Petitou Cafe — Restaurant in London

It always is sad when you see a friend excited to show you somewhere in their neighbourhood and regret or apology comes into their eyes.

This happened with my mate today and I found myself trying to encourage him that sometimes service just.... isn't.

I get the feeling any other day Petitou is a grand place to be. It has a pretty French Café look, with a little feeling of homegrown spirit. It's just the vibe if you like a coffee place to chat that is less commercial and outside of classic Peckham.

When we went in we tried for a table, that we hoped could be cleared. We must have missed the beat between switch over. Yet, it kind of kept going downhill from there.

No cutlery, mix up of our food order, having to ask a few times for other items. And for a newcomer like me, no real clarity on how much self-service was ours to do as sauces and other bits did not have a section.

All of this is ok, but it saddened me and my friend that the addition of a tip is preferred at till point before any service is seen. It's hard to judge at that early stage if it's worth it. I said yes for kindness. I kind of regretted it later.

I hate writing such a negatively tinged review because I think I could like this place but truly we just had a...

Endlessly disappointing! This place has so much potential- gorgeous exterior and location, and the food is tasty but the service is abysmal and I've had so many bad experiences that I'm finally writing a review. The staff are nice but extremely inattentive - to the point that I once waited 20 minutes to be served even though I'd already told them I was there before I sat down- they didn't even need to spot me. Even though the cafe is not normally very busy it seems to take forever to make a coffee and I've never been there without something being forgotten or missing, with no apology given. Last time our order went to the wrong table and we were left with nothing before chasing it - if the staff checked on the tables or paid attention they would have realised that there were 2 people sitting at an empty table and 2 not touching the coffees they 'ordered'. Every so often I give it this place another go because I want it to be good and it's such a nice spot, but every time I'm disappointed. I might have given up for good now. I live in hope that this review might prompt some...

Abysmal SERVICE!! I was recently staying in London visiting family, we stayed for 5 weeks and everyday we went to Petitou as it is the closest cafe to my house. I kid you not, they got our order wrong 100% of the time !!!! We ordered 2 coffees, the same coffees, EVERY DAY A FLAT WHITE & A CAPPUCCINO And everyday the wrong size, or wrong coffee. It was laughable. I feel they started doing it on purpose as I started speaking VERY SLOWLY to them as I ordered. They were nice, but never greet you on entry, even if you're standing next to the till !! They seem to be very preoccupied by their hair, or the music, or each other. They were very communicative with each other. In front of you, while you WAIT to be NOTICED !?? Coffee was OK on the day my order was right. We did have to start going to cafes at East Dulwich to a avoid these moronic interactions. Good luck while you're the only cafe on or off Bellenden! Once competition arrives, I suspect you may lift your game.....I remember when you opened in 2003, seriously...