Cafe Revival — Restaurant in Bristol

Hands down the worst breakfast experience ever. I have no idea how this place has a high rating. It needs to be shut down. Disgusting.

We ordered the pancakes with maple syrup for the kids to share, a vanilla chai muffin for my husband (the last baked item in the case at that time), a smashed avocado toast with bacon for myself, and coffees all for £30.

It took a good 20 minutes to receive the food, and I really wish we hadn't as it was all terrible: The muffin was stale and hard. The avocado toast was not fresh at all, the bread was stale, and the avocado tasted old and like the prepared kind you'd get from a grocery store. Also, the bacon was simultaneously undercooked and burnt (how??). But the most shocking dish of all was the pancakes. They looked nothing like the photos from other reviewers, instead they looked like the tiny premade kind you get from Aldi or Tesco, and then burnt so badly in a pan that they were hard as a rock. I was charged £8.25 for them and they were completely inedible.

I returned the pancakes and asked for a refund. The staff argued that that's how they're normally served and I told them that it's unacceptable, especially at that price. They offered to cook up another pancake to increase it to four, but how does that solve the issue that the other pancakes were burnt so hard they might as well be frisbees?

I noticed then that they had put out more baked goods in the display case, and asked to just exchange the pancakes for two slices of banana bread. It was only after passing the plates over did they let me know that they were frozen and they didn't have a microwave to defrost them.

I absolutely resent having spent money here and wish I could have it all refunded. Just avoid this place like the plague. Not...

A characterful independent café in the heart of the city with some reasonable (but not outstanding) ethical standards.

My experiences here have been very mixed: sometimes, you feel really welcome, the food arrives promptly and the coffee is lovely; other times, the food takes ages to come, the tea is disgustingly bitter (I mean undrinkable) and, on one occasion, my lactose-intolerant friend was asked to pay extra to have appropriate milk for his condition (i.e. he either had to drink his tea black or pay more for soy milk -- something the waiter only mentioned after bringing the milk). It may cost the business more to purchase soy milk, but consumer expectations are that they would provide for those with intolerances and allergies, as everywhere else does, or at least provide some warning of a heightened cost.

It's also fair to say that the seating in the top room/lounge certainly needs repairing or replacing. Stools and broken chairs are not cosy, they just offer no lumbar support and make you want to leave.

My main bugbear, however, is that they tout themselves as Fairtrade and as a little, ethical independent but if you have a coffee to go, it doesn't come in a recycled or biodegradable cup. From an ethical perspective, why should I purchase from here rather than from any of the other independents around the city? Fairtrade is fairly basic these days. Café Kino, for instance, will offer you more ethical bang for your buck.

The foundations are there and I wish them all the best, but it needs some...

Have to say it's a while since I last visited this cafe. I was disappointed. It's gone down hill. I used to meet a friend regularly and there was a lovely friendly atmostphere. Used to be a great little place to meet a friend for a coffee and/or breakfast. The first thing I noticed was how grubby it looked and felt. Supposedly renovated in 2020 but the general decor seems not to have been changed, is shabby and needs touching up. The stairs seem not to have seen a hoover in days, dirt and dust across the surface. The tables were all awry and needed clearing. When the table was eventually cleared it was wiped with a dry cloth not sprayed with Antibacterial. We had a coffee which was good but I wouldn't eat there it felt dirty. I felt embarassed I'd asked my friend to meet there. There has obviously been a change in management since last I was there (pre covid). Service was pitifully slow and the staff need serious training in customer relations. Not a smile between them. Needs vast improvement to bring it back up to standard. Won't be...