Baker & Spice

abysmal service. walked out today after standing at the counter for 5 minutes while at least three staff members failed to acknowledge me. i would have happily waited had they said «just one minute» or something similar. instead, it was if i were invisible.
never going back. not worth it.

I do like the food there and agree that it is at least one of the best places in that area. However, I find it quite pricey and agree that they have a problem with service. I have not a had a bad experience as such, but it takes time to get served and the staff are stressing between the till and the tables.

The other reviews are right — the service is terrible here. The problem (besides the lack of a queue/​free for all for the deli) seems to partly be because the person at the till is also the server for the 20+ customers dining in. Given how popular this place appears to be that is pure madness. This morning I stood and waited 10 minutes to buy a take away pastry because the woman was running around serving all the diners between ringing up customers. I gave it two stars because the quality of their food is good albeit expensive. But each time I’ve gone in I am reminded of why I should avoid the place. I don’t think I’ll be going back.

I have to agree with several of the reviewers here, the service is an abomination. I waited 10 minutes to pay for a danish, which ended up not being worth the wait. Sickly sweet and gummy.
It wasn’t even busy but the counter is basically a free for all and there is no obvious starting point for a queue. This is England, for Gods sake, and they can’t even get a queue done properly?! Madness. It would be easy to fix so I guess the only reason for it is that the mgt doesn’t give a toss. So do yourself a favour and avoid.

Dreadful dreadful service consistently. Great food
Go to rauols instead across the road.

The food selections is good, the pastries are (in general) really good. Love the cinnamon rolls!
The staff are ok, sometimes really nice, sometimes pretty average. The service is notoriously slow when they’re busy, you can wait ages for a coffee and find its not hot enough which gets them down.
The deli selection is good and usually similar every day, the salmon is nice and it all seems fresh. One thing I don’t like is that the pastries are all out on a table and people go and help themselves (because the staff are always too busy) and let their kids touch the food.
Its much nicer than some of the other café’s on the street though and has a nice atmosphere and around the same price as the rest of them in the area.

Good baked goods and selection of fresh salads. Probably the best place for a quick lunch and tea in Maida Vale /​Little Venice.

Had a nice cup of coffee here and a croissant with a friend of mine. Service was prompt. A homeless woman came up to us twice to ask for money. Didn’t bother me, but might be annoying to some. We went inside to pay when we were finished and wish I had been in there first before placing my order! There was such a fabulous case of pastries, pasta salads and other lunch items that looked delicious! We will definitely be back to try this place for lunch!

Good food but baked goods are so expensive. And very mediocre coffee with amazingly blunt services — the place is filled with yummy mommies in weekdays and just with local residents on weekends — good deli and take away counter also. I hope servicing staffs were nicer — although I don’t blame them as there are many rude customers… I think there are just not enough choices in the area — I actually prefer Raul’s deli counter for taste and price but salad selections are far better in this place and they could also warm up your takeaways if you are having a picnic nearby or eat in which Raul’s cannot (although there is a restaurant). Anyway, if you are in the area — why not try. Not a bad place as long as you brace yourself for pretty blunt waiting staffs.

Great for an easy breakfast or lunch, or to grab food for takeaway. It is all very fresh and healthful.- if you are in the mood for a feel-​good salad or light lunch, this is the place for you. With that being said, they also have delicious pancakes!
My only qualm is it is a bit over priced. The to-​go foods are all very simple and cold– I can’t wrap my head around it being nearly impossible to spend less than £15 on food that it a step above M&S takeaway.

Overall very expensive and very poor service. It is a pity as it could be a great spot with better management.

Mixed bag. I’ve had some nice experiences here when going for a light lunch with friends and family, but I’ve also had a couple of shocking experiences when just stopping by to chill by myself or get a bit of work done. On the good; nice healthy food in terms of nutrition, lovely location and decent coffee. On the less good; very variable fairness in food portions for the price, changeable levels of service (sometimes sweet and sometimes rather rude) and intermittent internet.

Baker & Spice mainly registers in my mind for their amazingly tasty vanilla and chocolate pastry, and my crack-​like addiction to it. This one item really does keep me coming back again and again.
The rest of the food here is typically made from very good quality ingredients, and tastes great, however the menu is pretty expensive and everything is drenched in olive oil.
Service sometimes a little non-​communicative and vague. Please do not get me wrong, the staff are friendly enough here, but at busy times it can be confusing as to who is being served at any given time due to the lack of communication from the staff members.
It can be a little noisy and clattery in there, especially when you are forced to sit so closely to other patrons and there are only a few individual tables. Most likely you will have two sit either at the large communal table or the bar table that runs across the window area.
There is fairly decent competition along Clifton Road in the form of Raoul’s and the consistency of Café Rouge. In general, Baker & Spice is not my 1^st choice for a breakfast or lunch.

