GAIL's Bakery Twickenham — Restaurant in London

The food was delicious, as usual, but the service was dreadful. A lady with a black and platinum split-dyed pixie cut (I believe she is the manager or in a senior position) displayed outrageous behaviour. When my friend asked a question about the pastries, she responded rudely, with a displeased expression, and rushed my friend through the conversation.

Later, when I found my tea too strong and requested some hot water from another lady at the till, the woman with the pixie cut intervened. She began to teach her colleague how to handle it, but did so in a condescending manner, raising her voice. It became clear that the colleague was a new employee in need of support, yet she was instructed rudely and in front of customers.

To add to this, the same lady sat at the table next to ours, moved my bag, glasses, and phone—without asking—closer to me. My belongings were not in her way or obstructing her seat in any manner.

We had been at our table for a couple of hours, and during this time, the lady with the pixie cut remained nearby with her computer, occasionally leaving to speak with her staff. At one point, the café became quite full, and other customers were left without seating, yet she continued occupying the table. While seated, she had numerous loud conversations with employees from neighbouring stores, who popped in to chat with her. In one particularly loud exchange, she discussed how “rude” my friend and I were as customers and commented on the new employee being “slow,” repeatedly airing her grievances.

At one point, she even brought an employee from the kitchen and seated her between us, forcing me to shift to the other side of the table. When we finally left, she watched us go and sarcastically shouted, “Thank you!!!”

The entire experience felt like something out of a dreadful movie. What made it even sadder was that the two other employees at the till were truly wonderful, working with customers in a friendly and professional manner. It was clear they were suffering under the domineering presence of the lady with the pixie cut, who seemed to bully them in front...

Gail’s Twickenham service is not at a good standard for quite a while. This week I passed early morning (just before 8am) and it seemed no one wanted to take any order. There was someone working on the coffee machine (just cleaning as it appeared it exploded the coffee grounds all over), no one at the till or at the display, until finally someone decided to come over, coming in a really slow pace btw, to get my order and someone else. It is early morning and people are just (most often) passing by to get something quick and get to work, but instead you have to face with bad and slow service at the kick off of your day. Very disappointing…

I came back this morning l, just before 9am, to get a ham & cheese croissant, one of my Gail’s favourites, and luckily I got the last one. I know the ham & cheese croissant is in high demand, but having all gone before 9am seems like a really bad judgement from a managing point of view.

I stopped coming more often because of these silly issues with service and if we talk about coffee, the baristas at Gail’s cannot compete with the local coffeehouses in Twickenham. The coffee is just not at a good level, sorry.

Apart from that, I do enjoy Gail’s products, but find it harder and harder to go back when you are given a bad service at the kick off of your day and you have to run to get some of the good pastries or it will be gone by 9am. Hopefully they will put someone more capable managing...

I felt compelled to leave a review for this lovely bakery in Twickenham - in the last 2 weeks I have, due to some home improvements, spent some of my working days in the bakery, firstly for the food and wonderful coffee but I have noticed something quite lovely on 2 notable occasions last week, where your manager has subtly stepped forward and used sign language to communicate with customers. On the first occasion a staff member approached the manager working at a table, who quickly approached the customers, greeted them and then proceeded to speak with them in sign language - she then carried their coffee to their table where they appeared to share a joke - in sign language, and the manager went back to work. I thought at the time how unique it was and inclusive of you to have someone on hand to just communicate easily with no fuss. A few days after, I noticed the same manager approach a table and again using sign language communicate with customers at the table regarding whether they had everything they needed. It was natural and looked like it made those customers feel noticed without their being any drama or confusion and I just wanted to say well done to her. Also your new apple cake is absolutely...