The Copper Kettle — Restaurant in England

As other users have mentioned, the service here is very hit and miss and customer service seems to be lacking in favour of focusing purely on the food, rather than having a balance. In my experience, it's been dreadful. Yes the food looks great, but what's the point if you can't access it and the service is dreadful? I wouldn't go back just for food if the rest was lacking.

Their approach to customers is very haphazard and is likely to drive business away, but that's on them. I understand that they have a loyal fan base, and that's great, but alienating anyone new, who wants to throw their money at you, makes little business sense, at least to me.

I can't comment on the food, only the poor service. I haven't had the opportunity to try the food, because the place is not accessible and, after this experience, I don't really feel like patronising a place that operates like this anyway.

There's barely any parking nearby and I have mobility issues. Most of the parking is one hour only with no return within two hours. Not their fault, but the way that they manage things, taking that fact into account, is absolutely their fault.

Their suggestions are to drive over and see if they're busy and wait in a waiting area if they're full. Not ideal, especially if we need to bring my under one year old niece with us and especially when the only parking is one hour only. They also suggested we call when near, to check if they have a table. Sorry, I'm not driving part way there and then calling. Why would I set off and make any part of the journey without knowing if we'd get a table? No. That needs to be established before we leave. I have to pick my sister and niece up and we were literally only going to come to visit you, so I'm sorry but I'm not lumping my niece about only to get turned away at the door.

I asked to book a table.

I was told that they don't do reservations and we just have to chance it. Having followed the Facebook page for some time, I already knew the place can often be full and parking is very limited and restrictive. It already made me anxious, which is why I asked to make a reservation, because it's a logistical nightmare, especially when I'm trying to take my sister and niece out too.

This is where it gets ludicrous. Their Facebook page says that the afternoon tea usually requires 24 hours notice. How does one preorder an afternoon tea for two with no guarantee of a table on the day and no reservation? Do you just order in what you need - to order - prepare it all, then turn us away on the day if you're full? Then what, you waste the food or try and sell it to someone else? It's not like you're on Too Good To Go (90 bags saved now in under a year). Not great.

Oh but now they take reservations, for afternoon tea.

I ask if they allow under one year old children, so that we can arrange for our mother to look after her if they're not child friendly, another logistical issue they couldn't care less about.

No reply for over 24 hours, but online and posting about their menu and the deli.

I'm fiercely loyal to local businesses that offer a good product and service. I will repeat visit places that are consistent - just look at my other reviews. I'm not a food critic, but I like to eat out and I have dined in hundreds of places, all across the UK. In this instance, the service has been so poor that I will never again try and give my custom to these people. Congratulations, we're now going out of town for lunch and a local business is missing out, purely down to your haphazard manner of running things, poor communication and the way in which you've made your venue inaccessible and unpleasant.

It just all felt very unorganised and a bit elitist to me. As long as they have their loyal regulars, anyone else can get lost. It just felt to me like because their food is so good, they can be as awful as they want to people without any negative impact on their business, so no need to be nice. Felt pretty pretentious and deliberately awkward.

Would have also used the deli, but want nothing to do with the...

I recently had the pleasure of visiting The Copper Kettle in Hartlepool, and I was absolutely blown away by the food. I ordered the breakfast sandwich, and it was one of the best I've ever had. The bread was perfectly toasted, the egg was cooked to perfection, and the bacon was crispy and flavorful. The sandwich was also very generous in size, so if you can't eat much you may be able to to take it home and enjoy it later.

The service at The Copper Kettle was also excellent. The staff was friendly and attentive, and they were happy to make recommendations. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great breakfast or lunch.

Here are some of the things I loved about the ultimate breakfast sandwich:

The bread was perfectly toasted. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The eggs were cooked to perfection. They were cooked just right, not too runny or too dry.

The bacon was crispy and flavorful. It wasn't greasy at all and the sausage had cheese in it. I also had hash browns and a massive peice of triangular black pudding.

The sandwich was very generous in size and had a tasty sweet relish on the top and bottom.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience at The Copper Kettle. The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great breakfast or lunch.

Here is a summary of my review:

Food: 5/5

Service: 5/5

Value: 4/5

Overall: 5/5

I would highly recommend The Copper Kettle to anyone looking for a great breakfast or lunch...

I'm not sure if we just got here on a bad day, to begin with there were no tables and we were told we could wait in a small waiting area at the back which we were happy to do. We were rather amazed at how busy it was so early and could only think that yes, this was indeed a special place, the reviews were amazing and we waited happily, looking forward to our breakfast.

We ordered the Full English. I knew as soon as the plates came out we would be disappointed and so we were.. The food was tasteless, the mushrooms undercooked, not sure what they cooked the sausages and hash browns in but they left an oily taste in the mouth for hours afterwards. The toast had barely even looked at the toaster and apart from all that..the portion size was way to small for the price. Also if you are looking for a nice peaceful breakfast...forget it...the noise levels gave me a headache 5 mins after sitting down. We...