21 SID — Restaurant in London

I visited this café a few days ago and was honestly quite disappointed by my experience. I went in asking for a fresh juice, and as a fluent Italian speaker, I was taken aback when one of the women referred to me as a "ragazzina," which means "little girl" in Italian. I’m a fully grown adult woman, and the way she said it with a condescending tone really made me feel small.

Then, when I asked to check an orange, I simply touched one gently and said, "Can I check that this is the orange you are using, please?" She snapped at me, saying, “DO NOT TOUCH THEM” and as she saw my shocked look she reluctantly added a ‘please’ which did not sound genuine at all. She gave me a look as if my hands were somehow dirty because of the colour of my skin. It was a simple, polite request, but her response made me feel uncomfortable, and honestly, a little humiliated.

As a woman of colour who wears a headscarf, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this situation had something to do with how I looked. I’ve lived in Italy before and faced racism there, and that look of disgust is one that stays with you. It made me feel unsafe, like I didn’t belong, and it was really hard to just let it go.

I tried not to make a big deal of it. I took my juice, paid, and left politely. But when I thought about it later, I couldn’t help but ask myself: Why couldn’t she have just said, "Could you please not touch the orange because of hygiene reasons," or something along those lines? Why the cold, harsh tone?

I nearly had tears in my eyes because I didn’t get the chance to speak up for myself in the moment. I walked out feeling hurt and confused. I don’t think I’ll be getting a drink from there again. I don’t want to support a place where I feel treated as less than, simply because of the colour of my skin or my headscarf.

I really hope this was just a misunderstanding, but if anyone else has experienced something like this, know that you're not alone. I wish I could ignore it, but I can’t. I just hope they make changes because no one should ever feel the way I...

I was with friends in the area when we found this place that was dog friendly and had great reviews but unfortunately our experience was quite unpleasant.

I love to visit and try different independent cafes in the city and it disheartens me to leave a bad review but I hope this could be useful for the owner that seems to be a passionate person about her business.

To start with the good part, the food we tried was great, very well made, fresh and tasty! The place has a lot of character and quirky bits that are delightful to look at and the playlist was spot on.

But unfortunately there is a bad part: from the beginning, the staff was very unfriendly and seemed very stressed.

We ordered a couple of Ciobar, expecting the creamy delicious Italian classic (denso e cremoso) that we love but received a very watery drink. They just mixed the package on the milk and that was it, never mind about prepping it properly to make it thick.

We also ordered tea and the mug attached to the bottom of the tea pot was very stained and dirty. We asked if they could change it because it was dirty, they did but claimed it wasn't dirty, just stained. The cutlery was poorly washed as well. But the worst part was the little milk jug for the tea, it was crooked and I have no idea of what happened with the milk, but it had very weird lumps, definitely not what you expect to receive...

I have been a regular visitor over the last few months and enjoyed coffees & breakfasts whilst doing some work on the laptop.

However this morning I received an outrageous service and communication by (who I believe is) a cafe manager. When I sat and unpacked my laptop I have put a small paper bag that I brought from the supermarket on the table. Without saying a word the lady pointed at me and shaken her head. This felt abrupt and rude. When I came to the counter to order a coffee the lady said that I cannot eat any food from the outside. She repeated it twice. Even though I have not consumed any food at the cafe or opened any packaging, she communicated it in a demeaning manner and confronted me multiple times.

It's a real shame that people get passive aggressive and communicate so poorly. Unfortunately with such behavior I do not feel welcome at this cafe anymore even though I have enjoyed having breakfasts there few times a week. With such attitude they have...