Willows Coffee Shop in Orkney Islands

The food we had today was of mixed quality and the price structure seems a bit odd - the 'panini' was overpriced and burnt and tasted more like a toasted roll, the toastie was good and the cakes were nice quality. Some of the staff were friendly and helpful whereas some of the others need to work on their customer service skills a little bit. We normally enjoy going here, so I might write this off to being a bad day! I will also read the menu a bit more carefully next time as some items definitely seem to represent much better value for money than others!

Having been here before, my husband and me enjoyed a lovely lunch of baked potatoes with Coronation Chicken and Beans and Cheese. Served quickly by lovely staff. You order and pay at the counter, giving your table number, then they bring it to you when ready. Our second visit, a few days later, we enjoyed delicious Caramelised Onion & Cheese scones, served with good coffees. Very reasonable prices, great selections for lunch and a fantastic cake selection. Only a few minutes walk from Kirkwall High Street. Definitely worth the short walk.

Been going for years! Food always great and well priced. During covid their cleaning routine was the best I’d seen anywhere which included trips away to glasgow and edinburgh. Christmas menu at the moment is fab.

My friend who lives in Kirkwall suggested we stop into the Willows Coffee Shop on our day out. This place is a little gem in the midst of a garden centre! I had a hearty cheese toasty and a delicious slice of cake. So yummy! Highly recommend for a quick, tasty bite.

Found this gem whilst visiting Orkney. Very relaxed garden centre selling excellent local produce. The cafe restaurant was amazing with a varied menu and amazing cakes. Our cook/server Rachael was fantastic, explaining all about the island and the unique way she makes her scones. Highly recommended.

Always the first coffee and last coffee of my visits to Kirkwall. Lovely food and lovely staff. One of my happy places.

Coffee shop is not cheap - but combine it with a visit to the Glue's big Garden Centre, an excitement in itself. And the Willowburn close by is a magical place not far from the centre of town. Go there and enjoy the burn and the rooks (you can even find watercress in the burn when it's in season).

Friendly staff & nice menu choice with reasonable prices. Eaten here for lunch - choice of soup, hot sandwiches & dishes & cold sandwiches. Nice range of home bakes. Can sit outside if weather permits. Worth a wander around the garden centre too

Eat here often, good choice at an affordable price, along with good quality and decent portion, staff are friendly and the seating area is bright with a good atmosphere, the baking is fantastic especially the egg sponge!

I’ve been here a few times now and each time the coffee cup has been so full that it ends up in the saucer. This wouldn’t matter except I noticed somebody else spilling it down their top as they hadn’t noticed. Cakes are good . Scones too big ( I’m an expert!) so there is never enough butter. Tasty though . It’s just a little more attention to detail would make this place excellent rather then good.

I have had lunch a couple of times and not been disappointed . Generous portions and good cake ( very important!) . Staff are mostly very young and can come across as under-confident. Training would help some of them. Good if with young children.

Well park garden centre opened their soft play area (Play@wellpark) around Christmas 2018. It’s brilliant! Entrance is through the Garden centre and just by the willows cafe. Adults and children under a year are free. Other children are £5.95 each. There’s a baby/toddler area (ball pit, slide, blocks and lights) both upstairs and downstairs and the main soft play is great, only one entrance on the upper and one entrance on the lower level. There are slides, ropes, a mini zip wire with lots of opportunities for climbing and balancing. Surprisingly big and good for burning off a great deal of energy - enough complexity for older children too. Our nearly 2 and 5 year olds loved it. There is a cafe as part of this so you are in the same space, as well as good toilets and baby change (and a child toilet and child sink). Cafe menu offers a good range of sandwiches, wraps, jacket potatoes as well as kids platters - food is made to order so can accommodate the specifics inherent with small children! Coffee and cakes were really nice in particular.

came for morning tea and stayed for lunch. Good selection meals and snacks. Thoroughly enjoyed the prawn and melon salad for lunch - very tasty and not skimpy with the prawns. Clean and tidy with very helpful staff

When I visited some adjacent building works were making lots of loud noise, but that aside this is a typical cafe within a garden centre. It has a large number of tables, some in a conservatory area, and offers light snacks, teas and coffees. My slice of sponge was a very generous sized portion, and was very light in texture but full of flavour. The coffee was also very good quality. As it is slightly hidden away down a side street it is full of locals escaping the tourist hordes.

