stores cafe it looks like the selection is more pre packaged process sandwiches alongside poorly displayed cakes. I’d say this cafe will have to raise the bar. Ok for just a coffee but on first visit quite disappointed

We meet our friends here for a catch, our coffees where good, my wife and I have a sandwich, all good quality but no atmosphere.

Today we went to the cafe rather than the cake section. I must say the children bags were great, sandwich, crisps, drink, apple, cheese, pens and drawing paper. Great value for money, clean, fast service as ever.

Nice corner location with a view across the meadow/river and good outside seating for the warmer months. Friendly staff and good quality food at a reasonable price. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I went with my wife shopping and decided to go for a coffee at their cafe, when we purchased our drinks and cakes we were disappointed that we had to clean a table before we were able to sit. This is not the first time it has happened when I have been in for a coffee. They should have somewhere for people to take their trays and allow them to clear their own tables before leaving.

Visited this Waitrose Cafe in Gillingham, Dorset today for a lunchtime meal. The only food on offer was sweet and sour chicken with rice for £7 each. The meal was semi-warm and had black bits of unidentifiable meat in as well as chicken. The whole thing was tasteless and very poorly cooked. Some of it was inedible and unchewable and had to be removed from my mouth. This was not spices but blackened meat. My wife and I felt extremely nauseous after leaving the store. For a normal restaurant it was awful, and for an expensive Cafe like Waitrose it was unforgivable.

I met a couple of friends for a chat and this place was perfect, great coffee and the choice of food was good. Only one issue was the tables were not cleaned and there was no place to put your empty cups and plates when you were leaving.

very nice food with plenty of choice, you can have a main meal or snack or breakfast, good price, nice staff. Very clean and spacious

This is where I go every morning for my coffee and cake. Great service, great tasting coffee and a chance to catch up on the days happenings courtesy of the free newspapers.

Not the best coffee, but OK for a break during or after shopping .Decent lunch menu and range of cakes, sandwiches and snacks.

I visit this cafe regularly with my Mum and baby.The staff are friendly and polite.The cafe is clean and there is plenty of room for me to get my push chair in!Good selection of cakes and pastries and the tea is nice.Unable to comment on the main meals as haven’t had one yet.

Nipped here for cake and coffee while the kids were at school. It was nice, good coffee, lovely pecan yum-yum. Mrs had a gf brownie which she reliably informed me was glorious. Good for veggies, good for gf :)

Have been in here regularly over the years but have not known it as it has been on recent visits. Perhaps it's the heat, the season or the fact you no longer get a free cup of coffee. Always pleasant to sit outside during this hot weather. Staff are pleasant and friendly and don't appear to be as rushed. Good to have a quiet interlude whilst shopping.

You don’t often think of a supermarket cafe as a gastro hotspot, but this place is a gem. There must be some great talent working here. If they have their signature macaroni cheese on, get it, you won’t be disappointed.

I went to the small coffee shop adjacent to the bakery area - the coffee was ok but the almond croissant was akin to a kiln dried log; dry and lacking in taste. Very disappointing I won’t bother again. It was very busy and somewhat cramped so little chance of making a complaint at the time.

We visit this Waitrose cafe five or six times a year - it has the distinction of being by far the worst Waitrose cafe of any we visit (normally in Sussex but also Oxfordshire, Yorkshire and Cornwall).

Good central position and adjacent to the main ring road, Le Neuborg Way. Just as mcksmitty said, best morning and lunchtimes. Called on 19 October for lunch and was not disappointed. Proper tomato and basil soup, roll and butter, brie, bacon, and chilli in a ciabatta roll, skinny decaf and an americano. Total £13.10. For a supermarket cafe, very good. Spotlessly clean. Helpful staff.

Always tidy. Always clean. Good service and range of drinks and pastries. Mainly morning and lunchtime rather than later in the day

Paramos aquí para un café y refrescos durante un viaje en bicicleta. No frecuentan este lugar con bastante regularidad y como mencionado anteriormente el servicio tiende a ser lento. Este fue el caso de ayer, aunque había muy pocos clientes. El café es limpio, luminoso y con la opción de estar fuera. La comida puede ser un poquito caro, pero esto puede compensarse por la bebida caliente.

