HEJ Coffee — Restaurant in London

As we live in a building right across the street from Hej, we had hopeful expectations for our first visit.

We arrived and the cafe was quite busy, there was no seating outside but we wanted to take away anyways, so this was no issue!

A man came to the counter to take our order, and first asked if we would like to stay or take away, before we could respond he abruptly said “ Well there’s no seating outside, so you’re taking away.” We said no problem, we want to take away anyways! This was no issue. It was clear the barista working the till was annoyed prior to our arrival, however we tried our best to continue to be courteous.

We ordered a long black, as well as a cappuccino with oat milk and vanilla. We moved over to wait for the drinks, and overheard the man who took our order explaining to the barista on bar that we had ordered “ a long black and a ‘LATTE’ with vanilla”.

Wanting to save everyone’s time, my partner corrected the barista, saying “oh it was a cappuccino”, to which the man who took our order responded “Oh, a CAPPUCINO it is” shouting at us across the till. It was such a jarring experience as we really had continued to be calm and collected the entire time, unsure where this attitude and unwarranted frustration was coming from.

The drinks that we did receive were fine, however the experience left a bad taste in our mouths... literally.

We are disappointed to have experienced this at Hej, as we had high hopes of being frequent customers because of proximity.

However, we will not...

Really good coffee! I was a little disappointed with the food though, I ordered the Brie baguette, and the food was all uncovered so the one they picked up to serve to me literally had a fly sitting on it for like two minutes before - I was watching the flies, and I completely understand that it’s summer, the shop needs to ventilated but the food being out and open is much less appetising when you see flies around and sat on the sandwiches, may I suggest a transparent covering maybe? Also, upon picking up my sandwich I did notice a little hair on the plate but I’m generally not one to make a fuss about this, I’ll brush it off the plate and move on, but just a note, others may not be so forgiving. In addition to this no one really greeted me when I came in so I didn’t know where to order or where to wait, I kinda awkwardly tried to make eye contact with someone until they acknowledged me (and I’m more than happy to wait to be served because I understand that there are orders that have come before me) but a little better hospitality would go a long way! Lastly I hadn’t even finished my drink before the barista took it away to clear it, there was a little left and it was taken from me before I could even have my last sip, felt like I was getting rushed out even though there was two hours until close.

Last point! It’s such a lovely space to work and with the roasters in the back it smells DELICIOUS! just being let down in some areas, this place could genuinely be so great, key things are letting...

I've been a regular customer for the last 5 years and it's been sad to see this once great coffee shop steadily go downhill. The current state of affairs is this:

The place s seemingly run a by a bunch of teenagers who deny any kind of responsibility. The tables are always dirty, not cleared of empty dishes and food is always out of stock. Despite seemingly having little to do (as staff is constantly chatting and joking around) customers are not even brought their food and drinks to their table, but are expected to fetch everything themselves. If you aren't aware of this, then your coffee might get cold at the counter. The music is apparently exclusively selected to amuse staff members. Whether it's the soundtrack to Annie or french operas at maximum volume, staff is having a jolly time while little consideration is given to customers, many of which come here to work or read.

I'm happy for anyone who has fun at their job and friendly staff who enjoy their job are usually a reason to come back. But ideally it wouldn't make customers feel like a nuisance, as if having interrupted a...