Humbles Café Bistro — Restaurant in Scotland

Called in at Humbles for lunch. Unpretentious, bright premises with welcoming staff. Chose Cajun Chicken Pasta for my main course. It was possibly the best pasta dish I have ever tasted...including those I have eaten in Italy. Delicious! Good coffee to follow, with a decent range of cakes to munch on. My visit to Helensburgh was a spur-of-the-moment decision...thanks to my super lunch at Humbles, it turned out to be a very good move.

Regrettably, after having given this cafe five stars in an earlier review, I find that I must downgrade my rating to two stars following a highly unsatisfactory visit today. Called in for lunch, with the intention of once again ordering the delicious cajun chicken pasta which had so impresssed me on an earlier occasion. On arriving, my wife and I were advised that there would be a fifteen to twenty minute wait for food. That was not a particularly big issue for us. However, the wait eventually turned out to be 40 minutes after placing our order. A bit on the unsatisfactory side.

When our food arrived, my wife found that her panini was as expected...flavoursome and fresh. She enjoyed it. My cajun chicken pasta, on the other hand, told a different story. It was, in fact, completely different in nature from the version which I had enjoyed previously. The sauce, previously light and creamy, was, on this occasion, thick and overly spiced. The chicken, which on my previous visit had consisted of substantial, fresh cubes of meat, was shredded and not at all plentiful. The meal was not at all appetising, the overall impression being of a meal which had suffered as a result of the pressure on kitchen staff. I left more than half of it and left extremely disappointed.

A pity, really, that inconsistency has radically altered my view of this...

Large café looking over Colquhoun square in Helensburgh. Bright indoors thanks to the big windows, really full with tables and chairs and normally customers too. Prefer to sit outside on fairer days. Coffee is ok, its passable. Bacon rolls tasty and a reasonable price. Two warm filled rolls and hot drinks comes in at around £8-9, and they are normally served within 10-15 minutes. Tables aren't always cleared quickly enough for the turn over and there are normally a few signs of the previous customers on the table tops, if you ask they will wipe it down for you. Wouldn't say staff were particularly chatty, as others have commented, they just seem to do the basics, although I have noticed them give more attention to other customers, maybe regulars. There is a selection of baked goods but they look and taste more like they have been bought in than baked on the premises, I may be wrong. Overall not bad, nothing particularly special, handy for a...

First time the experience was great so we returned a second time 2 weeks ago and found the service much slower and when we asked about it the older waitress took offence. Still we decided to return a third time, on Friday, to give it another chance. Initially we were met by a young waitress who was very pleasant and helpful. Took our order. We sat waiting for 20 mins finally teas came but no food. Still waiting another 30 mins. No food. It was just two panini. Other customers came after us; ate and left. Still nothing for us. We noticed the lunch rush reduced with only a few customers left. But still no food for us. Eventually we lost our appetite and left. We will not be returning! Have told all our friends not to go there. There are plenty of other small cafes in Helensburgh. Found the older waitress very rude towards us. Kept blanking us and having loud happy chat with everyone else. She made us feel...