The Downs Café — Restaurant in Bristol

I found Cafe Retreat on Google and thought it might be worth a try.

I hoped there would be ample parking, sadly this wasn't the case.

There is very limited parking on 'The Down's' these day's so I had to drive around a few times.

Luckily some one drove off at this point so I was able to take their space right outside the Cafe.

But most customers are walkers who have stopped for a cup of Tea and a Cake as they take the air.

From the outside the place looked quirky, a bit old fashioned and in need of some modernisation but it does have a certain charm.

There were plenty of tables outside though they were being vigorously scrubbed by several of the staff. I suspect their position under the trees make's them particularly susceptible to bird dropping's, which need to be removed constantly?

However, it was a bit cold with a breeze and after all the warm weather this felt particularly unappealing, so we went inside. Unfortunately it wasn't any warmer there and I couldn't see any heaters so I do wonder if the business plan is to cater for the summer visitors and shut up shop when it gets too cold?

We found ourselves a table around the corner from the door out of the draft and decided to try the Full English @ £8 each though the menu on the wall didn't tell us what was included.

Plus a black coffee for my Sister and a Pot of Tea for me.

I ordered at the counter where I was served by a rather disinterested young lady who asked if we wanted white or granary toast and gave me a number to display on our table, a small wooden topped affair with cast iron legs.

The drinks arrived and I spent some time trying to get the milk jug out of the cup and then had to make another trip to the counter to get extra sweeteners.

The tea was fine though the coffee had a scum around the top which clung to the cup and looked unappealing, though it tasted fine.

When the Food arrived I was disappointed to see it all piled in a heap on a plate that was obviously too small. It looked nothing like the picture on their web site.

The Granary toast was thick and fresh but it was balanced on the edge of the plate.

The baked beans were in a little dish which always seems to me to be a bit pedantic.

The single Egg was slightly over done and tilted at a strange angle so it looked very unappealing.

There was one sausage that I suspect came from a good butcher but was far too 'meaty' and dry for my liking.

The one slice of 'over cooked' Bacon was hidden at the bottom of the pile, as was a whole slice of Black Pudding (I can do without this but my sister nearly had a fit till I removed it from her plate).

There was also a serving of Mushrooms but these were just soggy and dark with little flavour.

I found this all quite confusing.

Obviously some one had taken a lot of trouble to source Free range Eggs from Chew Magna and Sausages and Bacon (Black Pudding?) from a Butcher in Thornbury but why serve them up in such a slap dash manner?

Even the pat's of Butter were placed on the table rather than in a dish.

If you are going for the 'bespoke top end breakfast' using locally sourced ingredients you should at least cook them nicely and present them well.

So the food got a thumbs down from us and the venue I'm afraid did little better.

It was cold and uncomfortable.

The service was poor with the staff making no attempt to engage with the customers.

Surely the toast was deserving of a separate plate where you could spread it with butter and most places ask if you want Black Pudding as it is one of those 'Marmite' things, you either love or hate.

Ive not taken against a place so much in ages but Cafe Retreat will not be getting a return visit...

I live 5 minutes from the cafe and it's in a lovely location for when I'm walking the dog. Today my wife and I went to the cafe, it was not particularly busy, we ordered a coffee and waited 30 minutes with no sign of it. When my wife went in to find out what had happened to it she was told that they had tried to bring it out to us but couldn't find us, that it was our fault for not being there, and that they had thrown away our drinks. We were sitting right outside the whole time, admittedly around the corner from the door, but it's a very small outdoor area, and no one had come to our table with drinks. In fact there were only 5 other occupied tables outside apart from ours. We then waited another 15 minutes for the waitress who had told us off to slam the coffees down without a word (literally spilling one of them, despite being in a takeaway cup), and then after a short pause sarcastically say 'you're welcome' and storm off. Some of the staff are very nice, but I can honestly say I have never had such poor service anywhere in Bristol. It ended up being a 45 minute wait for a spilled drink.

In general, service is patchy and depending on who serves you it can either be a lovely experience or an expensive and frustrating one. The drinks and snacks are very nice, but I am sorry to say that we were treated so poorly, my wife in particular, that I will be giving this place a miss for the...

I must start by saying that the food is delicious, when you pop to one side the fact that they add things like chilli flakes to eggs or avocado without flagging it on their menu. The thing that I do find bizarre in this day and age is their complete disregard for anything that assists the multiple parents that frequent their café - no baby changing, no high chairs, and no child's menu. The latter can be usually managed (if you remember to ask about chilli flakes - otherwise you will face the wrath of the grumpy staff!) but the lack of changing facilities is a bit rubbish (I had to urgently change my son and ended up doing it on the muddy floor). If you have a dog, they will love you, but if you have a baby I do find the staff speak to you in a rather condescending and rude manner if you raise any queries or make any requests. But they have all the footfall from the Downs so I guess they just don't care! It's not often that I feel compelled to write a negative review but after the best part of a year of being addressed rudely and struggling to manage my baby's needs in the café (which is annoyingly the closest one located to our fitness class) I wanted to flag these issues to alert other parents - you might want to take the short walk to Whiteladies...