Deli Café on Meer Street is in a good location, close to Shakespeare's Birthplace in the town centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. From the outside, the cafe appeared fairly pretty, in a nice building in the historic town centre, and they had gluten-free offerings, but it appeared to be more of a greasy spoon cafe than I first believed.
The menu selection is pretty good, and they have gluten-free options, I was a little confused at first as the menu was marked "GFA" which would symbolise that the dish originally was not gluten-free but would have to be modified. and even after speaking to my server, I didn't have much of an idea what that modification was. While my server was friendly, her knowledge of menu items could have been improved.
The selection of drinks could be better, the only fruit juice available was from concentrate, the orange juice I ordered was not fresh and just tasted really bitter and unpleasant.
I ordered the gluten-free breakfast, I was impressed when my food arrived to notice it was served with gluten-free toast and sausage, and more importantly, it wasn't seeded bread! I did find it odd how they served a singular slice of toast on a separate plate though.
I wasn't too pleased with the quality of my food. My egg was fried, despite asking for poached, and it was a little undercooked for my liking, while I found the bacon to be a little hard and fatty. The tomatoes were canned and not the fresh grilled tomatoes which I prefer. I also found the sausage to be very meaty and not have enough flavour. The beans were good, but being served in a small separate pot and having more of them would have been better again.
The wait for food also seemed to take a significant amount of time, understandably they were busy with customers ordering breakfast and lunch items, but still, it seemed like an unreasonable amount of time as I only wanted a quick breakfast before ending my trip in Stratford Upon Avon.
Some potential for sure, gluten-free offerings, and friendly staff, but a lot of cons. I probably wouldn't return here in their current state. 2* read more