Magpie Café — Restaurant in Whitby

Genuinely shocking experience here yesterday. The vegetarian options are all £16 at least, but are pre-prepared ready meal type food, like a vegetable pasta bake for £16, Mushroom Stroganoff £16. More expensive than the fish. I come in, as a pescetarian, craving fish & chips as one does on the coast - only when we sat down did I see that Magpie fish is fried in Beef Fat. The veggie options are disgusting too - anyone who has worked in food service knows not to order stroganoff etc, as it'll be reheated fridge fodder. If I'm paying £16 for a vegetarian option, it better not come out of the microwave.

What really shocked me though, was how unprofessional our waiter was. He asked one person on our table of three if we were ready to order: we clearly were not ready, two still looking at a menu and hesitating when he asked if we were ready - and he didn't wait to hear any other answers before taking that one food order. I explained when he looked expectantly at me that I was not even sure if I'd be staying to eat here, the fish was cooked in something I'm unable to eat: he looked fed up at this point and explained that he couldn't put through just one order for a potential table of 3, so would have to delete the order off and come back when we were ready. Obviously this annoyed the one person in our group who was ready to order, as he was hungry and clearly irritated that the menu was unsuitable for one of the group. I ended up leaving immediately at this point.

Essentially, rude staff who don't ask if the full table is ready before taking an order. Disgusting vegetarian options if that matters to anyone in your group - clearly a menu written by someone who isn't vegetarian themselves. Really not worth the hype, and I would even go so far as to warn anyone specifically against sitting in the cafe. It's a cramped little space with chairs in front of doors etc, and the staff are clearly trying to get you in and out as quickly as possible. Really disappointed,...

Oh, how Olympus falls. Having come here for 15 years, sadly the Magpie Cafe has removed itself from the list of places to eat following a night of bad food and worse service.

Seated in a corner, waited 20 minutes before we were asked for drinks, only for a server to ignore us and dote on a table across from us. Took another 10 minutes fir the drinks, and another half hour of waiting for the food, during which a table that got seated and ordered after us, of a larger party, got served BEFORE us, only for one of our party to lodge a complaint to the server who, rather than be apologetic, got exceptionally mouthy. We were then served 2 minutes after: A piece of "monkfish" (We doubt it was monkfish) shrivelled and as flat as a pancake with a split sauce, two servings of crab with chips so pale and flaccid they appeared to have been cooked with a cold stare, and a paella whose clagginess and congealed rice indicated either exceptionally poor cooking or being left under the pass for ages.

The server (1st floor, some woman with short white hair with shaved sides) was an utter abomination and a complete insult to the hospitality business, and these creatures had the audacity to ask if we wanted to leave a tip! No comp, nothing: Just a bitter taste of once a world beating restaurant now crushed underneath ego, silly prices and terrible service.

After 15 years, the Magpie Cafe joins the list of places we talk about in hushed tones with rolled eyes. A shame: At its best, the Magpie offers food rivalling any Michelin star artsy-fartsy restaurant. Sadly, it is at its worse, serving food that would make a dog call its union...

We were staying locally in an apartment and knew we had to try some local fish and chips. We’d never heard of Magpie Cafe before but the owners left details as a recommendation. For me, fish & chips is either an eat-in lunchtime or takeaway at night. We were going to get some as takeaway in the evening but were peckish around 3pm and headed there. We picked a good time as it was not too busy and were shown to a table upstairs. I was amazed how big the place was and how many tables there were.

The menu had lots of options and they had just about every drink available- I had a double Whitby G&T and my wife had a glass of wine.

The specials listed some great sounding seafood dishes and I ordered monk fish & prawn on spicy couscous with merguez sausage, plus a small portion of chips. My wife had cod and chips.

Have to say the food was amazing! I was blown away how lovely my dish was, really tasty with spicy heat from the sauce. Tried some of my wife’s cod which was lovely too.

We got tempted to look at the dessert menu and had Eton mess and trifle which was also absolutely lovely.

It was a bit on the pricey side but worth it and the staff were all lovely.

Not really any ambience or atmosphere but after all...