FiLLi Cafe Marylebone — Restaurant in London

Pathetic Service!

This was my second visit to the cafe in last 3 months. And both the times, i have been served my totally different staff - who are way inexperienced.

Order Experience: This is a self-serve place, where the staff at counter is repeatedly struggling with the system to take the order. When asked about the contents/details of couple of items from menu, the staff starts to read out what's written in the menu.

Receipt - when asked to give the receipt for the order, I was told that it would be provided with the food.

Food Experience: Food arrives, and I am handed over half of the order only with rest of the order (drinks) to be ready in some time. I come back to the counter in 5 mins and this time as well, i am handed over an incomplete order, and asked to come back in some time. Now i come to the counter for the fourth time and I am told that drink(chai -sugarless) will take another 30 mins as they need to start preparing it now - this was after 45 mins of placing the order.

I now ask for the receipt which I was told to be handed over with the food. The staff starts to look around for it, and when unable to find it, opens the dustbin and starts pulling out receipts from it. When unable to finds receipt there as well, calls another staff from the kitchen and asks me to be back in some time.

This was probably my last visit to Filli, as on the side of food/chai as well, I didn't find the taste to be consistent.

My frustration lies with the owner of the place and not the staff there. If the staff is to be changed every 1-2 months, you can't bring consistency and a good experience for the customers.

On the packed tea being sold on the retail counter, the expiry dates is pasted as a sticker and that too hand written. Wondering if that is even legally allowed!

That way they could just keep on changing the stickers and keep mentioning (writing) the dates...

Second time bitterly disappointed, I'm not one to leave negative reviews, but after today I felt I must. Visited a year ago and service was slow but was made up as was given a complementary masala chai which was delicious, authentic, homemade tasting and a pastry delicacy (I forget the name). Fast forward to July this year, after arriving to Marylebone station on a Friday morning, my Husband and I really fancied another masala chai before setting off for the day. Baring in mind, opening time was 7am and we arrived just after 8am, we were told they had just opened (which was untrue) and it takes 40 minutes to 'brew'. When asked when it would be ready they said it was just being prepared so not even brewing... so we left disappointed. Today a Sunday, bearing in mind opening time was 8am, we arrived at 10.13am to Marylebone station and again fancied a masala chai before setting off for the day and felt apprehensiveafter last time but felt positive as it had been open a couple of hours. We were greeted with a warm atmosphere and friendly staff, I asked for a chai masala and what do you know... 'it takes time mam', I asked when it would be ready and they couldn't tell me, I asked is it being brewed and they were very sheepish with no reply, we left very disappointed yet again. Forgive me, but knowing it takes 40 minutes to 'brew', would it not be the first thing you prioritise on opening? Im afraid we won't be...

One of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had, very unusual in the UK.

I ordered 3 wraps to take away and asked specifically and clearly that they should not include fresh vegetables as my wife is pregnant. When starting eating we realised they included vegetables. So I had to go back to the shop to ask them to redo them (40 minutes wasted). They said they can only redo two because we started eating the first one. This was ridiculous as we didn’t notice, and at the end they didn’t even return the one they didn’t want to replace as they said they disposed of it… I was very angry and asked that they now have to redo a new one because they aren’t even returning my first order. They ultimately accepted but was very rude and the lady said « this is the last time we do this ». I said having gone through this experience, this is the last time I come anyway. She said « better! ».

I would have expected they at least apologise for my wasted time going and coming back, and the risk they made us take! People have allergies which are very serious. But instead I get this very rude treatment!

To be fair towards the guys who made the mistake, he was very apologetic and polite. I don’t mind mistakes, they happen, as long as they are corrected professionally. But the lady, who seemed like the manager, was the very rude person - the perfect recipe for restaurants to lose...