Marmadukes — Restaurant in Sheffield

I seldom post a complaint on this platform. If l do have a complaint with a venue that l visit, or a service l receive, l will speak to the venue personally. On this occasion l am doing both. My daughter has been visiting me here in Sheffield for a few days. When she and l were in town today, and were thinking of a bite to eat, she particularly wanted to go to Marmadukes as we have been there before. The food was good as was the service for the most part. But... Half way through our meal a couple came in with their cat and sat at a table near to us. The cat was in a 'pet bag' but the couple took it out and it remained on their table for some of the time that they were there. My daughter and l were horrified! I complained to the manager before we left. I told him that l didn't want to have a meal at an expensive cafe (which it is to be honest) with any cat, least of all one that was on a table near to where l was eating. Surely that must anyway be a health and safety issue? When l spoke to the manager afterwards, I was told that the couple had been told to keep the cat in the bag - which they had clearly ignored. But neither he, or any other of the staff, reminded them that that they were supposed to keep their pet in the 'pet bag'. Why anyone would take a cat to a restaurant is beyond me anyway but, if they do, there is a separate cafe in Sheffield that is specifically for cat owners. But the cafe l visited today was not billed as 'Marmadukes the Cat Café'. Personally, l would not allow any pets into an eating establishment - with the exception of guide dogs of course. My daughter and l are not anti-pet (she has a dog) but neither of us can understand why anyone would take a pet into any town. Not massively impressed with the manager's response to be honest. My daughter has worked in hospitality herself and told me that, if she had been dealing with the matter, she would have at least taken the drinks off the bill and, on reflection, I agree with her. We won't be visiting...

I'm a big fan of a good cup of coffee, and so I put in the effort to get to know a coffee shop before reviewing it. I generally avoid costa / Starbucks, not because I dislike the coffee (it's alright, what else can you say) but because smaller more independent coffee shops have character, better coffee and supporting local is always great.

I've been to marmadukes now about 5-10 times, and at first I was happy to pay the slightly more premium prices for food and coffee as the closest coffee shop to fargate is steamyard on Division street, but often if I'm on the high street I don't want to trek up there (by the way, I highly rate steamyard coffee as one of the best in Sheffield).

However, I find that everytime I go to marmadukes I'm a little more disappointed, with today's experience being one of the worst. We ordered 2 flat Whites which were lacking foam and had too much milk in. We were informed that it contained 2 shots of strong coffee but you wouldn't know it. The coffee also had a thick oily residue on it (no idea, maybe the bean but I doubt I?) and we found a hair in one. As well as this we felt a little hemmed in to the small seating areas. I appreciate that it's a small shop but the seating is not well organised.

When we payed for the bill we let the waitress know that the coffee was a little lacking, and instead she went on to say that we should drink stronger coffee and not go for a flat white. I informed her that we have been a few times and that this particular drink was not as good as flat Whites in the past... She meekly told us that she would pass this on and did little else to reassure us.

Perhaps this review is a little extensive for 2 flat Whites, but it is a premium coffee shop. Next time I will be going to the lucky fox or steamyard up the road for a better coffee and service. Or perhaps...

It's very small inside, so we were asked to join a 'sharer' table, which wasn't great. It was basically a table for 4 where they had seated two people, so we sat at the other end of the table.

The photos of the menus on here are massively outdated.

The full English breakfast is £18. The food was nice but it wasn't spectacular. Mushrooms cooked with garlic don't belong on a traditional breakfast, neither do Chipotle beans, both overpowering flavours to go with bacon, sausage and egg.

Poached eggs with avocado on toast was £12.60. For one slice of toast with 2 eggs and avocado is very expensive.

The eggs are the best thing about this place. They were very nice with bright orange yolks. They sell the eggs, so I asked for half a dozen. They advertise them in the window for 60p per egg. When she brought them over and gave us the bill, it was £4.50 for 6. Apparently the egg carton costs another 90p! £4.50 for six small eggs is ridiculous.

The staff aren't very pleasant either. As soon as our waitress realised she wasn't getting a tip, she couldn't wait to get us out and just scowled at us as we left.

All in, it was £42.50 for two of us. There are much better options available for that price. I wouldn't...