18/30 Touchdown Cafe, Wellesbourne Airfield,

Overall Score 18/30

Food               6/10
Venue             4/5
Service           3/5
Value              3/5
Cleanliness     2/5

http://rigsville.com/touchdown-cafe/

Another location that we've visited before and were more impressed on that occasion.

The venue itself is a fun place to visit, especially if it's a nice day and you can sit outside and watch the planes.  We love the tables which have a map under the glass (not sure what you call them but obviously special ones).

If you've read our other reviews you'll be forgiven for thinking that we are a bit obsessed by sausages but they really are what let's a cooked breakfast down and this was one of these cases.  The meat content was definitely low and the bread content high.  The eggs were fried and some of the white was still runny which neither of us like.  The tomatoes were canned and of the stringy looking variety.  On the other hand the bacon was thick cut which made for a nice change.

It's always a popular place but on this visit we were pleased to be able to go straight to the counter and we just managed to get the last table (ok so it was in the walkway to the door but at least we had a seat).

The service was friendly and the food was served quickly but it was disappointing that a used napkin that was there when we arrived was not cleared from the table.

The worst thing for me was the ladies toilets which needed a good clean and were, quite frankly, more than a little smelly.

All said and done though this is an unusual place to visit and you get a full plate.  We'll go back again and hope that this was a one off.

21.5/30 Limes Farm, Farthinghoe

Overall Score 21.5/30

Food               7/10
Venue             4/5
Service           3/5
Value              4/5
Cleanliness     3.5/5

http://www.limesfarm.com/

We really like going to Limes Farm.  It's a favourite with the family as well and we often go here for Mothers Day.

Today we noticed that just a few small things made a big difference to our visit

The breakfast was really good.  Just the right amount of food and extremely high quality ingredients.  We both opted not to have black pudding and noted that we weren't given a choice over how to have our eggs cooked.  They arrived fried and were just a little bit runny in the white of the egg.  The bacon tasted much better than it looked.  Presentation let this down and I have a personal preference for slightly crispy bacon.  I loved the parsley as part of the presentation.  It's great to have a little green on the breakfast plate.

The let down for us started with not having the promised toast delivered to the table.  At first I'd thought this was to follow separately but with our view from the gallery I could see that other breakfasts were coming out with toast on the plate.  We then had to wait until we could catch the attention of a waitress to point this out meaning that we had the toast after we'd finished the breakfast itself.

This highlighted our biggest disappointment in that the waitresses came upstairs on several occassions but just delivered their orders without looking round to check to see if anyone wanted anything.  At one point I even made eye contact with one of them and she went straight back downstairs.  When we did get her attention and pointed out the lack of toast she asked if we wanted it now looked at our empty plates and then left them while she went and sorted the toast, only clearing them once she returned with toast.  The toast was delivered with jam as an extra although this was quite tricky to eat as it was very runny.

As mentioned we love the venue.  It's on a farm and, though we never have, you can wander round the farm which includes two lakes.  The building for the cafe is lovely, an old barn that retains many features and has the lovely mezzanine floor which we chose to sit on.  From our seat we could overlook the main room with the till/coffee area and the homemade cakes.

The cakes were tempting but would have been more so had they been covered.  All visitors to the cafe have to walk past the cakes on the way to the tables and as such we would prefer them to be covered and protected from sneezes and children's fingers.

This review may sound slightly negative but we really would like to point out that these are all small things that would only take a small effort to rectify.  The farm really have worked incredibly hard to expand on their offerings and offer Yurt accommodation, pie nights, courses, and even provide school meals.

Well worth a visit!

21/30 Buckingham Garden Centre

Overall Score 21/30

Food               7/10
Venue             3/5
Service           3/5
Value              4/5
Cleanliness     4/5

http://www.buckinghamgardencentre.co.uk/

The biggest problem we had here was finding the cafe in the first place and working out how the system worked.  Signage wasn't always clear or easy to spot and the cafe was tucked away in a corner.  The breakfast menus were on the tables but you needed to go to the counter to order.  I found this rather strange.

The food was good but the beans were a little cold.  We both had poached eggs and have to say these were done really nicely.  Possibly the best we've ever had.

The service was good, very efficient but not very friendly.

I'd love to say more about this but I've left it too long to write up and can't remember it very clearly.  There were some fun pictures on the wall and the cafe was much bigger than it looked at first glance.

13/30 The Cock Hotel, Stony Stratford,

Overall Score 13/30

Food               4/10
Venue             3/5
Service           1/5
Value              3/5
Cleanliness     2/5

https://www.oldenglishinns.co.uk/our-locations/the-cock-hotel-stony-stratford/

To say that we were disappointed with today's breakfast would be an understatement.  It certainly isn't what we were expecting from The Cock Hotel in Stony Stratford.

Breakfast was advertised in the window at £9.99 for two.  Perhaps going in the door to find a teaspoon on the floor and no evidence of staff or clues as to what to do next should have been a clue.

When a staff member appeared we were gestured towards a free table that had obviously been used before.  We looked at the poorly folded insert that was the breakfast menu and both decided on the full english.  A waitress appeared and took our drinks order, returning later with clean cups to pour luke warm, stewed coffee and then take our order.

A long wait followed giving us plenty of time to look round.  The floor was quite dirty, particularly the rug and you could see the dust on the fireplace.  The staff kept charging backwards and forwards past our table and it was difficult to get anyone's attention to get our coffee changed.  When we did it was a bit like a comedy of errors with the coffee jug arriving and then being taken away when he realised we needed clean cups.  He returned with cups and saucers and went away to get the coffee again.  Coffee poured he then left the old cups as they were on the table!

