158 Tollington Park, London N4 3AD
@ FrontRoomCafe_
It’s rare that I leave a café, post-cake, in a bad mood. So rare, in fact, that I don’t recall it ever happening to me before. Sure, there are times when I’ve departed feeling disappointed, sometimes even saddened. But never quite as disgruntled and annoyed as I felt following my visit to The Front Room.
I had high hopes for The Front Room. It has a lovely double fronted black painted façade in a very popular area just off Stroud Green Road. The interior is crammed with character, featuring exposed brickwork, mounted stag heads and an assortment of curiosities lining the walls.
It is extremely popular and there was a steady stream of customers during our visit, and a line-up outside the door. The dining space feels a bit squashy (some would say intimate), with big antique tables taking up quite a lot of floor space but once you’re seated it’s OK.
Their cake selection is small, as I think the focus is more on cooked meals (big fry ups and the like). I opted for my fail-safe go-to of carrot cake, which is a staple in pretty much every café I’ve ever been to. It is the default cake of choice when all other options (such as coffee and walnut) aren’t appealing.
On the plus side, the cake was delicious with a hint of ginger that gave it an unusual yet appealing flavour.
I had high hopes for The Front Room. It has a lovely double fronted black painted façade in a very popular area just off Stroud Green Road. The interior is crammed with character, featuring exposed brickwork, mounted stag heads and an assortment of curiosities lining the walls.
It is extremely popular and there was a steady stream of customers during our visit, and a line-up outside the door. The dining space feels a bit squashy (some would say intimate), with big antique tables taking up quite a lot of floor space but once you’re seated it’s OK.
Their cake selection is small, as I think the focus is more on cooked meals (big fry ups and the like). I opted for my fail-safe go-to of carrot cake, which is a staple in pretty much every café I’ve ever been to. It is the default cake of choice when all other options (such as coffee and walnut) aren’t appealing.
On the plus side, the cake was delicious with a hint of ginger that gave it an unusual yet appealing flavour.
On the negative side it was a little too fresh-out-the-fridge and a tad cold. The tea was fine. Ben ate plain toast (boring, I know); he said it was “nice”. The coffee, however, was a disappointment: “Given that they use Allpress beans it should have been better” was his opinion.
So far not so bad. What exactly, therefore, are my gripes with The Front Room to have induced my bad mood?
First, the time it took to have our table cleared of the previous occupant’s detritus. We waited, waited, waited, and waited some more. The dinosaurs came and went by the time someone cleared and then cleaned the table. An eternity passed before the damn table dried, since it was left with a thick soapy residue and we had nothing to dry it with.
Secondly, the grubby sauce bottles and salt/pepper shakers that unfortunately remained on our table after it was “cleared”. I’m not generally a prude in this respect (I will eat a piece of chocolate well after 10 seconds of it falling on the floor), but it was grotty and I’d have preferred not to have them on the table while eating.
Third, the time it took for us to be served. Fish had grown legs and taken to land before we received menus. And then we waited, and waited, and waited some more before our order was taken.
Two tables of customers arrived after us and were served before us, but still we had no service. Fish had evolved into monkeys and the monkeys had evolved into Neanderthal man by the time we were served… after Ben desperately flagged down a waitress and begged her to take our order.
To say nothing of how long it took for our order to arrive and then for us to get the bill at the end of our meal. Ben’s freshly buttered hot toast came out at the exact time our parking meter ticket expired, so he had to run out and get another ticket.
We gave up (im)patiently waiting for the bill (since our second parking ticket was due to expire in about 1 minute), and decided to pay at the counter instead. By the time we exited I felt like I’d been in there for aeons.
And finally, I could not believe the number of staff they had working… I counted no less than seven!! All frantically running around like headless chickens.
From sitting down to ordering was around 25 minutes, then a further 20 minutes to get our food... no wonder people are queuing out the door!
I fully appreciate that some people like to take their time when eating out, but to wait 45 minutes for toast, a slice of cake, a mug of tea and an espresso really takes the cake. And not in a nice way either.
Two tables of customers arrived after us and were served before us, but still we had no service. Fish had evolved into monkeys and the monkeys had evolved into Neanderthal man by the time we were served… after Ben desperately flagged down a waitress and begged her to take our order.
To say nothing of how long it took for our order to arrive and then for us to get the bill at the end of our meal. Ben’s freshly buttered hot toast came out at the exact time our parking meter ticket expired, so he had to run out and get another ticket.
We gave up (im)patiently waiting for the bill (since our second parking ticket was due to expire in about 1 minute), and decided to pay at the counter instead. By the time we exited I felt like I’d been in there for aeons.
And finally, I could not believe the number of staff they had working… I counted no less than seven!! All frantically running around like headless chickens.
From sitting down to ordering was around 25 minutes, then a further 20 minutes to get our food... no wonder people are queuing out the door!
I fully appreciate that some people like to take their time when eating out, but to wait 45 minutes for toast, a slice of cake, a mug of tea and an espresso really takes the cake. And not in a nice way either.
CakeMyDayLondon Rating
