Origin Coffee (Scoresby Street) — Restaurant in London

Slow, poor, rude service.

We came in on bank holiday Monday as I really wanted to see the LM Modbar setup and have enjoyed Origin beans on my setups at home so it felt like a great choice.

I will caveat the following by saying the shop was reasonably busy, but in my experience as a barista at specialty coffee shops and a roastery, it was really nothing too crazy (maybe 3-5 people in line, on an inconsistent basis), certainly not too much for 3 people to handle.

The service was absolutely shocking nearly start to finish. My partner ordered a latte and i went for a v60 (at £6 but you justify that for the effort of a great pour over). The latte came out within a few minutes. After 15 minutes I asked if the v60 was on the way as it didnt seem like anybody had made a start on it. The lady working on the bar (unclear if she was managing the shift. If so, rethink this as she has zero leadership or customer engagement skills) condescendingly informed me that they take longer and that they were busy. In my view, this is not an excuse to avoid starting to prepare someone's order for such a long time. If you don't have time or a process to deal with this then it shouldn't be on the menu/a warning needed to be given. If this is how you operate then you need to work on your processes and delegation of tasks.

At the 30 minute mark, the barista who had taken the order finally started preparing v60s that he had clearly been saving up in a batch for when no more espresso drinks needed to be made (again, ridiculous process). The v60 came over to the table at around 35 minutes (when the table who had ordered after us had finished their food.) The coffee was not the one that I had chosen.

I took my tray back over to the counter to explain and said that 'after half an hour that really isn't good enough'. Seeing that I had stood up with my tray, the same woman who had been rude when i asked about the status of the order earlier, rolled her eyes at me. My partner obviously saw this and told the woman that we had been waiting over half an hour and that the coffee was the wrong one. What followed was an extremely hostile, condescending and frankly chippy response from the female barista/manager who clearly seemed to think that they hadn't done anything wrong and that we were being unfair. This escalated into a full blown argument across the cafe. I should reiterate that we had only asked once before this if the coffee was still on the way, as it appeared to have been forgotten.

I said not to bother remaking the drink, and I will say whilst it wasnt the correct one, and came half an hour and some abuse later, was a well made pourover, so points to the barista who made the drink for this at least.

A few minutes later they both came over to table, the barista who made the drink apologised for the mistake and said they had put the wrong coffee on the order and had refunded it (whether he thought this or not, or misheard, of whatever, doesnt really matter, this was a good customer service move and really appreciated it after the huge wait and the mistake). The other barista (rude lady) then slapped the receipt down on the table without saying a word and stormed off.

Twice more she came over without saying anything, once to swipe rubbish off a menu onto the table as she presumably wanted it for another table, the other to hurriedly clear away our table before I had even finished standing up.

I dont want to overstate it too much, as lots of these things were picked up through body language and a lack of communication, but I don't think i have had an experience like this before, or been served by someone so irate before, especially not in the specialty coffee world. It was not our fault that the cafe felt busy, nor that they waited 30 minutes to start making my drink, or that it was wrong, and we were made to feel like it was at every opportunity. Maybe she was just having a bad day but it was a deeply unpleasant experience, made all the more frustrating as I had been really excited to visit.

We obviously won't be...

One of the worst place to have a coffee in London. Neither black coffee or the food was as expected.

The cashier didn’t even great I had to all the work for him! I had to smile and offer what kind and better item I should get. Also when I asked for something to change on the food he simply said I don’t know the chef is the one to decide!! Like really! Is it because I wasn’t white or British or what ??

The tables weren’t clean and I had to get the previous people mugs and plates myself plus asked them to clean it ( without even apologizing for that) he just OK!

I waited after toxicity and miserable experience where I finished my coffee I ordered and still didn’t get my food and when I told that guy in the cashier he wasn’t even considerate of anything he just said ok let me check and then came and said the chef forgot my order and left also without apology at all. My coffee kettle was old and you can tell it’s old at least with this business growing and considering that you offer a specialty coffee this’s not acceptable at all.

That after I finished my coffee and waited over 35 minutes the chef came and apologized for what she did and gave me a cookie to apologize which I was I gave that star otherwise I’d definitely rate this place 0 without a doubt.

Management I hope you see this review because I only made everything clear to these people who want to go to your place to not even think about it. This shouldn’t happen and should’ve been fixed before when some people did say the same...

Update (November 2023). Back five years later. Had a pour over of an Ethiopian coffee, which was pretty nice although it could have done with a little more extraction. Subtle flavours typical of Ethiopia. Not bad for £6. The pastries looked great but I didn't try any. The staff were very friendly and helpful. I bought some beans to brew at home and got a free batch brew with it, which is a wonderful touch. Lovely spot underneath the train line! Very peaceful despite the odd train going past overhead. A welcome respite of calm in the midst of a madly busy city! You wouldn't find this spot unless you knew about it like me or are into proper coffee like me. Highly recommended! I look forward to visiting again in the future!

(September 2018). Fantastic spot. Very friendly staff. Decent location, just off a main road in Southwark, although a little out of the way. Had a Wave brew of a beautiful washed Kenyan coffee (Makena). It was evenly extracted unlike most filter brews in good coffee shops. So juicy, with clear blackberry notes at the start and raspberry on the finish. Clean, smooth and crisp. Simply great. A touch pricey at £4 for a filter but was more than worth it. The low volume (normal) music playing contributes to the relaxed atmosphere. They also have a great retail shelf with lots of marvelous coffee and some brewing equipment! Highly recommended if you're...