Pooky's Deli — Restaurant in Leeds

I can no longer recommend pookys at all. My partner and I have been regulars here for over 6 months, often buying sandwiches, cakes and coffees. To begin with everything was great and the sandwiches and cakes were good. We have noticed over the last 3 months that the standards, quality and value have nose dived drastically. The sandwiches have gotten much smaller (small pieces of bread and not much filling) and the cakes sometimes stale, we kept going back to give them another chance hoping it wasn't a regular thing. Today I bought a spring chicken sandwich as well as some other items. When I got home I thought the bag looked a bit empty but when I opened it I was stunned to see there was only half a sandwich... for £5 🤯 My partner returned the sandwich, they made a new one up but it was the wrong type. The lady who served him tried to convince my partner I had previously ordered a 'Tommy Tucker' but he literally returned half a chicken sandwich for them to inspect. She wasn't apologetic and made it seem like an inconvenience even though it was a pretty big inconvenience for us. She then explained there wasn't any chicken left so I didn't get my sandwich 🙃 She refunded the cost but I am yet to see if it has gone back on my card.

From what I can see from other reviews there isn't any accountability being held, which makes the business look unappealing and ugly. I see from other responses to reviews about them using quality locally sourced produce which reflects in their price, however, when I was waiting for my sandwich to be made I noticed several bags of coop sourdough being used.

I would also agree with other reviews about the wait time being far too long. I have waited over 15 minutes for one cup of coffee...

Visited over lunchtime during the week. Arrived when there were about three other occupied tables and we were served quickly. I had the croque monsieur which was served with a spoonful of coleslaw on a small lettuce leaf. The bread was very well done and dry, bordering on burnt. There wasn’t a lot of cheese and it had one thin slice of ham. I understand costs are rising everywhere but it really wasn’t worth £7. I also had a latte, which wasn’t as rich as they have been in the past when I’ve visited. There is a small step and manual push door to enter, and a step up to the deli area. The tables are very close together, people had to turn sideways to squeeze through tables, never mind being able to move a wheelchair around. The cafe quickly filled up whilst we were there and the family on the table next to us was incredibly close, less than one metre definitely. Bear in mind that this place is “family friendly” so there were a lot of shouting kids and babies, as well as easily being able to hear other’s conversations as they were so close. Our server brought our food, then went back to get cutlery. Communication didn’t seem to be very good between staff as to who had/ hadn’t being served and I witnessed waitresses going round asking each table if they needed serving. Not very professional. Maybe by giving customers cutlery/ napkins once they’ve ordered this could give a signal as to who needed service, and alleviate people having to sit waiting with their food when it arrives for someone to go get them some...

I attended Pooky's a year ago and left a 1-star review as we had a really bad Monday morning experience (review below), however I gave them another try recently.

I have to say, I absolutely got this place wrong a year ago and clearly got them on a bad day as I have been several times recently and must say this place is an absolute gem of a coffee shop.

Great food, amazing coffee and attentive staff. I highly recommend them and have decided to change my review to 5 stars. Thank you for righting a wrong!

I went to Pooky & Grumps this morning at 7.30am with my 4-year old as a Monday morning treat on his way to school.

We arrived at 7.30am in the howling rain to find that the cafe was not open and there was nobody there. On the door it said 'opening time is 7.30am' and this was backed up by the website, so we waited for 5 minutes in the rain.

Nobody came so we sat in the car and waited as my son didn't start school until 8.30am.

At 8.05am a gentleman attended and opened the door so we left the car (again in the pouring rain) and went in.

He was very rude and before we even sat down said "there's no hot drinks or food". Trying to be pragmatic I asked him why they were late opening as it stated 7.30am on the door to which he told me he'd "had a bad nights sleep and slept in...." there was no apology and the level of customer service we received was absolutely horrific.

We left at 8.10am feeling very hungry and very...