Forrest Coffee House — Restaurant in Warwick

I have never gone out of my way to write a review before, in fact I've had to use my son's Google account in order to post this, as it just had to be said.

A friend and I visited Forrest earlier today for Lunch. We sat in the newly-installed outdoor seating area. There was no food menu available, so my friend stepped inside the store to take a photo of the available options. She was wearing her mask and adhering to social distancing, as any good citizen should, and she was met with no objection by the staff for doing do.

When she came back to the table, we spent some time reviewing the menu and decided what we wanted. I then put on my mask and jumped in the queue to order for both of us.

My friend was immediately accosted by a throughly unpleasant blonde waitress dressed in a leopard skin cardigan, perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties. With an insufferable air of self-importance, she proceeded to lecture my friend about the fact that our behaviour was supposedly putting her at risk.

This puzzled us, as we wore our masks when required and complied with all government COVID regulations. My friend was understandably confused, and asked for clarification on the exact infraction committed. The waitress didn't give a clear answer, and stormed off, muttering about the hospitality industry, COVID, and a number of other seemingly-unrelated woes.

To put this in context, I am a front line health worker in my sixties. I have spent the last year face-to-face with the horrors of this pandemic and have contracted the virus in the line of duty. My friend, also in her sixties, is volunteer as both a vaccinator and a COVID support worker.

It quickly became apparent that this person was not happy with our presence at the cafe, and, feeling unwelcome, we decided to take our business elsewhere. Our departure was accompanied by yet more inappropriate antagonism, which further lowered our opinion of the much-anticipated new coffee shop in town.

If I were to look at this situation charitably, I might conclude that this person was having a bad day. Maybe they’d dealt with some unpleasant customers earlier in the day, and decided to take out this aggression on us. In reality, it seemed that her anxiety about catching the virus lead her to make some rather uncharitable assumptions about us. She seemed to assume that by attempting to reading the menu of the cafe, we were wilfully putting her at risk of contracting COVID. Whilst she could not have read our minds and known of the positions we hold within the structure working to defeat this virus, the irony was palpable.

If her attitude towards her law-abiding customers is that they a threat to her heath and well-being, she would be best advised not to work in a customer-facing position. The rest of the staff were friendly, welcoming and courteous during our brief stay, and I visited Forrest the recommendation of my son, who was very impressed with the service on prior visits. Regardless, our family and fiends will not be visiting...

Excellent coffee, very accommodating with my needing oat milk. Case 1; My only issues, is that during lockdown while wearing masks, a couple of staff members, found it very difficult to hear me (despite repeatedly saying the same thing). My order was "two quadruple shot latte" They simply couldn't understand, so I said "I would like, '2 flat whites in the same cup and 2 of them please' My order was completely misheard and made incorrectly. When informing the staff that 4 flat whites, was not what I ordered, they were disgruntled. The second attempt at my order, was also wrong. When I complained again, finally, the right drinks were then made. Then there was one last problem.

Case 2; Sweetener was always given in sachets. For the entire time I had gone in there, this was the case. When asked 'would you like sweetener' I responded with 'yes please, 5 or 6 would be great' (depending on the brand of sweetener and how full the cup is etc, changes how much I add to the drink) I did not know, or was made aware of, that they put the sweetener themselves. I was then handed a cup with 6 sweetex (extremely sweet) in it. Again, when I complained, the response was 'you asked for that many' and they refused to remake it. I tried to explain that I thought I would get sachets as it had always been up to this point, but again, I was just faced with blank faces. I couldn't we even be bothered to fight this time, so I simply took my coffee, walked out and threw it away.

So, conclusion... Some members of staff weren't very good at listening to me and instead of repeating my order back, to make sure it was correct, simply guessed and got it wrong. I was given on both occasions Absolutely no apology! For getting my drinks order wrong twice and then for ruining my coffee with too much sweetener. A simple 'im so sorry for the mix up, let's make sure we have got your order right (and verbally confirming this with me). This would have made all the difference. And with case 2, again, a simple 'we apologise, we've changed from sachets to using one device behind the counter. Sorry for the mix up, would you like a new drink?' This is how I would expect the problems to have been dealt with. They do seem to have gotten better since, and the coffee really...

I'm not sure I can explain in a review how much I LOVE this place but i'll try! Forrest has the best Americanos, I can't comment on the other drinks because i'm not a fan of milky coffees but my husband loves the Lattes, we did have a double espresso on Sunday from Forrest in the park and that was also really good. The food is great, we've tried a selection of the savoury and the cakes over the last year or so and they have all been really tasty. The selection of cakes is huge and we always struggle to choose because they all look so good (Thank god FWX Gym is so close). It's a bonus that it is dog friendly because we can just pop in on our way back from a walk, the kids love it and the dog loves it too. It's a lovely atmosphere to sit in but also such a great location to take away if you are on your way to the castle, park or a countryside walk. But it's not just about the coffee and food, as with a number of businesses we have come across in Kenilworth Forrest fosters a community, they support charities and causes that matter and give back to their customers, the free coffee on Father's day was a lovely touch. The staff are always really friendly and the service...