Cakes & Ale Cafe in Carlisle

A nice sandwich and pot of tea in a lovely garden with a friend. Very enjoyable. Only criticism- the brown bread wasn't wholemeal.

Best place in town for lunch, one of my favourite places to go. Food is fresh and amazing. However afternoon tea was very disappointing and little over priced. Asked if I could pay more for some extra soup. Staff where not very accommodating. £45 for 3 people for a few sandwiches and some cake. Not very exciting.

A great quirky cafe, with a relaxed atmosphere and good food. Behind a wonderful bookshop. Food and books - heaven really!

Love Cake & Ale. Food is homemade and really tasty. Great staff. The garden is a lovely place to sit outside and they have a tent and blankets if it is a bit cold and/or wet.They also have evening events well worth a look.

My god! This place is amazing! Its a very lovely hidden gem of carlisle.The inside of the tea house is beautiful and welcoming. The staff are friendly and there are books everywhere! The menu is quite small, however they cater to vegans and people who are gluten free, and the prices of the food are excellent! For the quality and taste of the food, they charge a very affordable price.All of the books in the tea house are for sale and some of them are very old books ageing over 100 years. The first floor above the tea house is also a book store.Long story short, go here. Its beautiful and i couldnt recommend this place any more!

Beautiful little café/restaurant with a lovely outdoor seating area, perfect for enjoying the good weather or taking shelter on the harsher days. Sadly that's about it for this place when I visited. Simple, easy menu with dishes that don't require much preparation, so when we arrived, having pre-booked a table, we were advised (not on arrival, but only when one of us went inside to ask about something) that there would be a 40 minute delay on orders, which we were ok with, even though I personally don't believe it would take that long based on what we ordered. However it was over an hour until we received our order, during which no one came out to let us know, the only update we got was 20-30mins in when we asked, that we were next to be served. Other than that, no acknowledgement or really much feedback from staff about it.I understand that it's a busy day, but having pre-booked I would hope that they would be a little more prepared (it's a shame to have an experience like this from such a nice place, so hopefully it was just a bad day, of maybe they could reduce the amount of tables slightly, just to make sure they can cope?)The food was nice, but exactly what I mentioned above, tasty but very simple (salad and sandwiches), none of which take much preparation and nothing exotic. I wasn't blown away by what I ordered or overly impressed. The quality of ingredients was good as flavours were present, but nothing that you can't throw together quickly yourself (I understand that people will think that if that's the case why didn't I just go home and make it, but for a light lunch out I wouldn't order anything heavier). Pricing is what you would expect.

Excellent salads worth the visit alone. Coffee, tea and scones show a consistently high standard of food and service. Recommended.

Really tasty sandwich - the Attwood (all named and with literary connections). Brie, avocado and chilli jam. Washed down with a Blacksail from Hesket Newmarket Brewery.

Great Cafe, cracking food and a lovely sun trap garden in the back. Loved to fruit trees, which hopefully can be used to make some chutney to serve with the food.

Visited for the first time today on a trip to Carlisle! Lovely little gem that my husband and I are very happy to have found. Helpful and friendly staff, yummy soup and chilled atmosphere. Just wish we had more time there, will definitely be returning! Thanks x