Cafe Mustard — Restaurant in England

Popped in recently for a quick bite on the way to the train station.

Pros: ++ Open on a Sunday. ++ Polite, welcoming and friendly staff. ++ Fast service. ++ Free Wi-Fi. Charming interior deco and a nice atmosphere. Warm interior lighting was easy on the eyes. Very short walk from the nearby train station.

Cons: Honestly it was a little too cramped to call cozy.

-- I was really looking for a tasty and healthy drink option like iced tea or aloe vera juice or something but it was just the same-old same-old selection of sugar-laden fizzy drinks which was disappointing. They did recommend a pomegranate drink I wasn't familiar with, but personally I'm just not a fan of pomegranate.

-- The Panini set was sadly pretty dire. The overall portion size looked adequate, tasted fine, was served piping hot and certainly looked appetizing enough but there was probably less than half of the filling than I would have expected for the price. A few wafers of roast beef, some cheese and about as much red onion particulate as you'd find in a thrice-distilled homeopathic tincture. Seriously there was like one, maybe even two hair-fine strands of red onion and the fries were a bit spindly too. Salad tasted fine. Overall it didn't feel like great value for money to be honest, I was expecting something a bit more substantial. As a suggestion, you might exchange the fries for fewer but chunkier chips, or eliminate the fries entirely for just a larger Panini and the side salad. Then again perhaps my perception of cost is simply being left behind the times due to inflation and I should find a greasier spoon.

In conclusion whether it's a hit or miss is hard to say for me at this point and straddles the line between. There's plenty of other cafés in the area, so if I'm in Macclesfield again in the future I'll probably try elsewhere, although their menu listing a Full English breakfast, Eggs Benedict and the Eggs Royale certainly did catch my attention and will be kept in mind for the future if I'm ever...

The cafe has quite reasonable prices, I paid £7.75, I think, for a bacon, brie and cranberry sauce panini. It came with fries and salad and it's was so nice. I actually really enjoyed my panini, I thought I would, but I wasn't sure as I'd never had cranberry sauce before. It wasn't overbearingly cranberry tasting or too sweet, it was just the perfect amount. The fries weren't all floppy like I sometimes expect when I get fries from a cafe, they were actually yummy and crispy. The salad had what I think was balsamic vinegar on top, or something similar. They provide table service for ordering and when you're ready to pay, you just go up to the counter. I was greeted as I walked in and provided with a menu and all the staff were lovely and polite with smiles on their faces. I didn't see any toilets in the cafe, but I didn't ask, I just presumed they didn't have any for customers since the place is so small. I may be wrong though. I definitely recommend this place to anybody that hasn't been and I will definitely be going back here...

Food was lovely. Top notch. Star off for the mean boss lady - ordering and stressing her staff, who were lovely and knew what they were doing. But she kept pushing them to clear the tables, which led them to pick up plates, even when other people at the table were still eating. Or if food wasn't fishished. Her tone towards the staff made me feel stressed and not welcome. I get this is the business and people want to do their best, but really, there is no need to instill so much fear into your staff. A smile and relaxed atmosphere, even if tables get cleared a split second later, would have been...