Costa Coffee — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

I live locally and have been coming here for about 5 years now. I must say that since the lockdowns ended and they reopened, the service has become infuriatingly slow, and often mistakes are made. I feel sorry for the staff, because it is obvious they are understaffed, either because the company is cutting back on costs to try and make up for lack of profits during lockdowns, or because they think they can't find the staff. I am sure that there are lots of willing workers out there to fill the gap if the company tries to find them. The fact that nearly all the empty tables still have the last people's rubbish left on them, and never seems to be cleared up in a timely way, is evidence of understaffing.

It is no different in the drive-through queue, and with the cost of fuel these days, you really need to turn off your engine as you may be in the queue for over 10 minutes and it could easily cost you a pound or two just waiting in the queue!

Given the time it takes to be served, either in the shop or in the drive-through queue, you are better off making your own coffee at home. Don't go here until they actually get the...

Actually I wasn't as pleased with the service etc as usual in the various Costa I have frequented, I'm a nomadic house sitter so generally go in a different one every couple of weeks. This one is a drive thru and the staff seemed "very busy/distracted", after a longer than usual wait for a member to come to the till I could see the staff member was "wishing there were no customers", there was no smiley greeting and what can I get you? I asked for a filter coffee to be informed there wasn't any, the relevant machine was "ready" I could see, perhaps they couldn't be bothered to make some! I was offered an Americano so accepted that with my shortbread. On receiving my order tray I noticed the coffee was black, I'd not been asked the usual "any milk" question, first time for everything! So all in all not my best experience in Costa, is it a new one? Have they chosen the best staff? Were they all...

As far as Costa goes this one is not the best. You get the same terrible Costa coffee that you'll find at any of the franchise's but with an extra long wait.

Regardless of whether you are using the drive through or going into the shop you will find the same experience. It won't be that busy, maybe only three people in front of you but somehow the queue just isn't moving. Many times I've been into the shop and thought "ah not many people in the queue, I'll be served super quick this time" only to be let down a couple of minutes later. I'm not sure whether it's customers causing issues for everyone else or the staff unable to serve the drive through and internal shop at the same time.

Save yourself some money and get a proper coffee...