Friendly staff, good, easily accessible baby changes facilities, plenty of room for prams, though…read morethe high chairs could do with a good clean. A well located pit stop especially if you've kids with you. The food's reasonably priced though the full cooked breakfast can be a bit hit and miss, I've had this a few times. They're a little stingy with the bacon and sausage and it's often served on a cold plate, but, is tasty and served promptly. Preferred time is first thing in the morning or weekdays during term time as it's moderately quiet and you can people watch.

Not the usual café/restaurant I'd find myself in (in other words - stuck inside a giant shopping…read moremall) but needs must one weekend and with a tired ('we can't walk any more') family and friends in tow it is Est Caffe where we ended up. Looking fairly banal, but inviting all the same we decided to give it a whirl. And actually we were pleasantly surprised. The kids all had home made pizza's (which were huge especially considering they were child's portions) - no frozen circular cheese on toast you get in some establishments, these were the real deal. A friend had the lasagne (again a nicely sized portion) which they confirmed was tasty; I had a standard burger but even this was cooked really well and satiated my aching tummy within seconds. I laid off the alcohol (slowly recovering from a night out) and chose a really good coffee instead. Service was top notch, nothing was missed and the timings were perfect (I've been to high end restaurants who cock this up with surprising ease and regularity). The kids all had desserts and from the 'empty plate in seconds' routine I guess these hit the spot too. Est Caffe is situated on the top floor of the Arndale and is itself is spread over two, open floors. Good spot to people watch then and of course you get all types of life's rich tapestry wandering through the arndale (the new bitthe bit that works remarkably well). If you're ever in the area and fancy something a little more substantial than a sandwich and coffee, est might just sort you out. It's a chain and they're mostly confined to large shopping malls and airports but I've eaten (and been treated far less well) in far worse places.

Right in the middle of Queens Park crewe. With Queens Park having a refurbishment of £60 million a…read morefew years ago the park scenery is outstanding. The cafe serves hot food panini's, chips, garlic bread and hot sandwiches. They have hot drink, popcorn, ice cream and sweet for the children. A bit above normal prices that you would pay in crewe but nice. Nice to pop in after a long walk in the park. Great for kids and family's too

Popular cafe and chocolate shop in Bury town centre with a loyal clientele. Friendly staff and good…read moreservice. Well worth a visit!

I can't speak too highly of this cafe. The quality of the food and drink is first class and the…read morestaff are helpful, polite and effecient. It's just changed it's name

A small greasy spoon-style cafe nestled between the shops, this is extremely good value for what it…read moreoffers. You can get a full english, (complete with mug of tea and 5 sugars!) or small snacks to eat in or take away, and I don't think I saw anything over £4 on the menu. The floors are yellowing tiles and the tables are chipped - you'd never get a Pulp Fiction holdup scene taking place in here. The serving ladies are brusque and suspicious, but I'm sure they're salt of the earth and mean well really. I didn't bother to ask them if they had wi fi - I'm sure they'd think I was being a gobby little upstart. If you've got a bit of change left over after your bus fare you could do worse than coming and sitting here - if nothing else, it's a fascinating study of human behaviour!

This cafe gave me the impression of a old traditional English feel and almost felt as if I was…read moregoing back in time. It is a small cafe in a quiet area of St. John's Precinct that serves basic food for really cheap prices. Generally, it does seem to attract more of the older generation and at the time, was busy which suggested its popularity. The appearance of the place is as simple as you can get and is quite heated. I ordered a standard breakfast, including tea for £3.60; the food was served quickly and hot. What more could I want. The only thing was that I was given a grotty fork which I did manage to replace. More importantly, the quality of breakfast was decent.

A nice space with lots of room for groups but I guess we should have been tipped off when it was…read morefairly empty at 6pm on a Saturday that it's not quite as good as it looks. The staff were friendly and dealt with a delay in my meal very well - apologies, explanations and a free glass of wine. The food was mixed. It's all a great price that encouraged us to order lots. I thought the ribs and wings were pretty good and the nachos were ok but the cheese was a bit too strong (probably cheddar, although I appreciate it's hard to get monterey jack cheese in this country) and others complained about the small amount of guacamole. They featured sour cream and chive instead of plain sour cream - not the best choice in my view as it confuses flavour/appearance but an interesting twist. My friend is gf and they brought out a table of allergies v dishes which was very helpful, they also offered to (and made) her a burger without a bun. She and my other friend who had a burger weren't overall that thrilled with them though. My chilli bowl was unfortunately not good - very dry and no real spice to it. It was basically cooked mince with plain rice. This is touted as one of their classic dishes so they need to review the recipe/preparation (I note another reviewer had a much better experience 2 years ago). All in all this has the ingredients of being great with some tweaks to the food.

