The Cellar Bar — Restaurant in England

We sat at slightly sticky table to await someone to take our order as the signs promised. We seemed to be ignored while the two servers attended other tables. Customers were also going to the bar to order drinks and carry them back to their tables. This inconsistency is frustrating and it would be better and fairer to have a single policy on this. One server was taking breaks for some of the time we watched and sat on the steps in front of the entrance vaping and looking at her phone. Not a good look. That's the bad news out of the way.

Now for the good news. After drawing the attention of a server we placed our order for Dorset apple cake and Americano for me, a can of Coke for my wife who asked if they had a full ingredients list for the coffee and walnut cake. She has an intolerance to several sweeteners so has to check. The server returned with a full laminated, a nice and practical, list and as it had no red flags an order was placed for the cake.

We were told cakes were made locally. They were generously sized and delicious 😋. So many coffee and walnut cakes don't taste of coffee ! This did. Had the maker used Camp coffee, the secret to a good tasting coffee cake ?

Despite the gripes this was a very good experience although rough...

Stopped at the cellar bar for a quick pint, disappointed with how impolite senior staff are. When trying to order at the bar we were abruptly told to wait outside as it was table service. waited a short while for our order to be taken, I’m sure it would’ve been easier for staff to just serve from the bar. 4 of us purchased drinks, the other two wanted tap water. We were told that we shouldn’t sit here with just tap water, but with 4 paying guests that’s just rude, did you expect them to stand to the side of your establishment for us to finish our drinks? Drinks placed randomly on the table with little communication from waiting staff. On the whole, was a pretty frustrating experience being in the hospitality industry myself. Guinness was ok tho hence the one star. I’m sure you get enough footfall being where you are for your customer service to not matter, but if you sort it out people would want...

Lovely location spoiled by unwelcoming waitress. After a lovely visit to Monkey world I took my Dutch niece to Swanage. She was looking forward to a nice cup of EarlGrey tea. We found an empty table and I moved two glasses and wet coasters to the ledge beside the table. The waitress, without any form of cordial greeting, or smile reprimanded me and I apologetically replaced them. The earl grey tea we ordered was like dish water with two small tea bags. I asked if we could have another bag and was informed it would be £2.90. We were all shocked as never had an experience like this before. A shame as all the other places we had visited, especially the cafe at monkey world were so lovely and hospitable. There was far too much water in the pot for...