Jailhouse Café — Restaurant in England

The Jailhouse Café is one of Portland more unusual tourist spots. Run by charity Expia, it is a café based within HMP The Verne on where prisoners cook and serve the food in a bid to further their rehabilitation, give ex-offenders new job prospects and skills and also help prisoners to make reparation for their crimes.

Walking into the cafe, There are plenty of tables inside and outside, a counter to order your food from and an area where you can purchase Jail House merchandise. The on right side of cafe. This also includes flower baskets made by the inmates.

The cafe is very light and pletty of space inside and out. Theres pletty of seating in and outside. It's was very clean and staff was friendly and helpful.

I took my pops there for breakfast [not the first time]. We aim to get there around 10.30am, as normally 11-11.30am it gets busy and it did get very busy, being out the way.

The food gov'ner breakfast fully pack piping hot and was really lovely. Prices are good value. Theres pletty on the menu, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus daily specials.

5 star hygiene rating.

Outside pletty of seating and beautiful views looking over Portland harbour and in the distance on a clear day see weymouth beach ⛱️.

Pletty of disabled parking,...

We went for lunch today. Sat outside admiring the stunning views and after a while realised our order was taking a long time. Extremely apologetic staff explained the wind blew all of the orders from the kitchen and they thought they got them all but ours must have been missed! They quickly made our order and offered us free drinks and an upgrade to cheesy chips for the inconvenience. We assured them it wasn't an inconvenience, it just gave us more time to take in the views and relax! Then the most perfectly cooked (huge) bowl of cheesy chips showed up, along with delicious paninis, salad and coleslaw. We couldn't eat everything and staff boxed up the rest for us. As we left, staff were still apologising and offering us drinks, ice creams! We couldn't fault a thing. Customer service as it should be, delicious food and views to die for. We can't wait to return! Thank you ladies, you...

This a gem of a place. I found out about it after my daughter visited a client at the Verne and recommended a visit. The approach to the cafe was itself great fun. About a mile of zig-zagging up hill with stunning views of the coast. Access is through a tunnel controlled by traffic lights so don't be put off by thinking you aren't allowed in.

Unfortunately the coffee machine wasn't working when we went so only filtered on offer. But normally a full range is on offer. We didn't eat there, but the breakfasts coming out of the kitchen looked delicious. Prices were low -£1.50 for a mug of filtered coffee. Staff were efficient and friendly. This little cafe is definitely on our return list. If you're brave you could probably walk up from the main road to appreciate the views. I'll stick...