Joey's Cafe — Restaurant in England

I’ve thought several times about posting this but decided to do so after much deliberation.

I have been visiting this cafe for 4 years when I go to the local campsite each year. I’ve always found the coffee and pasties good and a nice breakfast treat to start a long walk with. The food is a little more hip and tasty than very traditional foods of the area and the seating area outside is fun. I have ZERO probls with it being vegan and vegetarian so that is NOT any issue here.

However, on this occasion, my boyfriend ordered an Indian style pasty and a coffee . Upon paying and coming back to our table, he noticed that it had been definitely reheated, because the pasty pastry was soft and soggy as is typical of microwaving pre-cooked food especially pies and pasties . He also noticed that the fancy little rice paper logo on top had been removed. He liked the little printed logos as he thought they were good attention to detail. Thinking nothing of it though, he bit into it. It was the wrong pasty, so he immediately took it back. He had been giving the vegan beef style pasty. Thankfully there was no arguing with staff but there was a wry “oh do you know I was thinking it wasn’t quite the right one!”

An hour later into the walk he vomitted after telling me he “could sleep for an hour or two” after becoming very drowsy. Whilst we don’t suspect it was food poisoning we DO think the reheating (microwaved) seitan vegan beef style protein chunks mioght have changed in their food structure and it created some kind of allergy. Bottom line is I have every reason to believe they had tried to fob off a reheated one day old wrong pasty on us … just to get rid of it quickly and thinking we’d go away. The “marked pasty” ( remember that someone had taken the little rice paper logo off) and the fact it HAD been microwaved amidst the “do you know!?” somewhat wry comment from the female member of staff.

So here’s an idea, Joeys. A top tip, if you will. Instead of selling microwaved reheated pasties to customers at full price, why not offer a little discount “special offer cold pasty from closing last night £2.50”. Plenty of walkers or campers on tighter budgets would love that and probably by a warm one too! Like other more reputable places do? But above all - certainly don’t try off loading them onto unsuspecting punters simply to get rid of them. If I see an improvement I will remove or update...

Joeys' is a vegetarian cafe (virtually vegan bar offering dairy milk) and we visit every time we visit the Lakes which is quite regularly and it would not be the same if we didn't. Its in the grounds next to Wray Castle (also worth a visit) and there is plenty of parking and outdoor space. Inside the cafe is lovely and welcoming with cosy corners to sit and a fantastic selection of vegan cakes as well as sandwiches, stews, soups, vegan ice cream and vegan products available to buy. The menu changes regularly so you never know what you'll be eating, but that's all part of the fun.

We visited in November and had a golden beetroot and horseradish soup with sourdough and two chocolate caramel slices. Our last visit in December we went for brunch as they had Bam Bam toast on the menu, consisting of sourdough topped with peanut butter, chia seeds, cacao nibs, toasted coconut flakes and dessicated coconut and maple syrup. A large coffee to go with our Bam Bam toast and we were in heaven. We took two chocolate brownies away with us for later and they were divine.

On a weeks stay in Bowness in February 2024 we visited both Joeys Cafe at Wray Castle and at Claife Viewing Station and both are equally as fantastic as the other. The food is vegan which seems to annoy some reviewers but good food is good food and if you don't like the huge selection of cakes they offer, I really don't know where else you could find better they are delicious. On our Wray Castle visit with friends, they had soup, vegetable stew, pasties, sausage rolls, sandwiches and a variety of plant milks. We ordered two vegetable stew, a loaded nachos, coronation chickpea sandwich and a saag aloo pasty. The food was gorgeous, delicious and very moreish and we thought good value for money and good sized portions.

On our Claife Viewing Station visit we had coffee and cakes, a spicy ginger cake and a lush piece of caramel slice. The bakery team make all the cakes at Wray Castle and certainly know how to bake, I am always amazed by the selection of cakes.

Do give Joey's at either location a try and I for one can't wait to revisit when next back...

Overpriced and underwhelming. Stopped in for some lunch after visiting Wray castle (which is fantastic). My wife ordered the soup and naan bread costing £8, for that price you would assume to get a whole naan but unfortunately was only given half of a very thin flatbread. I tried to order one of the pasties, I was told that they currently out and would take 20mins for another batch to come out the oven so was convinced by the server to pay twice the price for the nachos. For £10 paid I was expecting a decent portion, however after still waiting for 20mins to receive my food, I was given a small box with a handful of nachos which had gone soggy under a spoonful of wet beans in tomato sauce, topped with something referred to a "sheese" which I can only assume is meant to resemble cheese but tasted of nothing and would not have known was there if I hadn't seen the rubbery white flecks. For dessert we opted for a brownie, but at £5 a slice we split one between us and I'm glad we did as although it looked enticing on display it was so dry it tasted more like desert than dessert and only finished because we were so hungry from the measly portions for mains.

Another aspect of the cafe I found bizarre was despite appearing to pride themselves on being environmentally friendly, even when eating in everything was served in disposable containers. I appreciate it was marked as compostable however this still has a considerably higher carbon footprint and less pleasant eating experience than the traditional method of washing up cutlery and crockery. It would also have been nice to have meat and real cheese options for those omnivorous customers wanting to eat something a little more substantial. Lastly don't let this farce of a cafe put you off visiting a fantastic National Trust, just bring a packed lunch to enjoy in their...