GAIL's BakeryReviews 

Excellent food

was very disappointed by what I witnessed during my visit to Gail's. Staff were preparing and handling ready-to-eat food with their bare hands and were not wearing gloves, despite serving food directly to customers.
In the current environment, customers expect high standards of food hygiene and food safety. Seeing food being assembled without gloves or any visible hand hygiene measures was concerning and did not inspire confidence.
For a premium bakery that charges premium prices, I would expect much stricter hygiene practices and better attention to food handling procedures. Food safety should always be a top priority.

There’s bad fast food, there’s overpriced pretentious food, and then there’s GAIL’s — that somehow manages to combine both while wrapping it all up in brown paper bags and faux-posh branding. After seeing the recent negative news coverage about one of their sandwiches containing a staggering 6.88 grams of salt — well above the recommended daily intake in a single sandwich — I genuinely don’t understand how anyone can defend this nonsense anymore.

This is the kind of place that shows itself as wholesome, fresh and artisan. You walk in expecting quality ingredients and some level of care for what people are actually consuming. Instead, apparently you’re getting a sodium grenade disguised as lunch. 6.88 grams of salt? That’s not a sandwich — that’s a dare.

What makes it even worse is the smug image these kinds of chains love to cultivate. The rustic shelves. The minimalist chalkboard signs. The sourdough obsession. The £8 sandwiches served like they were handcrafted by monks in the Alps. Meanwhile your blood pressure is preparing for lift-off halfway through your ciabatta.

And let’s be honest — GAIL’s has always felt massively overhyped. The queues spilling out the door make it look like they’re handing out gold bars instead of dry pastries and aggressively average coffee. People act like it’s the second coming of baking when most of the food is style over substance. Expensive bread, tiny portions, and now apparently enough salt to mummify a horse.

If a single sandwich can casually obliterate the daily salt recommendation, what exactly is going on in the rest of the menu?

Personally, I’ll be staying well clear of GAIL’s. I’d quite like my internal organs to remain operational beyond middle age. If I’m paying premium prices for food marketed as high quality, I expect better than something nutritionally comparable to licking the Dead Sea through a paper straw.

Maybe instead of opening another trendy branch every five minutes, GAIL’s should focus on not turning lunch into a cardiovascular side quest.

A Salt Factory pretending to be a bakery. It's one sandwich away from a blood pressure monitor.

Staff doesn’t know what they are selling, I asked for a white bread and received good earth bread which is 100% wholemeal and certainly wasn’t fresh.
2 stars for both - staff and bread quality.

I buy pretty often at this Gail’s and the seed crackers are my favourite. Last evening I bought seed crackers which tasted funny so I came back to the store to return it instead of being warm and understanding the employees started to question me about if I have receipt they thought I am some charity case. The guy at the counter was saying they give away free stuff and for same reason they cannot exchange it even after showing my bank transactions which clearly showed Gail’s on it. If I was a white person I would probably be not questioned the same way or assumed if I got free stuff. Such a bad service and I don’t think I will ever buy anything from this place ever again. The worst morning experience. You need to train your staff to be more compassionate empathetic towards all races. I also decided not to take a fresh piece because of the experience and looking down on me.

This review is just for the last product with mushrooms and talleggio.... it's very expensive and this Italian cheese, what it's amazing- I am Italian- not exist...and fir that this product is dry and expensive...so put more talleggio it should be creamier and more balanced and it would be better to use porcini mushrooms

As with most reviews it seems, Gail’s has been a pretty poor experience in customer service. I would frequently go to Gail’s in Woking during the colder months and get multiple items of food/coffee and work. I constantly found the place to be cold to the point where my fingers went numb as the doors were always open. At one point I asked one of the staff politely if they would mind closing the door (0 degrees outside mind you) as I was extremely cold. Her response was extremely rude and snappy. She said she had “just” turned the heating on ( heater was set above the open door and she expected this to change the temperature at the back of the space). Very rude staff and freezing in the winter. I also found the coffee sub par and the meals were often cold and not great. I stopped ordering the hot food and stuck to the odd pastries. However I won’t be going back.

Really rude staff on the kings street in Manchester. Stood in a queue for 20 minutes today only for the woman to skip me while looking at me knowing I’m waiting for her to take my order. I did mention that she’s skipped me but she continued to ignore me and take the person behind me’s order. I’ve been a loyal customer to Gail’s and tend to spend £12 three to four times a week but this has happened twice now. So will not go back.

Test was so boons, 9marker on you guys on exanding or something. im cool with that but i was promised a known business like popeyes or co-op you guys are to niche
- big k

I highly recommend this location .The new drinks they’ve been so good and the taste is really lovely.I highly recommend the tiramisu cold brew.

Terrible service, I felt really unwelcome and not from one of the 2 persons of the stuff but both of them.
Also poor cleaning especially in the toilet.

Scones were ok, but far too big/thick and very small portion of clotted cream and jam. Tea was the only real good thing and a nice big pot. The star goes to the tea.

Went in today to the Marlborough store.
After ordering I was told they don't accept cash. I had to leave my purchases.
Perhaps a note on the door or inform customers at the counter this is their policy.

Gail’s is very expensive which means you expect to receive high quality products but unfortunately I had a terrible experience. I paid almost 4.5£ for my bakery and I haven’t noticed in the shop but when I came back home and opened it I noticed that they gave the burned one which is absolutely inedible. Zero customer service

Bought a plaited challa in Reading at14:30 yesterday (17/04/26).

Went home to try it. Very dry and crumbly.

Rubbish company their always funny about giving you a job and unpleasant customer service

I you want a really dreadful cup of "coffee" at the top end of the pricing curve, youll find it at gails. Milky, creamy, no taste or smell of coffee, at nearly £4 a pop! In a small coffee cup with no handle, served luke "johnson" warm, so you dont stay too long. I make much better coffee at home for 60p a shot. When we last asked for a slice of lemon drizzle at guildford, we were informed that we had to buy the whole cake! Its a joke. Avoid at all costs.

My mum visited from Germany and ordered two coffees and a muffin, but was told it was card payment only...she apologised that she could not pay and wanted to leave, when manager Sarah came over and offered her the goods free of charge! My mom spoke about Sarah's kindness all day xxx

The price alone was outrageous but the service was a disgrace: placed my order and waited for the coffee maker to finish a casual conversation with someone before being prompted by the person who took my order. Average coffee and average croissant. First and last time at Gail's.

I have visited a number of Gail's bakeries. Yesterday I was in Lewes. Their chai latte and cinnamon buns are delicious! The girl on the till spent ages helping me install the App. She was so patient and helpful. Other customers were not kept waiting as another member if staff stepped in to serve them. Amazing food and staff.