Visitamos la tienda mientras de paso. Me apetecía un pedazo de pastel y una taza de té en la cafetería panadería. El joven que servía era trabajando arduamente y estaba haciendo todo. Él había acabado de placas y llamaba a través de para más dos veces sin ayuda prestada. Se ocupaba tranquilamente con los clientes furiosas cuando no era su culpa que él era la única persona de trabajo. La tarta de limón persa y baklava eran deliciosos y usamos servilletas como platos. Es una lástima que la gestión dejar personal joven en su propia con ningún apoyo. Era una cuestión de gestión que el servicio era lento, no hay platos, etc. El chico hizo brillantemente bajo tensión, pero fue claramente afectado por la falta de apoyo y la falta de comprensión de otros clientes. No me impresionó mucho esta visita.

much better than your average supermarket cafe. free coffee if you have a waitrose card (and buy something else)

Lunch time visit, as always very good, had an all breakfast toastie, egg, bacon and tomatoe with melted cheese, very nice snack

Nice to have a free coffee before/after my shop. Even though you need to buy something to eat in the cafe to get your free coffee it's value for your money. My regular coffee shop !!

La primera visita a un café, tenía la mayor roll, grandes jamás salchicha salchicha Cumberland bap con servido en taza de té, un lugar muy agradable para tomar un aperitivo o comida, limpio y confortable entorno, personal agradable, y era muy buena relación calidad-precio

Visité Waitrose Cafe esta mañana - servicio muy lento, lento hasta servicio desesperante, especialmente cuando parece personal no saben lo que están haciendo - la comida cuando llegó era muy buen café a un precio razonable. Este café tiene una reputación de lentitud del servicio...

Stopped for lunch with a girlfriend and looking forward to a curry or sausages. Was told they are no longer doing curries and no sausages. What they did have were ready meals in brown cardboard boxes, which, when heated up were served as is. Very disappointing and the paninis took ages to be heated up.

Given that it's always raining , the cafe is a nice place to sit to have lunch . Bought a pasta dish for £3 and had it in the cafe .

Wanted a quick lunch. Had a chicken korma with pillau rice and mango chutney. It was really good, once it came. The service was adequate but not quick, even though there seemed to be a number of people behind the counter. Would suggest they put out the dish of the day while you wait. It would save time, maybe? The cafe is spacious but the table was not cleaned. We had to arrange that ourselves. Cost us about £13 for two, including two bottles of water. Does the job, but not exciting.

Good friendly service especially from josh who is always very friendly and interested in you.mall food and drink served were good

whilst i agree the service is slow...very slow the food has always been fairly good.until last friday when i took a couple of friends for a meal ...it was YUK?

This cafe always have interesting menu choices and the food as with the store itself is top quality, papers to borrow, good array of cakes and tea and coffees too. Worth planning ones shop around lunch or dinner!

Such a nice group of staff always willing to help, very friendly. Certainly recommend to other family members. Oh and the food is ever so nice.

The cafe seems to be staffed by senior citizens or very young people the service is pathetically slow. My pot of earl grey was just better than luke warm. Apparently thats for H&S. The tables are very often left unclrared whilst staff chat and giigle!

We ate here almost everyday for two weeks. A little lacking on Choice but daily Curry special was our favourite and if you get a Waitrose Card you get a passable Latte (from an automatic machine).Great Value!

Slow, cakes left out most of day so very dry not much selection really. Nice layout and plenty of tables though they could do with clearing a bit quicker! Maybe just need more staff?

A good place to have a coffee and snack with good service and friendly staff, the only down side being its open planned and when busy ( which it is most of the time) its very noisy.

The curry's in particular are very good value. As you would expect from Waitrose, always (nearly) clean and always pleasant.

Very slow service. Hazelnut latte had no flavour, though pricey and the chocolate brownie was more like a stodgy chocolate pudding and exceptionally sweet.

Likes:+ Plenty of room to sit down (usually); gets busy at lunchtimes+ Good selection of soups, sandwiches and cakes+ Good quality cafe items+ External seating area+ Usually have a few vegetarian options across the board+ Friendly staffDislikes:- A little pricey- Can end up waiting 10 - 15 minutes in the queues at peak times- Not much change to the items being sold; tend to be the same week in week out.

Very pleased with this café every time we go in. Not waitrose shoppers but serves good food and the free coffee with waitrose card always goes down well. Staff are very pleasant and thanks to new layout in seating area more space for people as was a little too busy before this.

Good standard food in a clean and helpful setting, with wonderful staff. Now that the 'free' coffee drinkers have been moved to the other side of the shop, it's much quicker to get the food, and it's still hot when you get to your table. Recently revamped throughout, it's clean and bright with plenty of outside seating. Sometimes table clearance could be quicker and better, but that's a small point.

The staff are always helpful and the atmosphere is generally very pleasing, clean and bright with the option of outside seating on fine days.

Used to live locally and was a regular - now I call in whenever I'm in Dorset. Well laid out spacious store and a cafe and separate coffee and cake area. Always something ok on the menu and a good spot to get a takeaway coffee and snack if travelling through. Plenty of parking and petrol close by. In my opinion it's one of the best Waitrose stores around.

