Number Twelve — Restaurant in England

A group of 4 of us ate once here on 7th October, food was ok-ish across a basic cafe menu. We had jacket potatoes, water, wine and two beers.

We returned the following day 8th October for lunch after a long walk to be told that the family group I was with (6 + 13 month old infant) could not be seated together due to it being, 'the law', despite us being a single family support bubble. We didn't continue to challenge but instead asked for tables close together and were then seated, next to one another on tables of 2 with a 2 foot gap between each.

Upon being seated we removed our face coverings and started to discuss what we were planning to order, we were then told that we had to keep our face coverings on until we had food or drink on our table as this again was 'the law'. This had not been enforced the previous day and we have never had this level of pressure to keep masks on until food / drink is served in any bar / restaurant / cafe since lockdown began.

We had a lovely 4 day break in Helmsley as a family of 6+1 infant and this experience at the Castlegate Tearoom was the only negative of our 4 days.

My recommendation to them would be seek to understand their customers situations before challenging, understand the law before quoting / enforcing rules and take a leaf from your neighbouring competitors....they are a lot more relaxed and friendly and now also £78.14...

Visited Helmsley yesterday unfortunately it was raining so we popped in here yesterday. We found a table and sat down we were unsure wether it was waitress service but noticed a que at the counter we ordered a pot of tea for one a cake and i got an iced coffee and a cheese ,ham and chutney toastie, i waited a good while for both the coffee and toastie. The coffee was nearly done when i asked the young girl who kept smiling at me where was my toastie ( there seemed to be alot of staff on duty 1 serving and at least 3 floating so no excuse for terrible service) which when i got it was extremely diappointing the side salad wasnt that good ive had better and the toastie wasnt that good the thinest bit of ham i was very not impressed. For the price which was over £15.00 i was disgusted. Ive been to some cafes and enjoyed a toastie and salad in and oustside of York. So in future when i go to Helmsley i will not be coming back to this cafe....

Called in for lunch on spec. What stood out was the service provided by the front of house young people. So often, businesses recruit youngsters because they're available but don't train them well. These guys were all brilliant - engaging with every customer whilst serving really efficiently. They stood in stark contrast to the team at a well-known coffee chain earlier in the day when we stopped on the M62 - they were all nattering among themselves, with little customer focus. Tasty food here too - my coronation chicken sandwich wasn't one of those anaemic jobs the width of a sheet of paper, but a hearty affair crammed with a spicy filling. How nice to find somewhere doing the simple things so very...