The Canteen — Restaurant in Stroud

Very average food, for a very inflated price. Went here whilst passing through to go to the circus as we spotted it from a carpark. The decor etc is really cool and the vibe of the place was nice, with lovely staff. It's such a shame the food didn't live up to it, which is odd given the generally good reviews. Just under £10 each for a very naff sandwich with some extremely over-oiled, tasteless salad and £12 for a piece of spinach and feta pie, again, with an obligatory, tasteless salad. We wanted the pie to share between us to accompany the sandwiches as it sounded so good (and it was very very good, and much better than our sandwiches), but we were told it had to come with the salad, which we didn't want, resulting in food waste. It was also £12 which was massively overpriced given the portion and had we have realised the price before paying, we probably wouldn't have had it. The sandwiches were very average. The gochujang mayo pulled pork and slaw baguette was one of the worst I've ever had. The bread was very cold, dry and looked like/tasted it should've been cooked beforehand (like an uncooked part-baked roll you can buy in Tesco), or that it had been there from the day before. The pork wasn't pulled, it was cooked pork, chopped into small pieces and the gochujang mayo just tasted like mayo with a hint of a colour change. I couldn't taste the gochujang at all, although this could also perhaps be because there wasn't much pork with the mayo in the baguette at all, and was more slaw than anything. The salmon and cream bagels I were told were 'ok' without a lot of enthusiasm, but I can't comment further as I didn't try them. They did, however, look like a lot more cream than salmon, and quite small for the money. The salad was, well, some oil (not quality olive oil either), with some different varieties of leaves thrown into it. It was drowning and inedible. It wouldn't hurt to have some oil, salt and balsamic vinegar on tables for people to dress their own lettuce leaves. Anyway, it's a shame that £54 later we felt a bit robbed that we'd also wasted 4 piles of lettuce leaves and enough oil to...

Update: Went for lunch 14/10/2023 and I've had to downgrade my original 4-star rating to only 2! The Canteen has gone thru' a supposed reconfiguration but has subsequently lost its lovely cosy feel along the way. Whereas it was once quirky, it is now just tatty. Its sofas don't work well in the alternative space and only take up unnecessary room and the rearrangement of old tables and chairs don't help.

In fact, a trestle table broke and collapsed while a family were using it! Thankfully no-one was hurt but I bet they were shaken up! It made a terrible noise with drinks spilling everywhere.

You have to choose a table before placing your order. At the till you have to recognise your table on a map to say the table number for your order but in practice this is shambolic. If visiting on your own, how do you nab a table if you don't have anything to leave behind, say a coat, on a chair or the table itself? Even if there's 2 or 3 of you, you all have to go to the counter to see/read what's on offer and individually if splitting the cost. All so time consuming - and the order(s) take a fair amount of time to materialise (altho' this was always the case but with an "upgraded" kitchen one hoped it would have improved).

All this would have been bearable if the food had been good but it really wasn't! We both ordered baguettes filled with bacon, brie and cranberry sauce. The "baguettes" were more akin to doughy sub rolls. The bacon was precooked and cold and greasy. The brie hadn't been warmed to melt alittle. They were so unappetising I left most of mine. At a total of £17 for food alone, it was a total waste of money + to add insult to injury much of the cutlery was dirty and needed a proper wash!

All in all a very disappointing visit and, unless we hear otherwise from friends that at least the food's returned to a good standard, we won't be going back.

This is my original review from some time ago:- Been here for lunch a number of times when visiting Nailsworth. The food is consistently good and I'll definitely be going...

My wife & I tried The Canteen for the first time and pretty disappointed. After navigating through narrow corridors and stairs which were in urgent need of restoration, we arrived at the till area Where I ordered 1 latte coffee and 1 tea. It was brought to our table in what can be described as a back yard. The latte was ok but a pretty small cup , the tea was in the same size cup with hot water plus tea bag. Milk was supplied in a small jug. I was very surprised when I looked at my credit card statement to see I had been charged £5.35 , way over even Costa prices . I visited a coffee shop in Cirencester the next day with the same order, the coffee was served in a tall glass cup , twice the size of the Canteens cups, the tea was served in a teapot which supplied 2 cups and I was charged £4.60 . I realise that the Canteen hasn’t been trading for 3 months, but it’s a false economy to try and recoup lost earnings off local pensioners like us. Needless to say, we will be avoiding the Canteen...