The Cornish Bakery Reviews 

Chichester branch:

Experience was awful. Hot food was barely warm. Coffee was vile and the staff very surly and unwelcoming (6/11/2026 - midday). Moreover, they have the cheek to want to charge 40p for a sachet of sauce ti have with your luke warm food!!!!

Avoid!!!!

Exeter Branch: The worst coffee shop experience we have had in Exeter. Despite around five or six staff being behind the counter, only one appeared to be serving customers and seemed visibly overwhelmed. We were repeatedly overlooked while several customers who joined the queue after us were served first.

The café was also poorly maintained, with many tables left uncleared and overflowing with used cups and plates. The only other staff member we observed working washed their hands, wiped them on a dirty apron, and then took frozen croissants from blue plastic packaging to place in the oven, leaving no doubt that they were not freshly made.

After the lengthy wait, our drinks arrived only lukewarm. Taken together, the service, cleanliness and product quality were unacceptable and left us with no desire to return.

Visited Winchester store lovely staff latte was delicious and the best pasy I have had since I visited Helston Cornwall. Recommended

Don't even attempt to enter this place, young gentleman on counter very helpful and wanted to assist, however the lady who was there told the gentleman no you can't, he said it's ok it's just a cup of tea she responded no you will not, very ignorant not sure how she is still working because as I left the premises and just said ok to the gentleman she found it was a laughing matter and mocked me, I am disabled customer that just needed a cup of tea to get levels back up as feeling very ill, so went opposite to Costco so guys please avoid her stinking attitude and has no people skills. Cardiff main street

First and last time today. Hereford. Hubby and I went in as hubby wanted a pasty. The queue was stupid and I told him to sit down as he walks on a stick. I got a pasty and sausage roll, they were put into paper bags. I said we wanted to sit in and was told they didnt have any crockery! I got annoyed very quickly. I asked for white coffee and tea and was told they would be in paper take out cups. I changed mine to a latte. I waited ages and ages to get those drinks. Then had to go back and ask for milk and sugar which is their side of the counter! So much so my food was almost cold to eat and I left it. I was told they were "rammed" today with customers. Strange, I looked round and there were lots of empty seats and lots of annoyed people in the queue. The cheek of it they charge you 20/30 pence extra to sit in on each item and still charge you for the pleasure of a paper bag and paper cup. We went there twice today - the first and last time!! I don't care who's ill, who's on holiday, short of staff, its busy and all the other possible excuses. Those situations are all your problem and not that of the customer. Seriously annoyed and disappointed. Will not be going again. Good luck at Christmas!

Arrived in Betws-y-coed newCornish Bakery,and after a long wait in the queue only 3 choices of hot items available ,(2 veggie and meat chorizo)but was informed pasties& sausage rolls etc would be coming out in about 10 minutes,
however when I offered to pay for food and drinks and just wait by the side counter for the food to arrive was informed that I couldn’t do that and would have to rejoin the queue?
Surely why would I want to do this again for 20 minutes plus and then get to the front counter again and find no hot food available, surely this is not very good for business and the person serving was not prepared to let me wait as not everyone was having pasties just coffee and cakes.
In my opinion very poor customer service and I decided to take my money and custom else where
Also I might add you should have a 2 counters for hot / cold food as it was very chaotic,with long queues outside also lots of not cleared tables inside and out personally it could be organised a lot better .

If ONLY I could give this bunch of cowboys NO STARS I would. They have taken £45 for goods and failed to deliver any of them. They have ignored my emails and gtold me I must sort out their total failure with their delivery company. The items were for a very important birthday party and I was faced with a very upset and angry group of guests who were looking forward to pasties. I am a severely disabled oap in my 80TH.YEAR.I wonder if they have an ounce of dignity in their bodies?
ANOTHER DAY HAS PASSED AND STILL NO RESPONSE FROM THIS BUNCH.RESPONSE.OH WELL GOOD GTO KNOW THIS LOT TREAT THE SEVERELY DISABLED PENSIONERS. £45 IS A LOT OF MONEY TO ME. Unless I receive satisfactory resolution of this matter by C.O.B. on October 1st 2026 I will taking legal action against this company.

Substandard coffee, no savoury vegetarian breakfast option, lukewarm pasties with rock hard pastry. Often the haunt of trashy holidaymakers from the local caravan park, who think that caravan holidays are "posh" and that because they are visitors that they can behave badly. One today bragged that she was staying at the caravan park (surely nothing to boast about!), threw a used knife at another customer (who was doing nothing wrong, simply quietly sitting looking out of the window) and proceeded to shout a loud torrent of abuse. The staff did nothing about it.

If you value your taste buds and don't want used cutlery thrown at your legs, I suggest you avoid the Cornish Bakery and instead visit one of the many other cafes here. You'll find the coffee, food and ambience much better at many other places, such as Rise or Sladers Yard.

After walking by the Taunton shop for a long time, admiring the beautiful shop front and pastry selection, my husband and I finally decided to venture inside the Taunton shop on Saturday.

We were initially welcomed by a smiling young lady who greeted us and took our order. Very pleasant and represented‘hospitality’.

I had the ham hock and Dijon mayo roll and my husband chose the almond croissant, along with two large lattes.

