Robertshaw's Bakery and Cafe — Restaurant in Bradford

This is my initial review (has now changed after further visits) for this place based on visiting only twice so far, so, I'll update later and adjust accordingly if necessary. I give it 5 stars based on two visits so far. (I have dropped this to 3 stars now after more visits) The place is welcoming. It has a free car park and easy access for disabled. It's fairly clean and spacious. The staff are polite and helpful. The food I ordered was terrific on first visit. Good on second visit. Prices reflect the state of Tory Britain where everything has hiked up, thus leaving many unable to afford visiting here. The food offerings are plentiful. The cakes are fabulous and, just like the tradition proper made ones. The take-away pasties, Pies, etc are top notch (based on the one I bought).

This place is worth a visit. Note: It's the former Asa Nicolson bakery and, not the farm shop further up the hill towards Queensbury. Owned by the same people though, apparently.

update After visiting two more times, I've dropped the star rating by 2 stars down to 3. Handling cakes by hand without gloves and, no use of tongues straight into bag or box is disgusting. The guy seemed to rush us too. Food orders have been incorrect and missing food items repeatedly. Inconsistent service by young staff who need training better.

update October 2023 We've visited this place a few more times since our last reviews, in the hope of it being better. It's a busy place and thus must be popular and good. But, in our experience its not. Inconsistent to say the least and, poor food hygiene. After being charged different prices for the same food, the wait is unacceptable and, the food quality and presentation totally inconsistent. The staff preparing the food need hygiene training. To see ham slapped into a sandwich by hand, with no gloves, other food added then, the person walking round round touching many areas without washing her hands was revolting. Then she handed the sandwich to the waiting customer! The supposed hot food was cold and cleary re-warmed up (chips).

We've removed further stars down to 1 star. We'll try visiting again to see if there's any improvement over the next few months. If not, we'll stop being a customer and...

Awoke on bank holiday Monday to find I only had bread in for breakfast. Drove here thinking it might be open. At 09:15, the place was about 35% occupancy. I ordered the full Yorkshire breakfast, asking for extra toast—all white—to be told they only had brown. A bakery with no white bread by 09:15…

I asked for no tomatoes. Interacted with two staff members: an older woman on the till and a teenage server. Both made it clear by their demeanour they'd rather not be working on a bank holiday.

The cappuccino arrived after ten minutes—serviceable. The food followed five minutes later. Initially, I thought I’d be overwhelmed by the amount of toast (the breakfast comes with it), but on closer inspection, as a good proportion was burnt my concerns quickly faded. The slices were cut at jaunty angles and sporadically pre-buttered with margarine.

Most was cooked on a hot plate rather than a frying pan, leaving the eggs with rubbery bottoms. Despite Robertshaw’s having a butcher and selling genuinely good sausages at the main shop, these were the same cheap, fatty, gristle-packed sausages bought by the ton that you find in every greasy spoon. I usually like my bacon well done, but these rashers had the life cooked out of them—flat and flavourless. The mushrooms however were clearly tinned and microwaved, as were the inevitable and unwanted tomatoes.

The beans were Heinz and both hash browns were huge and crispy. Sadly, neither are my favourite part of a breakfast.

By the time I left, occupancy was up to around 80% so they’ll never learn to be better. I should have saved the £12 and just made toast at home....

We have been coming here for years, with the most unpredictable service ever. The odd day has been okay, then you get the more frequent times of when it isn't.

One time, back when it was table service, a particular staff member took such a disliking to us that she said she'd take our order, then nearly an hour later all tables around had been, gone and reseated, and we still weren't seen to. On other trips, the same lady would finally take our order and scowl throughout. Not sure what we did wrong really other than sit down patiently!

On our recent visit, we were served and it took 45 minutes to receive a tea and a coffee. Meanwhile, a larger group of bikers came in after us, were served hot food and drinks, and had made ready to leave yet still we were left. My wife queued up as the lady at the till laughed and joked with the bikers to ask for the drinks sorting, and as soon as she got to the front of the queue the server walked into the other room and ignored her. It took nearly ten minutes after that to get the drinks transferred into a takeout cup.

It's a shame really as the food (mainly breakfast) is nice, but then there's been several occasions where we've just been ignored by staff. We usually go in every week for breakfast during term time but we're in no hurry to have that...