Weald Downland Museum Cafe - Chichester

We all enjoyed the excellent food at this restaurant. We tried the sausage baps and they were delicious and satisfying. There were many other great options on the menu and the cafe was busy. We appreciated the spaced-out tables which prevented us from feeling crowded, even before the pandemic.

I visited the Weald and Downland Museum in early August. I did take sandwiches with me but had left them in the car while I walked around. When lunchtime arrived I didn't feel like walking back to the car so decided to use the museum's café. This is easy to find but is outside the museum itself. Your ticket allows you to go out and in as many times as you wish so visiting the café it isn't an issue.The café is a modern building and is clean and tidy. Outdoor and indoor seating is available. It was a nice day so the tables outside were in short supply.At the order point there was a bit of a queue which moved quickly. There are two service windows but, due to the layout, this isn't obvious unless the staff tell you about the second window. You've got to walk past the main queue to get to the second window. Better signage (or barriers might help position people so that they can see there's two windows served by a single queue.The food ordering procedure is that you should identify the table you wish to sit at then order at the window. You're given your drinks there and then but the food is brought to your table. There's no menu on display at the order point; these are on the tables and are on a clipboard. On the day I visited there was an advert on the clipboard too the menu was underneath. There was also a row of clipboards on a counter beyond the order windows but these weren't obvious. I assume that these too had the menu on them.The food choice was fairly limited and there were few sandwiches actually on display. There are other made to order sandwich options on the main menu. The entire menu fits on a single side of A4 paper. The menu makes it plain that some items are vegan and/or gluten free already, other items (which are identified can also be made vegan or gluten free to order. I selected the Cornish pasty which comes with sautéed potatoes and (baked beans. I was then asked if I wanted steak or cheese onion. (It seems that the café calls every pasty a Cornish pasty irrespective of what's in it. I had the steak version.The pot of tea for one comes with a generously sized jug of milk. However, it's a single teabag in a small pot. There was sufficient in the pot for three standard sized cups but as is always the case in cafe's these days, the tea was warm rather than hot.The pasty arrived fairly quickly and I was asked if I wanted any sauce. There was no offer of salt and pepper; there wasn't any on the table. However, I found that the sautéed potatoes had been salted before they came out and they were fine as they were. I did find them slightly al dente, though, and thought that the potatoes could have done with a little more parboiling before they were fried. The serving size was reasonable.The pasty was a reasonable size (for comparison it was about the size of a standard Ginster's pasty , reasonably well filled, hot enough and tasty. The beans were served in a ramekin and were hot enough.The pasty cost £7.50 and the tea a further £2. If I've understood correctly, museum members receive a discount in the café and at the other coffee point in the museum. In comparison, my local pub charges £7.50 for a fish finger with cos lettuce tartare sauce sandwich and puts a ten percent service charge on top. On that comparison the cafe's prices are reasonable.In summary: reasonable portion size and quality, Café dining and décor, and Price about what I expected from a museum café.

Had a lunch break partly to get out of the very hot sun but thoroughly enjoyed the meals. Slightly different in terms of the meals on offer, and all that we tried were delicious. They were served quite quickly despite being reasonably busy, and the staff were very friendly. Overall, would thoroughly recommend eating here.

Our food was delicious, variety to choose from. Staff was helpful and friendly. Very clean. Not too expensive either. I would say tables a little close to manoeuvre around and was quite warm.

Nice cafe and environment but food very expensive and not great quality. Chicken sandwich was literally devoid of chicken, kids meals bread was also cheap quality. Not much options for veggies and it cost us more to get a sandwich lunch than to get 4 of us into the Museum! My advice...BRING YOUR OWN FOOD!