Starbucks — Restaurant in Cherwell District

Starbucks is what it is, but this branch epitomises many of the worst aspects of the fast food franchise.

It seems to be set up at motorway service prices: £2.75 for what was essentially a single mouthful of sugary cake, whilst muffins two or three times the size cost 50p more. But it is just outside Bicester town centre…

Their use of disposable cups is confusing for me. Twice I’ve been here recently to eat in, both times I got takeaway cups, and many of the other diners had the same. I asked the second time around if they would serve in a normal mug, and even took my own cup in case they wouldn’t. They said it would be in a mug. I put my own cup away. The coffee arrives in a disposable cup. The label on it even says “cafe for here” on the label. I spy a pile of clean mugs behind the counter; only for show perhaps?

There is no sign of an in-shop recycling point for these cups. They go into the general waste with everything else. This seems like a managerial level issue.

This is a fast food establishment and it seems that the priority is on speed and convenience for the staff above all else. In a week where the UK is divided over government U-turns on environmental policies, perhaps this business apathy to the environment cuts deeper. But we all need to do better and take a marginal gains approach.

Environment aside, the staff in this shop just need to stop being so laissez faire. There are dirty tables everywhere. The toilets could be cleaner. They could all seem to...

We stop here this morning and have mix feelings. Staff very over busy. Just young man and young woman working. We waited in line for fifteen minutes as cars in drive through served. The man, I think Rupert by his badge, kept asking them to wait until he had cleared the inside. The woman was in a very bad mood throwing things in sinks. Rupert kept telling her to go and sit down on her back and rest for a few minutes. We experienced the woman, who said she was the manager, when a customer went to the man to deal with a problem, she yelled at her, the customer, and refused to give her name when asked. We come here many times and know this is not her store.

And it was clearly a bad day as we enjoy the friendly atmosphere we normally find here so not typical. But the rest of the queue and even Roger seemed a bit upset by the exchange. He stepped in to help speed up the drinks and again asked the manager to relax in the back and freshen up. He seemed unusually happy for the woman, doing all jobs and singing as he apologized to customers in the store and outside the headset. We've seen him a few times before and he does this often. Always makes us smile with his silliness even though he does not.

More staff are needed please? Stop the waiting and staff being stress. Give the young woman manager a break and...

Ok, something unusual going on at this Starbucks. Both times we've been recently the dishwasher was broken and we had to have disposable cups: not great for the environment. Looking at reviews I can see that serving in disposable cups even though you're in the shop seems to be common practice. My egg nogg latte was also definitely missing a pump of syrup. This time of year I'm hitting the egg nogs at least twice a week, so it's really obvious when one tastes weak. This one hardly tasted of anything. Annoyingly, as the place was looking unkempt, with crumbs on just about every surface, we decided to carry on our journey and it was only when I'd driven about 5 miles away I realised, so had a large coffee with no flavour, resenting it with every sip 😒 The tuna melt is awful too. It feels like a thin tuna paste in an overly airy ciabatta: you'll be hungry again in about an hour! Feels to me like they're looking at ways to cut costs and maximise profits: turn off the dishwasher, skimp on syrup and sandwich fillings,...