The Sawmill Cafe & Farm Shop — Restaurant in Great Britain

Ordinarily great, just not today. 3rd/4th visit to this generally very nice riverside cafe. Sadly, on this occasion left very disappointed. We usually love stopping off here on the way for a walk etc. but today we made a special trip, as we’d enjoyed our previous visits so much, and our children love to play in their kids corner. Whilst we were aware in advance that the menu can be somewhat limited and not overly exciting, that’s fine as what they do offer is usually served to a good standard. Today unfortunately may have been an off day. I opted for the lamb burger, which arrived almost cremated. It was tiny, with a hard black crust, extremely dry and almost inedible. I asked for another, and said if this wasn’t possible, I’d be happy with the lamb wrap, as I didn’t want to be awkward. 2 mins later, one of the members came over to the table and asked if indeed I’d be ok with the lamb wrap, which I said was absolutely fine. Perhaps the burger I’d be given previously was the last one, and seemingly the runt of the flock… Sadly the lamb wrap wasn’t an improvement. Dry, unseasoned, unspiced and generally just uninspiring. ‘Pulled shoulder of lamb’ with bits of flavourless chopped salad tomato, a bit of lettuce and some plain yogurt. Really uninteresting and such a shame. Being in the middle of Wasdale, surrounded by local farms and amazing produce, it’s such a shame that the coveted Herdwick lamb farmed on the doorstep, is done absolutely no justice in the heart of where it is produced. It should be a showcase for such a great product. Instead, even just basic cooking and seasoning seems to have gone amiss. On a positive note, the chips were excellent as always, but I was hoping to leave having eaten more than just a few chips. Really hope next time we go things...

Flawless.

Writing this a week since I visited, you can tell how much a place impresses you when you feel a genuine sense of guilt because you have waited so (too) long to write a review.

I visited 3 times last week on my visit to the lake district, scratch that maybe it was 5 times.

Why?

It pulls you in initially with its beautiful placement next to the river, it would be rude already not to visit. The farm shop is a wealth of goodies from little pots of dark chocolate truffles to "The Chefs Carrot Cake". You will see the dining area when you make the shop visit and it's picturesque! Fabulous use of space and the 360 view of the slice of perfecting where its situated just adds to it.

The service.

In this COVID 19 world 80% to 90% of business love to drop the "due to Covid" line when it comes to appalling and substandard service. To those businesses (you know who you are) I recommend visiting and asking for consultation from the Sawmill. Start to finish from the succinct and striking signage to the clear and confident communication from the staff you almost forget about the turmoil we live in at present. No delay on food arrival, constant check ins from you server. It tough work but they make it look easy.

Well done Sawmill I plan to...

Nut shell, Very poor customer service to the point we walked out. Food looked good, maybe a bit pricy.

We arrived, with no signage and observing staff taking an order we assuming it was table service, we took a seat. After waiting 4-5mins with at least 4 staff walk past us we asked for menu's, we got a very abrupt "has some one seated you", we waited another 2-3 mins for a menu. After getting a menu we waited another 10+mins with no service.

Bearing in mind this cafe aims to serve people who have been doing outdoor activities, you really want to get a refreshing drink in, having to wait nearly 20minutes to just get your order taken is very disappointing. Especially as they had at least 4 staff working, have being in catering they where not sort staffed but poorly managed.

So think how long it took just to be served, we ended up walking off before being seen to.....

The staff just looked miserable and not wanting to be there. We had as little as a simle or hello the whole time, very poor vibes and treatment.

To be honest at £8 a sandwich and £3.50 coffee it is on the pricy side.

On a positive the food looked tasty and the location was great. Just let...