Little Dessert Shop — Restaurant in London

Unfortunately, I am forced to give it one star just for the lovely decor and also to be able to write a review. For my first visit, I was taken by a friend who has always said this is a great place for coffee and dessert and has been going regularly since October 2020. Having ordered a crepe with the trimmings I was presented with a very dry and crusty crepe (you could call it a dosa). The owner of the shop was understanding and it took three attempts to get it right. On Friday 17th September 2021, I decided to take my very young daughter and a very well known music DJ back to this establishment. We ordered a profiterol tower, 2 cappuccinos, a brownie explosion with choc ice cream to be replaced with only vanilla gelato and a vanilla ice cream with choc curls for my daughter. Unfortunately, this is where it just went downhill. The profiterole tower was invertered and spread on a plate (there was no tower in sight). The cream inside the profiteroles was frozen and the pastry dehydrated. We quietly mentioned to the staff the issue and they offered to warm it up in the microwave. Not sure about anyone else but warm cream in profiteroles doesn't take my fancy. The brownie explosion of course came with the choc ice-cream that we specifically said should be replaced with vanilla ice cream to then be told" ah sorry, will bring you some on the side"... Off course... I got a Mr whippy in a little pot (no gelato here). We then waited patiently for my daughters ice-cream... Viola... Another little tub of Mr whippy ( when we had requested vanilla gelato). We asked for a refund on the profiteroles and thought oh well, let's just have our cappuccinos... Approx 45 mins later we were still sat there having asked 3 times when we could expect our cappuccinos. The young lady decided to hurry along to the coffee machine in a panic to make the drinks. At this point we had enough.. we politely requested for the coffee to not be made and to settle the refunds. Which the team leader on the night did, albeit a little reluctantly. Overall, it was an absolutely awful experience which totally ruined what was planned as a nice evening. Having had the first poor experience, I gave the establishment the benefit of the doubt, afterall it could have just been a bad day. However, the second visit reinforced the fact that 1) there is a serious lack of attention to customers (waiting 45 mins for cappuccinos that we never had) 2) food that is still frozen and may well be heated and then cooled which is evident from the frozen profiterole cream and the offer to heat in a microwave 3) lack of clarity on ice cream... you choose a gelato and get a Mr Whippy, 4) the reluctance to then give a refund and fail to offer an apology for ruining an evening (as good will and customer service I would have expected at least an offer to refund the whole bill). We won't be back and nor would we ever recommend this place. Lesson learnt, don't re-visit an establishment after the first...

I recently visited The Little Dessert Shop with my partner a few weeks ago, and unfortunately, our experience left much to be desired. From the moment we entered, it was evident that there were several issues that need addressing.

First and foremost, the overall cleanliness of the shop left much to be desired. The tables, floors, and even the menus were all noticeably sticky. This indicates a need for improvement in their cleaning practices, as a clean environment is a fundamental expectation for any dining establishment.

Upon arrival, my partner and I were promptly seated, but we were required to place our orders at the till, as table service was not offered. The service, unfortunately, proved to be slow, and it took an extended amount of time for our food to be served. To compound matters, when our meals finally arrived, we were informed that there were was no cutlery available, and we were provided with plastic knives and forks. This made it challenging to enjoy our food, and it appeared that this issue was due to a lack of preparation or oversight, as it's unusual for a dining establishment to run out of basic cutlery. The staff member who served us even made light of the situation, which, in my opinion, was not the most professional approach.

Furthermore, our drinks were forgotten, and I had to remind a staff member to bring them to us. This lack of attention to detail further detracted from our overall experience.

Interestingly, while we were eating, we overheard two staff members expressing their dissatisfaction with their jobs. They voiced concerns about low pay and even contemplated walking out. This discontentment was reflected in the slow service and the apparent understaffing issues, which likely contributed to the delay in preparing our order and the overall lack of cleanliness in the shop. I understand if they have concerns (no job is perfect) but to vocalise them in front of paying customers is not professional and further detracted from our overall experience.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time I've had a subpar experience at The Little Dessert Shop. I had previously ordered online from them and encountered discrepancies where my order did not match what I had paid for, with items missing from my order.

Given these consistent and concerning issues, I am unlikely to visit or order from The Little Dessert Shop again. The numerous challenges outlined above have left me with reservations about the quality of their service and their commitment to providing a...

So this evening (1st Aug) I ended up in the Little Dessert Shop in Balham, with some friends, for dessert. The staff sorted out a table of 8 for us, and we (4 adults + 4 kids) got into the business of ordering.

So if you've never been there, it's a good looking dessert shop with a much better look and ambience than Kaspas and Creams.

We ordered a mix of waffles, cakes, cookie dough etc, and one by one they soon arrived on the table. Everything looked great. I tried a bit of most things. Waffles were lovely, good quality ice cream and nice cakes.

Ordered some flat whites to finish with, which we found a tad weak (personal taste, no fault of the shop). We let the waitress know, and with no fuss at all, they replaced them straight away with stronger coffees. Perfect second time round.

So from memory we had....

Kinder Buenos cookie dough - very nice

Enchanted unicorn waffle - love the unicorn ice cream. Not had it anywhere else. Sugar fest and loved it.

Apple crumble waffle with custard - really fluffy waffle and good custard!

Cookie dough special - so this is about £9 and big enough for 3. Didn't realise how big this was. Great value! You would only need one of these between 2 or 3.

Oh Fudge with custard, which is a warm chocolate fudge cake with custard. Very rich and indulging!

Red velvet cheesecake - I would say this was more of a layered red velvet cake as opposed to a cheesecake. But I enjoyed it a lot nevertheless

there was also a biscotti cheesecake which looked great too but I didn't get to taste it.

Oh, and they did ice blasts too. Cherry and raspberry flavour. Win win for me as its one of my favourite things after Slush Puppie!

I have to say, very impressed with customer service, the way they handled the coffee incident too. Like I said the ambience and look and feel was more enjoyable than Creams and Kaspas for us.

Excuse the quality of the pics, we started digging in before I could get my camera out, and didn't take photos...