Patisserie Valerie

I took my daughter to Valeries for lunch and we had ordered food by about 1.15. The drinks came quickly and we waited and waited for a toasted sandwich and a burger. We only had an hour so at 2.00 I asked the waitress what was happening. She was quite dismissive and said its coming. She then went through the swing doors and came back with our order which made me think it had been waiting there for a while. No apology, abject indifference. We finally gobbled down our food at 2.10. And it's not cheap! Avoid it...

Name: Helen
Location: NW! 3UQ

I have to agree with the previous rating on your website. I also had a less than positive experience with a waiter at the Torrington Patisserie Valerie branch. The café was virtually empty one morning recently and I wanted to choose my own seat. The waiter tried to coerce me into sitting in an area which suited him. Although I told him that I was waiting for someone, he came back twice to try and force me to order something. It was not a very negative experience but it just is not a good branch and the coffee was not that great. There was certainly no attempt to make me feel welcome and as I am in my sixties, I had the distinct impression that it was "this is for the trendy, hurry up and leave." When my appointment a charming 25 year old arrived, the service picked up considerably.

I also had an appalling experience at another Patisserie Valerie in Spitalfields where I was having a lunch leaving party with several colleagues. We ordered and when, after 45 minutes, had still not been served, complained and were finally told that there was "a crisis in the kitchen" and they were very sorry. We had to leave and ended up in the firm canteen. I would not recommend Patisserie Valerie after those two experiences to anyone.

Read a review on another forum and regret that I didn't read it earlier. The service is absolutely appalling at this branch.

My friend and I found one waiter especially rude, with no respect for us.

He deliberately ignored us when we wanted to place our order and instead, walked to the table next to ours when the customers on that table weren't even ready to order. We finally managed to order our food with another waitier but it was him again, who served us. He began mumbling to himself and although we couldn't hear the words properly, it was clearly directed at us. Then after waiting for 15 minutes for the waiters to give us our bill (the place wasn't even full at that time), he literally slammed the bill onto our table and walked away. No 'thank yous' from him obviously.

I have never felt so unwelcomed at a restaurant before. We may have ordered little food but we certainly did not deserve the poor attitude we got. I will never eat at this branch anymore and I will also not recommend this branch to anyone. Service offered at other branches are much better. There's another one in Brunswick, Russell Square if anyone is in the area.