The 68 Cafe — Restaurant in England

This gem of a Cafe is located around a mile from my home and I seldom visit, this is about to change.

Today I had the best breakfast of my life. The A68 Special Large Breakfast at £11.14p it's was superb. Black pudding, two rashers of bacon, two sausages, two mushrooms, egg, beans and a slice of fried bread and one slice of toast.

Cooked perfectly, you could taste the constituent parts and not grease like other places, this is no greasy spoon, and is a roadside restaurant for those in the know. Of which there were many in attendance, regular customers were enjoying everything from toasted sandwiches, to Sunday Dinner piled high, it looked delicious.

Never fall into the trap that the A68 Cafe is a regular greasy spoon roadside cafe, it is not, it is a destination for an extensive range of quality food coupled with fantastic service. The counter was covered in an abundant arrange of fresh home baked cakes, at which customers had called into simply to purchase to take them away.

The service was cordial, cheerful and quick. Added to the comfortable immaculately clean environment that I had to enjoy my meal, added greatly to the experience.

This must be the No 1 roadside cafe in the north of England, never mind County Durham and it deserves all the accolades that it has garnered.

The old adage " you only get what you pay for" springs to mind, it was worth every single penny. And I will be back sooner...

Had been told good things about A68 Cafe so thought we'd give it a go. Upon entering youre met with numerous covid/hand san signs and instructions...yet tables arent cleaned down to a standard that matches such hygenic instruction. Was met with a rushed greeting and asked to wait whilst another lady cleaned the table (she wasnt, she was talking to the table next to it), left us stood cluttering the main doorway. After spending 5mins there finally seated (with the table cleaning lady still stood at our table talking). Picked out meals off menu's under the glass which is how the cleaning standard was truly noticed, then up to order, nearly £40 later for 2 meals and kids meal. Atmosphere in the place is strange, hard to pinpoint but it wasnt a 'this is nice' feel. Meals arrived, lumpy mash (worse than school), over cooked sausages, 2 button mushrooms (on their 'BIG' breakfast), fatty and salty bacon, cheap watery beans that were like bullets. Overall really really poor and bland tasting food, especially given the meals ordered - they should be the bread and butter of such a place.

Really...

Never been here before and friend's took us. Sunday Lunch was excellent, it was plated rather than separate bowls for vegetables. It was delicious and at only £6.90 a bargain. There was a wide selection of desserts and I opted for conflake tart and custard, made properly with the jam layer just like at school. Superb. I'm told they don't take reservations but for larger than 4 people it might be worth asking anyway. All the food is homemade. The cafe also uses 100% renewable energy so that goes in their favour and I'll be telling my eco friends. They also do a Senior Citizen menu at a reduced cost. The only downside was the children's menu & although it comes with a drink I think £6 for one course and £11.25 for 2 courses is too much as it just looked like a standard food menu. I don't know why it is that price as the adult meals were very reasonable? However, we'll definitely be visiting again just without my 6...