Bowlams - County Durham

We recently dined at George Bolam's and had a delicious meal. The food was cooked perfectly and there was a wide variety to choose from. The dessert selection was generous and the seating was a bit tight, but extra chairs were brought out to accommodate us. This restaurant has been successful for many years and the quality of both the food and service is top-notch. We would like to thank all the staff for a wonderful experience. Cheers!

After indulging in Christmas feasts, we decided to stock up our freezer with a variety of meals. Despite the shelves being somewhat empty, we were able to find some great deals on meat and even picked up an apple turnover for my husband.

I had previously sworn off this restaurant, but unfortunately found myself in need of braising steak at the last minute. This establishment used to be a well respected butcher, owned by George Bolam and his family. However, it seems that things have changed for the worse. The focus now appears to be on profit rather than quality or customer service. The meat is expensive and of poor quality, and they also sell overpriced fish, vegetables, and bakery items. For better value and quality, I recommend heading a bit further to Sainsburys or visiting Taylors in Ferryhill or Coates in Coxhoe for a proper butcher experience. After cooking the braising steak for 10 hours in a slow cooker, it still wasn't tender, and I was unsure of the cut of meat. The overall experience was disappointing, and I suggest looking elsewhere for your grocery needs in Sedgefield.

My wife who grew up local to Sedgefield had been singing the praises of Bolams since we arrived from Kent for a short break. In much anticipation and with the full knowledge of some of the awful reviews regarding the cafe we decided to try it for ourselves. When you enter the cafe you immediately have the feel of being in a big transport type cafe. There is nothing refined about the place. Plastic dominates everything. The choice of breakfast is very limited with the ‘full Monty’ being bacon, sausage, black pudding, mushrooms, tin tomatoes and beans. The choice of egg is fried or scrambled. One slice of bread covered in margarine is included but tea or coffee in a paper cup is extra. Salt and pepper are on a table to be collected but are still in their plastic manufacturers containers and are grubby and dirty. No napkins are provided but you can pull some blue paper from a container on the wall much the same as you see mechanics use in a garage. On taking a plastic tray to carry our plates the first tray had food debris on it and had clearly not been wiped down. Cutlery was in plastic cup type containers that again didn’t appear hygienic. The food was simply dumped on the plates, beans swam in with the very liquid tomatoes. The sausage was not what I recognise as a sausage, it was something between a savaloy and a salami with a peppery taste. The single rasher of bacon was fatty and anemic looking and the mushrooms were tinned not fresh. The black pudding to be fair was nicely cooked and soft and the fried egg was OK but the scrambled egg was dry and shaped like a brick. My wife spoke to the manager to point out that the quality of the food was poor and mainly inedible however he was completely disinterested stating there was nothing wrong with the food. Considering the wide range of produce available in their own store right next door, the sub standard food used in their cafe is unbelievable and clearly shouts profit is the master. Because of the poor experience and attitude of the staff we chose not to give our custom to the food shop which looked to have a very varied and wide choice making the poor food in the cafe an insult. Ignore the poor reviews at your peril (as we did). Three customers who entered the cafe left immediately having seen the food served to us

Can say nothing positive Staff looked totally bored talking to other members when serving .Fruit n Veg terrible rotten strawberries black bananas should not be on sale Store appearence grotty and in need of a good clean and lick of paint. Prices have shot up Terrible experience and will not be going back