Magpie Café Reviews Summary

Food Quality and Variety

Pros:

• "The focus here is the food, the setting isn't fancy or gimmicky and the menu, while extensive is without any unnecessary frills."
• "For a fish restaurant, the vegetarian options were excellent and equally well designed and executed."
• "The dishes are largely simply prepared from fresh ingredients and presented without fuss."
• "The oysters are unbelievable, the crab dishes are succulent and flavorful!"
• "The Magpie Cafe was constantly busy, we had to queue for a good 15 minutes before we were able to be seated but once we were in there was nothing but friendly, efficient service. As for the food, I totally recommend the cod, chips and mushy peas, absolutely delicious 😋"

Cons:

• "If you like fish, this is the place to come, however, if you're vegetarian or vegan it's not as good."
• "The fish was very bland and didn’t taste like much? Unless it’s meant to be this way so that you put whatever sauces you want on it."
• "The batter and chips were lovely, but I ordered haddock and it was completely tasteless. Frozen or not I don’t know, but certainly tasted of nothing. Really poor other chip shops in Whitby are better."
• "Avoid this place like the plague if you value fresh seafood. I ordered six oysters and a skate wing and chips. The oysters were slimy and did not taste fresh; one was brown and slimy and I left it in the shell. When the skate wing arrived it smelt 'off' like ammonia and had no flavour whatsoever. It was NOT fresh, so I told a waitress it smelt odd."

Service and Staff

Pros:

• "The staff were genuine, warm and welcoming with a good knowledge of the fare on offer."
• "Fabulous waitress serving us throughout."
• "The waiting staff were brilliant and very knowledgeable about the food."
• "The staff were really friendly and we had a great view out the window."

Cons:

• "Had a fantastic meal, great service and staff are friendly and welcoming. The only thing that let the night down was 2 unruly children who couldn't be tamed by their parents."
• "The menu is a bit pricey but you get what you pay for, we would definitely visit again (and definitely pre-book a table again). The only downside really was the server in our section was very slow at getting our order / bringing the bill and forgot some of our drinks too, when we asked another server who passed by she looked rather annoyed we had asked her."
• "The service was ok, nothing outstanding or terrible. It's dated and grubby inside, the toilets are gross!"

Atmosphere and Setting

Pros:

• "The Magpie Cafe deserves nothing less than 5 stars"
• "A very popular venue which very quickly became a full restaurant which in our case became a little cramps as customers juggled their chairs and restricted our access. This not the fault of the venue. Overall an excellent meal."
• "Lovely table upstairs with a view and a great choice on the menu."

Cons:

• "The place was really crowded and the tables are rather small and close to each other. The view from the table was great, however. We could see the port and the cliff."
• "A bit of a wait to get seated but they contact you as soon as a table becomes free. Lovely table upstairs with a view and a great choice on the menu. Three choices of fish size, they all look good and taste wonderful. Throw in chips, mushy peas and coffee and wow what better than fish and chips at the seaside."
• "There was a queue when we arrived, but that's not really a surprise from other reviews. For a family of 5 we queued for around 35 minutes. Probably a bit longer than I would have liked but by that point it didn't make sense to leave!"