Caffè Concerto Bond Street — Restaurant in London

Disappointing Experience at Cafe Concerto

My girlfriend and I have been regular customers at Cafe Concerto, typically enjoying their great selection of desserts and what we thought was good service. However, our visit on 09/12/2024 was an absolute nightmare that left us completely frustrated and disappointed. From the moment we walked in, the welcome was non-existent. When we tried to get a table, the server basically dismissed us with an unhelpful and rude comment: "Just sit wherever you want, there are plenty of free tables." The attitude was shocking from the start. We decided to stay and placed an order for two hot drinks and a dessert. What followed was an absolutely ridiculous wait. After sitting for an excruciating 20 minutes, we tried to ask about our order - only to be met with complete silence. No one seemed to care or even acknowledge us. The cafe wasn't even busy - there were only about ten people in the entire place. Desperate to understand what was happening, I approached the staff to inquire about our order. To my utter disbelief, there was no response at all. The servers seemed completely disinterested and unengaged. Eventually, I was forced to cancel the entire order out of sheer frustration. The entire situation was beyond absurd. The state of the bathroom was another horror story entirely. When I went to use the facilities, I was greeted by a scene of complete neglect: urine on the floor, a filthy toilet, no toilet paper, and a sink that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks. To make matters worse, the area between the bathrooms and kitchen was blasting music so loud it felt more like a nightclub than a cafe. I'm truly disappointed because we've been coming to Cafe Concerto for a long time and have always had good experiences before. But this visit was a complete disaster. The customer service was terrible, the hygiene was unacceptable, and the overall experience was nothing short of a nightmare. To the management: something needs to change. Your staff needs serious training in customer service, your bathrooms need a deep clean, and your entire approach to running a cafe needs a complete overhaul. I can confidently say that based on this experience, I would not recommend this place to anyone. It was, without a doubt, the worst cafe visit we've ever had. A Very...

If I could give this place zero stars I would - avoid at all costs and don’t waste your money. I have never been made to feel so uncomfortable, unwelcome and upset as a person of colour and unfortunately this was the case tonight (08/12/24) when visiting this branch. The service we received by the so called “manager” named Martin as per his name tag (but then also told us his name was Sergio?) was absolutely disgusting - and that’s putting it politely.

We arrived this evening as a group of 5 people excited to take our family/friends for the signature coffee. The door was locked as we stood waiting outside in the rain waiting to be seen. As Martin opened the door we were asked very abruptly why we were here. We explained we would like to sit and have coffee. Martin said this was not possible and that we would have to order food with coffee. We were very surprised to hear this as we have been to plenty of Caffe Concerto’s and this had been the first time this was the case. So we simply asked if we could order one or two desserts along with our 5 coffees and if this would be sufficient. Martin said incredibly rudely “no thanks” and then SLAMMED the door in our faces leaving us there completely shocked as to the horrible service we had just received.

As a diverse and multicultural group we felt extremely targeted and discriminated in the way we had been treated. Especially as we witnessed large groups of Caucasian tourists being welcomed in so warmly with no questions or issues. The restaurant was also not that busy at the time and there were plenty of empty tables available.

As someone who has lived in London her whole life I have never experienced something as rude, shocking or disrespectful as this before by any establishment. Martin is a disgrace to Caffe Concerto and gives the restaurant a bad name.

Management needs to strongly review the type of people they have hired, especially if they want to protect the reputation of this company, or else continue to lose loyal customers. I will be following this review up with a...

It was a dark and rainy evening when my family and I entered this branch of Caffè Concerto, expecting the usual high standard of service we’ve enjoyed at other locations. Unfortunately, our experience was far from what we anticipated.

As we entered, we stood near the door, waiting to be seated. After 3-4 minutes, a waitress approached us. To my surprise, instead of greeting us warmly, she immediately started complaining in front of other customers, saying, “You cannot walk into a restaurant like this.” Her tone and choice of words left me confused and embarrassed, especially in front of my children. She then pointed outside to a sign I had missed in the rainy and dark weather and asked, “Didn’t you read the sign outside to wait there?”

I apologised, explaining that I hadn’t seen the sign due to the weather and that I didn’t feel it was appropriate to stand outside with children in the rain. However, she dismissed this and insisted we step outside to wait by the sign. Feeling embarrassed and unwelcome, we moved outside, as instructed.

At first, I tried to excuse her behaviour, assuming a potential language barrier might have led to a misunderstanding, as her English was not fluent. But my wife, who also felt insulted by her attitude and facial expressions, pointed out the rude manner in which we were treated. At that moment, I decided it was better to leave altogether.

To the management: This kind of behaviour is unacceptable in a reputable café chain that we, as a family, usually enjoy. It’s clear that this branch is in need of better staff training—not just on service skills but also on basic manners and how to treat customers with respect. Judging by the number of negative reviews for this location, I can see our experience was not an isolated incident.

While I have always been a fan of Caffè Concerto, I will not be returning to the Bond Street branch. I hope the management takes these comments seriously and works to improve the...