Cairn Lodge Services Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "An amazing breakfast, very reasonably priced."
• "Local produce in the freshly prepared hot food that would put a lot of pubs to shame."
• "Quality food, not cheap, but reasonable prices for what you get."
• "Healthy, quality food made from local produce."
• "The food selection is impressive and I think the cottage pie I had, with gravy vegetables and chips was quite simply superb."
• "All the food is home cooked and very tasty - not like the other services that are all fast food or sandwiches."
• "Food is fresh and tasty."

Cons:

• "Poor poor range of take away sandwiches, fridges very empty, deli offer quite empty too."
• "Stopped here with kids for a quick breakfast before a 6 hour drive. Very expensive for what you get, all hot food items were overcooked and hard."
• "The full breakfast was a mess on the plate with bean juice and mushroom water making the rest of the food unappetising."
• "The worst services lunch I've had in a long time- £5.25 for a dry roll (no butter or sauce offered) and bacon that was so tough I'd guess it's been on the hot plate since first thing."
• "Both were very dry. I was very disappointed as food we have bought on previous visits has been very good."
• "Unfortunately the breakfast was at best Luke warm, not very impressed at £13 at all."
• "The fish was badly cooked, and very smthe."

Service and Staff

Pros:

• "The staff were friendly and chatty (even quite early in the morning!)."
• "Staff are enthusiastic, polite which is palpable the minute you park."
• "The staff were really helpful too."
• "Staff were friendly and helpful."
• "All of the staff seemed to be friendly and helpful."
• "Staff very friendly."
• "The staff were attentive and super friendly."

Cons:

• "But this time I was ignored and a white guy was served before me."
• "Female staff, chatting and ignoring customers or feigning that they haven’t heard order are absolutely useless."
• "Served by a sullen female, who clearly did not want to be there."
• "Half the staff were standing around doing nothing while the queues got longer."
• "The girls in this place have cloth ears, every time I visit here it’s the same story time and time again."
• "Staff not helpful either to be honest."
• "But the member of staff seemed disinterested in serving..hope it was an isolated case."

Price and Value

Pros:

• "Meals are reasonably priced too."
• "Fabulous find. Freshly made, tasty, good quality and reasonably priced food & drinks to suit lots of different diets."
• "Not too expensive as motorway eateries go."
• "Reasonable prices, plenty of parking."
• "Calm and quiet, with fairly priced, tasty, fresh food."
• "Reasonably priced for food, and grabbed free coffee grounds for the garden!"
• "Freshly made, tasty, good quality and reasonably priced food & drinks to suit lots of different diets."

Cons:

• "Very disappointing. I used to stop here when working as a coach driver pre-pandemic."
• "The only thing letting it down a bit is the high cost of everything."
• "Coffee was good but pricey at nearly 4 quid for an oatmilk flat white."
• "What can I say? Sooo expensive, and for what?"
• "The price for fuel is utterly disgraceful."
• "Fuel nearly 25p ltr more expensive than anywhere else!"
• "The price of the fuel at the SHELL station was ridiculously expensive."

Cleanliness and Maintenance

Pros:

• "Much better than the average services for quality of food and hygiene."
• "The toilets are well kept, clean, and to a good standard."
• "The site is very well maintained and the toilets are always clean and presentable."
• "It was spotless, and the toilets were very clean too."
• "The toilets were immaculate and the whole area very clean and well presented."
• "Toilets clean and pleasant."
• "Everything is clean and tidy."

Cons:

• "The restaurant tables were generally dirty, many piled with dirty dishes forcing you to search for a clean one."
• "Dirty toilets, no loo roll."
• "Generally fine but there was mould in the hand dryers and the hand wash troughs."
• "Most of the soap dispensers are broken and the hand dryer could use a wipe down."
• "The toilets in the petrol station seem to have been forgotten about, filthy!!!!"
• "Disgusting. I know that is down to the men who use them, but there was more than 1 hours worth of blocked toilets and slacked urine smelling floors."
• "Half the gents toilets out of order."

Amenities and Facilities

Pros:

• "A well set out restaurant with a farm and gift shop."
• "There is a Shell station attached and plenty of parking."
• "Great for walking dog as well. Lots of rubbish bins."
• "Plenty of onsite parking, indoor and outdoor seating, fully accessible."
• "The showers are clean and hot now!"
• "Lovely farm shop to pick up more gorgeous food for journey."
• "Nice outdoor area, dog friendly too."

Cons:

• "They close half the seating fairly early to start the clean down."
• "The slip road leading there is quite long and in a bad state. It needs resurfacing as it is becoming dangerous."
• "Carpark confusing many folk driving around aimlessly not knowing where to go."
• "There were only 4 disabled places. It has a huge carpark, with an overspill one too, yet only 4 spaces."
• "Can't use for overnight parking as it doesn't take snap."
• "A big disappointment is the lack of any EV chargers at a motorway services."
• "Only limitation is they seem to lock up at 10pm so you have to go to the petrol garage for your rest after 10pm."