Kahvah

The place has closed down. Has not been open for over 6 months. Not sure why at first said structural issue. No notice or anything further info.

I have driven past Kahvah on several occasions. Intrigued by the beautiful façade I made my way there during a short lunch break as a colleague who loves in Orpington did not know the area. I thought that I would show her the best that Norwood has to offer
She ordered lasagne with chips and I ordered Eggs Benedict or so I thought. So we ordered at the same time. My food came first. Being the polite being that I am I waited and waited and waited another 5 mins before her food came to eat. By the time they brought her lasagne and paired it with the chips after it left the kitchen my food was cold! Then the Hollandaise sauce was such a let down. I have never seen a recipe for Hollandaise sauce that involves orange juice or zest and if it is the new in thing I don’t want it. It was vile. I complained as this was not what I had ordered. The response I received was that’s how our chef makes it. The description was not on the menu (which came as a sheet of well handled paper in a plastic sleeve)
i felt like my rights had been removed by force and that I had been spectacularly lied to.

I am a regular customer of Kahvah, and I think it is a great café. It’s food and coffee are great and the staff are friendly and welcoming to me, because I am friendly to them. I go there to read my paper as I am unable to do this at home, as my cat sits on the newspaper! Kahvah is not as many of think a crèche, it is a coffee shop. People come in with prams and block the fire exits and the way to the toilets, let their kids run riot over expensive furniture, and worst of all give your children a d@mn spoon to play with to hit the table and a saucer! Does Kahvah have a soft toy area? No. Did a large area of expensive flooring get completely ruined because baby wipes were put down the loo? Yes. Many of you blame the owners for problems you create yourselves, what sort of an inane question is ‘what size is the salad?’ and then to get so wound up about it that you have to write it on here?! West Norwood is in big trouble and needs MORE places like Kahvah, run by local business people for local people, so be grateful that somebody is trying to improve the high street of West Norwood.

Kahvah is a little oasis in the middle of The Broadway in Norwood. The staff are lovely and always up for a chat. The food is good and always fresh and hopefully they are expanding soon. My 89 year old mum loves it. Whenever I have taken children in there I always make sure they are supervised by me. I never let them run around and make a lot of noise as I am consderate about other customers. However, I have noticed this is not the case with some parents. I don’t recognise the place from some of the reviews and have always found the staff delightful. In fact, we will be celebrating my mum’s 90^th birthday with an afternoon tea party very soon. Can’t wait.

Good coffee and cake and but odd and often unwelcoming attitude. Several times I’ve been in there shortly after 1.30pm on a weekday and the whole of the spacious back area with comfy sofas is closed off, meaning everyone has to cram in to the small front area. I’ve even asked if I can sit in the back area if I promise to bring my cup back to the counter afterwards (ie so the staff don’t have to trouble themselves clearing my table as it’s so far away) and been told ‘no’. I could understand this if the place was about to close for the day, but at lunchtime, when it is open until the evening?
Such a shame as the place has such potential and is much needed in the high street.

I had to hang aroung for a couple of hours in West Norwood waiting for my car to be repaired and I first visited a freindly Portuguese coffee place, then I went to this cool café called Kahvah serving Illy coffee and nice croissants. The service was different from the initial impression. I ordered an espresso and the very blond teenager behing the counter unsmilingly demanded the payment straight away. Young people sometimes can be a bit brush and if they are not native speaker of English, like myself, they might not know that a polite way of putting it could be, «do you mind paying now.» or something like that, so I didn’t really mind. It was after about 45 minutes I was sitting that this young lady comes to my table and ask me if I want something else. I reply by saying «not right now», which means «I will pretty soon». The young lady explained to me very directly and rudely that if I didn’t order something else I had to leave, because I had already spent an hour drinking only one espresso. I would have happily ate my lunch there, but that put me off not only having lunch, but visiting that place again. I think there is no point of opening cool-​looking cafes if then the owners employ untrained rude staff. Word of mouth and especially internet works like magic in these cases. If you happened to having to be in West Norwood, choose instead Café O Girasol, people are friendly and welcoming, although it doesn’t look as cool as Kahvah. Politeness is cool.

A very nice up-​market looking place, but the service from the staff is inconsistent. The variety and quality of coffee, cakes, pastries, paninis etc. is good and tasty. The first time I was there I got a very good impression of the place with the staff being friendly, polite and attentive.
But the second time was a completely different story. The staff seemed cold and tried to ignore me at the counter.
As a local business owner, I had arranged a business meeting there and we were 5 people sitting in the back area for several hours, regularly buying coffee, conversing and not by any measure being loud or rowdy or anything like that.
But then they decided to close the back section and told us (not asked us) to move upstairs, where there was only 2 seats available! In short, they kicked us out!!!
As the only place of its kind in West Norwood they have a unique opportunity in the area, but with the staff behaving like that, they are blowing it big time.
I certainly will think twice before I invite anyone to come there again.

When this appeared on the dull Norwood shopping street, it looked like an oasis in the makings. I did have a lovely coffee there and an expensive croissant and was unapologetically overcharged. Still gave it other chances. I stopped using Kahvah altogether when I dropped in with my little girl who was desperate for the loo. They refused to let her go even though the place was sparsely patronized at the time and Sunny who was 12 at the time was crossing her legs.
I thought this was so mean and will not spend another penny in Kahvah. Lovely place but pinched and cold staff

Kahvah is a cool café on West Norwood High Street. Owned by a local chap (I believe he also owns the good off-​licence up the road) this café has plenty of space for meeting your friends, air conditioning for hot summer days, and a skylight at the back for some daylight in the winter.
The food is normal café fair, toasted paninis, cupcakes and coffee, and all tasty.
There’s no serious competition in the area (mostly just scary pubs and greasy spoons) but that’s not the only reason to visit, it’s just a pleasant place to while away some time with cake, coffee and the newspaper.