Le Pain Quotidien - Royal Festival Hall

This is one of my favourite places for coffee and they have some gorgeous cakes on display.

Having just landed in London and taken the Heathrow Express to Paddington, we were peckish and ready for some grub.

I kind of knew what to expect from Le Pain Quotidien, as I have been to others before.

The service at this restaurant was very poor. I have dined at this location and others in the same chain before and had good experiences. Upon arrival, we were informed that they did not have our reservation, but they did seat us anyway. However, the service was extremely slow and we had to ask multiple times to place our order and for our coffee. Our food order was incorrect twice and we were made to feel like it was our fault. This made us feel very uncomfortable. When it came time to pay, I declined the optional service charge and explained why. I received a muttered apology. It is disappointing to receive such subpar service from a chain that is usually excellent.

The food was nice and reasonably priced. The location was also fairly quiet so good for a catch up. However, the service was poor. Each and every waitor who served us made a mistake of some sort (e.g. wrong special, teapot of tea without a mug and laughed when a mug was requested, forgot to take the drinks to us for a long time, incorrect information given in respect of the bill when paying).