CAFÉ BERRY HELSINKI — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

To start off, I don’t think I would return

I had been looking forward to check this new cafe out as their pastry looked amazing on insta. And the pastry itself indeed was nice, the appearance was very unique and well done, you can tell the pastry chef put some good effort into it, the taste and texture was nice as well.

But sadly that’s the only good thing I can say about the visit. The overall experience did not match what the café’s interior and pricing suggested.

The flow of the service feels unclear with no proper instruction. For example, when we ordered our drink, there wasnt any indication on whether we should collect them ourselves or it’ll be bought to the table, after waiting for a little bit we just went to the counter and picked it up ourselves, just in time when it was made, so maybe it’ll be bought to us if we waited for longer but we can’t be sure. Another guest sitting next to our table also asked us whether she had to go and get the coffee themselves as well so at least we were the only one that was unsure.

The barista that took our order was quite unfriendly. She gave no greeting, zero eye contact and provided no information. She was very disengaged overall and seem honestly a bit disturbed and annoyed to serve us, having worked in cafe myself, I understand how annoying it is when customer are expecting you to be all cheerful and smiley, however when we came in there was barely anyone in line, it wasn’t busy and we ordered two simple latte and paid, no fuss. But the lack of basic acknowledgment did make us feel very unwelcome. The coffee was ok, nothing amazing but it definitely wasn’t bad, pretty decent.

This’s the longest review I’ve ever written as I want to be objective but I’m sad to say this place really did not provide the level of service and quality esp given the expectations set by the café’s design and social media presence.

Side note, there also wasn’t any toilet paper in the women’s toilets...

After waiting for a long line for about 20 mins you are not getting seating but required instantaneously order food without looking at the menu . And was told that I can only seat after I order so I started thinking on what to order. The cashier though didn’t want to wait and just went on asking the girl behind me which so rudely just went over me. Then even though I been told I need first to order to seat then family behind me just went and grabbed table even though I was ahead of them and had been waited unlike them longer. On my question to cashier she just said she is not responsible for that and she just takes order. First time ever in Finland had such a horrible service. Even though this place just opened up and everyone hurried wanting to try this place it was really rude behavior. Never ever gonna go here. But if you do KNOW THAT FIRST YOU SHOULD GRAB TABLE, even though there is a silent rule in Finland that people who order and carry plates should maybe seat before others waiting in the line to order.

Do not recommend coming here! Left very stressed from this place. Very rude service!!! and making customers to rush and walk over others. If you want to save your nerves don’t come here!!!

Update: starting from today (probably after mess yesterday the staff started first seating people down) so acknowledging the fact how I was treated yesterday , people going over me did affect them. Well glad for others but why should I be the testing customer receiving very stressful service?? And not even getting any...

New review: as told, I came back two times more. Once for take away and once for a coffee with pastry. Personnel seemed to be less stressed and actually helpful. Line was moving fast and both times I did not wait. Pastry is very tasty and fresh (tried mango, lemon and cherry ones). Ordering system is still a bit confusing for me, but not a deal breaker.

Old review: I usually don’t give low scores unless place truly disappointed me. And since it was my first visit, I definitely will visit one-two times more to check if situation changed. Grades by category. Service: mediocre. I was in the cafe in the early morning. Two tables were taken and fully served then. 4 people in front of me in the line. One person did cashier job and served drinks, what slowed the service tremendously. People did not make big orders (majority took one pastry and drink), but it took me 15 minutes in the line to get to cashier. If it happens on the lax Saturday morning, then how about busy hours? Cashier looked stressed and almost snappy. Please, add more staff. Food: I took citrus pastry which was very good. Helsinki definitely needed something like this for quite a time! Atmosphere: is ok. Please don’t put the stand with QR-code in the middle of the room, it splits the line and makes it awkward when people behind are trying to reach to take a photo to check for menus. Otherwise, as I said, I definitely will come here a couple...