Millfields Coffee — Restaurant in London

The cafe Cooper and Wolf commanded this location before Millfields opened. C&W was one of my favourite cafes in Hackney (and London for that matter) and I kept returning for years & I know many of friends did too. They had a really good thing going. I am now inconsolable that it has been replaced by something so mediocre with with such poor customer service.

I have been to Millfields twice - the first time out of curiosity and the second time out of convenience as it's close to where I live:

First time: Saturday 8.30am so it was pretty empty and I managed to order coffee and food without any mishaps. The food (bruschetta) was OK - waiting time was a little long, customer service OK, there was a disorderly atmosphere however. I also noticed there were not a lot of options for vegan/vegetarians on their menu.

Second time: Saturday 12pm. Waited ages in the queue only to be bluntly told that they are not taking more coffee orders because one of the machines is broken and the orders are backed up. I understand that they can't help a machine breaking but it's the way they handled the situation - it was chaotic and rude (for example they didn't consider offering alternatives to coffee i.e. informing us of what hot drinks are available?). There were four staff behind the till but no one took my order - they just warned me about the coffee machine. I was just waiting there trying to make eye contact with one of them but all four of them were busy being busy. Eventually someone asked if I was OK and I said I wanted to order some food at least and he told me to sit down. So I did as I was told but right as I sat down I thought other people in front of me in the queue ordered food - I'm pretty sure this isn't table service? By that point there were three more people in the queue and my partner & I were so hungry & disappointed we thought we'd take our chances somewhere more reliable on Chatsworth Road so we went to Venetia and had good food and a good experience.

Overall: poor customer service, completely disorderly and confusing, long waiting times, thoroughly disappointing. Will not be returning as I can't rely on them to provide a nice experience. Bring back...

In these difficult times, you would expect a small business to support its community... Well think again. On the first day after the second lockdown, I went to this café to spend a couple of hours working away from home which, as a freelancer based in my tiny flat, is quite an important part of my working routine which has been on hold. I ordered a coffee and a croissant (which ended up being cold and stale – it was 9am), and was hoping to spend about 2 hours in the café on my laptop which I think is not really unreasonable. Yep, I get that laptop people aren't the most appealing sort of clients for a café but I've been going to this place for years including takeaway coffees and pastries. After less than an hour, a member of staff came to tell me that 'according to the government regulations' I had to leave because people were being limited to staying in cafés for an hour. When I asked for her to explain this 'rule' a bit further, she started tangling into her own web of lies by then saying how in order to stay longer, I would have to purchase a 'substantial meal' and that there are only 3 other tables (out of which only one was taken, and there were several tables outside) and that I've basically overstayed. There are definitely nicer ways of asking people to leave by being honest and then there's coming up with these ghost 'regulations' that are simply a justification for them to throw out someone who hasn't spent as much money as they hoped. If I could only sit in with a substantial meal, they could have explained that when I said I'm going to have my coffee and croissant to sit in and not come up with this make-shift excuse after they felt my cash 'ran out.' I'm definitely never going here again and will discourage all of my friends from doing so too. There are plenty of other cafés in the Clapton area with much nicer staff who will appreciate that 'unsubstantial' £5.50 more...

I went to Millfields this afternoon for a hot chocolate to go, and it was disappointing once again. Even though I live just 2 minutes away, my recent experiences have made me think twice about going back. The cafe used to have great owners and staff before Covid, but since it changed hands, the service quality has gone down. Unfortunately, they're the only coffee shop around, and now I only visit there a few times a year. The service is always slow, and they sometimes mess up orders. Today, they weren’t even that busy but I waited 18 minutes for my hot chocolate and had to remind the owner, Danila, about my order. Neither she nor her staff didn't apologise properly when I told them about the wait and the constant disappointment. The response I received was “yeah, okay”. They offered a cookie as a sorry gesture, but I declined because of my diet. As someone who used to work as a barista, I know the importance of quick service and keeping customers happy, but Millfields seems to be lacking in that department. The prices are high for the quality of the drinks, and the service is not up to par. It's disappointing, but I won't be going back. It's comforting to know that others share my feelings about this. I don't expect things to change overnight, but I hope to hear good things about the service and management...