Pret A Manger in Crawley

Food was expensive, but the staff are friendly & polite. Bowl of salad £5.50, but we thought, give it a go, treat ourselves, because you get what you pay for, however this was not the case. The salad had a little bit of tuna, one egg cut in half, about 4 slices of cucumber and x2 small tomatoes, the rest of the bowl was full of lettuce and in the end I could not carry on eating just lettuce. My partner had cheese and pickle roll, but he said the pickle was over powering and could not taste the cheese. The coffee was nice. We just felt the food was way too expensive for what it was. The cafe is clean and tidy and the staff are nice, it is just the cost of the food and what you get. We would not return for that reason alone.

I went in here with my family for a brunch around 11:00 on Saturday the 26th of March 2022. I brought up some grab and go items to the counter to buy for eat-in and I asked the server for a chocolate croissant from behind the counter. When she grabbed for a paper bag that is usually used to put pasties in for take out, acknowledging that they do not have plates and as such, just a metal plate they put your food on for eat-in I kindly asked the server not to put the croissant into the bag (the chocolate pieces on top stick to the bag) but rather just place it on top of the unopened paper bag on the tray. She looked shocked and stumbled like I put her in gunpoint and said she cannot do that as she is told to always put pasties in a bag. Then a barista girl, supposedly the manager jumped in conversation from behind and with a very unpleasant, raised voice yelled to me "we cannot do that due to allergen reasons". Mind you I have not got any allergies nor did I tell them on any items I bought that I would have allergies so I really do not understand where this comes from. As this sounded pathetic and simply unkind and unwilling I replied that this is laughable and asked for the croissant to be removed from my bill. They did just that, and surprisingly it did not pose any allergenic issues to put the pasty removed, back into the display cabinet. What a farce! I mean I understand you have rules to follow but please wake up and do not be robots! A simple request like this refused means denial on an unnecessary level. I regret that I bought anything now, I should have not only removed the croissant but left everything I intended to buy and walk straight out the door. I am sure I will not be returning! Also, Pret A Manger, please start to be more conscious about the environment, not allergens and stop providing unnecessary packaging for items ordered for eat-in! Introduce small plates if you have to!! Especially if someone particularly asks for it!

The staff were alright in their customer service though maybe a bit rushed and they forgot to ask if I had a loyalty card, but never mind. It was not too busy and though the tables weren't clean at least the atmosphere was okay, no weird music or rowdy customers. My pumpkin spice latte was okay though only just warm. I wished my drink was piping hot and the tables clean but other than that it was okay- not too bad!

What can I say. I didn’t see a single member of staff wiping tables during the 75 minutes I was in there. Went up to the till three times (once for food, once for coffees and once with my son for a cookie) and not given any serviettes until requested. Once the lady serving me went off to talk to someone on the other side of the premises whilst in the middle of serving me! Tables were still too close together on one side whilst the other side was not in use for some reason. Really disappointing, can only blame store management for lack of leadership. Don’t understand why the likes of Pret and Starbucks (see separate old review) cant keep premises clean! On the plus side was dead cheap with eat out to help out.

There are no enough Pret’s around. The atmosphere is lovely, friendly hard working staff. Good quality food freshly prepared. Organic fresh tasting coffee (haven’t had much luck in rival brand recently) reasonably priced.

Pret is our favourite 'goto' cafe for a snack and a coffee. The latter is always brilliant, the snack, surroundings and service is as good as it gets.