Grindleford Station Cafe — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

After a torrential nights sleep and a strenuously long hike, this was not the place for an enjoyable meal.

Albeit it’s only a few minutes walk from Padley Gorge hiking areas, that remains to be the only redeeming factor to this cafe. Upon entrance, I could see the cafe was manned with 2 staff. One woman at the counter, and one male as the chef. Initially, I didn’t feel welcomed, the woman wasn’t necessarily rude, but seemed uninterested, on her phone, and blunt when asked about certain meal items.

The most alarming event so far, was whilst I was ordering, my friend alerted to me that he saw the chef scrape some of the leftover baked beans from a customers plate back into the pan to cook/re-heat. This was utterly appalling to hear and must break several health and safety regs. Unfortunately our food had already been ordered and we couldn’t turn around now.

I ordered a veggie burger, chips and a can of coke. This came to 9£. The food came within 5-7 minutes, however it was served on a nearby server table in which the chef places it there. The chef calls out your number and you collect yourself. This is not the only thing you collect either, cutlery, condiments, salt etc. The vegetarian burger was very hard and tasteless. My friend’s order was incorrect. So far, not so good.

Then to my displeasure, I found out we had to take our plates down the hallway, and leave on a table, right next to the toilets, for the chef to collect and clean. This being the chefs source of baked beans! By the end of our meal, there were around 10 plates and several mugs awaiting to be cleaned. It was not busy either.

For 9£, there is no value. Tasteless, just edible food. Blunt, uninterested and generally poor customer service. Outrageous hygiene health + safety concerns also.

I will not be returning, and I do not recommend to anyone!

I’ve given this 1 star, but if I could give 0, I...

Grindleford Station Café is an amazing country café with some great history behind it.

I visited on a Wednesday afternoon and you'd have thought it was a weekend! Inside and outside seating was rather filled up by bikers, walkers, cyclists, there was even a school trip of young children and their teachers there. I've previously just had to walk by this café as they used to be only open on weekends however they seem to have found the manpower to be open 7 days a week which is amazing! The people and food here is lovely, my receipt says Megan served me when I went so thank you to Megan.

The portions are very very generous indeed, fortunately I'd done a 5 mile walk before my visit which proved to be well needed. A jacket potato with beans and cheese & a small chips didn't take long at all, you're given a ticket with a number which they shout out and you go and take your food from the window to the kitchen. A small chips will easily feed 2-3 people, I'd be very interested to see what a large chips is from here.

There's plenty of walking opportunities to be had in the surrounding area too. I love the history behind this place as told on the Grindleford Station Café website, it was built in 1898 after the completion of Totley Tunnel. If you sit outside you can get a front row seat to the railway line and entrance/exit of the tunnel, there's plenty to see. During busier periods you won't be without a train passing by for no longer than 15 minutes.

I definitely recommend this lovely place to anyone, whether you've just come off a train at the station or you're doing a walk in the sprawling green landscape full of nature & wildlife nearby. One particularly important thing to remember is that this cafe...

I don't think this business realises how many customers they are missing out on by not accepting cards. Was just here to catch the train and thought it might be nice to get a cuppa and something to eat (not all customers are well prepared hikers). A huge sign at the till had me head straight back out again. "Cash only" - it said. Oh well...They might be in for a surprise once they realise that all the baby boomers have only a limited amount of time on this planet and another generation is following

Edit in response to the owner:

I understand your plight but I would suggest you give it another try. Mobile signals and card payment systems are being improved all the time and I am not sure when you tried to implement electronic payment but I had full 4G signal next to your cafe so it might be worthwhile trying again. It seems to work in Edale and many other places in the Peak District. Instead of the existing rude signage all over the cafe to tell your guests "not to do this and that" it would be helpful for guests to politely explain on your Cash Only sign what the issues are, you are facing - maybe another savvy business owner might just have a tip for you, or two. In 2019 a review will be posted on the world wide web, if you like it or not. And people will not just review the food, there is more to a business - 45 years ago that might have been different - nowadays Businesses have no choice but to keep up with new technology and also, the newer generation. Banks (which are often run by people of your own generation) have decided to do away with cash machines and that's just an unfortunate sign...