Lowry & Baker — Restaurant in London

I have read all the responses to negative reviews so I decided to take the owner's comments on board by first emailing them regarding my negative experience. I am still waiting for a response weeks later.....no doubt I will get a standard reply on here....

Before I begin, I am not a tourist in London and am a local resident. Having lived in area for over 35 years, am always happy to support local businesses and prefer independents rather than chains. Therefore, I have always frequented Lowry and Baker from the start and even recommended it to friends, family and many Airbnb guests I have had since 2016.  Sadly, after the last experience they have lost a customer and my endorsement.

I met my neighbour for a morning catch up and as she had never been to L&B I suggested it and before we went inside I raved about it. We arrived on a Sunday morning about 9.15am (went to the original cafe, one on the left). Outside there was a single lady sitting on the benches on the road eating breakfast, and immediately by the door there were 2 men having tea (teapots each), no food visible but they might have already eaten (I don't know). Outside the next door area there was 1 table occupied with 4 people. Inside there were zero customers in original place and a couple of people next door. So basically LOTS of empty tables and chairs. We asked for coffees and cakes for outside and were told "sorry, it's takeaway only", I asked why and we were told it's the rule at the weekend. I questioned the fact that the place inside was empty and outside lots of chairs empty and clearly no queue at the door so we didn't understand why we couldn't sit outside to have our order. Again we were told no but with some attitude!

I said it was ridiculous and that they had lost a local resident and good customer as we are not tourists and I have been coming here for years. Then as we were leaving, the men outside asked what had happened and I told them. They were shocked and even asked the staff why we couldn't sit outside.

I went into the other cafe next door and saw the sign about only takeaway for coffee and cake on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I asked again and was told it is company policy and the owner makes the rules and they can't have exceptions. By this point I became so angry I did say that the rule was stupid (harsher language used) especially since there was hardly any customers and that they should use their discretion.

So in both premises collectively tables and chairs were at the most 10% occupied. It was early on a Sunday morning, very quiet outside so using a bit of good customer service and discretion I cannot understand why they would refuse our money and insist we can't sit outside and serve us only takeaway?

I completely understand they want to deter people from hogging tables with laptops and only ordering 1 coffee and stay there for hours.... we did not have laptops with us and we wanted to sit and chat and start the day in a good mood with a coffee and a cake (sadly that didn't happen). It was not lunchtime or even breakfast rush hour so the whole thing makes zero sense to me. We were not intending to sit there for hours. They could have allowed us to sit but tell us once it gets busy we would have to leave which would have been the reasonable compromise.

In my opinion the success of any small business in this day and age is to maintain customer loyalty and to hopefully gain customers through word of mouth....sadly with this type of attitude they would not survive were it not for their priveliged location. Consideration of local residents is paramount as when the tourists disappear you rely on us! Much better and more welcoming places on...

Frankly I'm quite surprised about the hype this place has. I'll try to be pragmatic, honest and clear about our experience at this small coffee/bakery. I live in the area and I'm a cook so I know almost every place to eat and drink in Notting Hill and Portobello road, so I decided to try this one on a Sunday at 10am. I tried a Cappuccino and a toast and my partner a Sunday Brunch and a herbal tea.

1. Cappuccino: Decent one, like the other two coffee places you'll find in the same street
2. Toast with Pesto, chicken and guacamole: Good Size, home made pesto"so so" guacamole: ok
3. My GF's Brunch: ridiculously small, she normally eats very few and surprisingly she payed more than my toast (and mine was bigger) remember hers was suppose to be a "Sunday brunch". Suggestion: lower the price of the brunch according to the size or Add some guacamole next to it and more salad. That said, the taste was ok (I insist, you can have the same type of food in 4 or 5 places in the same street or around the corner for a better price and bigger portion)
4. Her herbal Tea was nice (remember there are plenty of tea places in the area)
5. Ok this is A big NONO and the reason why I wont return here. Inside, there's a small blackboard sign saying "only cash". I've never had that experience in Portobello Road, it means these shop do thinks "in black". By not giving you and "offering you" a "bill receipt" they are hiding taxes and even a shop is not obligated to accept card payment they HAVE offer an invoice or a bill receipt which they didn't do it with any one who payed before us.
6. Is smoky and smelly, of course because is small but their ventilation system is bad so u'll end up smelling bacon
7. Is noisy. If you want a quite chat, that's not your place.

Will i recommend this place? Not really, I will recommend other places with better food, range of price/size, better ambiance and of course where you get a bill receipt. All of them opposite of this place or in Golborne Road...

I would recommend this cafe to anyone in the London area. I've hopped around, and this is certainly a favorite.

Food/drinks: I had the vanilla chai latte; made with almond milk, it's a lighter drink than regular chai fanatics may be used to, but it's not bad. I was pleased to see that the prices for the drinks overall are slightly below what I see in London cafes! The homemade granola, served with yogurt and fruit, had a unique spin with more of a maple, nutty flavor which worked well with the honey. They were generous with the fruit and the presentation was beautiful. The avocado toast was also fantastic. The avocado was perfectly ripe in (nothing worse than paying for avo toast out and getting a bad one) and the egg was poached perfectly. I really liked the fresh sourdough.

Staff: I loved the staff! I was there on a Wednesday. The lady did more of the work in the front and the man worked a lot in the back but helped in the front when needed. They were so kind and incredibly attentive to their costumers. I needed to charge my laptop to do work and they helped me find a good working outlet (one doesn't seem to work). I was given a menu and my food was served to my table with my own water pitcher. Once finished, my plates were cleared right away. They also take care to sanitize every table between costumers which I don't see as common in cafes. It was all the greatness of a cafe with the service of a restaurant.

Atmosphere: Wonderful selection of fun, upbeat music that many would recognize. The cafe is rather small: I could see that being an issue on the busy weekends. Cute decor, with drawings of London hung on the wall and plants. The biggest con of this place is that I couldn't find the wifi. My computer refused to connect to the portobello road free wifi since it was a weak signal, so I had to use my hotspot.

Fantastic food, presentation, and service. Comfortable seating. Great prices. I'm...