Dudley's — Restaurant in London

My partner and I have gone to Dudleys since they first opened a few years ago and initially the service and food was good. Maybe 8 or so months later it went downhill. I’ve literally been served raw “scrambled” eggs (it was a fried egg cracked into a pan, shifted around for a few seconds and then served with half the whites still clear and raw) and had to argue with staff and chef about how they were literally inedible - this happened twice. Each time we had an issue we would not go back for 6+ months and then hope that service/food had gotten better - each time we were wrong. Today is the last day we will be going back. After waiting AN HOUR for food, we left with nothing. After 35 minutes (and everyone around us being served their food they ordered after us) we asked staff where ours was. They told us there “was an issue with the French toast - we’ve run out of bananas, it’s being made now”, then saw the waitress go out and buy the bananas. Then 15 or so minutes later and more people getting their food we asked again, this time they said there was “an error with the ticket and the order didn’t go through” - well which was it? The first time you said it went through but there was an issue with bananas (how did it take over 30 minutes for anyone to realise this?) but it was being made, the next time you said the order hadn’t even gone through at all. I might add that there were 3 staff members working, and not one of them did anything until we complained, even though they all stood there and watched us sitting without food for an hour. Staff gave us a free pastry and apologised but the service has been consistently bad for years. This is the SECOND time we had the exact same issue - 8 months ago we also left with no food after an hour wait when our order repeatedly didn’t go through. Won’t ever go back. Tried to support a local business but it's awful - if in the area we would both recommend CoffeeBoxx instead. It's just minutes away and you get a consistent service - never had an...

Sad times. We so want to love this place, but the service is just routinely so bad. We can in last Sunday, at around 10am. It was quiet, just a few tables. No warm greeting, but lots of staff trying to fix a broken coffee (machine? grinder?) so no real acknowledgment. Told to sit where we wanted. Long wait to get any attention, as two or three staff were trying to fix the mechanical problem, whilst one or two others were watching on. Waving to gets drinks, which arrived no problem. Then left for ages to order food, despite saying when coffee was delivered we wanted to order. Surely ordering process, but food arrived on time. As ever, the food was great, but then had difficulty trying to get attention to pay the bill, during which no comment from the server at all and no thanks on payment or a goodbye.

Look, we want to support local. It is tough out there. And things go wrong - like with the coffee machine or grinder. But on our visit, everyone appeared either grumpy, unhappy to be there or just plain neutral. The vibe was pretty moody. It really does not take much to ask staff to be engaging, or chatty, or even smiley - or to say thank you - and all of this was missed. This is the third or fourth time we've experienced such service. I don't think it is us. I hope we are nice people, who are patient and want to engage. We are not demanding or grumpy and sadly, our local road WhatsApp is full of folks who feel the same: the service at Dudley's is just not great and I write this, really hoping, that those in charge have a reflect on this and try and bring a nice vibe back - because there is a whole road on Wood Street that appears to think similarly, but who really, really, want to...

I ordered poached egg on toast and a side of ‘Dudley’s beans’ - FYI they’re not Dudley’s they’re Heinz as I saw the chef opening the tin. He forgot to add the ‘Dudley’s’ chilli sauce so I quite rightly pointed out that there’s nothing ‘Dudley’ about these beans and I’m not happy to pay £3 for them. The waiter who I think is also the owner told me ‘nobody has complained about the beans before’, and ‘it is what it is’ ( Suggests he takes a course in customer service) He did bring my beans back though after asking the chef to add the chilli stuff and said they were on the house - (so generous) I’d nearly finished my breakfast so didn’t really eat much of them. He could have been more apologetic but I don’t think he really cared. Maybe they might want to think about making their own beans as it’s not that difficult. Our bill came to £27 for two very small coffees, 2 eggs on very thin sour dough toast and my husband had the shakshuka (very small plate of veggi hummus stuff with egg and flatbread) I felt Totally robbed! (which I was as he over charged me and I was stupid enough not to realise) Defo be sticking to my local (non hipster cafe) where I can get excellent service and a decent full plate of breakfast including Heinz...