Butter Beans — Restaurant in London

I don't enjoy writing this as we have been coming here, almost by tradition, for some time as our breakfast spot on the way into London. I ordered "Slow Cooked Porridge" with the bananas and raisins which, to their credit, were a good amount. When it arrived it tasted a little different but there was a lot of honey so I thought it must just be sweet. After a few mouthfuls I realised this definitely wasn't porridge - it was Rice Pudding! At first I thought maybe it was just me so I asked my wife to try it (without prompting), she laughed, looked confused and said what I expected - "That's rice pudding!". As most will know they also look very different too, with the latter missing... well... oats. I went to the counter to ask why I had been served something I hadn't ordered, but was quite rudely told it was, in fact, porridge. I tried to explain that she was mistaken and perhaps there was a mix up in the kitchen, but the response was to bring out a bowl of dry oats as "proof" I had just eaten porridge. I'm not sure what shocked me more, the fact they would not admit they didn't have any porridge ready so tried to sell microwaved rice pudding, or the that fact that we then left wondering what else they "swap out". If you have allergies, I don't recommend here as you genuinly dont know what you are actually getting. Either both knew their mistake or only the kitchen did and wouldn't own up. We're all adults here so, whilst we're not Michelin Star chefs, we know the difference between porridge and rice pudding. Such a shame that they were not honest and wouldn't admit it. Even with us all saying it they were still sticking to the fact it was porridge. A message to the staff, whilst I am not someone with allergies, carelessly swapping food like that is far more serious for some others incliding children. Please don't do it, it's unprofessional and...

Very poor experience overall. Coffee was great but other than that, very much regretted the visit.

Iced mocha had chocolate bits at the bottom all stuck together in a frozen block, so it was an iced coffee with a big lump of chocolate bit's in. When asked about it, the Australian female working said that's how we make it, it has chocolate bits in it. No attempt made to rectify the drink but a spoon was offered, presumably to eat the lump of iced chocolate? You certainly can't taste the chocolate in the drink or suck any of the bits through a straw... This situation was made far worse when the same woman deemed it appropriate to loudly repeat to her colleague over whole cafe that, it's meant to be like that and "she's drunk it all anyway, so what does she want, I offered her a spoon!" This is some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced. She was surely aware we could all hear her slagging the customers off behind their back. On top of this the pancakes were very average, bacon came out burnt to a crisp (literally shattered when attempting to cut). Again, we felt the need to complain which she was fine about this time, so took away the bacon and brought back some virtually raw bacon instead, which we had to again ask to be cooked properly. She was fine about this but still had to hear the back and forth with the chef. The keto salad bowl was the most boring, lackluster meal I've ever been unfortunate enough to pay for. Very dry chicken no seasoning and everything separated. Could literally have not made it any more bland or boring other than a tiny bowl of dressing was included.

In summary, nice coffee but avoid the drama of the staff's bad attitude and incredibly average...

Had our first and second visit to butter beans in the same weekend. We initially went to try their breakfast and after seeing all the fresh homemade baked goods, before we ate breakfast we knew we’d be back!

The breakfast was fresh and warm since it was made to order. The full English was lovely with a choice of fried or poached eggs and toast. The avocado pancakes were great with the sweet chilli giving it a tasty kick. Loads of avocado too.

The coffee is delicious and well made. The slice was Aztec and caramel. Sweet and gooey.

The lady running the cafe is friendly, helpful and happy to answer any questions. She’s just lovely so make sure you say hello.

One of my top cafes in Richmond! We will definitely be back.

My only suggestion to the cafe is to update their advertisement board near Richmond station. It doesn’t do it justice giving Butter Beans a greasy spoon impression / vibe. It’s definitely not that.

Next time you’re close by go try...