Liz T
19/07/2021
I never post Google reviews but I feel that have to for this cafe because of the TERRIBLE SERVICE and LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM I experienced today.
I drove past Blake Street Kitchen this morning so decided to stop for breakfast. I ordered some food and I remembered that I had received a free drinks voucher a few days ago. When I tried to use my voucher on a coffee, the lady who served me said loudly "oh no we're not accepting vouchers right now due to the pandemic so can't be giving away free things." I was confused because I had received the voucher only a few days ago but I decided that I'll just wait for my food and leave. But then she proceeded to loudly ask every staff member who came in "we're not giving away free things are we? We're losing money and this lady is trying to get a free coffee." This was said in front of other customers waiting for their orders.
Then, when her boss came in, she repeated the same question. Her boss replied that they were still doing free coffees because it was the Clubhouse's decision to. So the server turned back to me and said "fine. So what would you like for your FREE coffee?"
By this point I was already speechless and beyond embarrassed. I was very tempted to say "I don't want your stupid free coffee anymore" but I didn't want to make a scene. So I just ordered a cap. She then turned to the barista and said "a cap please, make it SMALL." I then waited a full 10 minutes, with both the server and the barista forgetting my order TWICE while making every other customer's order. How do you forget the most basic coffee order twice? It was as if they were intentionally trying to make me feel bad because I was using a voucher.
This is by far the worst service I have ever experienced with a cafe and I buy from cafes almost every day. I felt embarrassed, humiliated and insulted. How are you going to give out free drinks vouchers - which, may I add, is a marketing tool to get customers in the door to buy other items - then proceed to shame the customers who try to redeem those vouchers? I understand that the pandemic has made it more difficult for cafes to earn a profit. However, you willingly send members these vouchers, and they are used to attract sales. Further, it's not like I only went in for the free coffee. I spent money on the (overpriced) food too.
The way in which I was treated today was ridiculous and extremely unprofessional. I used to visit this cafe regularly before the lockdown because of its convenient opening hours and nice interior, but I'll never set foot here again.