The Buntingford Coffee Shop — Restaurant in East Hertfordshire

Unfortunately let down by their staff yesterday.

Having visited the shop on multiple occasions without any issues I was disappointed to have received the service I received yesterday.

I ordered a tea, cold mango drink, brownie and fruit scone. From ordering we opted to take a seat outside, and informed the gentleman who took the order. However, after around 10 to 15 minutes one of the staff members came out and asked if I'd ordered a tea and explained sugar was inside. I had no problem with this and accept there may have been other orders to fulfil although only 2 other tables were occupied outside at the point all of whom appeared to have food and drink.

I went in to the shop for a sugar and a different member of staff asked if I'd ordered a brownie to which I replied that I had. They then pointed to a closed box on the side and explained that must have been mine but they didn't know who it was for and yet didn't come out to ask any customer if they had ordered this. Instead this was just left waiting to be claimed.

At this point we're around 25 minites from ordering and others have come in and left with takeaway drinks whilst we had been waiting. The scone arrived piping hot with jam and cream but sadly was not a fruit scone as ordered. I kindly spoke with a third employee who was very apologetic and swiftly offered to rectify the problem. The mango drink was then bought out to us so atleast our drinks were now present. We had to wait an additional 15 minutes before again having to go back inside to find the scone, box open on the side and again was told by the employee that they did not know who it was for and didn't know what to do with it. A like warm and mostly solid scone was all we were left with.

At this point we were almost at the hour mark which for an order of that size on a quiet Sunday afternoon in my opinion is not something I or others would come to expect. I've been in to the shop on multiple occasions both during the week and weekends, in and out of school holidays and I believe yesterday's staff who were young in comparison to who's served me before either do not have the experience to be left unmanaged or just simply couldn't be bothered to be there.

It is a shame as usually I cannot fault the shop and have recommended to friends and family and even been pointed in your direction by locals. I hope the lack of structure or service that was displayed yesterday will be addressed as I would like to return in the future and...

Love this little coffee shop, but a little let down in my recent visit.

The food is always really delicious but on this occasion my toast was cold and the butter was incredibly hard to spread, and my two poached eggs came fully cooked and hard, not runny at all. I didn’t want to send the food back though as they were busy and I do sympathise with that and don’t want to cause any grief. My pecan pie was delectable however, no faults there at all.

Their drinks are superb, there’s always a generous amount of cream on the hot chocolates which is my go to drink, but my hot chocolate this time around was not hot enough for my liking and was missing an extra little chocolate garnish on the top which was part of the drink (it wasn’t a regular hot chocolate it was meant to be the special bueno style one). If I can drink the whole mug in under 2 minutes then it’s too mild in my opinion! ;)

The staff are lovely but come across as overworked or tired and sometimes are very slow to greet customers or acknowledge them. I completely understand that it’s the busiest coffee shop in Buntingford, but you have to make customers feel welcomed and I felt a little bit unwelcome. My boyfriend was stood waiting to be served for about 5 minutes which was a bit silly. The ladies behind the counter - two of them were preoccupied with writing an order and the other making a coffee, all it takes is a quick “I’ll be with you in a moment” or “what are you after?” Just to get the ball rolling.

I really love the mugs in there and the decor, but felt a bit snug at times. But once you’re sat it’s actually quite cosy, can get quite loud and overwhelming though when it’s busy. It’s nice to look out the window and watch the world go by.

The door was left open which was letting in a bit of a draft so I had to sit with my jacket on which kind of sucked.

Overall it’s lovely but just needs a touch of improvements...

My husband and I visited this establishment today, Sunday 28th August 2023. We ordered toasted sandwiches (as they were described on the menu). I requested a fried egg with my bacon sandwich. We don’t fry eggs the ‘can’t be bothered staff member’ advised, so I had to go with poached. So, the sandwiches come out, served with attitude, not toasted and the bread was stale. No condiments offered. We then had another rude and miserable staff member come to our table to reprimand us publicly about not bringing dogs inside. Now , the only reason that we see fit to bring our little dog inside with us was because my husband had bought takeaway coffees the day before from here and left our dog outside to order. In the corner were two dogs sitting on the floor. Therefore any intelligent person would then consider it ok to take dogs inside. No sign to say no dogs allowed & there was a dog water bowl outside the shop door. So, we are moving to Buntingford soon, many of our friends already live there. None of us have double barrel surnames, Barbour Jackets and Wellington boots but………we are respectful people with loads of disposable income, none of which is going over the counter at this miserable place ever again. It’s good to see another place is opening soon and the bakers down the street is absolutely excellent. We are more than happy to sit respectfully and peacefully outside with our dog but not at the Buntingford Coffee Shop. As Buntingford grows into a major suburb of London there will be healthy competition on its way. Good, the complacency of this place...