Having travelled some way to visit Black Goo today, we were pretty disappointed with the whole experience, taking into consideration this wasn't a cheap visit and the place was highly recommended.

Here are the my balanced thoughts: Pros:

• The coffee was very nice and there was a wide selection of cakes, which all looked very enticing.
• The staff are very friendly and willing to try and make your experience a great one.

Negatives:

• Cost, it is definitely at the premium end of the market, which is fine but the experience in branch wasn't great when we were eating-in. I completely appreciate they are working under pressure with COVID-19 but the long que to access was huge and completely miss-managed. There were people cutting in and it took overall 30 minutes of waiting before even ordering something. I feel for the people behind me who only wanted a quick take away!! I would personally have suggested someone come out now and then to check on what customers want (to eat in or just a quick take away), to help managed the length of time waiting. There were people who were so put off that they didn't want to wait. If a customer wanted take-away, I would suggest someone takes their payment then provides them with the drink or cake to aid in the que management.

• The atmosphere. This was one of the most disappointing points, especially when so much excellent effort had gone in to make the environment safe and nice during COVID-19. The branch was full of people who were sitting around (mostly with babies) with empty glasses or coffee cup, just taking up space. Perhaps staff should have just asked if they wanted more to drink or even to clear their cups away? In addition, there is a smoke alarm that needs a 9v battery, beeping every two minutes, I would just replace this! Not great when you are trying to navigate the buggies, screaming babies and now the fixtures and fittings making unnecessary noise.

• The cake - Whilst the cake looked very nice, it was dry and heavy. We bought today a piece of the Dime cake, which I suspect wasn't fresh today. Not good, when you are spending so much money.

• Food, we had two sandwiches from the limited mix available. They were ok but had no sides like maybe some crisps. Just a lonely sandwich on a plate. Clearly not very premium.

It is a shame, having driven so far today to visit Black Goo overall we were quite disappointed. Whilst I think a huge amount of effort has gone into ensure COVID safety, the premium feel (and prices) don't seem to match our experience today. On the edge of a one star.