Patisserie Valerie

So happy to see a Patisserie in Cumbria! I only went to this chain a few times when I lived in London because of the price, but I was just so grateful to see continental food that I’ve been here twice in the past week. I am so sick of British food! I love looking at the beautiful fruit tarts in the window and it was nice to sit down and eat a proper lunch that was not too expensive. I had a Waldorf salad with chicken and felt like an American in Paris (although the manager told me the chain is Belgian). The only pity is that they don’t have bread rolls or baguettes to go with the salad. I heard someone complaining about slow service when I was in the first time getting a sandwich to take away so the next time I read the menu by the door and ordered as soon as I sat down. But I noticed most people were just ordering coffee. It’s good to sit down and eat slowly like francophone countries do every once and a while. Anyhow I’m really pleased this patisserie is here!

We have tried to eat some cakes at this place before but because of a very wired and inefficient way of ordering and paying we didn’t had the chance until now. In my point of view this is a patisserie as the name says not a restaurant, so I don’t se the point of the waitresses and the fact that you cannot go at the till to order something. Because always the cakes on the display won’t be in the menu. And you need to ask for the bill at the table you cannot just go at the till to pay. This creates the ordering, waiting and paying process longer than it actually should take. The cakes are good and tasty, I cannot complain about this but a bit overpriced as most of the people noticed. My main issue is this way of ordering and paying.