St. James Cafe

I went in the café on my way to a meeting this morning. I was respectively dressed as you can imagine. There was a man ahead of me in the queue ordering so I kindly asked the directions of the bathroom as I would pop in whilst they were serving the person ahead. The answer to this was a bark claiming the toilets were «for customers only» to which I replied «I am a customer». The other two attendees then chimed in to all bark at me in unison that the toilets were for customers only. I was absolutely mortified and felt I was being accused of stealing. When I pointed out the staff should have a little more decorum I got a snotty sarcastic response. I asked to speak with a manager and I was refused and I was refused a number for the place. Never ever again if that’s how 3 staff can speak to a customer I dread to think what the quality of the food and coffee is

Terrible from start to finish! Ciabatta steak sandwich had two tiny 1 mm thick pieces of meat. It was hard to tell there was even meat in the sandwich. Sandwich was served with «crisps» (a half handful of the stale crushed bits of crisps that you find at the bottom of the bag) and a «salad» (a few inedible dirty and browning lettuce leaves drenched in oil). Husband’s salad came with a lovely long hair in it. To top it off, it was incredibly overpriced. Do yourself a favor — walk down the street and go to Pret!

Half decent coffee, toilet at the back. Don’t sit under a speaker which blares out opera. They have wifi but the waitress rather smugly told me it was not for the public to use.

Food is quite nice. I agree the atmosphere is buzzy, that’s because it’s a bit chaotic! They don’t have a licence so no beer or wine. Waited ages to pay had to go into the café to then be told they don’t take cards. There is no notice to warn you of this most unusual feature nowadays. It’s OK, not worth a revisit though. Staff seem friendly but under pressure it’s quite Italian :)

I like the café. Its a great place for meeting and it has good selection of breakfast and lunch dishes. I like the scrambled eggs and salmon. The coffee is the best I can find in central London. The café in itself is a real experience!
The people are extremely friendly and make me feel special.
On the warm days you can sit outside it feels like Rome.
It’s 2 minutes from Trafalgar Square.
I keep find myself returning there.

This place is run by Italians and so the food has a mediterranean twist to it. I had the tortellini with tomato sauce which were really good. The menu boasts a variety of dishes, many kinds of pasta, lots of tasty panini but also British staples like jacket potato. The staff are really really friendly and the atmosphere is quite buzzy, lots of business people who work in the area.