I don’t get people’s attraction to this place as I find it less than satisfying on many levels. Let me break it down.
–It’s crowded with communal tables, so half the time I want to eat there I cannot.
–It’s really expensive for a place that doesn’t offer table service. You have to stand in a queue behind people ordering coffee to go, then hope no one takes your seat whilst you’re up.
–Everything available to eat seems to be covered in olive oil whether a salad or meat choice.
–You finish your lunch which cost usually around £16 and think, ‘wow, I could have gone to a real restaurant’. It’s cheaper across the street at Raoul’s and the food is better there and made to order… not sitting in a case all day.
The positive here is that the food is relatively healthy, there’s just a sameness to everything.
Meh.

The food was great! The only drawback is that it’s a little small so it can be a challenge to find a place to sit. But that’s London. Will def eat here again when I am in London.

To most places with a similar quality of food, i would award 4 stars. But «Baker & Spice» is slightly different.
I went here for breakfast on a sunday morning with a couple of friends, who had been playing tennis nearby. This coffee shop is located in a quite residential neighbourhood, about halfway between Lord’s and the Warwick Avenue station. It reminds me of Ottolenghi, but on a smaller scale. There is an extensive display of sweet and savoury breakfast items and of the entire lunch menu, with the names and the prices written on a blackboard.
But let me get back to breakfast now. I started off with a glass of fresh orange juice, while my friends went for the smoothies (they don’t serve milk-​shakes). These were good enough. But the shocker was the prices for the breakfast items. The most reasonable one was fried eggs and toast at slightly over £5. The plain omelette cost £8, while adding two fillings would take the price to double digits. To top it off, the English breakfast (with two fried eggs, two extremely thin sausages and two rashers of bacon) was priced at almost £15.
I don’t have many complaints about the food, although i would have preferred an extra egg or thicker sausages instead of the two large pieces of grilled tomato in there. One of my friends asked whether they had hash browns. They didn’t. On a positive note, unlike many other restaurants, the breakfast here came with an unlimited bread basket. There was a lot of food on the table. It was a very filling brunch.
I presume that they can charge these atrocious prices is because that area doesn’t really have many other brunch alternatives. I have friends living in the region, and so I will probably return grudgingly to sample other items from their menu.

Please note: review for afternoon tea and sweets
We ordered a couple pots of tea, which were great because the tea was strong and the milk pre-​heated.
I ordered the vanilla custard danish, large and creamy! The apple danish – delicious. Love the cinammon buttery goodness of the apple danish. Ill definitely be back when Im in the area.
In general, I’m a convert to the British afternoon tea. LOVE IT.

The chicken pie is so good! I thought that it would have been a whole miniature pie, but it comes out as a rectangular slice instead. It is a bit on the small side, but it’s so creamy and yummy and delicious!!! The top is really flaky and the chicken is moist too! Soooo good!
They also let you pick a salad or vegetable side, so we chose a broccoli dish they had. It was just okay.
We also tried their vanilla custard danish, which was super yummy! It’s pretty big, and not overly sweet. The custard is thin, and it all comes together really well.
They also have a selection of fresh juices, where you can select up to two flavors. We tried the pear-​apple juice, which came out tasting more like pear, but it was delightful! The juice is pulpy and separates a bit, so you just have to stir it every once in a while.
The service here seems to be hit or miss. We had to wait a long time before our orders were taken, but our server was really nice! He was really patient and flexible with our multiple orders. However, the girl behind the counter seemed like she wanted to be anywhere but there, and barely managed a smile when collecting our dishes.
Definitely would come by for pastries! They have giant meringues! LITERALLY GIANT! They were seriously bigger than my fist, and they aren’t overly sweet. I would recommend these just for the novelty factor: P

This is gonna be a quick review.
Coffee is so so, pastries are so so, food is decent and restrictions on the wifi. So, the word of the day for this place is so so. That’s about all that sums up this experience and many others that I’ve had at my local baker and spice. Bleah.

Good lattes, incredible selection of prepared foods and pastries. I didn’t have a chance to try any of the prepared foods, but I split a drop scone and an almond croissant with my sister. I usually don’t go crazy for scones, but this one was wonderful.
It’s a busy spot where customers linger over their newspapers. The servers are efficient and pleasant.