Canteen — Restaurant in Belfast

Popped in for a bite to eat for lunch with my partner and was not disappointed. I don't drink coffee so cannot comment myself however my partner seemed rather pleased with her cappuccino. We ordered toasties with chorizo and chicken and one with cheese and shredded ham hock which were absolutely delicious. I'm a big foodie and I will definitely have to return to try some more off the menu.

Currently they are using a QR code scanner type system were you take a seat and order and pay on the website and the food is brought to your table. The technology works pretty effortlessly with the staff which, at the minute, is a big thing for me as a lot of places still don't seem to have gotten the hang of this yet and it can be frustrating when it seems to go wrong. I had no issues with this system here whatsoever. The menu is easy to navigate once you scan the QR code and it looks nice too.

The fact that the spaces to sit in are divided up and have different shapes and styles means that I think this place could have a slightly different feel to it each time you visit....I'll have to test this out further though. There is outdoor seating including picnic benches and a fair amount of indoor seating too. The staff all seemed friendly and helpful and the place is clean and tidy too.

Overall...

I decided to give Canteen a second chance after a substandard first visit, but won’t be back again. I’ll credit the quality of food, but is crazily overpriced when compared to other options on the Ormeau road. Most memorably, service attitude and speed was appalling, with drinks taking upwards 30 minutes to get to the table. It wasn’t busy, yet staff were incredibly slack towards customers, seemingly more interest on getting back to laughing with each other than customer service. When drinks arrived, the cups were dirty, especially the hot chocolate which had grim preparation spillage stains on the mug :/. I wouldn’t mind as much if the prices were reasonable, but drinks are upwards of a pound more expensive than my usual Ormeau road cafe (general merchant). £3.65 for a basic hot chocolate served in a grubby cup after a half hour wait just isn’t good enough. So...

Cannot comment on the food as it never got that far. Customer service as soon as we walked in was dreadful, waitress walked ahead of us after acknowledging our presence with a full latte that took around a minute for her to carry to the back as we stood patiently behind. Sat at one table which was filthy, moved to another that had been almost as bad however, in this instance we had been surrounded by dirty plates.

We then discussed going elsewhere however, we thought to save any hassle we would stay and eat. En route to the kitchen we then spotted the stacks of dirty dishes left in the galley and decided to go elsewhere.

I honestly do believe that if someone from the council had visited during the time we did that they would stripped wholly of their hygiene rating. Please please close for one day and perhaps give the entire place the deep...