Café Riva, Southbourne: Milo's Sausage Stop

Visited 30 August 2026 · 3 min read

Close-up of Milo, a black senior dog with a grey muzzle and a white paw-print bandana, taking a piece of sausage from a hand, eyes half closed, with picnic benches out of focus behind him — “The humans ordered breakfast. So did I.” — Milo, on his £1.85 sausage

Milo had a very good reason to enjoy breakfast at Café Riva on Southbourne clifftop. His own dog sausage, priced at £1.85 on our visit, arrived while we had our breakfast. He was very happy with his order.

Dogs were warmly welcomed inside and outside. We chose an outdoor table so Milo had more room. There were umbrellas at the tables, water available and toilets for the humans. We found plenty of on-road parking, and the paths and access were straightforward on our visit.

The round blue and green Café Riva sign reading Breakfast, Lunch, Beer and Wine on a post beside a wooden fence, with a red illy coffee sign below it and the clifftop green and a playground behind — The sign on the clifftop. Breakfast, lunch, beer and wine for the humans; sausages for the rest of us.

James had a veggie breakfast and coffee, while I had eggs Florentine and juice. We thought the prices were very reasonable. Milo also had a treat, which helped his already favourable opinion of the place.

One thing we appreciated was the staff checking with the kitchen when we asked whether his sausage was gluten-free. That willingness to check mattered. This isn't a blanket dietary guarantee, so ask about your own dog's requirements when ordering.

Milo with his nose deep in a small white cardboard tray held out to him at an outdoor picnic table, wearing his white paw-print bandana, a pale blue handbag and a house on the clifftop behind — Checking the tray in case the kitchen had missed anything. They hadn't.

A note on the chews

The café stocks Canine Menu natural chews. The buffalo collagen chew was too hard for Milo to manage comfortably. If your dog has missing teeth or struggles with hard treats, check the texture before choosing. That was a mismatch between a particular chew and Milo's needs, rather than a problem with the welcome at the café.

A Canine Menu buffalo natural chew for dogs in its cream paper sleeve, labelled grain and gluten free, hypoallergenic and reduces food waste, lying on a weathered wooden table next to a wooden spoon marked with a table number and a takeaway coffee cup — The buffalo chew: good ingredients, too hard for a dog with fewer teeth than he used to have.

Would we go back?

Yes. A warm welcome, an accessible clifftop stop and a dog sausage that made Milo very happy. Our PawPicks verdict for the visit was 5/5.

If your dog also does better with softer treats, Milo's post-dental-surgery care explains what works for him now. There are more of his days out on the PawPicks Posts hub, and you can meet him properly on our about page.

Visited 30 August 2026. Prices and facilities describe our experience on that date and may change. This is a write-up of one visit on one day, not a paid or sponsored review — nobody at Café Riva knew we were writing anything. Our approach to ratings is set out in How We Test.