The Orchard Cafe - Rutland

We hadn’t booked a table and it was a Friday and Extremely busy. The menu was very good So We waited around 20 mins. The food was excellent, hot, tasty and the portion size was big. Extremely good price.

Three of us planned to meet somewhere midway between Peterborough and Leicester on 8th March 2023, and chose to try the Orchard Cafe. It was late morning on a cold and snowy day, but the cafe was already quite busy, so this was a good sign. We found the staff very obliging and they gave us a nice table where we could relax and enjoy our meeting. The menu choice was quite extensive. I chose a panini, and although my first choice (ham and cheese) wasn't available, the cheese, onion and tomato alternative was probably the nicest panini I've had anywhere. The other two chose the mixed vegetable soup and cheese scone, which were declared to be very tasty. One of our party finished with a chocolate brownie and ice cream, which looked delicious. We all enjoyed our visit and I recommend it unreservedly.

Nice coffee. Obliging staff. Food choice is good and generous portions, although the soup bowl and cheese scone rather small. Pleasant environment and reasonable prices. I will return.

Called in for breakfast. Sign says 'wait to be seated ' after waiting a little while someone behind the counter said we could take a seat. Placed our order for a Small orchard grill breakfast at £7.99 (with beans tomato swapped out for black pudding) and poached eggs on toast, with a sausage and then waited....and waited.... The cafe wasn 't particularly busy but we saw some people who came in after us getting their food. Eventually it turned out our order had been lost. 50 mins after ordering our breakfast arrived (and we were quite beyond ourselves with hunger) and what a disappointment it was. The rasher of bacon was in fact one very small, curled up medallion of bacon. On raising it with the staff (who were very apologetic) we were told chef was cooking another rasher. That arrived some 5 minutes later the same size. We were advised it 's 'what the butcher sent ' and we wouldn 't be charged for that piece! After that wait I would have thought thought that the entire breakfast would be free. The poached eggs were somewhat 'snotty ' but I didn 't raise it as it didn 't seem worth the hassle and I was too hungry to wait any longer. All in all very disappointing and not an experience we would wish to repeat in a hurry. Ok it may be a one off but I 'm afraid that the cost(nearly £17 for breakfast and a drink for 2) and lack of understanding of the standard that is needed (and apologies felt just like words) mean sadly we won 't be back.

Popped into for a bite to eat having previously been here , little disappointed at the new menu , no sandwiches or soup of the day so opted for some chips to fill a hole followed by tea and cake which was very nice , service was excellent, probably won’t revisit whilst this new menu is in place tbh , cafe was nice and clean as were the facilities.