Rubens Coffee Albert Dock — Restaurant in Liverpool

Have been to Rubens on several occasions previously for a coffee and not had an issue, coffee is well prepared & served promptly, however, we went this morning (Saturday) for breakfast and ordered 2 breakfast bagels, we were told this would be a 45 minute wait, understandable as it is a Saturday morning, and the price is reasonable.

It got to the 45 minute mark and we could see that other customers had approached the staff to request when they would be receiving their food, as they had already been waiting longer than expdcted and were understandably confused as their orders were for breakfast sandwiches that should only take around 10-15 minutes to make.

We got our food at around the hour mark. The bagels weren’t cut which was strange as it made it difficult to eat. The quality and taste was of a good standard, but not worth the time it took to get to us.

The staff were not very attentive. Mostly standing around waiting for food orders instead of asking customers who were waiting if they would like any other drinks etc. We had empty coffee cups on our table for around 45 minutes before asking for them to be taken away, when staff had walked past our table at least a dozen times.

The toilet (singular) was quite dark and dingy, anything above eye level or below knee height was quite dirty. It could do with a bit of TLC.

TLDR; Good takeout coffee, reasonably priced. If you’re looking for a quick bite on a weekend, go...

Don’t expect a polite human service from the staff.

Food quality was good value but unfortunately that’s where the good points start and stop.

Firstly the menu is spread throughout the venue and doesn’t actually detail what is in each meal, the breakfast wrap for instance or the full English you actually have no idea what you are getting.

When our food did come they had completely forgot one of our order of 4 and so they ended up starting to eat after we’d almost finished, save the food going cold.

The worst element though was unfortunately the staff, particularly the unfriendly girl that was pot washing. The only table that was clean and available when we arrived was by a staff door, which was closed. We sat down and started to have a conversation and then suddenly we couldn’t hear each other over the banging and clattering going on in what was now evidently the pot wash area. I politely asked if I could close the door, to which I got a short and snappy reply of “you’ve sat by the staff room and I need to keep going in and out”.

I’m pretty sure the door was put there for many reasons but one is almost certainly to keep the noise from entering the restaurant and ruining the customer experience. I’m also sure that the manager wouldn’t expect their staff to talk to the customers the way this member did to me.

We don’t visit Liverpool very often but when we next do we certainly won’t be using...

3rd time we've been to the cafe but we'll probably choose somewhere different next time.

We have an almost 4 year old and were told there are no children's portions, I was also told there were no sausages and the girl at the till must have rolled her eyes at me at least 3 times whilst I was on the spot trying to think of alternative options.

The food that arrived was great, however after the being told there were no sausages and being told we'd get more bacon, the food that arrived did have sausages so I can only put this down to the girl at till having no clue or customer service skills what-so-ever.

Pros - food is great if you can cope with the rude staff.

Cons - no menus on the tables leaving you all walking round awkwardly looking at boards, no children's menu or children's portions and unhelpful rude eye rolling when asking can we make up a small breakfast for him.

Top tip Ruben's cafe, the staff you employ are the face of your business and project your ethos, choose them wisely. We'll be going...