Café Bistro — Restaurant in Surrey Heath

My friend is very poorly at present and undergoing ongoing hospital treatment so, for a treat, I thought it would be nice to take her for lunch. Wetherspoons in Camberley was closed for a refurb so we went to Cafe Bistro instead. They had various sandwiches etc on their lunch menu but, as my friend is rather limited on what she can eat at present i.e not too many stodgy carbs, we ordered 2 paninis and my friend ordered a peach iced tea. I would have had a rose wine but, as they only had red or white wine on offer, I ordered a tap water instead.

When the food arrived, we realised that the paninis weren't actually paninis - they were actually baguettes that had been warmed up. Consequently, they were fairly dry and stodgy as didn’t have much filling and, overall, were pretty unappetising and, at the end of the day, they were not what we had ordered! I went up to the counter to ask the waitress why we had been served baguettes instead of paninis, to which she informed me that they “cut the ends off and flatten the baguettes when they heat them up” which is what apparently makes them paninis! When I said that if I go to Tesco and buy paninis, they are different to baguettes, she handed us over to the owner who, in a very confrontational manner, asked “what’s the problem?”. When I asked why we had been served warm baguettes rather than paninis, he told me that “he’s been running the business for 10 years and I am the first person to complain about the “paninis”!!!

I was naturally upset with the owner’s lack of compassion, courtesy and customer service but didn’t cause a stir as I didn’t want to upset my friend or our afternoon out, so we just left.

I would also like to point out that the peach iced tea was half a pint in size and half full of ice so I do believe that £4 was pretty steep in price! All in all, it cost £18 for 2 paninis (aka heated up baguettes i.e. lots of bread and very little filling) and 1 half-full drink which I felt was extremely over-priced.

Having worked in business (including hospitality) for many years as well as being a hotelier and restaurant owner too, I very much believe in a) managing customers’ expectations and b) giving / receiving good customer service so I have therefore decided to leave this honest review, so that others can be forewarned.

Suffice to say, we will not be returning to this establishment and do not recommend it to other as, all in all, it was an extremely disappointing experience. Considering his poor level of customer service in the café, let’s see what response the owner comes back with shall we? I predict it won’t...

Appalling Customer Attitude I have lived in Camberley for over 40 years, and where possible try to support small local businesses. I have used Café Bistro at Camberley Station before and it has aways been ok, if not excellent. I am not normally in the habit of writing negative reviews, but yesterday, Sat 2nd August was not satisfactory. In summary, we were a mixed group of 4 adults, 2 dogs and 2 babies with pushchairs. • Arrived about 1.0 pm (Google - Café closes at 2pm on a Sat) • Looked at the menus, and ready to order about 1.15pm • Just before we got up to order, they put a backboard on the counter to say the kitchen was now closed • Went up immediately to see if they would take the order, but they were adamant that they would not as the kitchen was closed (“because the board says so!!”), and they could not change that (who’s in charge??) And that they had a back log of orders (an easy excuse, but the café was not that full??) • No apology, very unhelpful and very poor attitude including as to where else we could go (with dogs) etc.. In summary they did not give a damn. Really!! They could see we were there, why could they not have come over and said the kitchen is closing soon, and taken the order? They had plenty of staff to do so. So after having been comfortably seated and settled, 4 adults, 2 dogs and 2 babies had to up stick, decamp and find somewhere else to go. What a way to run a business!! I was in business for 40 years and thought customers were important. Businesses, especially local ones, rely on reputation, good will and loyal customers too. But maybe times...

UPDATED AUG23: We gave breakfast another go today, and I'm very glad we did. The cooked breakfast was much better than when we first tried it a couple of months ago, and the pancakes are a nice addition to the menu. Great portion sizes too - kids' pancakes you get two, and a large portion is four, and they're fluffy, filling pancakes. Coffee is still very nice 👌🏻

Excellent service, despite the chap working doing both front of house and cooking when we were in. They've added a lot more toys to the kids' area, so loads for little ones to play with and it's now enclosed in a large playpen.

The ice creams are also absolutely delicious. Good range of flavours (including vegan options) and generous scoop sizes 😋 👍🏻

ORIGINAL REVIEW JUN23: We went for breakfast this morning. The cafe feels lovely and modern, and there's plenty of space for buggies etc. There's a small corner dedicated to some toys for little ones, and dogs are also welcome.

The service was excellent and the coffees really nice. I'm afraid we weren't blown away by the food - it certainly wasn't bad, but not a standout for me. It was reasonably priced - under £20 for two large coffees, two small breakfasts and a kid's drink. The afternoon menu looks nice, so I will definitely go back to try some other things, but I probably won't bother going here for...