GAIL's Bakery Paddington — Restaurant in London

When this branch first opened, it was an absolute pleasure to visit, the location is fab, the original staff were lovely, the cafe well kept, service was excellent, food was good and prices reasonable enough.

This year, everything has gone downhill, staff (not all but most) don’t care much about the place or their work, the location is obviously still great but the pigeons are a real issue if you sit outside, the food is not consistently good, it varies depending on time/day, the staff are hit and miss and the prices are extortionate. Especially the orange juice!

There is one lady in particular with strawberry blonde/dark ginger mid length hair with green is bluish eyes that seems to hate everyone and everything. I’ve now been in about 3 times this week and she either ignores me when it’s my turn or seems annoyed at taking my order. She’ll even huff a bit! I always make sure to smile and say please and thank you and she’s still off putting in so many ways. As if I am bothering her with my order when I am paying for it..

There’s also a Gail’s wide issue now where they’ve replaced one of their best sellers (at least in this branch), the Mozzarella pesto focaccia sandwich with a mediocre version that consists of some sort of soggy plain sourdough bread cut in half with a bit of pesto and sun-dried tomatoes thrown in. It’s not as filling nor as appeasing as the initial sandwich. I’ve attached a pic of the original vs the new version and the new version is so dreary and sad ,nothing improved about it. Probably just more Cost and labour efficient.

I think they need to visit this branch and see what is going wrong, up the morale of their staff too with some sort of incentives/better pay/goals. I’ve realised there’s been a high turnover recently and with the current staff experience, it seems employees are not wanting to stay long enough at Gail’s Paddington. On a patio he note, their new carrot cake is delicious and definitely one to try. I also like their selection of teas but a lot is out of stock most...

We used to love this Gail’s and the people working in there too, however, since a year or so everything changed.

Since when the previous manager Erika stopped being physically in the shop, I started noticing that people didn’t care anymore.. most of them are just ignoring you even tho you are in the shop greeting them and standing in front off the counter with a big smile patiently waiting for them to acknowledge you.

The outside area is awful and I am even wondering how can people be sitting in those tables! The floor is always dirty and full of spilled coffee, even when the store is quite nobody from the team collects the dirty dishes outside which attracts pigeons and mice. To make it worst some customers feeds the pigeons which attracts them even more, again the staff doesn’t stop them from doing so. People are smoking in there cigarettes and weed and staff says nothing to them.

This isn’t a coincidence as I do live in the area and I walk by this Gail’s multiple times during the day.

The food also changed not only in price but taste. I don’t know if their cook changed or they opted for cheaper ingredients, but the sourdough bread (and we tried all of the varieties) isn’t tasting the same; it does taste like it is missing salt, and it is always very chewy and gummy like couple of days old bread would feel. Every time after eating it I do feel sick (bloated and cramps) and it is only happening with the bread I buy from Gail’s. I now shop for my baked bread elsewhere.

In sum, food quality and service went down a lot and it is not...

Rude barista. Staff keep getting my order wrong. I come to this bakery almost daily and every other day they get my order wrong. I am never mean about it even though they consistently overcharge me and give me a large coffee instead of small. Today they did the same and this time I didn’t accept it. I said “sorry is this definitely for me because I ordered a small and not a large latte?” The barista gave me a response which wasn’t even a sentence “oat latte” and then went away leaving me to wait. When she saw I wasn’t leaving I repeated the problem, she gave me an eye roll and a sigh - no words, no sorry, took my cup and ceremoniously poured it out and made me a small latte which she presented with a snarky “SMALL latte”comment. I was honestly shocked and me and my partner didn’t know where to look. Every day I come here I thank them for my order and smile. I follow the loyalty program and have been here at least 45 times and this is the treatment I get? She didn’t even offer to refund the large latte so that we could pay for what we actually ordered. My family has worked in the service industry for years and I have been taught you always treat the customer with a smile. Some people have unhappy lives or stressful jobs and they come here to spend their hard earned money and treat themselves to something that makes them feel nice. They don’t come here to be talked down to and treated like an idiot. Shame on you. The barista in question has black hair and light eyes and...