There are tables for 2 or 4 which can be amalgamated if necessary in certain areas. At one end is a children's play area with high chairs available for families. It is advisable to choose a table first and leave coats there before queuing up to order food at the counter. If you go for an early lunch there will be more choice than later as sometimes different types of soup or quiche run out. Water jugs and glasses are available from a shelf adjacent to the conservatory. Food is reasonably priced and of good portion size. It is served at your table where there are containers for cutlery, serviettes and condiments.

Went here for cup o tea and a fancy which was very good. They have a variety of food catering for everyone. It is good quality and reasonably priced. Always busy cause part of garden centre, plenty of parking spaces.

Area for buggies and lots of space for kids without causing too much noise for other customers! They had gluten free bread and paninis, which aren’t too common In cafes. Cakes are huge but didn’t see any gluten free options that day but have seen them there before. Lovely teas and coffees. Good value options for kids.

We use the willows quite regularly, perhaps every other weekend. The new summer menu was available when we popped in this Saturday. We had the homemade Orkney burger, childs mini burger and the bacon & leek quiche. All of which were delicious, followed by the egg sponge, Malteser chocolate cake and the Rolo cheesecake, again all delicious. The young lady that served us was fab, not seen her in there before but she was cheery, smiley and chatty and even suggested a takeaway box if my partners little girl didn’t manage all of her cake. As it happens she didn’t manage to eat it all butI’m rubbish at being on a diet so I ate it...

We enjoyed scone and banoffi pie with drinks and we will certainly be back. Friendly and helpful staff brought hit drinks to the table. It was our first visit but won't be our last whilst we are on holiday.

Hidden gem (if a visitor to Kirkwall anyway). Great selection of excellent food and service. Recommended to all...

Went here as a family with my kids and parents on a Friday. Kids had hot chocolate and maltesar cakes. Chocolate cake for me and my wife. Moist and sickly yum. Plenty of seating but gets busy at 12ish onwards so go early.

A must do for for a very reasonably priced menu, excellent tasty sandwiches, home made soup and cakes in a friendly vibrant environment. The garden centre has a vast array of unusual products and always a friendly face to assist.

The number of regulars every day speaks for itself. Nice staff who are kept extremely busy at times.

Food ok, nothing special. Sparse side salads with paninis etc and fillings lack volume and flavour. Can get very busy and noisy.

The cakes here are homemade, no Costco nonsense. Coffee is good and the sandwiches etc are all good too. Maybe a bit pricey for a garden centre cafe, but the quality is right up there. Lots of locals coming for lunch speaks for itself.

This is a nice little Coffee Shop located in the Well Park Garden Centre. There was a good choice of hot and cold drinks and lots of cakes and other snacks. Prices were on par with similar Cafes in Kirkwall and service was friendly. One...

Chap that served us was very cheerful. They have jugs of water you can help your self too. Nice touch. Food was very good

Buen lugar para ir a almorzar o simplemente un café y un poco de pastel, enorme está situado en un jardín muy buena abierto siete días a la semana en el verano todos para silla de ruedas mucho ir de aparcamiento y disfrutar

We often visit this cafe, generally as a family or myself and my son, though I ocassionally go alone. The lunch snack menu is varied, and offers a good choice. Kids boxes are available too. The cakes aren't the cheapest for a cafe setting, but the quality is good and some of the cake portions are large enough to share. Good selection of juices and coffees. It can be a but chilly in the cooler months, probably just due to the building itself, but its not unbearable. The garden centre itself is worth a walk round too and they have a fish pond, budgies and also fish (in tanks) for sale. Good selection of small gifts and great displays at Christmas too. A good way to spend an hour or so.

