Farro Bakery — Restaurant in Bristol

Very disappointing experience today at Farro Bristol. I went to buy two nata and one croissant. I clearly said, “Can I get two nata and one croissant, please?” to the male Black staff member at the counter. He ignored me completely. I repeated exactly the same polite sentence, but he still ignored me. Only when I shortened it to “Two nata and one croissant” did he start processing my order — and then he lectured me that just saying “two nata and one croissant” is very rude. I told him I had said “please” from the start, yet he continued to lecture me about my “bad manners.” I’ve lived in Bristol for 5 years and have always been friendly to staff in bakeries and cafés. This is the first time I’ve been “told off” like this in a bakery here — absolutely speechless. This kind of treatment is unacceptable and made me feel extremely uncomfortable as a customer.

Update (in response to the owner’s reply): Thank you for your reply. I must clarify a few important points, as the suggestion that I was “racialising” a member of staff is both incorrect and unfair.

First, when I mentioned the staff member’s appearance, it was solely to help you identify which employee I was referring to. There was absolutely no derogatory intent, prejudice, or discrimination of any kind. My feedback has nothing to do with the person’s race or skin colour — the issue I raised was entirely about the service attitude during that interaction.

Second, I did look up from my phone at the very beginning and made my request directly. I have already explained that I engaged in friendly conversation with your team. However, despite this, the response I received felt like a scolding, which I found both unexpected and disappointing.

In addition, at the time of ordering, there was only one male staff member taking orders. I am not sure who you were referring to when you said “everyone else heard,” as there were no other staff members directly involved in that moment.

Lastly, this is not my first time purchasing from Farro. I have always been polite and had good experiences before, which is why this incident was especially surprising and upsetting to me.

I hope this clears up any misunderstanding. The suggestion that my comments involved discrimination is entirely unfounded, and I would appreciate it if this was not implied in future...

People often yak on about places doing "the best" pastries or coffees or what have you. I'm always fairly skeptical of superlatives when given a recommendation on regards to cafe's: I think it's a way of self-justifying the often crazy prices someone has paid for a little breakfast snack.

And I was entirely prepared to be cynical when I heard this spoken about Farro. Just another fancy cafe.

But I was honestly blown away by their selection of pastries: the babka is a massive marbled work of art and will leave you feeling satisfied in a way a smaller pastry cannot. The Queen Amann (something I'd never even heard of, let alone had the pleasure of eating) might just have blown all other pastries out of the water - they come plain or even better, filled with a slightly tart apple cream - and are worth visiting Farro for, if nothing else.

I didn't have a coffee, but you can tell from the setup it's all quality stuff. Yes it's not cheap, but with current prices it's not markedly more expensive than equivalent offerings from Pret or the like, but the quality is on an entirely different level. Worth every extra penny. Save yours up and instead of getting loads of sub par bits from other places, perhaps just go every once in a while and treat yourself to a taste...

Where do I begin? Ah I know - with the flavour of course. I had heard a great deal about the best bakeries in Bristol and this place kept popping up, so of course being an avid baked good fans I ventured over there.

Luckily it’s not far from my house (bonus!) so I walked over and explored the visual aspect of the place first, which is charming in size, and kind of hidden. From there I ordered the chocolate braided Babka which was very delicious, moist, and pretty sweet, and my partner ordered the spiced bun, Which was crispy and soft in places, with spiced sugar, alongside a bag of pastel de Nata and a couple of coffees. As I sat there munching into mine I was in sheer heaven. Simply gorgeous flavours coming out of this pastry and probably the best I’ve had anywhere.

I tried my partners also and I was very impressed with the flavour of this also.

Good quality coffee, and the pastel de Nata custard tarts were probably the best outside of Portugal.

Get over there as early as you can to avoid disappointment, as it...