Caffè Nero — Restaurant in Three Rivers

I visited Rickmansworth Caffè Nero on Sunday 21 November between 10am and noon with a friend. We visit regularly during this time frame on a Sunday. There were a considerable number of dogs in the cafe making it difficult to settle at a table without having to pass very close to a dog laying in the access aisles. Dogs were barking. One owner left her dog unattended at a table whilst she moved away to the counter to order. In the time that we were there we saw at least 2 dogs were unleashed and allowed to wander. One unleashed dog wandered under our table and I had to ask the owner to keep the dog under control and away from us. Surely you must appreciate that not everybody likes dogs. I was really troubled to witness a dog going for a very young child, I would guess 2 to 2.5 years old. She was not running round. She was not making a noise. She just walked past the dog which jumped up at her barking and growling and the only saving grace was that the owner had hold of the lead. Many people in the cafe looked around and were clearly alerted to the commotion. It was truly a very unnerving situation and could easily have had a different ending. One owner had a large dog on her lap which was close to the table. We never saw the table being cleaned immediately after the customers had moved away from the table. There should be a limit to the number of dogs allowed in the cafe at any one time. They should be on a lead at all times. They shouldn't be allowed to lay in the thoroughfare and should be out of the way of passing customers ie under the table. Ideally they should be in an area in the cafe reserved for dogs so that those of us without dogs are able to enjoy the surroundings without feeling that at any moment something is going to happen. A very disappointing visit. As a result of this we were unnerved enough to decide we don't wish to return to...

Not a great experience today.

The place was really busy, and there were not enough staff on to keep the place sanitised (our table was dirty, there was an earring and a used mask dumped on the seating next to us)

Only one toilet was open out of 3 - I fail to see the logic of this, and don’t think it meets the statutory requirement ratio of toilets to covers when the café is full

Practically this also meant that you had to queue to wash your hands, and again, that one cubicle wasn’t being cleaned down as frequently as one would hope during a pandemic.

Nero is still using single use and non recyclable cups for sitting in customers. This is really regrettable, and isn’t a H&S requirement. All cafes should be able to adequately sterilise eating and drinking vessels prior to the pandemic.

Overall the sense I got was that the business has decided to use Covid to cut back on staffing, which in turn has a consequence of not providing a safe place to eat and drink. The café was at capacity today, and staff were busy trying to complete their tasks, but were stressed and up against it, whilst still being as lovely and...

First visit in some time and sadly more unclean and dirty than ever.

Every table covered in dirty crockery, crumbs, food, dirt and floor beneath filthy with dropped crumbs, other food and rubbish!

Meantime, staff standing around chatting when no customers at till, instead of clearing up! When one of them did eventually deign to clear the dirty crockery, not one table was wiped clean. Toilets were, as before, in a dirty state and no loo roll! All around tired atmosphere. So disappointing. Won’t be returning, unless they improve.

Costa across the road much better all around - good service, tables cleared and cleaned regularly and...