The Reading Room at The Barlow — Restaurant in England

This is normally one of our favourite cafés to visit but after a terrible visit yesterday we won't be returning.

We ordered jacket potatoes with tuna, which took almost an hour to arrive on a Wednesday lunchtime (the cafe was barely half full). When they did, they were hard inside. We returned them to the counter and asked for them to be made into sandwiches instead as we had a newborn baby with us and had already waited a long time. We were told that was no problem by the man at the counter. While we were waiting one of the kitchen staff came to our table and told us there was nothing wrong with the potatoes, they had been cooked for twenty minutes and she had probed them with a thermometer before serving. She reported she was going to serve them to someone else. Her attitude was rude, and there was no offer of compensation or apology . She told us our order was at the back of the queue of other customers. We were also not offered the difference in cost back as we had paid more for jacket potatoes than sandwiches. Food that has been sent back should not be served to other customers.

This was my first outing/lunch out with my newborn baby, which I was hoping would be a special occasion, but instead, we left disappointed and upset by the service and the way we were spoken to. Would...

Something has gone very badly wrong with this place and it needs fixing quickly. The service we received today was appalling numerous things were wrong dirty glass and hours wait with no apology. Things missed from my grandaughters lunch box meal. The apple in it looked like it had been kicked around the kitchen it was so badly bruised. They begrudgingly changed. I've been here before and it's been nice. It's a shame it's a community cafe that's normally lovely but today was bad and the place was filthy it isn't usually. I hope they...

I called in on a Sunday morning to try a breakfast. It is reasonably priced at £9.95 when you look at what is on the plate, which comes with 2 slices of toast and a tea or coffee as well. I had another coffee which I believe was about £2.40 alone so the breakfast is good value. I am no coffee aficionado but found it to be very good quality and will call again for another sometime. The staff are plentiful and are always on hand...