The choice of food was OK and everyone was cheerful but there are nicer coffee shops nearby. The place could do with a bit of modernisation, including acquiring a credit card machine!

offers great baking and good menu of snacks and hot food. Great place to go with the family, very spacious and a lovely open feel to the cafe.

lovely staff and the best coffees and food i have had in a long time. I would recommend it to friends and family.

While the food here is good and tasty. For the price which is high, the service is not up to standard. Two of our group ordered cakes and coffees. The cakes arrived promptly and the coffees arrived about 20 mins later. We asked twice for our coffee.No apology and no free coffee as an apology. It's little things like this that make a difference.

Always friendly, always good value. This is a favourite place to visit for the friendly staff and good value, tasty food.

Good cafe for tasty lunch or coffe and cake. Children welcome and kids 'lunch boxes' available. Great salads.

Our friends had told us about this Garden Centre as we probably wouldn't had come this way as it's a few streets away from the main town area. It only took us 5 minutes to walk from the town, directions given by the Travel Centre.Lovely bright cafe with very pleasant staff who took our order then delivered it to our table. Two coffees with hot milk on the side and a big cheese scone. Excellent coffees and the scone was so light and delicious.We got there mid morning so it wasn't busy but they have plenty of tables and also a Conservatory. Good selection of food on offer and free WiFi. Nice Garden Centre too.Recommended.

Light and bright, but can be very busy and noisy. Try and avoid lunchtime unless really necessary, well worth eating there all day. Away from the Main Street and good parking, do look around the garden centre whilst there.Good selection of food and quality coffee.

A busy garden centre cafe with good hot food and delicious cakes. Friendly staff and good surroundings. Great venue for lunch or just coffee and cakes.

Friendly staff, good range of food. Decaffeinated drinks available. Massive slices of cake! Reasonably priced. Gets very busy at lunchtime. Children's lunch boxes come with double the sandwich other places tend to give children. Each box comes with a small toy. Loyalty card for hot drinks. Toys for children to play with. Tables outside when the weather allows.

Ate here recently for the first time in a while and was impressed with the new decor in the cafe - it looks lovely. I ordered a bacon roll which took rather a long time to be served and when it came to the table the bacon was cold. After pondering the delicious looking home-bakes I settled for a fruit scone along with a cappuccino. The coffee was good and the scone was very tasty but also very, VERY crumbly. It was impossible to spread the butter on it and I ended up eating it with a dessertspoon! Slightly disappointing but haven't been put off.

We were recommended this place by a local, and have been coming here yearly since it opened. I thoroughly recommend it to visitors, but not to too many obviously! It's very much a local eatery with fantastic food, About 5 minutes from the heart of the town. Worth googling.

We were in town shopping a few days ago, & after a very busy day,We dropped into the garden centre, of which Willows is a part of, for a well earned cuppa& a piece of one of their delicious cakes.I must say no one can beat them for great cakes.

Very popular garden centre with restaurant It's nearly always full whether morning or lunchtime and the food is really good and homemade. The bacon rolls and homemade soup are my favourites but there is always a special every day. Toasties,paninis,baked potatoes. All very good and service is quick.

We had never been to the Willows before, but met a friend there for coffee a few weeks ago. It's actually inside a garden nursery and store, so it's sort of a fun environment. There's plenty of seating, and provides a nice, relaxed environment.

We come here quite often with our 2 kids, the staff is always friendly and the food is always good. Prices are very reasonable as well. There is a corner for children to play, which is quite handy once they finish their food or become bored. Their home baking is very tasty (and the cake portions are huge, great if you have a sweet tooth).

The Willows is the cafe for the Wellpark Garden Centre. It's up one of the side streets in Kirkwall, and would be easy to miss. It's simply very good. We go there often, not only when we visit the garden centre. The place is light and airy. The food is lovely and, as other reviewers have mentioned, lots of it! They have a little play area for children, down at the end of the cafe area, and a children's 'lunch box' which isn't just junk food, it contains proper sandwiches and a carton of juice. What I'm saying is - it isn't an obvious place to go for lunch, as it's off the main street, but it's not far up the side street, and it really is good, all round.They do real baked tatties - not those weird things with rock-hard centres that pass for baked tatties in some places - the Willows baked tatties are soft and fluffy, all the way through.As you can tell - I likes it!

