The Pudding Stop in St Albans

Cute little cafe with delicious food options. Close to the centre of town and a nice quite spot to grab a coffee and have a chat.

1) Food Quality (4/5) - Most items from here are delicious. However, they are very rich and can get sickly sweet very quickly. The Sour Cherry Pie is warmed up gradually from frozen and not worth the 15 min wait 2) Food Range (4/5) - A decent range of sweet treats. Needs to be more flexibility to customise puddings e.g. adding a serving of custard. Wish there were more savoury options although understand that this is essentially a pudding specialist 3) Service (2/5) - One or two servers are lovely and bubbly but more of them are low energy to the point of rudeness. I was brusquely told off by one server for enquiring (nicely) about a missing pudding 10 mins after the rest of my table had been served. It was then found, just sitting on their counter top 4) Atmosphere (3/5) - There is a hip vibe to this place, decorated in an industrial style. However, seating is effectively in a corridor so can feel cramped and not relaxed. Would be better if the counter were at the back of the restaurant, with tables either side. Doors are often left open, including by staff, letting cold air flow in 5) Value (3/5) - On the expensive side. For example, Portuguese Custard Tarts are £3.25 each meaning that picking up enough for a family of 4 would be £13 - just too much for small, albeit delicious, bite. They need to offer smaller, lower priced versions of standard treats, like brownies. Multiple purchase discounts would be welcome too 6) Overall Verdict (3/5) - This Harpenden venue (sister to the very popular St Albans branch) is an asset to the town. However, small improvements could be made that would enhance its offering - more flexibility in the portion sizing/pricing, friendlier service, better counter/table layout. Would have scored more highly, but in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Gail's, or even Simmons, their offering at its price point merits an average rating 7) Got to try... Butterscotch Blondie, Portuguese Custard Tart, Pecan Pie

Went here this morning for the first time as it looked good but we were very dissapointed. We ordered two coffees which took about 15 minutes to arrive and were luke warm. The pain au chocolat, which we were asked if we wanted warmed wasn't warmed and didn't seem fresh and the bacon bagel never arrived. When we mentioned it to the barista who took the order she said we never actually ordered it.... Whatever that means. We were the first people in there and the only people for the first 15 minutes but three people working there really let themselves and us down.

Thought we’d try the Saturday evening at Harpenden - walked in, 3 other people sat down in the entire place, were about to order at the counter, kindly told we could sit down and have table service, sat down and proceeded to be completely ignored for 15 minutes. Won’t return.