Urban Baristas - Wapping — Restaurant in London

I like Urban Baristas. The coffee is good as are the pastries. And the staff are pleasant and efficient. But after today I shall no longer purchase anything from them. I went to pay for my croissant with coins and was told they accepted cards only. Having just been to the Wapping Lane Post Office where some six old people in the queue ahead of me were collecting their pensions in cash, it occurred to me this policy is ageist and discriminatory against the small minority of people who for whatever reasons rely solely on cash. I am 76, comfortably off, and capable of paying by card. But as far as I know, cash is still legal in the UK. If the owners of Urban Baristas are do insensitive to the situation of many of the elderly and to the less well off, I'll go elsewhere. Perhaps all those responsible for having this policy are all under 35.

I note you responded but gave me no chance to respond to you. You may have sterling motives and believe you are behaving with all the best intentions. But actions have consequences that are often unintentional. You may not accept it but you are indirectly discriminating against a portion of the elderly and less well off people who for a variety of reasons do not/cannot have cards. Your argument about hygiene is laughable: shops have accepted cash for centuries and people using cash have not noticeably increased the death rates. You are doing it for your convenience regardless of the consequences for a portion of your potential clients. Cinnamon which is just around the corner takes cash. I'll go there and pass on Urban Baristas hygiene--robbery--convenience driven policy. I lived for five years in the Netherlands where card driven payments were used way before the UK. But cash was accepted everywhere and still is. Are you seriously suggesting the Netherlands is a less hygenic country than the UK? Be honest. You are doing this for your convenience. The elderly never entered your...

I went to Urban Baristas Wapping about a week ago and I would not recommend this place. The interior of the cafe is welcoming, with lots of enthusiasm from the staff. However what there wasn’t lots of was my drink! I ordered a classic hot chocolate which was about 3 conservative sips full. I initially was fascinated with the given autonomy to chose what kind of chocolate type I would like to go into my hot chocolate from Dark, Classic and White Chocolate of which I chose the former. Yet when on further inspection in terms of tasting, I realised that the chocolate stayed at the bottom of the small cup and did not flavour the milk whatsoever. Furthermore, it gave the chocolate a gritty texture on the palette. What’s worse is that the hot chocolate cost me a small fortune of £3.50! I cannot envision why the price is so high seeing as the company uses normal milk and tiny cup portions along with the chocolate which doesn’t seem to actually benefit the drink in any shape or form. My friend and I were thoroughly disappointed by this chain cafe. I believe that the level of care that is provided towards coffee based drinks should also be reserved for hot chocolates and would love to see some kind of change in the hot chocolate making process to improve this issue.

However, I have no complaints about the staff, who enhanced my shopping experience to the fullest extent possible for a cafe in a place...

It looked like a great coffee place so I planned to stop by on my way back from playing tennis and have a coffee there. As I don’t know Wapping and due to my health condition have to use toilets quite often when passing by on my way to the courts on Monday morning I asked very politely if that was an option to use their toilets but I was told firmly the toilets were only for their customers. I asked once again if they couldn’t do an exception as the shop is nearly empty and I’m desperate, heard another firm and rather impolite No! When asked what he suggested I supposed to do he said I could walk to nearby Waitrosse ( 15 minutes away). Really? Refusing person in need using their toilet? You never know what my health condition or mental condition is. You don’t know if I’m pregnant or not and you don’t know how embarrassing it can be to ask that question! We are all humans after all and being polite and a little bit empathetic doesn’t cost anything.

Urban Barista lost a future customer. I think the way I was treated was unacceptable. I can’t even think about any vulnerable person who’d have to ask for a “favour” in this place.

An hour later we’ve had a delicious coffee from a nearby Italian cafe. Great choice! Thanks to this unpleasant experience with urban barista I discovered a place I’ll be visiting from now on...