FortyFive Vinyl Café — Restaurant in England

Style over substance.

We had a brief attempt to visit FortyFive Vinyl Cafe this morning for a lunch. It was Sunday at about 11:10 and we popped in as the concept and atmosphere seemed nice; we were intrigued by the menu and we like to support smaller businesses. However, it became quickly clear that customer experience isn’t at the top of the priority list.

Initially, we sat in the central dining area in one of the strangely bulky tables. There were 3 stools at the table (one stool on 3 of 4 sides) but we were fine with this as there were only 2 of us. However, when we went to sit we went to swap one of the chairs with the open side to be closer together. As the tables are so bulky they are uncomfortably close together so the opposite side was undesirable. No sooner did we try to move it than we were told by a member of staff (possibly the owner) that we couldn’t as this is the space for the people browsing the vinyl.

Now this is fine but the space for browsing is very large and no one was there browsing. Furthermore, we wouldn’t have selected the table if we had known that side was unavailable -it was certainly not immediately obvious when looking at it. A simple plaque or a notice on the table would have been a much more considerate way to deal with the issue of people wanting to use a 4 sided table in the manner that 4 sided tables are usually used. But then, if the owners were concerned with customer comfort as much as aesthetics, they would have appropriately-sized tables that aren’t so close you feel like you are cuddling the strangers next to you.

So, being good sports, we moved to the window seats and selected our orders. The next bit of trouble came when my husband went to order - the girl at the counter got part of the way through taking his order when the same member of staff (as before) came over and said that the lunch menu is not available until 12pm and it was breakfast only until 12 on Weekends. Except that the menu specifically says that sandwiches are available from 11am- 6pm. Certainly, it does say that on weekends breakfast is served until 12. But it ALSO says sandwiches from 11-6 with no mention of a difference on the weekends -leading customers to believe that there is a 1 hour overlap on the weekends. Extremely frustrating and again an issue created by the owner/management not correctly communicating in advance and instead preferring to “correct” customers after the fact, creating a lot of frustration.

Soooo... long story... long... we ended up leaving. It was all way more trouble than it was worth. We left with the distinct impression that the look and novelty of the cafe was much more important than the actual customer experience. Maybe the food is awesome... who knows? We won’t.

I genuinely hope the owners learn to manage the cafe more professionally and with greater respect for...

Used to be the best Cafe in York, sadly gone downhill.

I have visited FortyFive several times before and during Covid rules. At various times I have sat in a for food with friends and just grabbed a quick takeaway coffee. Each time I have had an entirely positive experience... until my most recent visit.

When I arrived it was semi-busy but not full (there were still tables available). Upon being greeted by one of the staff I just wanted to order a latte to go. Immediately upon I was treated like a massive inconvenience to the staff. I was ushered into a corner behind the door and left to wait standing around awkwardly with my heavy shopping bags.

I did not check the time when I went in but the wait was by far the longest I have ever had to wait for coffee anywhere. During the time I was waiting another customer was able to slowly browse the shops entire record stock one by one, select his purchases, pay for them and leave.

When my order finally did arrive it was completely wrong. When I told the employee (not the same employee that greeted me at the door) that was not what I had ordered I she responded with total apathy. At no point did I receive an apology for being made to wait awkwardly in the corner, the long wait for a single drink or the fact that they got my order totally wrong.

I appreciate covid rules make things difficult for staff at the moment but when 2 members of staff can't even get a 5 word coffee order ("Large latte to go please") correct and served in a reasonable time it does not exactly inspire confidence to go back to order food and/or...

We were really pleased to find what at first seemed to be a friendly & accommodating local place to have breakfast or lunch on a regular basis. One of us being vegetarian and the other gluten intolerant the staff were always happy to make adjustments to accommodate our needs, unfortunately this was not to last. We must have visited once a week over the last 3 months, but the last two visits proved to be our last... the Mush A Boom being our firm favourite, I would always request the bacon to be switched for avocado & the other to add avocado, never a problem! Until we were informed that "some of their "chefs" will not make changes at all" but that they "would on this occasion" The waiting staff seemed annoyed at having to inform us of this as they had served us many times and we were beginning to feel like regulars. The very last visit saw us leave without eating, we were told that "today's chef is refusing to make any changes". So unfortunately we felt unwelcome & that our previous visits and becoming regular customers was unvalued, safe to say we haven't and don't plan...