Starbucks Coffee — Restaurant in England

I feel sorry for the staff here. They were clearly trying their best but I had to wait 30 minutes... For a Latte... At a coffee shop... Boggles the mind. The downfall is Starbucks offering 1000 different ridiculous options and people clearly not really being trained well enough or not being organised enough to cater for a busy counter and a drive through simultaneously. This was a Sunday afternoon and there was a queue but it didn't seem that busy. The staff sensed the tensions and didn't really know how to react to the long back log of coffees that had built up. They were coming out at snails pace due to the frantic juggling of various cup types, syrups and labels in the background. Why there wasn't one person glued to the coffee machine just making the coffee I don't know. There were a lot of people behind the counter so not really sure what their jobs were as all the drinks were seemingly made by one server who was completely overwhelmed and inefficient. Considering the fact that service station prices are eye watering... Because of the "convenience", my experience was extremely poor. I'm loathed to go to Starbucks but if you are tired and driving you have no choice but to stop and no choice to get coffee anywhere other than Starbucks. It's dangerous if these places can't serve coffee at a reasonable pace because drivers will walk out and chance their tiredness -...

Had visited Membury Services Eastbound Starbucks yesterday (07/09/25) around 5:45pm ordered a hot milk and also a cup of hot water.

The member of staff refused to give stating its against the policy that they cant provide hot water. I request saying for emergency but they still refused.

When I asked to speak with the Manager, a staff named Alzetro stood up saying he is running a shift. I heard the lady (co-worker) whispering do not give.her, also Alzetro refused saying its a policy not to provide any hot water.

I stated that I was not aware of any such policy in England that prevents a business from providing a customer with hot water. I was charged around £2.64, but after continue requesting, Alzetro asking me to pay again £2.60 for a cup of hot water.

I can realise all the staffs were not well trained in customer service and were taking decisions own their own rather than on company regulation and policies. I felt very disappointed by this experience and feel that large organisation, Starbucks should ensure its employees have a better knowledge of handling a situation and act behalf of organisation in diplomatic way.

I also saw many recent Google negative reviews from other customers, so I know im not the only one, yet Starbucks doesnt seems to take the complaint...

I don’t often leave negative reviews, but experience at this Starbucks was so awful. I felt so bad as there was only one employee working— managing the cash register, drive through, and making drinks— which seems unacceptable.

The Starbucks itself was relatively clean but the bathrooms were horrible—this location would benefit from hiring cleaning staff once a day at least!

I wanted a chai or matcha latte but they were out of both, so I opted for an iced peach tea. The tea was bitter and there was no taste of peach. My husband ordered a double chocolate chip cream Frappuccino which wasn’t blended properly and didn’t taste close to a typical Frappuccino from Starbucks. We were so disappointed having wanted Starbucks on our long drive and wasting almost £9 on two drinks that we couldn’t even finish.

I would urge the owners or management to employ more staff and train them properly on how to make drinks! I grew up in America and have been to multiple Starbucks both in America and the UK— the drinks are always consistent, however this instance it felt as though we weren’t at Starbucks and instead a shop pretending to be a Starbucks. The quality of drinks and service was lacking.

Anyone hoping for a Starbucks coffee,...