BOBO & WILD - Shoreditch "All day Brunch and Specialty Coffee” — Restaurant in London

I saw the place was serving matcha and açai bowl, which I love, so I went to ask if I can use my laptop (around 6pm) and the girl at the counter said no problem. After ordering, I went to sit down where she told me to and started to set up laptop to work, and I’ve been told by someone else to move outside. I said I needed a socket and they said they have it outside. But it wasn’t working so I’ve been asked to move inside at the corner, and again, I had to move as I couldn’t use the socket. They sent me up to the laptop room which I was really happy about, and I asked them I really love the place and what time they close the place. The girl at the counter told me 5:30pm, and even said for me they could make an exception, so I returned a couple of days later around 3pm. At 4pm, I’ve been told to move downstairs as the laptop room will be shut. I was confused but I just left as I was so confused of their rules. I tried their lavender matcha, it was so sugary I couldn’t drink it. And açai bowl was a mix of weird smoothie like consistency rather than the açai puree I am used to. And the whole restaurant is pretty empty all the time. I won’t be returning.

Response to the owner’s response

Hi Sarvar, I understand this is a cafe, not a co-working space. That’s why I asked if I could use my laptop before purchasing, and I’ve been told yes. But even after that, you guys made me move three times, made me feel like some inconvenience for you guys, although I was a paying customer. Whenever I work outside, I always make sure I eat there, and drink couple of times so that I spend minimum £30. And I’ve never been treated like this in any other cafes. Also, didn’t want to mention this but I asked if the matcha could be re-made as it was too sweet, and your staff kept pouring milk into it and gave it back to me, which made it taste like just sugary milk. Also, I was at your venue from 6-8pm on my first visit, I don’t believe this is considered a morning time, and the place was completely empty, I just saw one table. Another visit, 3pm, there was only one table, and one more person at the laptop room. I’m happy to hear that some of your customers like your pizza.

Thanks for taking my feedback into account, and I hope...

I understand it’s a cafe and not a co-working space but there needs to be clear signage somewhere, ideally by the till saying that laptops aren’t allowed in certain spaces/past a certain time. I feel like I wasted my money to buy something so I could sit just to be told I can’t have my laptop out. Before that, we were also told off for not mentioning if we were going to get a takeaway or have in as the prices are different, but this wasn’t made clear to us at the till by the person who took our order, and we weren’t aware that the price would be different. I’ve worked in cafes before and was always told to ask customers if they were sitting in or taking away, if that information mattered. We just had a bad experience overall.

Also read from other reviews that there is a laptop room, this also wasn’t mentioned to us at all but I guess the room was already closed by the time we were there anyway. Regardless I didn’t enjoy being treated and told off twice like we were supposed to know all this stuff. Please put up a sign.

At the very least there was a silver lining though - my friend got the brisket sandwich and he said it was really good. Just don’t come here if you wanna have your laptop out lol

Edit: The cafe’s response says there are signs in multiple places. There were 3 of us there when we visited, and one of us was waiting at the till for a while and didn’t see any signage at all. At one point I sat outside, then we moved to a table inside, the sofas to the right of the till. Didn’t see anything. If a sign exists, it wasn’t there when we visited. Thank you for the considerate reply, I appreciate you guys are a busy cafe and I don’t expect you to tell every single customer what the rules are - just want to clarify on my part as well that there was genuinely no obvious sign at the till when I came by.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my feedback. Wishing you...

I ordered a simple black Americano on my way to work this morning. I paid and I began to wait. I also watched the ‘barista’ yawn constantly and look as uninterested as he possibly could. Customers were still coming into the shop to make orders and the staff were happy to take payment. However, after more than 20 minutes I still didn’t get my much needed morning coffee. No one at the cafe spoke to anybody about why we were kept waiting so long, because by the this stage people who had ordered were having to wait outside as a healthy crowd had built up. Other customers began asking where their drinks were and there was no effort made to explain. I had to be at work and rather than make a scene I decided to ask for my cup back and walked away empty handed. It told me a lot that the staff didn’t even try to stop me, or even offer me a refund. I fully appreciate that this is an independent small business and that’s why I decided to give them a go rather than visit one of the chains. But the fact that none of the staff seemed to bothered is what concerned me most. We’re on our way to work, we don’t have 20-30mins to wait for a black coffee to be made. Maybe stop posting on social media for a while and tend to your much needed customers, that’s...