The Railyard Café and Taphouse — Restaurant in Peterborough

I’ve now been to The Railyard twice. The first time, I went with one of my friends for lunch and it was fabulous! The food was great- super yummy and reasonably priced, the drinks we ordered were also wonderful. We had a younger male server and he was very friendly and attentive to making sure everything was going well. I would’ve given 5 stars solely for that experience. However, last Friday we went out on a date night there with friends of ours and the rating I’ve given very much reflects that experience. The food was great again, and the drinks (when we had them in our hands were also fabulous- their pina coladas are top-tier)! However, the service was BAD- it was a busy time yes, but there was a good hour where we didn’t have refills for our first round of drinks and my husband actually had to go up to the bar and order more. We kept trying to get our servers attention and we were blatantly ignored… the server we ordered from at the bar (I believe it was likely the manager was great and came over with our drinks right away after my husband ordered at the bar) but even after that our regular server still didn’t come over and refill our drinks- had to go up to the bar and order again. (Even when the restaurant was nearly bare of other costumers). The server came over once to clear our plates once our food arrived and we were finished eating- but I would’ve loved to have gotten another drink and ordered some dessert- however my companions and I were so upset with the service we decided it was best to get the bill. I tipped very minimally to try and make the server understand how terrible the service was- and it was simply because I felt bad for the other employees if they share tips with the cooks and the other servers. So Overall Rating- the food is great, the drinks are great, some of the servers are great- but one of them definitely needs to...

Went here as my regular stop home from Burleigh Falls was way too busy. Let's go over the good and the bad.

The good:

Server was great, she was very busy and there were reso's and a line at some points however she held it down.

Coffee was phenomenal. I also reviewed their page personally. Highly recommend.

Menu was relatively diverse but its definitely a cafe+ don't expect routine meals. Hipster/10

The others :

Here are the comments from my group: Iced Latte 10/10 - big straw was off putting

Breakfast potatoes. 2/10 ice cold but well seasoned. So much potential. If they mean to serve them below room temp that's fine if advertised... Actually it's not it's a travesty.

Breakfast burrito. 7/10 the potato inside somehow also cold.

Breakfast pizza was 8/10. (reduced from original 10/10 due to situational bias) the garlic in the pizza was not overwhelming which was a huge bonus as its a slippery slope for a "breakfast" itme to include.

Croissant benedict 8/10 - good.

Cubano Sandy 7.3/10... Ciabatta is an odd choice but flavor was great.

Herb cream cheese was an absolute left field toss out... (rip blue Jay's)... But how does one put lemon zest in their cream cheese...at least make people aware. What an odd an expected flavour. Not bad but if you're not ready for it, it's... Odd. I'll leave it at that. If y'all have that strong adhd you'd likely be thrown off by it (speaking from adjacent experience)

Overall not a bad little hipster joint. Take the rating with a grain of salt as it was not what I was personally expecting but the group seemed to enjoy. Food regardless of the hipster vibe could be improved on but lots of potential.

Service and atmosphere were...

We visited this restaurant for breakfast a week ago as a group of five adults and two kids. We had ordered a mix of beverages, mimosas, tea, beer, orange juice, and hot chocolate for the kids along with five breakfast options.

The vibe was nice and the waitress was friendly, though with a slight pinch of attitude here and there. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives ended.

We waited at least 45 minutes for our food to arrive after placing our order. By the time it came, the food wasn’t even warm, it felt like everything had been plated and left sitting for 10+ minutes before being brought out. To make matters worse, other tables that arrived 10–15 minutes after us received their food well before we did, within the restaurant’s usual waiting time.

When we checked in with the waitress, she said she’d double-check with the kitchen. She came back after 10 minutes saying the food was “being plated up,” but it still took another 15 minutes to reach our table.

We had chosen this place for a family breakfast before driving to Algonquin Park, but instead we ended up spending over 1.5 hours, most of it waiting. The food itself was basic and nothing special, which made the whole experience even more disappointing, especially since we could have simply picked a grab-and-go option along the route.

Given the good reviews online, we had higher expectations. Sadly, our experience didn’t...