Chatsworth Bakehouse (Hero shop) — Restaurant in London

I have passed so many times the bakery Nr.120 and saw the regular queue over the last 2 years Saturdays. And I made the decision that not in a million year I will stand in a queue for an hour(s) to get a slice of food.🫣

A while ago just before 3pm I wanted to have a walk in the area and checked out the shop Nr.116 (which was brand new at that time). There was no queue, but only some cookies and Guinness cake were available. I happily gave them a go. I liked the Guinness cake. For my taste the cookie was overpowered by the sea salt.

On a rainy Saturday in August I decided to queue up to get many of their products. I went over the roof but I don't think it makes sense to wait nearly 1 hour for 2 products. The shop Nr 116 opened up running 20 mins late. I was waiting from 10:40am for the 11 am opening time and was the 8th in the queue already. By 11am at least 20+ customers were waiting.

I bought a foccia, a chocolate pie, a galette, a basque cheesecake, an apricot - raspberry jam bread pudding, a cheddar - marmite milk bun.

Foccia is lovely. Chocolate pie is way too much heavy. The galette is something I didn't like. The actual filling is nice but the pastry bit I found surprisingly dry. The cheesecake is something which brought back childhood memories for me. In Hungry there is a pudding (we cayn it cottage cheese cream pot) which tasted exactly the same. The bread pudding is something new I have never tried a similar product but really enjoyed! The milk bun I will try later. Also I can honestly say that they aren't shy with the size of the slices. The cheesecake was a big chunk, the Guinness cake is a decent cube as well. The foccia bread is big too.

I would buy the sourdough one day and I am planning to get the sandwich (which only available on weekdays) one day.

My queueing + waiting took 55 mins. Pretty long. I understand it's a small and run by a couple business. I also believe the ingredients are proper and nice, but I would not wait this long regularly/ frequently. Not to mention that for the pizza I was way too early and that would have been an other queue later on the train...

Amazing food - but they're a victim of their own success when the so-called fair system means that trying to place an order is a joke. The weekly sandwich now sells out literally within 1 minute of the release time. You dont get to find out what it is, until they open the ordering portal. And then, as a result, god forbid you want, or need to check for allergens etc as even taking 1 minute to do that means you lose any chance of being able to place an order before it sells out

If you are so lucky as to be able to load it into your cart for checkout, you dont even have enough time to review your order for 1 minute, or to enter your credit card details properly. 'cos that extra 1 minute now means your order doesnt process, as it fails during payment processing with message all sold out. All that within 60 seconds. Absurd!

This is not exaggeration btw

It would be really simple to address that - i.e. making the weekly sarnie details known earlier. Even if its only any hour before the sales portal opens. Just as a means to check for allergens etc.

And if you are lucky to be quick enuff to load one into the cart to purchase, it should be setup that the order is thus "reserved" so you dont lose it while reviewing order, or reviewing/entering payment card details.

Anyhow, Customer lost, and this goes for many others i have directly heard from who are all unhappy about the same thing.

Shame, really. A community success thats not worth effort to support any longer.

Edit/update

Thanks Team CB for your response. I get that, and understand that already

Your food, and product is amazing. Its wonderful all the incredible support and what you have accomplished and continue to do. Im genuinely pleased for you.

However, response doesnt actually provide a relevant reply (imo) to the specific issues encountered and raised in the review i left But, i guess, some things fall by the way...

Wow! Absolutely amazing! Came here for the first time having been drawn by their Guinness cake and ended up leaving with a few other baked goodies. Wanted to try their pizza/pies being Saturday, but maybe due to heatwave, there was no pizza, but did get a mortedella and mozzerella sarnie in focaccia. That was very tasty. Decent amount of filling, moist focaccia and a good bit of chutney...think may have been apricot and raisins, giving it a good tang. Also bought a Cheddar and Kimchi focaccia, tried a bit of that fresh; pleasantly surprised, it is nice and fluffy. Looking forward to making a nice sarnie from it at home. Although some of the top looks burnt, it isn't actually burnt and actually gives it a nice crust cheesy topping. The Harissa and Feta scone also very worthy of trying. Probably one of the best scones I have had, nice and fresh with a fluffiness to it, unlike hard scones I have had from elsewhere in the past. The harissa and feta really goes well. Can be eaten on its own, no need to add anything to it. Have not tried the coconut pineapple iced finger or cookie yet. The Guinness cake was very moist, not heavy and the cream on top is light tasting, which really complements the cake, which is not too sweet, in fact the right sweetness as I don't like overly sweet stuff. I think they really nailed the taste of the Guinness cake, so will definitely go back for that. Regretted not getting the peach pie, not realising it is limited edition and not a regular item. Queued about 25 minutes to be served, so not too bad. The staff were very friendly and welcoming, and the two co-owners were there busy baking, but still looked up to give a welcoming greeting. If you love good quality and tasty baked goods, would really recommend you try. One of the best bakeries...