The Orchard Cafe — Restaurant in London

Rude staff. I ordered 2 drinks and sat down at the table closest to the till. They were just plonked onto the table without a word. I consider it normal manners to at least say “here you go”, never mind “thanks / enjoy “ etc. Maybe they didn’t offer table service however I was sat immediately by the counter. If that was the case they could have said “your drinks are ready” etc. It wasn’t busy. The woman asked if it was ok to have take away cups and I said yes. I realised later this was to save them washing up as they seemed to want to leave and close early. As such customers were treated with disdain. She kept telling us semi aggressively “we are closing at 4” at 3.40. We only had 2 hot chocolates. She then proceeded to clean and noisily shove and shunt furniture around right by us so as to make it too unpleasant to stay. Surely if a business says it’s open till 4 then paying customers are allowed to spend until 4 to finish and cleaning etc takes place at 4. It was obvious they wanted to leave early and rather than allow paying customers to enjoy what they had paid for, we were effectively bullied out and left and 3.50. A full 10 minutes before the official closing time. I had spotted a cafe down the street that looked nice and now regret not going there. Rude business owners will ultimately get nowhere. There is always another cafe down the street. Incidentally the hot chocolate was mediocre and I would not go back anyway despite the...

Overall, this quaint container box café is worth visiting if you're in the area, the food portions are especially outstanding.

For a more detailed review, please see the points below:

Customer service - The customer assistant serving me (Roxana), and the lady managing the place were friendly and helpful.

Price - The food has an average price, as the prices seem to reflect the average food prices seen in most cafés.

Food - The food was well presented and tasty. The portion sizes were indeed generous as stated by reviewers. Vegan and vegetarian options are available in the menu. I ordered the "Morning at The Orchard" with a latte and chocolate croissant. It all tasted good. Unfortunately, the coffee cups are a small size and ordering a "large" only means having an extra shot of coffee on your small cup.

Hygiene - I didn't see the members of staff wearing gloves when preparing the food. It doesn't help that they also had a customer's dog they were playing with in the kitchen. It's not a deal breaker for me, but I know it could be for alot of people.

Atmosphere - The lighting is pretty average and the decor has a homely feel to it. The music playlist plays features your typical pop songs.

Summary - Overall, it's a good cafe, although, has nice customer service and great food portions, except for the coffee as it comes in small cups. Would rate higher if it wasn't for the hygiene factor...

I have been a regular visitor to the cafe for the last year. I was taken back by the rudeness and hostility of one particular member of staff that I encountered on my visit at The Orchard Cafe today. On previous visits, the service of the cafe has been faultless. I have always enjoyed my visits and have always had a pleasant experience and I must praise the rest of the staff for their hard work and friendliness. The cafe offers a fantastic variety of food and drink and I would like to clarify that what happened today was a stand-alone incident. Whilst I can appreciate that when service is busy, particularly at weekends, it can be challenging to keep cool under pressure. However, it is totally unacceptable to be impolite and speak to a customer in such an aggressive and rude manner. One member of staff pointed to my order; it was a cold cup of coffee that had been left opposite the checkout counter 20 minutes after I had taken my order. This particular member of staff accused me of not collecting my coffee but I was never let known that the coffee was ready. Understandably, mistakes can be made and this is not the issue that I am taking fault with here, it was the fact that I was spoken to in such an...