Richmond Hill Bakery — Restaurant in London

At first glance, this place seems like a quient village café fitting for it's hilltop location, and I think with their rose-tinted glasses, even the locals have been deceived. However, to a seasoned outsider, you don't have to look far to see the cracks and crumbling facade on what was perhaps once a place to be desired (certificate of excellent 2015 have yet to be removed from the front door) What a difference 10 years makes. My guess is a change of owners saw an opportunity to continue to get custom, but without the need to uphold a good standard of cleanliness, quality, and customer service. The only nice feature of this café is the beautiful artwork for sale, but this can not be said for the unloved and run-down nature of the establishment. Can you really call somewhere a bakery if nothing is baked on site, and is it really nice to leave notes instructing customers of the exact moment to tap their card because the staff have got sick of customers tapping at the wrong time (so annoying right). Presumably this note is not for the locals who now know exactly when to tap, and who are greeted in a far nicer manner than someone who has just stumbled on the place in search of a nice place for a refreshment. Notes are even left on the door as a reminder to close it, presumably because this is cheaper than actual fixing the closing mechanism, and the same applies to the tap in the bathroom as this is on a constant drip unless you kindly obey the notice to turn it tight enough to save a plumber having to be paid to do the job instead. And finally, if your coffee contains remnants of freshly squeeze tomato, it is because staff feel it is appropriate to eat their midday snack right next to where your beverage is being prepared.

One a plus side, the coffee did taste quite nice. This place has some nice outdoor seating allowing you to take advantage of the sunlight, but any other advantage are the ones they are taking of you.

It is just a shame we can't see many reminders that if you weren't there in 2015, you missed the best of it. This feedback will most likely fall into death ears as far as the bakery is concerned, but for you customers out there, I thought you should know what you are getting...

Not friendly / no WiFi or signal

Important note: I had no phone signal in the café and they have no WiFi. I stopped for a quick coffee and pastry after getting cold in the park, wanted to check my cycling route and ended up doing it out in the cold anyway! Maybe I'm wrong but I think for ~£8 for a coffee and pastry access to signal / WiFi is a minimum expectation in 2024.

I had good expectations based on reading reviews but was very disappointed with my experience. The staff seemed to pick and choose when to apply customer service - a few regulars got a positive interaction, warm smile and welcome, others (myself included) got quite rude service. The staff were cold to me, and seemed irritated by me being there! After serving me one of them walked off and loudly complained about being open on a Sunday; the other looked at me with disgust when I asked about WiFi and then watched me leave later again in what looked like disgust! (For reference I was polite, well dressed, clean and used all proper language; and not being a cheeky remote worker taking the mick - I ordered coffee and a pastry, no laptop/tablet,...

Absolutely terrible experience. I went to this place with a friend of mine who does not speak English very well. My friend, with her limited English, ordered 3 espressos (not expressing herself as well as she could), the bartender reacted honestly shocked. He seemed almost offended, with an attitude bordering on teasing. He stared at her, smiled and acted as if she had said something incomprehensible, when in fact it was very clear that he intended to order three very simple espresso macchiatos. Being an English speaker (and also a barista), I had no problem understanding her, and so did he. But instead of being polite or helpful, he chose to be sarcastic and disrespectful. We felt extremely uncomfortable and honestly unwelcome. To make matters worse, the coffees were absolutely terrible. I would never return to a place that treats paying customers with such arrogance. I hope the owner or staff realise that tourists bring money and should be treated with the utmost courtesy. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable. Learn some patience, respect and professionalism, otherwise avoid working...