Chesters By The River — Restaurant in England

Upon arrival at this place, it's hidden away. The food selection alongside the cakes is very attractive, and one of the reasons I came to the lakes from Durham for the day. However what a disappointment it was, as I will explain. There's minimal customer service here, and when a customer who's clearly not from the area, asks for a napkin or tissue, you would expect especially the manager, who I didn't know was at the time, to be more than happy to assist, and not say "they are over there with a smug attitude" which was appalling. I also explained to the same manager later, one of the cakes I bought, was too sickly and tasted disgusting, and being a chef, I should know. I was met by the same manager saying "well everyone buys that cake, and no complaints," and same smug attitude. I don't care, I'm a customer, who is totally unique from everyone else, who is not happy, and you shouldn't as a manager argue with the customer. I felt inwardly, she was a very insecure, feminist that clearly has a problem with masculine men like myself, I could just read her like a book, like the majority of our woke society today that has a chip on the shoulder, so to speak, which is her problem and her let down as a person. It's rare these days to meet a confident lady, who acts like a lady. Also before I even encountered any of this, I overheard a woman in the gift shop, who works there, talking about the universe talking back to her, I thought to myself, this is what happens when you smoke drugs, and drugs are for mugs, goes the old saying. So I'm sure a picture has been created and my advice is, don't waste your time coming here, as there are plenty of better ones within the lakes, as they don't care about customer service! It's not about the money, it's all about...

Bitter sweet visit for us ! We use to often visit hear a good few years ago but for many reasons we haven't visited the lakes for 7 years or so... We always loved it hear and always made it a priority to visit after a long walk! So we were excited to visit again on our holiday last week! Unfortunately there seems to of been a few changes and I can get past all the takeaway set up for reasons they have given etc etc but for me personally I struggled to understand there vegan stance this made lunch options difficult with two fussy small children which only left us with pizza and chips... which is fine but not what a family of walkers really wanted for lunch, and the family we chatted with next to us had the same issue ! 😕 I know this is my own opinion and seems to be at odds with the way the world is going but I feel it would be a lot better for the world and the local economy if they supported the local farms ! Within meters there is lamb, beef, milk, eggs the list goes on. It made me feel very sad knowing this, all these amazing local products not being used 😢 there is literally no transport involved vs the miles and miles the vegan equivalents are coming from ! I'm not against vegan but I think there should be a choice especially when dealing with a rural cafe in one of the best farming areas in the country!!!!

On the other hand the cakes we had were incredible! I can't fault them at all !! The kids saying it was the best cake they had ever had !

For us, from now on we will skip lunch here and perhaps just stick to tea and cake !

This place now seems more suited to the drive by lake district visiter in there posh electric car.... for me they have lost there way and given into...

While i haven't been to Chesters for a year or two, we have been going to Chesters for over 15 years and we were very happy they survived covid and shifted to vegan and vegetarian. We have always had excellent service and "home made" healthy meals here.

They have shifted more to a take away approach with paper cups and utensils, etc. And perhaps due to their popularity, they remained more of a take away after covid just to serve all the people that go there. It is always packed, and often difficult to find seating inside or outside... so the takeaway approach allows them to serve more people perhaps. Otherwise, we would be waiting an hour to get our food and a table. We often buy things from the espresso side and bakery and bring them to the other side to get lunch and have never had a problem. But definitely don't go if you can't adapt to "takeout" approach. Never bothered us after covid. Many of our favorite restaurants, still are mostly takeaway model years after covid.

Absolutely an oasis for vegetarians! Great expresso, amazing jelly donuts on designated days, fantastic breads and pastry, and a great salad selection as well as many other dishes. Set on a beautiful river. You can eat indoors or outside. We go hiking and go back for our next meal. Yes, a bit pricey... and the bathrooms are definitely not adequate for the amount of people... not cleaned often enough. But we go for the excellent food and coffee. Nice little gift shop also inside the building for rainy days.

Going to get back soon. Still...