Melvyn's Cafe — Restaurant in Alnwick

Grabbed a seat outside as we were passing by looking for a place to eat. 1st impressions were good, nice little cafe and plenty people eating. As no one was able to give us menu’s I went to the counter to ask for a couple. We were told its table service and someone will be with us to take our order - perfectly normal..! We read through the menu (not a big menu at all) and decided what we wanted. Just needed someone to serve us…….

We waited over 15 minutes to be asked our order, in which time a staff member had time for a fag and a blether with her friends, took 2 orders from tables that came in AFTER us plus cleaned some tables for fresh customers arriving. Glanced at us a few times and not so much as a “I’ll just be a minute” or “I’ll be with you soon”….. not one bit of acknowledgement…..

We decided to leave politely and go to The Tavern instead. Much better service and nicer atmosphere, staff were so welcoming. Was told they needed the table back in an hours time as it was booked - absolutely no problem. Had a great carvery and was really reasonably priced (much cheaper than Melvyns)

We felt unwelcome and not a priority at Melvyns and I doubt we will give them a 2nd chance! Very poor customer service and considering it’s a small premises, there is no excuse for our experience.

Oh, and making a fuss over people’s dogs is fine, pet them, clap them and play with them by all means but WASH YOUR HANDS before handling food/drinks, very unprofessional and...

Went for Breakfast this morning Sat 27th Sept, the Cafe faces the market which was on. I ordered the vegetarian breakfast but asked The waitress if they could leave off the two vegetarian sausages as I will not be eating them and it’s a waste of good food! She then said the owner will not change any items on the menu ! My wife ordered a coffee and bacon sandwich, we also ordered three rounds of toast. Ten minutes later she returned to say the coffee machine was broken! Our meals duly came ( inc the sausages!!) but no toast! We asked three members of the staff over the next 15 minutes where was the toast? Then a girl bought one round and said they had no more bread!! When we paid for the meal they apologised and didn’t charge us for the drinks and toast! The food itself was poor and not a patch on Barter Books. John...

Went on a Saturday, busy outside seating. We ordered 2 mochas and 2 cappuccinos to go as we said we'd sit elsewhere. After 20 minutes of waiting we went in to chase it as you would think you should be getting coffees quicker than 20 minutes. The owner in a very stressed out, completely uncaring tone "I'm doing them now just wait a few minutes". We then gave him the benefit of the doubt so went back outside to wait. A further 10 minutes of waiting 4 coffees appeared with a very hasty waiter who said under his breath "sorry for your wait". He then scurried inside.

The coffees were way too hot to even drink and tasted worse than a McCafe coffee which comes from an automatic machine.

I will never be coming here again, and after our experienced, am very surprised the rating it has. Poor service, poor coffee,...