Wyld thyme eatery — Restaurant in London

Disappointingly hostile and non-accommodating. As much as I love the food available, it’s fresh and mostly consistently qualitative - having lived in beautiful communal London & Berkshire villages previously, I am used to far more bespoke and polite local treatment as a regular customer. I live on the same road; when I call to place orders for collection, no answer- no call back, almost deliberate after over a year’s pattern of this. It almost feels as if my number has been intentionally saved to then be avoided, because when I then have to physically pop in, the place is empty! My escalated disappointment was my son recently asked respectfully to have his order remade as unwanted ingredients were misplaced- he was told the kitchen had closed (3pm!!!) literally 5 mins after purchasing our original order. Never ever have I experienced the local- independent and fine eatery feel of personable treatment as a high-street resident! IF this isn’t expected and available in Northwood, then I’ve obviously moved to the wrong environment! Having recommended several friends to pop in to the cafe whilst visiting me, I’m sad to say we’ve all now concluded this must be a collective, discomfort thing with “new appearing” communities. We seem to have very little conversation or greeting, always very forced and unnatural and sometimes just silence! The young workers are usually great, but the frontal face of any business should be of such where you feel genuinely valued as a customer. Local & regular customers should feel wanted, embraced and catered to. My last interaction, was my final! As always greeted as if I was a stranger and there’s always an awkward hesitation. Always me making far too much effort as the position of customer not staff! If it’s not ‘me’/ us, it certainly feels that way as we shouldn’t feel anything other than welcome!!! Such a shame to have to disregard this as a convenient place and space open to me, my son, partner and friends. I would’ve always preferred to have provided 1:1 - in person feedback, but I know confidently, the response will just be “ohhhh…. okay” and make us feel even...

UPDATED Fair point, well made!

I love what this place is doing and want it to thrive.

They have a pay it forward kindness act - little things like that create real community spirit, and Wyld Thyme was certainly alive and electric with that energy. They were also celebrating their 4th birthday when I visited (congrats!).

Naturally, I had to try a selection of their baked goods, and there was a great variety - not your usual cookie-cutter options, so I opted for:

Strawberry cream sponge with lemon (ok) Almond frangipane Blueberry frangipane (both frangi's had a grainy texture) Coconut & pineapple cake (the nicest) Walnut roll (had an eggy taste)

Alas, the elusive almond croissant still escapes me!

Everything looked great and was clearly made with care, some of the flavours didn’t quite hit for me. The coffee though was excellent. That said, I’ll be back - there’s a lot of heart in this place, and next time I’ll try one of their dishes.

Whilst waiting for my treats to be packed up, I was lucky enough to experience a kind act myself, so here's me, paying it forward and hoping you visit this charming cafe with its...

Wow! A fantastic café in the daytime serving top-quality food made from ingredients that are sourced as locally as possible, where we can also have spectacular bespoke cakes made to order, and on Thursday evenings eat a high-end evening meal!

The quality of the cooking/baking and local ingredients is absolutely exceptional. The menu is great and whatever you choose would appear to come from a Michelin-starred restaurant rather than a small local café. I care a lot about my carbon footprint and to be able to walk around the corner and enjoy English wines, beers from Rickmansworth and exceptional food made from local ingredients actually feels very surreal! The bread and croissants are made by the owner, as well as the cakes.

Wow again, so lucky to have an opportunity to dine like this on our doorstep! And we're still loving eating my daughter's birthday cake made to our specifications as...