Extremely unimpressed with this place unfortunately. We ordered a chicken club wrap ( which came without the chicken ) and a baked potato which was very dry and tasteless. The girl also asked ... "Did we want cutlery...."...hmmmm let me think about that one....lol. All the more disappointing as we walked accross town on the recommendation of a friend to come here. It was overpriced for what we got and the staff were unattentive. They wer standing around gossiping the whole time and not providing a service. I felt like I'd committed a crime pointing out the missing chicken. Also they didn't offer glasses for the juice the expectation was to grab your own from a pile in the corner. My advice. Stick to the St Ola hotel or Hagis on the waterfront. Sorry guys but not good enough :(

This is a great little place to eat lunch, plenty of room for prams and such and a nice selection of hot and cold food to eat. The portions are good sizes especially the salads which you really get a lot for your money. Definitely worth a visit if you are going for a walk in the town

A great place to catch up with friends over lunch, or coffee and cake. The cakes are to die for and very generous portions, I even saw a new member of staff being told off for serving too small a slice! Lovely for lunch too, nice variety on menu, toasties, wraps, paninis, salads, etc with a good variety of fillings. Staff very friendly, good value for money and quick service, handy when you only have an hour for lunch.

Lovely coffee shop in local garden centre which is also worth looking round. Nice varied menu, plenty of choice for light meals, snacks and drinks. All food homemade and beautifully presented. Cakes are works of art. Staff very friendly and efficient. Also do daily specials.

Have been here for lunch a few times in the last year and it is always busy - a very good sign - and the food is excellent. My usual choice is the meal deal of homemade soup and sandwich, every time it is delicious and nicely presented. I cannot resist their cakes, you get a very generous portion and they are all SUPERB.

Children get great treat boxes here which are full of food and have toys to keep them occupied.The coffee here is, for me personally, the best in town.There are lovely cakes daily.Food portions and quality are great and my favourite is probably the chicken cashew nut salad. Very yummy.

Willows has plenty of seating and I think it is testament to how popular it is that just about every table was taken when I was there this week. The staff as ever managed perfectly and kept smiling! Well priced and plenty of choice. I usually go for the soup and sandwich meal deal but tried the special BLT which came with crisps, side salad and a lovely (homemade??) coleslaw. Couldn't resist a piece of key lime pie either. The cakes here are always good and it is difficult not to be tempted.

Excellent service, good food. Great selection of home bakes and salads. Friendly staff who remember coffee preferences which makes one feel special.

Very good food here. Should be in the top 3 easily. The salads are the best Iv ever had. The desserts are also very hard to beat. Highly recommend!

Nice food and nice setting. can be cold in the winter but in summer is lovely. situated in the garden centre which lends to a nice relaxed atmosphere.

One of the best places to eat in town . Love the salads and the menu is great such a wide selection it's hard so choose from .The cakes are fantastic and so is the service . I can't think of a bad thing to say.

Willows has been around for a good number of years and is always a good place for a soup, sandwich, cake lunch.The food options are pretty good and fall in line with the usual toasties, paninis, hot roll options that you get in a lot of cafes. There is certainly a good number of options for fillings so you are spoilt for choice. They do some good deals as well (Soup and Sandwich combo) They do some more substantial meals as well.The seating area is pretty good with space on the shop floor but also some space outdoors and in a glass conservatory area. When the cafes in the main street in Kirkwall get busy at lunhctime Willows is usually a good bet for being able to get a seat. So if you want a cafe at the peak hours when the office workers are out for lunch this is a good place to go.

Coffee shop in garden centre, a few minutes walk away from the main street. Great selection of sandwiches, paninis and wraps and good soup, and if you still have any room yummy cakes. Often busy around 1pm but the service is always efficient and with a smile. Only downside is that it is under a glass roof which can be noisy in the rain.

Not only is this a well stocked garden centre, it is a fantastic place to enjoy really good food, I feel it is very understated as just a coffee shop, four of us ate here, all had different things, I was impressed by the quality and presentation of each of them. This is a must visit for lunch on Orkney.

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