Bea's of Bloomsbury

Theobalds Road branch .. Asked for flat white. Was asked what size .. Answered there's only one size available isn't there? "Er.. Yeah. Maybe" says the girl. Another girl makes the coffee and says "I'm not very good at flat whites". Well, don't advertise them then? Anyway, she's right. It was dreadful. Tepid, bitter taste (cheap beans?) and served with coffee slopping into the saucer. Gave her £2.70 and she just put the 10p change straight into the tip jar!!! Hahaha... 2/10.

Went for afternoon tea on Sunday. Cakes, tea and baguettes were lovely. Customer service was quite haphazard and unprofessional. One member of staff in particular did not speak clearly enough and found it difficult to speak to customers in a professional way.

I went to the Bloomsbery store. The tea and scones are a 5 star but agree with everyone on the poor customer service. They made me feel very unwelcome and since it was a nice day I asked if i could sit outside. I got the worst look - luckily there was 1 nice waitress who said yes and took my order. the place is so lovely and looks like a warm, welcoming place, but they clearly are not freindly and very frustrated by the constant people (you would think that is a good thing in this economy). Anyway, once served, the food expereince is divine and was worth it.

looks great from the outside but not so good inside. Some of the cakes are like that but the service is truly hopeless. The reason for this is that the staff don't understand English and are therefore incapable of interacting with customers.

I believe in reviews: positive and negative and this is why I'm writing this and posting it across several review sites, hoping the management will read it and improve their service. Let me start off by saying the good thing about this place (I usually go to St. Pauls or Bloomsbury): the baked goods. They're absolutely delicious and that's the only reason why I return. The bad things: (this applies especially to the Bloomsbury branch, not the St. Pauls one, at least according to my experience) this place has probably one of the most appalling customer services in London. Even tourist parisian cafes have more helpful and nicer staff. Starting off with the whole process of trying to book a table: it's impossible. Once I called to book a table and they said they were only taking reservations by e-mail, other time I e-mail trying to book a table for the next hour and I don't get a reply until well after the time I wanted the booking for. Then you try to book a table during the week and they'll tell you it's on walk-in basis, you then walk-in and because it's such a small place, guess what? Exactly, no table. Then you try to book for a weekend and you're not quite sure if you have to e-mail or call... The other day (a Saturday), I called them and asked if I could book a table for 10 minutes after I was calling (had some fiends over and thought they'd enjoy the cakes) and get the following reply from whoever answered the phone: "We have a table now but we can't book it because someone else may walk in" (disbelief on my side, but I carried on) "well, do you at least have scones?" "yes, we do!" "can I ask you to set aside 4 scones and I'll grab them in 10 minutes?" "no, because someone in the store may want to buy them". This was at 16h'ish, to which I think the following question is very legitimate: why not baking some more, then? One of the other times I was lucky enough to secure a table, this was at 5:30. Asked for scones: "we ran out of scones". At 5:30. On a Sunday. Why not baking 120 instead of 110? The in house staff also isn't the most helpful ever. They won't write down your orders, then you order a cake, an espresso and a glass with tap water and they bring you the espresso. You point out you also ordered a cake "oh yes, which cake was it?". They bring the cake, yet the tap water is forgotten. This wasn't a one-off experience, all of the above have happened separately or all at the same time every time I've been at Beas and I go there quite frequently because the cakes are so good. Until they actually improve their customer service, you're better off walking in, taking away and go and have it somewhere else.

LOVE beas - the cupcakes are tasty, not sugar over loads like lola or hummingbirds, very highly recommended!

Horrible customer service. I've been there twice and had the same experience with the waitresses - 2 different people, mind you. They acted as if they didn't understand my English just because I am Asian (English is my first language). The first time, I brushed it off because the girl wasn't local and I couldn't understand her well either, but my friend who accompanied me brought it up afterwards. The 2nd time I went alone to grab some cupcakes on the way home from work and the waiting staff were so rude, by any decent standards. When I asked what cake that was at the end of the counter, this girl (who was British) made out as if I had said 'chocolate' when I didn't even mention the word and then, when I thanked her for taking my order after the purchase, she looked away and smirked rather impudently without a smile or a word in return. There is no room for please or thank you here at Bea's apparently. Now if it weren't for their convenient location from where I live (15-minute walk) and for my cravings at the moment, I honestly wouldn't have bothered. For while their cupcakes/cakes are nice (they're not cheap either), I should think one might rather be better served elsewhere.

Hi Lucy Sorry to hear about your experience when you visited the shop. Unfortunately it can get very busy at lunchtimes and we do sell out of sandwiches quickly. However I completely agree that it is not acceptable to sell something that is listed on the menu as something else because of allergies. I will speak to the kitchen about this mix up, and have informed the staff that they need to familiarise themselves with the product before they put it out. I have also spoken to the staff member who served you. She is sorry that you feel that she was not apologetic enough after the mix up. She felt that giving you the rest of your lunch for free would have helped to make amends, I am sorry that this was not the case. We hope that you will visit us again in the future for a more enjoyable lunch. Debra Manager, St Pauls.

Terible experience at Beas Bloomsbury. I went at lunchtime at 1pm and they had run out of all sandwiches apart from a half mozzarella, pesto and tomato which after sampling discovered was actually made with goats cheese! Appalling to advertise as one and actually made with another ingredient. What if I had been allergic to goats cheese?! I complained and barely got an apology. Service was frosty as mentioned below and not helpful at all. Once told they had run out of sandwiches, after I had ordered and sat down it became clear that the staff had no idea what they were selling. I haven't experienced such incompetance in a long time especially not in the city. Before this visit I was contemplating taking clients here which I would now never consider. Someone needs to address the issues in this branch otherwise there could be another empty retail unit in the vicinity.

ordered baileys cupcake but got carrot one instead..only realised it at home.. couldn't be bothered to go back and complain..shame I don't like carrot cake so I can't really comment on the cake BECAUSE I HAD NONE!! jeez..