Cafe Gate — Restaurant in England

Not a warm welcome here...(I would highly recommend "The Marmalade" which is a short distance away.)

I am not local, but I came by because of the excellent reviews I had read about Cafe Gate. The cafe is small and it was busy, but as I walked in there was no smile or a "hello" to be had, and the looks I received from the chef/gentleman behind the counter and the waitress felt like I was doing something wrong simply for walking through the door. There was no "What would you like?" or "How can I help?" (I've worked in the catering business before and I know it's easy to get flustered, but you still manage to give even the simple "Hi" with a smile.) I simply...

When we went in, two ladies were stood behind the till and didn’t look up for 2 minutes to recognise me and my partner were stood there waiting to order / pay only to be told it’s a serviced cafe and we should just take a seat. After that, we waited 6 minutes for a waitress to come out and then a further 17 minutes for our food. Bear in mind it was only a panini and a sandwich and the rest of the cafe was empty. Firstly, the portion sizes on the side salad were abysmal and the main items themselves were not appealing or tasty at all. I could get over all of that. But then when we paid, it was about £18! For a panini and a sandwhich! Just an overall bad...

Couldn't fault the service in this quaint little cafe with views of one of the nicest streets in Chester. The waitress tending to us was warm and helpful - she pointed out that there is a lunch offer available. Both my sister and I went for the soup and sandwich combo, with a cappuccino to start us off. We had the brie, avo and red onion chutney sandwich and the prawn marie rose and avo sandwich. The portion size was generous, food was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience. We spent about 1.5 hrs there! I will be coming back for sure, and...