79 Collective in Wandsworth

Had a lovely brunch today with my daughter. I had the veggie rowers with delicious Cacklebean eggs, mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, spinach , halloumi and sourdough toast. Tomatoes were very sweet and eggs super delicious too. My daughter’s new turkish was excellent too, served with coffee and matcha latte.

Not the most welcoming atmosphere. One feels as if the manager has hired her friends, none of whom, including the manager, has any skill or interest in customer service. I waited for about 10 mins for my order to be taken while the manager gossiped about 6ft away with a server. I got up from my table and approached them to order. What I ordered is not what came. My server who finally appeared told me they didn’t have what I ordered and it was the manager who took my order. In all, pretty good good, well made. Lazy, blase service.

The food is quite good, but the menu is too big for a small place - I think they are stretching themselves too thin and so one of our party had a cold dish, one was burned. It’s also really pricy.

This cafe does fantastic coffee so I was really excited when I spotted they have gluten free options labelled on their menu. I ordered the gluten free ‘sunshine pancakes’, made with almond flour, and asked the waitress to let the chef know that I am coeliac so surfaces could be wiped down accordingly. The waitress returned to tell me‘there’s a lot of gluten in the kitchen, are you sure’. I replied that if they were able to clean I was happy. She then returned to tell me the pan was used for other things and may have gluten and isn’t cleaned in between. They suggested I order a smoothie instead but given they did not feel comfortable cleaning a pan, I question how thoroughly a blender would be cleaned with oat milk etc in use. My friend had ordered a full breakfast so we chose to leave and go across the road to ‘social brew’ who were more than able to accommodate us. Whilst I very much appreciate the honesty of the chef as I would hate to get sick, I question the point of advertising gluten free if you are unable to deliver. I will still return for excellent coffee though.

I am sorry to be the first reviewer with a negative impression. My original target was another local café, but my meeting was cancelled at the last minute and I decided to try something else. So, I went to this place which looked nice with an attractive website; especially with the effort done for the environment. I have to say, I have had one of the most inefficient service. The only guy serving in the cafe, looked so uninterested about his customers, that I was wondering if he was counting how much longer he had to work on that day – and it was only 1.00 pm. He was just bringing the plates to the tables, not even going back pretending to show some interest about the food served or trying to eventually upsell with conviction... Some customers seated next to me did not even have the chance to ask for coffee and the bill, that he was already on his way back. I took the “Caveman Sandwich “. There was no passion into the preparation by the person who actually put it together, what a mess it was at £ 9.50 (plus service ??? charge) – please look at the picture attached. If it wasn’t described on the menu, I would have had no idea what I was eating. You can have excellent breakfast items, for cheaper or something that looked and tasted better for that price in many places in London...Even further down the Road. There was no side or deco, just served on a grease proof paper on a plate. I did not see the point The flat white, served by the female staff, was good and they were more forthcoming with the service. A very disappointing experience. They will have to raise their game seriously, should they want to survive in this competitive market, even more so as they target the local residents. I am not sure I want to try it again…. I can’t imagine what that would be on a busy day. Maybe they would have someone else in the kitchen and at the service.