Larkhall Deli — Restaurant in Bath

Had seen this place recommended so stopped on the way home. There were no prices on the products but I ordered a quiche and a muffin to takeaway. The guy wasn't at all clear what salads went with the quiche so I declined the salad. They were not on show behind the deli counter. I was very shocked at the price. £5.95 for a slice of quiche and £3.50 for a muffin. Only saw the price at payment point. Both quiche and muffin were an ordinary size. On arrival at home I noticed that the takeout price was the same as the eat in price. Given that our takeouts would be zero rated (and VAT is inbuilt in the price) this means the establishment is making more profit from takeaway customers than the eatin customers. I find this bizarre and felt I was unfairly charged. The guy in the shop didn't seem to be very customer friendly and seemed surprised when I asked a question about the muffin. In summary; Prices should be displayed on the food in the counter. (Very easy to do everyone else does it) I think the prices are too high. The sales assistant should be able to answer questions with ease and enthusiasm. Takeout prices should be discounted. I won't be visiting again.

In response: Price list on the wall was for drinks, porridge and soup. There was definitely no prices in the cabinet but each item in the cabinet had a handwritten description next to it. I'm walking into a Deli with the intention of having a takeaway - why would I pick up a menu? Cakes are zero rated - a muffin is a cake. There was nothing special about the muffin. "Spread the VAT burden" Why should a person pay "deemed VAT" on a product that is not subject to VAT. Grossly unfair and unethical. In my eyes you are profiteering from people who would prefer a takeaway and actually increasing your profit by quite a large amount particularly at a time when a lot of people are still not comfortable sitting among other people without a mask. With my basic math I estimate you gained an extra £1 profit on top of your normal profit because I had my quiche as a takeaway. Why should people having takeaways subsidize people who eat in. It was merely an observation about the size. I merely wonder what we are paying for. I agree I would have exercised my choice if the price was displayed. I would not have bought the quiche, I would have walked out. However, even if the price was displayed the quiche would also need to be pre-cut into portion sizes so a customer could see what they were buying for £5.95. Thank you for...

Very disappointed with the service here. We visited some time ago so maybe things have changed, but I feel like families in particular should know our experience (I gave them a chance to respond, then also waited because I knew they were experiencing issues with their Walcot location which might result in the delay, then life got in the way of me writing this review).

We were sat at a small table with our 10-month-old. When the server brought out hot drinks, we tried to create a space away from the baby, but instead of waiting, they just put them down right in front of her. We also saw them do similar to a nearby table with a baby not long before, so this wasn't a one-off.

Of course, she put her hand right in the boiling coffee. Fortunately, we knew what first aid was required - however, the shop offered us an ice pack while we were running her hand under water. They also suggested going to the pharmacy for cream to put on it. Both are an absolute no-no! Of course they have no obligation to provide first aid to us, but it's concerning that this is what the people in the shop considered correct first aid. What if one of them suffered a burn?

They gave us our food in takeaway containers so we could treat the baby properly, but did not offer any alternative for the (not cheap) drinks we couldn't have.

I wrote to the owners highlighting that the first aid knowledge was concerning, and if you advertise as family-friendly (which they did at the time), your staff should also be given advice on how to keep children safe - e.g. never placing hot drinks near them. In pretty much everywhere else we have visited that invites children, this is the norm and they wait for you to create a space to put the drinks or hot dishes down.

The owners essentially replied saying 'what do you want us to do about it', and never responded after that. I said I didn't want to leave this review with them being a small, local business - and if they could reassure me they were training their staff appropriately I'd be happy to leave it there. Sadly I never got that reassurance. Hopefully things have changed, and they will respond here highlighting this. If not, please be very careful about visiting with young children and babies.

As an aside, the food we had was pretty average, which was surprising given the chain's reputation.

(Also, I am not the sort of person to do this - I am usually a 4/5-star reviewer! But I was so shocked by the lack of interest in our...

Larkhall Deli is a cute little corner cafe on the heart of Larkhall but they advertise gluten free options, which when asked, are not suitable for coeliacs.  Full 1* review at coeliacwellnes.com.

Lovely place to enjoy a cuppa (watch out for the Oat milk) from a friendly team that offers hot drinks to the queue of people outside the Butchers on Christmas eve.

We’d love to be able to improve on their score and will keep our eyes peeled to see if they improve their labelling or include some actually gluten free options.

Update: Many thanks for your message below. It is always difficult to receive constructive criticism and we take all feedback very seriously. Unfortunately this review reflects the information given to our team on the day they visited. If your gluten free food does avoid cross contamination and is therefore safe for coeliacs we will happily return to re-review. We generally avoid photos of people and blur out faces where they are unavoidable, but we will of course remove all pictures of people from all our platforms as you requested. We are responding to your emails and look forward to...