Le Petit Prince Patisserie — Restaurant in England

Unfortunately not a great experience today. Late afternoon on a Thursday so maybe that was why there was very little choice in the sweet cabinet? We were not greeted or told it was table service so we sat at a table, looked at the savoury choices on the lunch menu and chose Eggs Royale, only to be told when we went up to order 'sorry I should have come and told you there are no eggs or avacado'. Not particularly friendly either. As almost everything on lunch menu had eggs with it we ordered smoked salmon/ cream cheese bagels. The salad was more of a garnish (half the size of the ones in the photos) but was nice and would have liked more! Although there was a good amount of filling it was served as a sandwich and was thick and chewy to eat. Would have preferred it as an open sandwich with filling on both sides (tried to separate it but the top half was dry and it was awkward to scrape off from the other half). There was one twist of lemon which looked pretty but was more for display as it was difficult to squeeze and provided very little juice. Would have preferred 1 or 2 quarters to squeeze over my salmon which is how I like it. The elderflower presse was nice. Disappointing food and service followed by a trip to the loo which was even less impressive, a small white basic room, a large roll of cheap blue paper towel on the shelf (hand written note on dryer said 'not working'), an almost empty cheap plastic bottle of hand soap, no room spray or air fresher and a large open bin with a black plastic bag in it for rubbish. How much effort would it take to improve what is actually a nice rustic cafe (relaxed atmosphere and nice background music) ... not much, but no thought had obviously been put in to the customer's experience (which should be as good at the end of the day as it is at the beginning, if in fact that is good?). Having since read several other reviews it would seem that customer service isn't always up to standard and this wasn't a one off, surely lessons should have been learned by now? We were only visiting whilst on holiday so won't be returning but...

Irrespective of the visual rustic stylishness of rough wooden floor and olive green wall with painted insects marching along the bottom carrying cakes, the owners/staff have no idea when it comes to style or ambiance in the audio sense, or how a latte should taste.

The music is either characterless 15-year-old’s chart dance pop, or completely random 70s “classic rock” (Elton John “Rocket Man” followed by Elvis Presley “Hound Dog”). A place with this interior style could play something with suitable style and quality from now, this year, but with echoes of the past like the U.S. Girls album “In a Poem Unlimited”.

Like last year at the same time when I visited, the latte is not a latte being far too strong. Only asking for extra milk makes it a proper latte when the milk...

I moved from Wimborne Minster 15 years ago and I miss it very much. I visited yesterday for the first time since leaving and was lucky enough to stumble upon this little gem.

Le Petit Prince Patisserie is absolutely wonderful - a very satisfying experience. The staff were friendly, polite and attentive, the coffee was perfect, the carrot cake I tried was as good as any I've ever had and the cup and saucer were my favourite blue!

Wimborne Minster has changed a lot since I last wandered around but I am very happy that I found Le Petit Prince Patisserie and didn't have to suffer the characterless, noisy hustle and bustle of somewhere like Costa.

I highly recommend stepping into this cosy little spot! I will be back in the town this Christmas and I'll certainly be...