'Shall we go to waitrose for lunch' the wife said!! I was not made up at the thought of greasy food, mud coffee and dirty tables I can safely say.It was also late in the day and I knew that there would be no food but went along with her. The hot food counter was empty :(.'Told you so no blooming food', a very polite lady then said 'oh no it's just after 3 we cook it all fresh, whatever you wanted rather than be out getting dry we go to the shop floor, get it, cook it and bring it over.We both went for the curry with spinach and carrot rice, flipping heck it was lovely, if that came from an instant dinner count me in.It was pouring down with rain but we sat next to a lovely red hot radiator and read several free papers.The girls working the floor where chatting to the old folks and the old folks seemed to know all their names, what great service.Fantastic food, spotlessly clean, top staff, well done, we will be back!!

Clean quick service and quite acceptable food for a supermarket cafe. What else is there to say, we do not expect five star dining in a supermarket, perhaps it would be good if someone put a little more thought into the restaurant/ cafe in supermarkets. Perhaps something more on the lines of a small IKEA resto!

Pleasant cafe, newly refurbished and an ideal stop mid-grocery shop. Helps that the drinks are free with our MyWaitrose Cards.

Wonderful place to have. Great to have coffee free with a Waitrose card. Often we stop for coffee and always have something naughty and delicious to go with it. Sometimes we stop for lunch and although I can't fault the food, we do often have to wait such a long time in the queue while coffees are made and then when hot food is ordered, the wait for it to be brought to your table, is so long that you almost feel like walking away. It does very much depend on who the staff on duty are. Some are fantastic and work as a team and other times it is quite desperate.

Visited many times and sometimes good but lately seems to have deteriorated in availability of food and service. Coffee is free with a Waitrose card and they usually ask if you would like something to eat. Lately they have not had requested items, namely Cumberland sausage in a roll as a breakfast item or cheese or fruit scones with morning coffee. This cafe is within a supermarket, why can't the cafe get the unavailable items from the shelves? This branch cafe does not have the choices offered at other Waitrose cafes I have visited. Also, there are not enough tables for two.

This cafe used to be brilliant, but the management (suits) seem to keep changing the staffing mix. What used to be a well oiled machine of a team now seems disjointed..perhaps trying to follow too many systems and not enough team work. Management also let the team down by seeming to run faulty equipment...dishwaser constantly broken, panini orders not coming in despite being ordered. The core staff in here however are brilliant but their senior management lets the team down. John, Jackie and Angie seem to keep the place moving and always smile and chat no matter how bad their day is. As a customer I used to lunch here 7/7, now I only go 1-2 times a week. The food is the only thing thats constant..but could do with a change in menu for those of us that use it as a lunch room.

Excellent place to have a break from the daily turmoil of supermarket shopping. With a loyalty card from Waitrose a free cup of tea or coffee can be enjoyed whilst you read your free newspaper.Excellent choice of teas and a good cup of coffee made to your choice.Sandwiches,pastries and hot food quite expensive but excellent quality

As a concept, eating in a supermarket is quite a strange one, but the cafe here in Waitrose serves really nice fresh food, and the staff are so friendly and accommodating. Reasonable prices and a nice outside area gives it a continental feel when the weather is right!It's not searching for a Michelin star, so manage your expectations accordingly and you won't be disappointed.

Having experienced Waitrose restaurants around the country, this one just lacks some qualified people running it. The people are friendly and polite but don't seem to know what they're doing? One can only assume they're all on work experience? They lack any customer focus, or awareness, come to that. Very disappointing from Waitrose.

The staff are very polite (well most of them are), the food is good but the service is just so slow. Depending on what day you visit, depends on whether you get a smile or not. Give your coffee order and by the time the assistant has turned around, your order has been forgotten!

We are so lucky to have this cafe in Gillingham. We often pop in here on a weekend when I don't feel like cooking. Their curry is absolutely delicious and very authentic. It's also reasonably priced. Everything they do is of the most excellent quality and we really enjoy our free coffee and tea courtesy of our Waitrose cards. My husband is a real coffee coinnoisseur...he's tried them everywhere and most places just don't match his exacting standards (including Costa!). But he categorically claims that Waitrose coffee is the best he has ever had. Their staff are always courteous and friendly and happy to help. The cafe does get very full, but we get around that by always getting there early. Can't fault it at all. Consistently excellent. Well done, Waitrose.

This café in the corner of the supermarket serves the most delicious and generous curry. Also served are other hot meals, snacks, pastries and different drinks. Staff always polite, friendly and helpful.