Saddlers Bakery Bistro — Restaurant in England

I'd like to report as others have that the food was great, unfortunately today this was most definitely not the case. We arrived as the cafe opened and were second customers through the door. After waiting ten minutes our orders were taken by a very sullen gent, who behaved as though he'd rather be elsewhere. The radio was on so loud we couldn't hear each other speak and the gent sang along from time to time with the odd line like he was in some grubby bar and ten sheets to the wind. After a 30 minute wait and having watched others who arrived 15-20 minutes after us getting their orders the Sadler's Cumberland breakfast arrived....almost cold ! We were so hungry we didn't want to wait yet another 30 minutes for another breakfast. At £9 I expected bread, toast and tea to be included, but only a single soggy slice of pre buttered toast was. A tea was £2.25 extra for a small pot for one and a Cappuccino £3 extra for my partner, which is frankly daylight robbery when the breakfast was so paltry. For your £9 you will get one egg (hard fried), one sausage (supposed to be Cumberland, but the size of a chipolata and burned on one side, raw on the other), this was almost devoid of flavour, much like the three leather like rashers of bacon, the frozen hash brown....which has NO place in an English breakfast, beans that were so over cooked they were just a mush paste, and the most revolting mushrooms I ever had with a breakfast cooked in oil and not butter. The black pudding was dried out and tasteless, the only thing I enjoyed was the tomatoes which were undoubtedly from a tin. We have been a number of times previously and it has been good. Their pies are particularly enjoyable, but something here is amiss. Perhaps there are unseen problems, but this really should not be reflected in the previously recommendable produce. I for one will not be returning and lament the closing of the previously much visited Blueberry's cafe, a little further down the road. The food here was far more plentiful with a full breakfast including a full rack of toast with butter and marmalade and jams supplied to a use if wanted, two genuinely Cumberland sausages, plenty of bacon, two eggs as you'd like them, beans, tomatoes fresh and fried, two black pudding slices, mushrooms fried only in butter as they should be, and an absence of horrible frozen hash browns. Add to that a huge pot of tea that we rarely finished and you have the makings of a cracking breakfast, which is what well travelled folk need when out and about in the hills, rather than just cashing in on the tourist trade, many of whom may not return ! Waitresses were always on hand if you wanted anything and were polite and courteous and the price was half of what Sadlers are now charging for...

Sandwiches and coffee both excellent. The day of our visit the Cafe was full approx 14 people. Staff apeared to be two. First time visit and unsure of how to place orders,we waited and waited a following group had their order taken and a couple had theirs taken. Eventually the member of staff took ours, a couple of coffees and two sandwiches. Coffees came whilst mine was a large one it was almost drunk before the sandwiches arrived. Prior to this we were sorting cash to leave on the table and just leave as we had now waited over 45 mins. The two sandwiches arrived, no problems in quality or quantity. If i had coffee left thay would have been even better. On this day sadly service was deplorable. We were there over an hour. Possibilly short staffed, we'll never know as no apology was offered. The group of 4 who followed us in. Were served drinks, hot food, paid and left....we were still waiting for sandwiches. Our normal cafe down in the square is closed options in Alston are few, maybe the cafe in the station is worth a try. Again ...when you get it, coffee and our food, no problem, service absalutly abysimal. ...

We were staying locally and wanted to find somewhere for breakfast. After a little walk around the village we landed on Sandler's just as it started to rain.

Our two dogs and ourselves were welcomed into the cafe.

We ordered a traditional and a vegetarian breakfast, a coffee and a pot of tea. Our drinks were brought over swiftly by a lovely friendly young girl . The cafe was quite full , and the next set of people were invited to share a table. There was a mix of locals and tourists. There was a steady flow of people collecting orders and coming for take out.

Unfortunately the food took just short of 30 mins but was very good once it came out.

Saddlers is a bakery too with choices of breads, pastry's and such. We took a scotch egg to share for our lunch which was large , it was really good!

Overall a good place for a filling breakfast to set you up for the day, with friendly staff, and at a reasonable...