Fantail - Islington — Restaurant in London

I've been meaning to try this place out for a while now as I drive past it quite frequently. So today I did but Im sure I came on the wrong day for me to fully experience it. For now I will say this until the next time I get a chance to indulge.

The staff can be more welcoming and could do with a bit more experience I believe. Took a while to get a takeaway coffee especially when there was 2 operating at the coffee machine. I understand first come first served and being a patient man I respect that, however it took nearly 8mins to get a takeaway cuppacino and the staff did not even acknowledge that or even a gesture of a simple (sorry to have kept you waiting or thank you for waitin) it was just my name called out, hand over and no eye contact.

I must also add quite noisy in there like it was a uni student gathering. So I'm assuming this place is for young and noisy student like individuals who just go to coffee spots for the sake of it instead of actually enjoying a cup off coffee and engaging in mature and considerate level of volume conversations.

First impressions will always be a thing and for the location they can do much better with a more mentally matured staff.

I might try again on a weekday but never again on a...

Amazing food and coffee, but bizarre rules around laptops means I won't likely be coming back.

I ordered a sandwich and a coffee and sat down to do a couple hours research work on my laptop, only to be told I had to sit on "Laptop Island" - a weird table in the middle of the cafe with very uncomfortable and small hard high stools.

This made no sense, because the cafe was pretty much empty...

...empty except for Laptop Island, which was completely packed to capacity - sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder. Why not just let people sit where they want? The only customers seemed to be people with laptops.

Then, one of the Laptop Islanders moved to the same seat I had originally sat on, and was permitted to sit there for the next couple hours... like, what even is this system?

It's completely arbitrary and a little discriminatory. There's no inherent difference between between reading on a laptop vs reading a book, or even an iPad or Kindle? Some people prefer to read on a laptop.

What happens if you sat down to read a book, but then want to use your laptop... do you have to then move to Laptop Island? What if Laptop Island is full... do you then have to...

Yesterday at 3:55 pm, I went there with my brother to get a takeaway coffee. A female and a male staff member were closing up, so I asked if it was still possible to get a coffee. With an annoyed expression on her face, the female staff member said yes.

I also asked for a loaf cake and a chocolate cookie, which they hadn’t yet put away. She packaged them, took the full payment from me, and then, about 10 seconds later—while I was still waiting for my coffee—she put up a “50% off” sign. I was shocked.

I couldn’t hide my surprise, and when we made eye contact, she immediately removed the sign.

I’ve just moved here and thought I had found my new local coffee shop. I have no idea what I did to make them so bothered. I felt really bad. Simply telling me they were closed would have...