The Somers Town Coffee House — Restaurant in London

NEW POST: thank you! We had a lovely time there and the guys behind the bar were lovely and the food was lovely, some new things that we loved, appreciate and welcome all your efforts and keeping this local place welcoming and of good quality! We will be back for more :)

OLD POST: Love the place, at times very cosy and quiet, great location, great mix of people from different walks of life and lovely outdoor area, most of the staff is friendly and welcoming so would give 5 stars apart from the below: Two weeks ago on Thursday came with my partner to have some food and drinks, place was busy, and staff seems to be under a lot of pressure; tried to order a cocktail from the menu and they told me I couldn’t, first time I thought ok you’re busy let’s try sth simpler, next time I was greeted by a young very indolent borderline rude girl that when I asked for gin fizz she told me I couldn’t have it even though it was on the menu; she handed me tonic water and was visibly disturbed when I explained that this was an alcoholic beverage not tonic water; I commented to say I had the same drink there before as I’ve been coming for two years and that is on the menu, and she gave me a short and rude answer that tonight I was not having it and rolled her eyes at me as if I asked her to murder someone or plough the land; while it may seem petty, her attitude was electrifyingly negative and dismissive, I understand you’re busy and you’re working hard, but hey I worked that day 12 hours and I don’t need a 20-year old sth to give me the attitude while I’m the one coming to the bar, she’s not serving me the drinks and she stands there with cannot be arsed attitude; little kindness or professionalism if former is not your nature goes a long way; you ruined our night as without saying anything my partner went to get drinks and came back with the same comments - if you’re not happy working there please don’t take it out on your loyal customers; and please stop working there so I can enjoy this lovely venue! Sth else: food was better before, lots of canned food might look hipsterish but not so appealing, you had some great food selection before and it’d be good to reduce fried or canned food on the...

Extremely unfriendly, dismissive, and unprofessional service. Worst customer service we have received for years. Took 2 hours for food to come, and staff treated us very rudely.

Date: 19/11/2023 13:30 We (4 people) ordered English breakfast x2 [around 17 pounds each], burger x1 (no sauce) [around 17 pounds], pancake x1, cocacola x1, tea x1. 1-hour wait for breakfast x1 and pancake x1 to come. 1.5-hour wait for the burger with sauce (wrong order) to come. Server offered to exchange the burger, and said it would only take 8 minutes. We asked again if he was sure it would be 8 minutes, and he said yes. Around 1.75 hour mark, 2nd English breakfast came. The English breakfast was bad. The hash brown, were cold. They added a lot of salt to the egg and tomato. The bread was soggy. My partner finished only half the food. After chasing them again (after the wrong orders and everything), waiter told us that they forgot about the burger (incredible), and will recook the burger. Note that the waiter did not make sure the burger would arrive without our prompts. After 2 hours, the burger came, and the tea came after we asked them about it again. Burger tasted very dry and tasteless. The portion was not generous.

There was a hidden 10% service charge. After 1.5-hour wait, we chased several servers a number of times. The staff just said the kitchen is busy (the pub is less than 33% full. It was 2:30 pm), and did not even check with the kitchen. The staff A and B were extremely impolite and dismissive. it seemed like it was our job to make sure the food come out, not theirs. Around the 1.75 hour mark, before the second English breakfast and burger came. One of the staffs (A or B) offered refund. But when another staff C came to do the refund. He saw that the breakfast was here, and then proceed to only refund the burger. The staff B who was using the machine to implement the refund was very impolite. I felt like we offended them, but it was the other way around. After we left we realized from the receipt that the server C did NOT refund the 10% service charge. Astounding.

We were paying a lot to...

This coffee house is a regular for us as the office is just round the corner, so convenient and we enjoy the ambience. We’ve had various leaving celebrations here with substantial money spent.

On Thursday, 28 November 2024, we came round to send off a colleague who was leaving and were sat at the Bar Garden enjoying the evening. Later in the evening, we decided to order rounds of chips both chunky and skinny and fully paid for. As we needed more, we decided to order another round of the same. The waitress brought the skinny chips but not the chunky one and advised that they were out of chunky chips and brought us potato skins as an alternative which we didn't order. The waitress was asked why the potato skins as we didn't order it. She then explained and a colleague said as we didn't order, was it complementary, and she apologised and said yes and that was the end, only that it wasn't!

A Barmaid then returned to challenge us as to why we didn't pay for the potato skins and we explained the discussion had and that it was complementary. Lo and behold the bar attendant called Jenny became aggressive, rude and shouted at us to get out of the pub. She went as far as swearing at us, she was foul mouthed, drunk, rude and absolutely unprofessional. Jenny spoilt the evening with her bad manners and she is not fit to represent this pub as her behaviour was a disgrace and despite this being local to the office, we will not be returning and felt the coffee house needs to be aware as Jenny will ruin the reputation...