Honesty Dummer Down — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

An honest review for Honesty cafe/bakery..

This is the second time I have visited after a relatively underwhelming first experience here some months past, however, being a fair person, I believe a fair chance and benefit of the doubt should be given to all places.

It is an utter shame then that a such a lovely setting was once again tarred by another disappointing experience at the cafe. I ordered a ‘behind the counter’ cold scotch egg and a slice of cake to go.. then had to wait 10 mins as I saw it go on a ticket and be hung up on a board awaiting other hot food to be served before! It would have taken 20 seconds to put them in a bag and hand them to me. I could forgive this to an extent. The food was the proverbial ‘cherry on top’.. solid and VERY dry to the bone with gristle and bone for the scotch egg, the cake was a lovely sponge, let down by a gritty texture on top and between.

I hasten to add the ladies behind the counter were pleasant, so the people working there are not to blame in terms of attitude, but the service and food leaves a lot to be desired.

Being local, I have visited a few bakeries in the area, but regrettably, not this one again.

For those looking for a consistently better experience in terms of speed and infinitely better food, visit the Yard in Preston Candover (less than 10 mins away from Dummer) or The Street bake shop in Old Basing which although pricey, is...

We are regulars at this cafe pretty much since it opened as live in the area, and typically go every week. Normally the food is lovely, and the team are really friendly. Sadly over the last 3 months we have come in to be told either there is a reduced menu, or they are no longer serving food, and this has happened so many occasions now it’s frustrating as you never know if they will be serving food or not if you go. One example is today, a Sunday, where we came in at 10.15am which is normally a good time to come, to be told they were no longer serving breakfast or food, despite normally serving breakfast until 11.30am. The team are great who work very hard and it’s not their fault - they are just so short staffed, and they are rushed off their feet so have to stop service, or operate a reduced offering.

This has happened on so many occasions now it’s just unpredictable as to whether food will be served or not when you go, so sadly we have found another alternative for our weekend breakfast. There aren’t any signs up saying they are hiring, so whether they are struggling to recruit, or staffing levels have been cut, I can’t say, but this has been happening for months now. The team absolutely do their best, and it really is a lovely place to go when they have the staff.

If you can get food then a great place, and they still do serve drinks even if they’ve...

It’s our 2nd time visiting the honesty cafe, the first time we did lunch and enjoyed our food so decided to try breakfast. I order the full English and my wife had the veggie breakfast. I was very disappointed with mine, it was obvious that the sausages and bacon had been cooked hours prior to serving, and had been reheated which made them very hard and tough to eat, I left one one of the sauces and most of the bacon unfortunately. The mushrooms didn’t fair any better as they looked tied and old, very small in size too. My wife has been before for breakfast without me and had the same breakfast but on this occasion the avocado which is usually smashed up with chilli flakes and pepper and lime did not happen this time and her fried eggs where about 80% cooked which made them partly uncooked. So we assume a change in chef happened on the day we went. It’s not what we expect for an £11 each breakfast so was disappointing on...