Bell The Cat - Belfast

Bell the Cat recently moved into their new location and it is lovely. Staff here is always very welcoming and pleasant. Food is excellent and there is a wide variety of options for breakfast and lunch. They also have excellent milk shakes!

Maybe it's just me, but when I dine out I want take it easy, sit, and enjoy a meal with my wife and friends. Bell the Cat covers most of that. One still has to go to the counter and order there and hand carry back drink glasses and cups. And go and get refills oneself. For the prices, service should be complete, IMHO of course. Now if you want to give me a choice and reduce the price if I choose to order at the counter and get my own refills, okay then. The food is good and the site is certainly better organized than the old site.

I don't normally post negative reviews. Generally speaking I think a lot of places are trying their best and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, I had such a truly terrible experience at Bell the Cat that I feel compelled to share my experience as a warning to others. Simply put, I ended up paying $80 for a brunch for *two* that wasn't worth $40. The good: The mimosa was good. Was it worth $10? Maybe. The salmon bagel (which I ordered as take out along with brunch) was excellent. Lots of smoked salmon and well worth the $13. The bad: The poached eggs I had with my red flannel hash were rock solid. I might as well have had two hard boiled eggs. The toast was cold, and the fried chicken served with the chicken and waffles was so salty it was inedible. The ugly: Being charged $3 for substituting maple syrup with the chicken and waffles, only to have a bottle of syrup brought with all the condiments. Paying a $1 upcharge for veggies on the salmon bagel. At no point was either charge mentioned by the cashier. I also want to take a moment to call out Bell the Cat's business model. I have no qualms with paying a premium for good service, but Bell the Cat is effectively a sandwich shop with pretensions of being a high-end full service restaurant. By collecting payment first there is zero accountability (aside from angry reviews like this one). Not a single staff person asked me about the quality of the food, and since I did not have an actual server there was no easy way to express my frustration or even find out where to get water (because you have to do that for yourself too). I will not be going back, and I strongly encourage others to spend their money elsewhere too.

We went to get some lunch around 11:30 on a Saturday, so I was expecting it to be busy. It didn’t seem too bad, so we ordered and sat down. Received our drinks within five minutes… but then waited over half an hour for two sandwiches. Meanwhile everyone that had ordered around us had received their food and some had already finished and left. I could understand if we had ordered something elaborate, but we ordered two simple sandwiches. Food and drinks tasted good, but I believe they lost our order and then acted like we hadn’t been sitting there waiting for 35 minutes.

They use high quality, fresh ingredients...and serve yummy sandwiches, waffles, soups, and salads. We love their smoothies, too. My favorite flavor is Pina colada. The portions are good and fair for the price you pay. Their new location is more spacious with a large parking lot- it was easy to find a slot today. Glad we have a great place to eat with smart management running the place. Thank you to the whole team for their hard work. Dietary restrictions: Non dairy options are available