| Venue name: | Bea's of Bloomsbury - St Pauls | Contact: |
|---|---|
| Address: |
One New Change 83 Watling Street London EC4M 9BX |
| Opening hours: | Open 7.30am-7pm Mon-Fri; 10am-7pm Sat, Sun |
| Transport: | Tube: St Paul's tube |
| Price: | Main courses £5-£10. Afternoon tea (2.30-7pm Mon-Fri; noon-7pm Sat, Sun) £17, £24.50 with champagne |
| Menu: | View Menu |
| Do you own this business? |
Average User Rating
2.8 / 5
Rating Breakdown
- 5 star:0
- 4 star:1
- 3 star:2
- 2 star:2
- 1 star:0
Never say no to some cake and coffee. Bea's at Bloomsbury in St Paul's had step free access, but the ground floor seating is very limited. There is more seating on the upper floor, but no lift to get there if you're a wheelchair user like myself. Luckily there was a free table when we arrived. The seating area is also quite narrow. Our waitress was super friendly and gave some recommendations. We just had a late lunch so this was kind of like our dessert. We had the cheesecake and Guinness cake. Portions were quite generous considering... Perhaps I was full from lunch, but found the cakes too dense and heavy, also I couldn't really taste the Guinness (does that make me an alcoholic? :p). They were good though, and anyone with a sweet tooth would have loved it. I remember the afternoon tea being good here too, but who doesn't like a bit of tea and cake? It's such a British thing to do after all.
I had high hopes for this place after visiting the website which boasted about their delicious cakes- but unfortunately I was left disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the cakes were delicious (I had the peanut butter chocolate cheesecake which was tasty albeit rather sweet) but that was one of the few good things about this place. The guy who served us was nice enough, but that's where the pleasantries ended as we wasn't spoken to by a single member of staff for the rest of our stay. Downstairs was simply a narrow corridor with a few tables and cabinets displaying pretty teapots, upstairs was not much bigger- however I did like the quirky teapot lamps and vintage-style upholstery. Overall, it wasn't what I was expecting and it was really expensive- £7.45 for a tea and slice of cake?! Ridiculous! No wonder most of the prices weren't displayed! I've heard the Bloomsbury branch is the best, so maybe I'll try there next time.
The staff at this branch are so nonchalant and treat you like you are not good enough when you go there to buy the cupcakes to takeaway - also they are not at all social media savvy in that they don't bother to follow their own company on Instagram and therefore completely unaware and uninformed of the specials for the day (which is usually only available at the original branch). When you ask them about it they look at you like you are stupid and say they don't know what you are talking about. However it still gets three stars because luckily the cupcakes are baked off premises and tastes just as good as it should. The afternoon tea is plentiful but cupcakes are still the star of the show. Still the staff should learn to at least pretend to be nice.
Went here for a spot of lunch. Had the avocado sandwich and the carrot and coriander soup. Almost recommend asking the sandwich to be cut in half and taking the rest to go. It is a lot of food for a lunch! Soup was warm and filling, with lentil thrown in for good measure. The sandwich had nice squidgey bread, with plenty of nooks and crannies for the avocado to fill in.
If looking for something sweet-- highly recommend a duffin (donut + muffin). With a flat white its a sinful snack or breakfast!
Disappointing. Took the boyfriend here for afternoon tea and cake for his birthday last Sunday and were seated upstairs. The waiter seemed unsure of himself and kept tripping over his words as he described what our 3-tier cake/ sandwich selection consisted of. That we could have accepted if they'd remembered to bring us the cream and jam to go with our scones, and not sat us opposite the side of a building (when I'd been told down the phone that we'd have a view). There wasn't any music playing when we arrived, so the atmosphere was fairly staid...They did play some random chart music about 30 mins into our tea but then switched it off. All in all, I can't speak for the other venues, but I wouldn't recommend the St Paul's branch - all a bit disorganised and . I will say, however, that the cakes and sandwiches WERE delicious, but that's not reason enough for us to return.