All seemed good so far. Then we got scooted along to the end of the counter to wait for our coffees to be made. The other staff members looked SO miserable. They looked as though they did not want to be there, never mind paying customers. But I found a table, eventually, so many dirty tables not fit for use, whilst my husband waited on the coffees.

The roll, great business model, because the markup must be great. There was hardly any ham hock! I don’t mind paying good money for good food, but to hardly be able to locate, never mind taste any filling; So disappointing.

My husband enjoyed his pastry. Then the coffee, it was either made with milk expired or heated too long…it was undrinkable.

I’d usually go over and inform staff and get it changed, no problem. But the atmosphere and attitude shown to us was so uncomfortable, like, bad vibes radiating from some of the staff, we didn’t even want to bother.

I’m sad, it’s such a beautiful space. I know many enjoy pastries and great organised groups there. I had high hopes.

We may give it another try, eventually. I’ve heard about the sausage rolls, so maybe.

the betwys y coed cafe. long wait to be served on a saturday. food great coffee rubbish barely lukewarm warm and when i took it back she put hot water in it to heat it up...no you need to steam the milk longer, not a barista that's for sure. very expensive for a mediocre service and coffee! wouldn't return

Witney
Could do with sweeping the floor in the afternoon. It was filthy with crumbs, bits of cake etc. particularly under the tables

Anytime I go to the bakery in Gretna, Tracey is always there with a smile on her face and working hard! Polite, hardworking and allround superstar. If only every bakery had a Tracey. Fantastic member to the team!

Strensham Services North. One size, (small) cappuccino very poor value at £4. Half the cup was froth. Liquid coffee was a very small amount. Emailed CS expressing my disappointment and a photo of the ammount of coffee after froth was removed and there has been no reply given a week. Service was very slow despite a queue of only two.

I had a coffee and a pasty. The staff were extremely helpful. Donna at gretna store was amazing. We had a great chat. Made to feel really welcome. Will definitely return the food was first class

Abysmal, we have been to two of their branches now and I won't be going back. Swanage several months back a young man serving was just so rude to a co worker, very loud and quite obnoxious. Today, in Taunton branch. We walked in another couple were trying to decide what they wanted so I asked if I could go past. When I got to the counter the man was making coffee, he said that's where you order, not here and pointed to a payment stand, and I said, yes, but you are making coffee, he just looked at me and didn't utter a word, then a young girl appeared, asked me what I would like so I said, by this time the man had gone, she put the tray down and started putting saucers and the croissant I ordered on the plate, then served the next customer, so I was left standing like a lemon, what do I do, stand here or ask whst I am supposed to fo, then another tray appeared, and a cake and two saucers, still no coffee. Then she started making the coffee. She didn't ask if I wanted milk warm or not, just filled a jug and put it on the tray. Then another young girl appeared who I had witnessed stacking boxes and tidying. She didn't wash her hands before serving another customer I noted. Your training is non existent, the man who initially spoke apparently was going to a meeting, don't you think he could have said, I am sorry I have to attend a meeting but my colleague will serve you. Ignorant is just a tip of the iceberg. Don't bother. I shan't.

Terrible staff - one standing talking to his friends while the dirty trays stacked up + tables needed clearing. 100% inefficient + no apologies for keeping me waiting AGES☹️

Cornish Bakery have opened a new branch in Wells so four of us went there today to try it. Because I'm Celiac I asked what Gluten Free cakes or pastries they had. The lady behind the counter raised her hands in a gesture of indifference and said, "We don't have anything!"

We often eat out in a group of four or six but usually Google first to check the GF available and most Cafes and pubs are brilliant these days but Cornish Bakery couldn't care less about the Million UK people with this disease (that figure includes the estimate of those who have it but are yet to be diagnosed), given that Gluten damages the Lower Intestine.. Strangely they have Vegetarian cakes and this is purely a choice not a disease..

Our ten year old Grand Daughter can bake fabulous GF cakes and pasties so how come a 'professional' outfit can't be bothered? If it's just a question of profit over care then our group will avoid them in favour of the ones who do care.

I hope the Management take the time to explain why they can't offer decent GF foods within their range.

GDC Bristol

waowaweewah superbbb coffeee mayte @ bourton on the water

Visited Truro - late afternoon 02/08/2026

I'm afraid this was not a good experience & not recommended. Sadly we didn't notice the 2 star food safety rating, it explains a lot.

Trying to find a seat at a table without crumbs & pastry flakes all over the floor was challenge one. Challenge two was finding a table that was also not covered in crumbs; we failed and wiped it ourselves. The food was delicious, but the hair on my plate was rather off-putting.

The final straw was staff shouting from the counter extremely loudly that food was ready to collect - this was very upsetting for a disabled person in our group - just walk into the room and quietly check at the tables; shouting like this is lazy & jarring to people trying to enjoy their food.

It was not particularly busy; there appeared to be plenty of staff available to clean up, but they seemed happier chatting to one another.

Come on people, these are simple basics you need to get right. If you want paying, returning customers to keep your business going, you need higher standards. We all have a choice; myself & everyone in our group won't be going back.

Recently in the one at gretna Caledonia park and the staff were lovely, very helpful and friendly.
I ordered the chocolate croissant and the cherry and almond croissant they were delicious.
I normally have the summer pudding which is lovely.
Dog friendly and a good atmosphere I would definitely recommend for a tasty treat.