Caffè Fratelli

I would give this place 5 stars for the person who made our delicious coffee and provided excellent service. I gave it 4 (generous) due to a woman who appeared to be the owner or manager who was definitely not doing the business any favors. She was rude and controlling to the excellent staff member, and when a young man came in to ask for a simple plastic fork, she was incredibly rude and looked him up and down and said that it wasn’t «a charity business». The kind staff person was ready to provide the plastic fork until the other woman stepped in to again control the interaction. He offered twice to pay for the fork but she then argued with him saying «how am I going to charge you for a fork»? What she did not realize is that other customers see this rudeness and lack of generosity, and don’t want to be in such a negative environment. Good and poor service radiates, so now she has cost this business not only the gentleman as a potential customer, but myself and potentially others who witnessed this — for the cost of a plastic fork. Again, the coffee was excellent and so was the staff member who was trying to help the shop be professional, kind, and customer-​centered. I would try this place for the staff and hope the owner or manager gets out of their way to help the business be successful.

Superb coffee, scrumptious breakfast treats, & smiling, speedy service, all with a lovely view of the Thames. These brothers from over near Florence really deliver a terrific morning pick-​me-​up!

The young, energetic and friendly owners are from Tuscany. The espresso is great, and the outdoors table overlooks the Thames and the constant parade of joggers, cyclists and people strolling along. My partner reports his sfogliatelli was a little dry, but I came for coffee and it didn’t disappoint.

Is the food wonderful? Or the coffee stellar? Maybe not…
That being said, if you’re looking for a place near Excel with good wifi to do a bit or work in the middle of a conference — the internet is fast, reliable and the staff is by all means friendly.

It feels like this business is having a few teething issues. It is a new café which has replaced the Londis convenience store across the road from the Emirates Air Line at Royal Victoria Dock.
The café looks inviting, but the service has a lot of kinks to be ironed out. The man behind the counter didn’t have the best English skills, so it took a while for me to communicate my order: a flat white and a small black Americano to take away. Even then, he got the price wrong, which I corrected him on. I paid for it with my debit card, but then he carried on with other things and left the transaction half-​finished. I needed to get my own receipt and press the rest of the buttons to complete things. The coffees took a while to come, but to be fair, she had a few coffees to prepare.
The quality of the coffees was average. I could make a similar standard with our little machine at home and for far less cost.