The Knowes Eatery and Coffee House — Restaurant in Scotland

Popped in for lunch, this new team have just taken over from the hoot 'n' cat. It's a little way from the town centre but literally just a 5 minute walk. There's a large carpark in front of it which is great. We had reserved a table as we knew lunchtime would be busy. Though it was busy it wasn't noisy, lovely and warm with great food and friendly staff. The food is made fresh for every order. There are 2 homemade soups, sandwiches with a range of bread choices, soup and sandwich combo, specials and jacket potatos. There are a large choice of cakes and scones. The prices are decent as well, representing good value in my opinion. I chose the bacon, brie and cranberry panini. It was full of filling and tasted great, it came with a lovely salad and homemade coleslaw and crisps. I opted for a piece of chocolate cake. Lordy it was gorgeous, really chocolatety but not sickly sweet. I opted to get a piece of jammy dodger blondie to bring home and it was just as nice. Lovely latte as well. Good luck to the new team, I think...

Been twice in the past six months and have to say I’ve been disappointed on both occasions. Service is ok orders taken swiftly but that’s when things start to disappoint. It’s a fairly simple menu on offer so would expect that an order for soup and a sandwich would be filled reasonably quickly. The cafe was busy but not to the point that every table was taken and there appeared to be adequate numbers of staff. After waiting over half an hour I asked if I could pay for my drink and forget the food order. At that point the kitchen called out our table number and we decided to stay. However we were informed that the soup we ordered had run out and were offered an alternative and the sandwich came on white bread when brown was ordered. Staff were apologetic but I think I’ll be trying alternative hostelries...

We've had a nice lunch here a few months ago. Breakfast this time was almost inedible. Poached eggs were overcooked, I don't believe the smashed avocado was actually avocado (I suspect out of a tub), and toast was warm bread. My wife's mushrooms looked weeks old. The coffee & tea were nice, plus the service. But nobody asked how our food was until I went to pay - at that point, there's 6+ people queuing at the till around me, so saying the food was terrible would have been very impolite. Instead, I've fed back via friends of friends to the owners.

But please up your game Knowes. Breakfast in Kelso on a Monday is a gap in the market. Do much better, and you'd have a great opportunity to...