When you're hungover, what food do you go for? Are you one of the growing number of people who…read moreactually rely on fruit and toast in the morning, or are you still hankering after meat and bread when you've had one too many? If you're after a hearty meal to soak up the alcohol, the Arts Club on Seel Street should be your new favourite hangout. We wandered in on Saturday for my first birthday meal in Liverpool. There was hardly anyone in, which was surprising - my guess is that, if it was based one street over on Bold, it would've been rammed. A music venue at night, the food here is really quite delicious. There are small plates and starters, burgers, massive bowls of chilli, fried chicken and biscuits etc. We went for a chilli dog each, triple fried chips, and mac & cheese (with bacon). Now this was proper chilli, with hunks of beef in a rich spicy sauce, and the meat was super soft. The pairing with the hot dog was perfect. And with the mac & cheese? Even better. Triple fried chips produced plenty of crispy edges, with just the right amount of seasoning. Service was really friendly and laid back, giving just the atmosphere we needed to relax after the train journey in and before exploring the city further.

Great little caf, coffee like mud, it'll certainly wake you up! This place is busy at rush hour,…read morefull of people getting off at one Wigan train station and grabbing coffee or a bite to eat between connection at the second station. As a result the staff serve you at the speed of light! There's seating or they'll wrap up your order if you need to run for a train.

I've been to this Costa store three different times now and on all three occasions, I have been…read moredisappointed with beverage quality and also service. On my first visit, I ordered an Iced Latte. I was disappointed to see they had removed all seating both indoors and out after I mentioned this I was told Head Office forced them to remove it, strangely the seating is now in place outside the store in a partially sheltered area going into Spinningfields Square under a slight Bridge of the street of the same name... you've guessed it Bridge Street. I did originally order a ColdBrew, only to find out halfway through the barista making it that she was giving me a drink that wasn't ready yet, so her manager had to explain the process and how she was giving me a drink which wasn't ready. I think this is awful training of the staff as if the staff member who I presume was the manager didn't step in, I would have had a pretty nasty beverage. On my second visit, I decided to try a hot drink just to shelter from the rain and make the most of Costa's ongoing free drink promotion, I went for a Honeycomb Latte which is part of the new summer menu but again I was left dissatisfied. I often find the coffee from Costa has no flavour, it's boring and the drinks taste more of water than anything else as I found out also on my third visit, where I ordered the Coffee Frostino. It's worth noting the seating area isn't well maintained, it is not only failing to log NHS track and trace for those seating outside, but they also aren't even removing cups from empty tables, let alone sanitising and cleaning them. The only reason I'd visit here again is to get one of the cakes, which are popular with my friend but even for a Costa location, this is poor. I find the yoyoing with the seating to be unprofessional as well as how the barista was ready to give me a drink which wasn't even ready (ColdBrew takes around 24 hours to prepare), a real shame as it does look like a nice but small coffee shop from the outside but on the inside, it's a typical Costa based on past experiences. I honestly don't know why I bother with this chain. 1*

Yes, yes i know its a chain but the staff who work on this one do make it a more pleasant…read moreexperience going there. This is another one of my working from home haunts where I pop out to get sometime out from the computer. They do the usual sandwiches, muffins, sweet treats and coffees. Winter is especially good as they now have a chocolate orange mocha on the menu to which the nice chap who served me gave me extra chocolate curls on the top :) Gingerbread latte is also good as well as the salted caramel latte ( well if you are going to have a coffee might as well have a special one!)

Shirley Valentines is a handy little sandwich company which is located on Mount Pleasant within…read morewalking distance of the city centre so it's great for convenience on a trip into town. I like to visit here in the summer when they have a small outdoor seating area and you can sit back with a nice sarnie and enjoy the sunshine, making for a relaxing all round experience. As with most of the sandwich companies in Liverpool the staff here are very down to earth and extremely friendly meaning that as well as your food you often get a nice chat here also. The actual range of food here is nothing exceptional but it certainly competes with its many rivals who are dispersed around the city. This company also caters for parties and functions and are good for simple party buffet food. To summarise another very down to earth and unpretentious sandwich shop within Liverpool, let's hope they keep up the good work.

Ah, named after one of Willy Russell's most famous Liverpudlian characters. Well, far removed…read moreenough from the everyday drudgery Mrs Valentine finds herself in on a daily basis, this little basement café slash sandwich shop is a pleasant place to get away from it all and indulge in some quality scran. Butties tend to be the name of the game here, and the bread you can choose from is almost as vast as the variation of fillings... fancy your favourite on a wrap today instead of sliced? How about a Panini or ciabatta melt? It's all here. The only scruples are the fact that it does tend to be somewhat overpriced, and their fickle pricing system doesn't seem to help matters. I mentioned that I'd been there to a Liverpudlian friend who said, 'Yep, bet if you had that again you'd pay something different for it.' It apparently depends on who's working at the time or how generous they are with the ingredients. Strange, non? Also if you're on foot it's fine and dandy but if you're in transit with a car you won't find parking nearby, the area's emblazoned with double yellows. Never mind, though, because they have CAKE! Yes, homemade and fresh cakes and biscuits which are all exceptionally bad for you and even more exceptionally lovely. If you can get past the few cons this really is a good little sandwich spot for a tasty bit of lunch.