Starbucks Coffee — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

I was rather disappointed, to be honest. I've not been to Starbucks much and, having noticed this one seemed to have opened recently, was quite excited. However...

The staff were fine, which was a good start, and the café was reasonably clean but the view is of a small trading estate. Not disgusting but not very inspiring.

I had a salted caramel brownie hot chocolate but those flavours didn't come through until a bit of saltiness at the entrance. It's pictured topped with chocolate cream but doesn't seem to come with it. I was asked if I wanted cream and was given normal whipped cream.

My wife had earl grey tea and was surprised and disappointed that it came in a mug that was so huge she found it difficult to drink from. She'd expected a teapot. And she didn't think it was particularly good either.

She had a Christmas tree brownie. The topping was lovely but the brownie was dry. I had a chocolate caramel slice which I thoroughly enjoyed and was the highlight of my visit.

And our table hadn't been cleared. And there is no automatic door so a lady in a wheelchair needed someone to open the...

First, let's get the outrageous prices out of the way. A coffee and snack of this most dubious quality should not take the best part of £10 out of your pocket, but here, it does. Given the severity of the walletectomy inflicted, you might expect the welcome to be enthusiastic, and the staff attentive. If you did, you'll be disappointed. Four zombie-like creatures were on duty when I visited, two of whom did nothing but play with their workstations and flirt on their headsets while the other two worked at glacial pace to deliver orders. My sausage bap was cold by the time my latte was ready, and that's quite an achievement. The manager here (if there is one, and there has never been any sign of it on my visits) needs sacking, and the undead staff need, somehow, to be dragged back from the afterlife and taught how to do their jobs. The decor is an exercise in creating a space which does not, and never will, indeed cannot, have any atmosphere at all. I'm not asking for a re-creation of AM|PM Bohemian (check it out), but taking bland to this extreme does no-one...

I would suggest to re-train or re-educate staff on customer service. On Sunday morning I wanted to have a cup of Starbucks coffee. It was 8:25AM, I parked my car and was entering the coffee shop as the light was on. Then one of the ladies quite strictly approached me saying: "Excuse me, we are still closed - opening in 10 minutes." I appologised pointing out that there was not any info with opening times on the door or next to door. If I have known the shop was still closed, I wouldn't have gone inside.

OK, I decided to wait those 10 minutes in my car but when I was walking out, I heard one of the baristas saying: "These crazy customers." After hearing this comment I changed my mind - as a customer I shouldn't have heard that. I just drove away and stopped by Costa Drive Through where I received a completely different approach and a very...