Breakfast arrived after a long wait: 1 sausage, 2 rashers of bacon, 1 poached egg, 2 mushrooms, half a tomato and a few baked beans.    Credit where it's due, the sausage was really tasty but the egg wasn't fully cooked and it was all rather luke warm.  The toast was delivered to the table before the cutlery so the meal had time to cool even further.

At no time were we asked if we wanted any sauces to go with our breakfast or told where to find the jam.  I also think we could have expected to be provided with fresh milk on the table.

Asking for the bill we were presented with a bill for £13.50 and told that the price was still £9.99, very bizarre.  

The feel we had today was that the staff hadn't actually had any training on how to go about serving properly.  They were all fairly young and looked completely at a loss as to what to do next.

I don't think we'll be rushing to return here when there are so many good breakfast options within a short drive.

26/30 - The Espresso Lounge, Tring, HP23 5AG

Overall Score 26/30

Food               9/10
Venue             4/5
Service           4/5
Value              4/5
Cleanliness     5/5

www.theespressolounge.co.uk/

What better way to start Valentines Day than with breakfast at Espresso Lounge in Tring?!  

This has long been a favourite of ours and we weren't at all surprised that this has the best score so far.  The best improvement they could make would be to move closer so we can go more often but then needing the time to get to Tring makes it even more special.

The really great thing about the food here is that the focus is on great quality, taste and health.  So a Full English is made with great fresh ingredients.  Take a look at this:

This breakfast is fantastic and the only way to make it better is to make sure that when you order you let them know if you have any personal preference.  For instance we should have told them that we prefer scrambled egg cooked slightly more.  That said I have to point out that it was cooked 'just as it should be'.  The lady at the table next to us asked for poached egg which would have been a good option.

I love that the beans are in a bowl so that they don't make everything else soggy but I do like to try and get all the sauce out.  The toast could have done with another portion or two of butter (again our preference).

Service is another area of excellence here.  The welcome is always friendly.  This Saturday the place was packed and the staff were really busy and still nothing was too much trouble.  We were asked if everything was alright about 3 times in almost as many minutes by different members of staff but it was so nicely done.  One thing to note: this is not somewhere to come for fast food, it's about the whole experience.  I have never felt rushed out however busy the cafe is and equally the food is cooked fresh so it won't be in front of you immediately.

Cleanliness - can't see any way this can be improved.  This is the section where I normally include a mention of toilet facilities so it should be noted that this is out back, small and can be a little cold depending on the weather.  The limitations of being in a lovely old building.  You can be sure that it will always be clean though.  

The venue itself, as already mentioned, is in a lovely old building in Tring.  This means that space is limited and the layout a bit quirky.  This can mean that you feel a little tight on space when it is really busy and the noise level can be high but is part of the atmosphere of people meeting up, chatting and having fun.

Value - keep in mind that lovely saying 'you get what you pay for'.  This breakfast is a couple of pounds more than you pay generally but once you taste it you know why.  In our opinion it's worth every penny.

Thanks Aron, Clare and team!

13/30 - Warwickshire Services, CV35 0AA

Overall Score 16/30

Food               3/10

Venue             3/5

Service           3/5

Value               1/5

Cleanliness     3/5

We were on our travels again.  This time our breakfast wasn't helped by the fact that there was a football match on nearby and there were coach loads of fans milling around.  The noise was certainly greater that you would expect on a normal day.  We did our best to put that aside and not let it influence our views.

This time round Mike ordered the traditional breakfast and I went for the low carb option.  It was great to see that there was an option for this but the very bread based sausage didn't really count.  I was also left feeling rather hungry by the time I'd finished.

Overall we were both underwhelmed with the quality of the breakfast itself.  It was fairly cold and the bacon was dry.  The eggs were cooked fresh but in his rush to serve us unfortunately he broke the yokes which didn't help.  The size of the serving was also unimpressive as was the comment that they were out of mushrooms and this was all they had left.  As such I had to choose another option to replace the missing mushrooms.

Otherwise it was pretty much as you'd expect for a breakfast at the services: expensive and basic.  Including toast for Mike and coffee each it came to £17.50

The service was mixed.  The young guy who served the breakfast itself was trying where as the girl on the till was too busy talking to a colleague to want to serve us.  All in all you got the feeling that they weren't prepared for the football crowd and it had thrown them off their game.

We really are going to have to do some research for places to stop before we set off next time!

16/30 Sorriso - Sorriso, Baldock Services, SG7 5TR

Overall Score 16/30

Food               4/10
Venue             3/5
Service           3/5
Value               3/5
Cleanliness     3/5

www.sorriso.co

Out on another of our trips we stopped at Baldock Services driven by the need for food.  Rather than the usual services style food we stopped at Sorriso which looked more like a traditional breakfast cafe.

We both had the breakfast on the 2 for £10 offer and were offered toast with it more times than we'd like to remember (about 4 times we think).  The order system was a little strange as there was a breakfast counter which looked as though you'd be served from it but you actually needed to go to the till.

The place was mainy clean but looked a little tired with some floor tiles missing.  Most of the tables were low coffee tables with only a few that you could sit up at to eat.

As with many cooked breakfasts this one was let down mainly by the sausages which were basically flavoured bread.  The bacon needed more cooking in our opinion and slightly more for the eggs.  The beans were cold and it didn't seem that there were many and as such the plate looked a little empty.  However it was great to have fresh mushrooms and tomato.

All in all this was a fair breakfast at a Service stop.  We felt that it may be fairly new (the website backs this up as this particular location is not shown there) and that the staff were trying but not quite getting it right.