Trading Post Coffee - Chichester — Restaurant in Chichester

Weve been here three times now, but the service just doesnt get any better...

The selection of gluten free options, which my partner requires is quite good, so thats a plus point. The coffee is nice too, but its usually served in a paper takeaway cup.

The first time we came we sat downsatirs against the wall more or less level with the till. We ordered rarebit with bacon and roasted vine tomatoes, (my partners on gluten free bread), 1 large latte and one large latte with oat milk. The coffes came, we drank them. Other customers came ordered food, sat around us, got thier food and ate. We finished our coffee. We could see the kitchen staff from where we were sitting and after watching a number of rarebit plates go out, and the people on the table next to us arrive, get thier food, eat and leave, we eventually asked where ours was. We were told sorry they were busy and the food was coming soon. After asking again, a short while later we eventually got our food 45 minutes ordering after sitting down. The food was nice, but the wait was unacceptable.

The second time we went, we thought maybe they were just having a bad day last time, but the food was nice, and the gluten free options were good so we went again we made exactly the same order but we sat upstairs in the front window.

The whole place seemed fairly quiet and more than half empty, but the coffee was served in paper takeaway cups because they said they were very busy and all the cups were in the washer. We had paid for large coffees, but the paper cups were considerably smaller than a large cup, but we were still charged the price for a large cup.

When the food came there was some confusion because the paper cup number system apparently has duplicate numbers, so although the cup number was right, the food was wrong. Eventually the correct order was bought up, but we had long finished our drinks by this time, and there was no bacon and the rarebit appeared to be just grated cheese on toast. We had to ask for the bacon, which took so long to come that we had basically eaten the rarebit when it turned up, so we just had some plain bacon and sauce as an after..

The third and final time was yesterday. My partner wanted to go here and give them the benifit of the doubt because of the gluten free options. We ordered a sweet potato roll, a gluten free cake, two rarebits with bacon and roasted vine tomatoes, one large latte and one large oatmilk latte. We sat upstairs in the back left window It was around 2pm, the place was not busy and there was no queue at the till.

The tables upstairs were filthy, with bits of food all over them and not cleared after previous customers had left. I moved the things off the table I sat at and added them to the table next door which was already full of dirty plates. We had to get the waitress to wipe the table for us, but she made a sterling job of completely ignoring the table piled up with dirty plates etc next to us. The coffees, bought by a different girl, both came in small paper takeaway cups again despite being charged the full price for large coffees yet again, with the same excuse as last time. She bought us cutlery, we had to ask for napkins and she too made an amazing job of completely ignoring the tables around us piled with dirty plates.

When the food turned up the bacon was tiny and there were no tomatoes. We asked for the tomatoes (which are supposed to be vine roasted) and asked if we could have a little bit of mayonaise. After a short wait my partner was presented with a small metal dish with three very small hot tomatoes and I got nothing. When my rarebit was half eaten a young girl came upstairs and said they didnt have any mayo.

The people one table over to our right had left and now there was another table with dirty plates being completely ignored.

Considering the bill for this was just over £41, the level of service is disgusting. It seems to be staffed by students who dont really care much and I think its fair to say its not going to improve if we come for a 4th...

Im not one to write reviews often but sadly I feel compelled to in the hope the owner reads this and fixes the issue. Firstly let me start with the positives.. Amazing coffee, brilliant food.. the freshly baked marmite sausage rolls are possibly the best Ive ever had (and Im not normally a fan of marmite! You must try!!) Amazingly helpful and super friendly staff. Great seating and perfect music selection all make for very relaxing, chill atmosphere… Literally one of my favourite coffee spots! Sadly Chichester is a notoriously difficult place to get phone signal. I believe it was explained to me once that the council object to ugly phone masts ruining the beautiful Cathedral aesthetics. For all the years Ive been enjoying my visits to this coffee shop the Wifi has always been unreliable at best. It’s been a fairly well reported criticism and imagined by now it would have been rectified. Sadly despite this known issue its only got worse and during my last visit I found it has become pretty much non existent. Unprepared for this news caused me some unexpected issues with no way to extend my parking which relies solely on WiFi or phone signal. Forcing me to run down the road and connect to a local Starbucks in a panic while the coffee I ordered sat getting cold on my table. (I will have to commend the staff for offering me a fresh one when I returned out of panting and out of breath though!) I was genuinely excited to relax and catch up on a bit of work whilst enjoying my coffee and brownie. Sadly I had no choice but to reflect on my poor life choices as I sat with my laptop still in its case. Maybe the smiths soundtrack forced this melancholy train of thoughts or that the frustration of relying on a simple WiFi connection was too much to ask. Who knows. I certainly admired the gentleman in front of me who was savvy enough to bring a book to enjoy his seclusion! So in summary if you’re looking for a delightful coffee shop to disconnect from the world with a book or enjoy an order of delicious pancakes with friends then I can’t recommend this place highly enough but if like me you want a chilled place to get some work done or at the very least be able to check your messages during the time you’re here then sadly I would suggest to pick another coffee shop. God I hope the owner rectifies what has been an issues for years now as this place has such incredible potential but until then I will be dreaming of those sausage rolls whilst I hope they finally install a working WiFi solution. Maybe they will give me the recipe ;-) Trading Post I...

Today I had a really bad experience. I went there for brunch with a friend and my toddler. I ordered a Full English without tomatoes, a Vegetarian Breakfast (I have been a vegetarian for around 20 years) and I also ordered the chicken as an add on which I specifically asked to be served on separated plate because it was for my toddler. The full English came with the tomatoes and my Vegetarian breakfast came with the chicken on top and there was no trace of eggs (it comes with either poached eggs or scrambled eggs) ... When I saw one of the staff I said I was vegetarian and I didn't want chicken on food. They took the plate away, they added some scrambled eggs (they didn't ask me how I wanted my eggs) and guess what? The chicken was still there (hidden under the spinach). If you are going to do that, at least do it properly! I think however did that (I guess it happened in the kitchen) has no respect whatsoever for the customers. Don't order the chicken, it looked terrible and my toddler spat it (£3.50 wasted!). Anyway, I hope they treat people with allergies much better!...