42nd East Bakehouse — Restaurant in England

Review for 42nd East Bakehouse St. Stephen’s

I don’t feel the need to write reviews very often but I hope the owner will see this and take it as constructive criticism. Let me start by saying the food is okay but expensive (£8.75 for a sausage and bacon sandwich) - everything else is in serious need of improvement.

The layout of the place doesn’t work. There’s just bench seating round the edge and loose chairs dotted around. There are tiny tables that are way too low to eat from (imagine small coffee/side tables about 50cm across). This means there’s not enough space for 2 people to have a drink and food on the same table. Where are the ‘normal’ cafe/bistro style tables?

The menu is trying to be too minimalist with not enough description of each dish (don’t get me started on the lack of any dishes with eggs at a brunch establishment!!). Ordering is done at the counter (although you’re not told this when arriving and could be made obvious by putting it on the menu) and there’s no table numbers which causes a problem for the staff.

The service can best be described as chaotic. We waited over 30 minutes for some simple food which came with items missing (no sausage in the ‘sausage and bacon’ sandwiches). Why don’t they bring the drinks first whilst they’re preparing your food? One item didn’t arrive at all and the staff didn’t seem to know what to do (as I said - chaotic!). After a bit of discussion we got a refund.

We were so hoping to have a great experience but were let down by the disorganised staff. It felt like the place had opened before it is ready. It reminded me of one of those tasks on the Apprentice where they set up a ‘pop up’ place (this one by the losing team where someone got fired). The problems could be solved with a little organisation, staff training, slightly rejigged menu and some better furniture.

Not sure we’ll go back again though which is a shame as it could be a really nice place with a little improvement. There’s a Greggs next door which whilst not as tasty is better value for money and way more efficient. 42nd East Bakehouse in St Stephen’s needs to up its game if it’s going to survive against the competition on...

Awful!

1. I booked a reservation over a week ago and we weren’t on the list.
2. No table numbers so we kept being given other people’s orders.
3. drinks took way too long to prepare and serve and when they did bring them out the server couldn’t tell us what they were to allocate them to the person who ordered.
4. tables were tiny so we had to put vases etc on the floor just so we had space to put 2 drinks and 2 plates.
5. sausage and bacon sarnie has not that many ingredients to it so you wouldn’t expect them to forget to add sausage 🙄
6. the server came to check everything was ok with our food and I had to point at the table and tell him half the meals were missing.
7. still 1 meal missing when the first two of the party had finished their food, had to chase it up to be told they didn’t have the ingredients to make the item, why did we have to chase the food to be told this? Were they planning on just leaving the ticket all day until we got fed up and left?
8. lady who was doing the refund (which I haven’t yet received but to be fair today is Sunday so I appreciate this may take a few days) snapped at my friend after a comment was made by the table next to ours and had nothing to do with us at all! All in all it was disorganised chaos and quite embarrassing! My son was getting his train back home at 1pm and so we thought a booking at 10.45 would be enough, it wasn’t! He didn’t get fed so I had to go next door and get...

Disappointed

Thoroughly disappointed. Preorder in early March for Easter goodies which didn’t arrive til after the bank hol. They tried to blame the lateness on DPD however I spoke with FOUR separate senior management members who assured me the parcel was not handed to them in good time. However, even if it was, the customer service I’ve had has really been something else. No apologies, no sign of dissatisfaction that their customer would be let down, receive products late and products that won’t be fresh. And mostly, zero compassion. I’ve had anorexia and I’m currently unemployed due to redundancy so £30 on cakes is a BIG DEAL, I told them this and they ignored it. Yet they have a ‘good mood club’?? I got zero good moods from this order. When I eventually received my parcel the Easter egg was broken - I’d expected that. But the cookie dough was rock solid, totally stale. The Malteasers Biscoff Cookie Doughnut I ordered had no sign of malteasers and was no bunny included like the photo. Even though it’s the product that’s of subpar quality they still won’t refund me, instead consistently choosing to blame the courier.

All in all I’m beyond disappointed and haven’t received a refund nor apology. I supported this business for many years, sharing a lot and shouting a lot about their products on social media. This instance is the SECOND time I’ve had a bad experience with them. So I warn you if you’re ordering online...