Shakespeare Cafe Bistro — Restaurant in London

I went to Shakespeare as it is local and my friend recommended it for lunch together. The food was actually quite good and I would have visited again just for that, however the appalling level of customer service and communication has deterred me from revisiting.

The first occurrence that I went to this restaurant I went with my friend and ordered a takeaway meal in the middle of the meal for when I was leaving, when it came time to leave I asked the young gentleman who was serving me if he had charged me for both meals as I do not believe he had charged me for the second one yet. I could have just walked out as I had already paid once but me being a honest person I said to the staff that they had no charged me for the takeaway. I do not understand what confusion happened with the ticket. I mentioned to staff that on my banking app it was telling me that I had only paid for one meal another member staff came over with the card reader and made me tap 3 times and said that my Apple Pay wasn’t going through (it definitely was working), then after this they asked to see my banking app which I thought was extremely odd and a breach of privacy. Now the issue was if they had over charged me for tapping 3 times as the staff clearly did not understand how to use the system and it seemed as if they were just trying stuff. After this the manager was called over to rectify the issue at this point I had 3 members of staff including the manager at my table which to onlookers looked as if I did not have the ability to pay for my meal, the staff caused me a level of embarrassment due to their incompetence. When the manager came over he was explaining to staff in their language, when I explained in English the situation he understood and checked the system to see if I had been charged. Fair dues to the manager he rectified the issue however he seemed really annoyed at me as if I had caused the issue when in fact it was his staff, After this bad experience I did say I would not go back. But as my auntie decided that she would like to eat at the restaurant so I decided to meet her about a month later as it was local and to no surprise the manager that also does the seating was there. When we arrived there was a table available by the front door outside, the manager pointed at the table and said ”this is your table” I replied to him “is it possible to sit inside as it is not a nice day outside and we would not like to sit at the door” and then he replied very rudely “this is your table”. The response that I was looking for was that if we would be inclined to wait a different table would’ve have been available, this is not a uncommon response from most restaurants so I do not think it was too out of order to assume as much, also waiting was not a issue for us as we were still waiting for my aunt so seating situation was not urgent. Confused at how he addressed us regarding the situation we sat at the table. As we sat down I said to my daughter I do not like how he treated us and I do not want to eat here, the manager must have overheard us and started staring at us and crossing his arms obviously annoyed so I called my auntie and left. I went to capital which is a few 100 meters down the road and from the moment we came to the door the level of customer service was exceptional and even when we said to staff we were waiting for someone they let us wait at the table with no issues.

I would not recommend Shakespeare cafe to anyone as there is no parking to cater for the amount of people in the restaurant , the venue is opposite a estate don’t let the images online fool you, the customer service as mentioned is appalling and is overall a bad experience for people of colour. They gave off really horrible vibes both times and they carter more towards their targeted audiences and it’s obvious to see.

I hope the restaurant take time to reflect on how they treat...

Food is good and portion sizes are large.

Service is absolutely shocking. Our party fortunately had a Turkish guest so she placed the order- we had a Turkish breakfast for two, that fed all four of us, as the food is ample. The table next to us, all Indian guests, table of 5, asked for the Turkish breakfast for two, sides and another main dish as this would be plenty of food. Their table had done this with their Turkish friends on prior visits.

The staff simply would not allow it and started to argue- as they demanded every single guest on that table had to have a main. My Turkish friend had to defend the table of 5 because of their rude servers’ behaviour, that they should allow them the same option we had and eventually she asked for the manager. My friend explained it was prejudiced to allow our table to have a breakfast for two (fed all 4 of us) but refuse the table with non Turkish guests to have the same option. The manager eventually relented but he stated that he would only allow it just this once- but we had already been afforded this option.

He told us that it was the rules- however the menu does not state a minimum order per head, does not state that the set breakfast can only feed a maximum number of guests on a table, nor does it stipulate the whole table has to have the same or state that the breakfast cannot feed more than 2 people.

When the table of 5 eventually placed their order as they originally requested, they were told that they could only have Turkish tea for two- again we didn’t have this stipulation when we placed our order. It was beyond a joke at this point.

It was clear that these newly sprung rules were purely money motivated, incredibly rude, unfair and the manager threw his own member of staff (our server) under the bus by stating she was new and didn’t understand the rules… (she clearly wasn’t new- she just understood politeness and customer service).

I would not come here because this is awful service at its finest and just greed. They wanted to make as much money from a table as possible. It was embarrassing that they would do this to paying patrons that visit their establishment on a...

It really is a racist place. Turkish arrogance and snootiness. You just can't unsee it. Disgusting really.

2 stars for the food which was absolutely delicious and decor of place is gorgeous! Such a fabulous variety of fresh tasting food and fresh ingredients. Their French toast with berries and syrup was the best French toast combo I've ever eaten! Absolutely divine in flavour!!! Scrumptious!!!

2 stars off for service. Two of the waiters were actually trying hard to deliver in service (but there was something still strange about them, not quite sure what!) but the two waitresses (older women) were incredibly grumpy with long faces and literally zero effort in keeping a straight face. It was so bad, you could only laugh. Me and my friend were there for a few hours. Restaurant was literally only about 7 tables full at it's busiest. We did go on a weekday. So not sure why the long faces and not letting us sit at the floral tables at which eventually the waiter seated small groups of max 4 people anyway.

Also, me and my friend were there for a few hours catching up. We ordered food, and then desserts. One hour before closing time, they literally started to tell us we had to leave!!!!! So inappropriate and rude. We continued our conversation outside, and they continued to stare at us and even came out to say by, as if to mock us! Really weird behaviour and creepy to be honest.

Gorgeous decor and delicious food. But not happy about driving us out, and the creepiness.

Also, as a hijaabi, please advise your men to not gently touch the ladies on their back or arm. The waiter was actually trying to deliver customer service (I think), so didn't want to embarrass him, but no, don't touch any lady, much less a hijabi.

Service was strange. Didn't make it comfortable for us when we wanted to take pictures of the beautiful decor (not like instagrammers but as customers who appreciated the lovely decor). The place was pretty much empty the entire time we sat there. Dread to think how their service measures up on a busy day!

Would I return, yes. Would I be as polite with the weird service...