Simmons Bakers — Restaurant in St Albans

4 star for food, -2 star for service.

Local bakers (literally at the bottom of my road). Decent cakes/pastries and bread. Only quibble is the one member of staff who is very 'huffy puffy' and always seems to be irritated by customers. I was my normal, pleasant, self but she sighed at the request for bread to be sliced, and there is no customer service when paying either. She seemed to not believe that I wanted a loaf of sourdough, as she said "are you sure...right chuckles ". She just expected I was paying card (would've happily supported the local business via use of cash), and gave no indication of it going through okay and if I wanted the receipt. She instead stood there and glared at me until I had to question "oh, am I done, is it all ok?". She proceeded to continue to glare in an accusatory and miserable manner.

She always makes me feel unwelcome. I avoid when she's working. I've done nothing wrong - and judging by the other reviewers here, everyone has the same experience.

Absolutely no customer service, to the point you actually feel uneasy in the store.

I'd spend much more here and more regularly if she wasn't so...

I really like the fact that Simmons is a local success story, and I often pop into one around Harpenden or St Albans to pick up a loaf of bread or a few treats, which are always delicious.

However, I regularly find the service in this particular Simmons to be poor. There are often long queues, with typically only one—maybe two—young staff members working, while several other staff mill around at the back and occasionally pop through, yet frustratingly don’t deal with the ever-expanding queue. More often than not, people walk off due to the wait.

Such a shame, as otherwise this store would be perfect—with free parking and a...

It was 5 stars.. 1 now after my experiences the last 2 weeks. A member of staff on my last 2 visits has been very huffy puffy. She likes to make it known when there is a que of people and only 1 serving that she is busy. She will say things like 'yep you're all looking at me but I'm busy' loud enough for you to hear with her back turned loading the oven etc. Today she snapped at me because I didnt hear her ask me what I wanted in my coffee. She also chatted to a colleague about not feeling it today and going to get a covid test.. Not what you want to hear when you're getting your Bfast and you're...