Clarendon's — Restaurant in England

I ordered the Stilton and mushrooms on toast. I don't know about you but I rather thought I would get a nice piece of fresh bread toasted to golden perfection spread with butter and topped with juicy cooked chopped mushrooms with a little crumbled Stilton as a garnish. What I was presented with astonishingly was, Stilton and mushroom soup, 1 and a half pieces of stale part toasted part incinerated bread no butter and garnished with a side salad. I was given a fork to eat this melange with and told to dip my bread into it. My mother had ordered a jacket potato which was uncooked in the middle and served in a gratin dish. I spoke to a waitress, (the service from the staff was fine) and asked for the manager as I wanted to tell her why I wouldn't be paying for the food. Eventually a woman appeared with a face like thunder announcing she was the owner. She was extremely curt and made no apology for the food other than to say nobody else had complained about the dish although because of comments from the day before they had stopped putting the cheese concoction on to the toast as the customer advised them that the bread had disintegrated! (Clearly I was not the first to complain) She did agree that we didn't have to pay but her aggressive demeaner and open hostility has ensured that we shan't be visiting this cafe again. As other reviews have mentioned, this coffee shop has some weird offerings on its menu and perhaps should stick to coffee and cake. I would also advise whoever does own this business to send the aforementioned woman on a customer...

What a disappointment. We got seated easily and the waitress who took our order was friendly and prompt, so that was a good start. But when our drinks arrived, the waitress (a different one) plonked the tray on our table, said, “Here’s your drinks.” and walked off. The espresso-based coffees were very poor: the latte was like hot milk and the flat white was like filter coffee with a dash of foamed hot milk. The tea was served in a stainless steel pot, the lid of which was very hot and too tightly-fitting to open, so it was impossible to mash the tea to get it strong enough. There’s only one (unisex) toilet, so we ended up using the public toilets out on the main street, rather than queuing for ages in a standing area that means you’re blocking access to the kitchen. And while we were having our drinks a group of 8 people arrived with a prior reservation which none of the staff knew...

I recently visited Clarendons Cafe in Barnard Castle with my family for breakfast and had a wonderful experience. I ordered the French toast with raspberries and the avocado with poached eggs, both of which were absolutely delicious. The poached eggs were perfectly cooked, and the French toast was to die for.

It was all extremely well presented. I wish I lived locally so I could visit more frequently!

The overall value for the quality of the food and the service was excellent.

The waitress was also lovely and attentive, which added to the overall positive experience.

My family also enjoyed their meals, and we all left feeling satisfied and ready to start our day.

Overall, I highly recommend Clarendons Cafe for a delicious and satisfying breakfast. I cannot wait to visit...