&feast — Restaurant in London

A little update (01/11/25). Fresh Croissants issue appears to be resolved, though still best to get them early morning. Back to a well-deserved 5-stars!

If you're visiting or living in London, then definitely visit the suburbs of Richmond upon Thames, for the amazing Royal Richmond Park, and one of London's oldest and most beautiful villages: Barnes, in which you will find the best coffee and croissants in town at '&feast' , opposite Barnes pond. Sit inside, al-fresco or takeaway their fresh salads with vegetarian, vegan and meat-eaters options, also great sandwiches, quesadillas, quiches and arguably the best sausage rolls in London. As for the sweeter stuff, hands-down the best croissants, carrot cake and pasteis de nata for miles around. Also try their recent addition of viral Dubai Pistachio Cookies, yummy!

What‘s not to like? Certainly not the food or coffee. Perhaps inevitably (?) since lockdown/new ownership, &Feast has steered a little offcourse from its previous great service and warm welcome, to a more takeaway indifferent vibe. The service is a little hit and miss, especially when dining inside. A lack of attention and warmth can often be felt. Non-fussy is good, indifference not so. So, room for improvement here. Understandably not easy when focus has to change rapidly from inside to outside. That said, I still highly recommend and would like to thank the owner for creating such a great space. Free parking for residents (Richmond Card, 30mins) directly outside or pay&display. After 12-noon, free parking 50m away.

"Food is a pleasure of...

Not a local so had no idea how this place worked. Sat at an outside table with a menu for 15 mins, no one came despite 4 staff doing not that much inside and not many customers. Went inside to enquire if we could order, they said we needed to order at the hatch. Placed our order, server handed us the soft drinks then walked off saying nothing. We hung around so another server said ‘we’ll bring the rest over to you’, so we sat down. Waited 25 mins, no food or coffee arrived. When we went to enquire, they said our order had been sat on the counter for the last 15 mins, they tried calling but we didn’t collect it. Sorry, but we didn’t give a name and you didn’t give us an order number and you didn’t tell us we needed to listen out for it so how were we supposed to know? Staff carried on serving other customers and couldn’t be bothered to just pop over and give it to us or tell us it was ready. Asked whether we could have glasses for our juices, we were told no, they don’t have glasses? Had to ask for cutlery. Food was actually very tasty, but customer service so poor I...

Seeing flat whites being served, I advised the person at the counter that I wasn’t feeling well and asked if I could just have a cup of hot milk. That was fine and I paid for it. But then a shot / thimble of hot milk arrived. I asked if I could have a full cup, as I’d paid for, but was told “we don’t do hot milk”! I couldn’t help but let out a laugh, as I could hear the barista silking milk for the next flat whites and it felt like I’d entered a scene of Little Britain. When I asked why my order of a cup of milk was taken when it was now impossible to make, I was offered a second shot. Facing post office-like bureaucratic belligerence, I accepted my second shot and moved on. There are so many great cafes in the area with staff who actually want to serve customers, so I’d recommend going elsewhere. Of course, if you order a shot of coffee WITH your hot milk (also known as a latte) then you...