Roadchef Fresh Food Cafe - Bolsover

In motorway service stations the choice tends to be very limited. This is really perplexing given the number of people who are using these facilities. The options generally are buy a sandwich or something else cold from a W H Smith, M&S, some other similar style of store, or buy hot fast foods from MacDonalds, Burger King or similar. When we stop for lunch we are usually looking for something hot but not fast food. On the M6 there is Teebay but on the M1 we have found few satisfying stops. Roadchef Fresh Food Cafe offered a limited range of hot foods but at least it offered us an alternative from fast foods. We chose a Chicken Tikka curry which was served fairly quickly and it was a very acceptable option. If only it could offer a few more options of a less spicy or more European variety we would be pleased to use the service again. We had a mixed reception from staff. The person taking the order was brisk and unsmiling whereas the person who served us the meal was full of smiles and friendly. The latter redeemed our feelings of the experience at Roadchef. The facilities (toilets) were clean and in good condition and not too busy. That is a bonus as some service stations have 'less desirable ' toilet facilities.

I travel a lot for business. I often grab a sandwich and a drink, but fancied something hot that wasn 't McDonalds or Burger King or KFC. I went for something badged as fresh food . A piri piri chicken wrap. Safe choice. How could anyone get this wrong? Road Chef can. What I received after sitting for ten minutes at a dirty, uncleared table with a fly buzzing around (in October) was a dry, floury cold wrap with a smear of some sort of sauce, a bit of cut green chilli, some coriander and bits of overcooked breaded chicken that looked like something a cat would leave in a litter box. As I was starving, I ate some of it and threw the rest away. I 've never found a place that makes McDonalds look like it serves good food. Until now. Even the chips were awful. That 's right. They can 't even cook chips properly. Yuck. The one saving grace was the pleasant manner of the lady at the till. She deserves to be working somewhere better.

Called in here for lunch on the way down south. It was good food and freshly cooked. They have a good system using pagers to let you know when your food was ready. Staff were all very friendly. We had two full English breakfasts and a portion of toast, three teas all for £21.78 which was very good value

I only visited the Roadchef at Tibshelf for the first time last year, but it has quickly become my second favourite service station on the UK motorways network. In fact, I love it so much that I came here for my recent birthday. The staff were very friendly and there's a great choice of eateries and retailers. Highly recommend it to anyone who's celebrating a special occasion.

If you are after a healthy breakfast, or a Full-English, freshly cooked and served both hot and to any/all exacting requirements. This is the place to stop when heading North on the M1. Add to this the friendly staff, range of snacks, salads and darnies in an uncluttered cafe makes it a first class choice. Thank you