Costa Coffee — Restaurant in Maidstone

Awful experience! I ordered a chargrilled veg & halloumi sandwich. I watched as the server cut two other sandwiches with the yellow knife then proceeded to cut mine with the same knife. When she brought them to the counter I asked what fillings were in the other ones? She replied, one was chicken the other a cheese & ham! To which I replied, please could I have another sandwich as I’m veggie and I saw you use the yellow knife to cut mine. She questioned me and said ‘I used the green knife’ my reply was ‘actually I was watching and you used the yellow one’. Even the customer next to me admitted she saw her use the same knife. She did make the other sandwich, begrudgingly and told another member of staff she ‘DID’ use the green knife! Which was a blatant lie as myself along with another customer clearly saw she didn’t! In return I asked if I could have a ketchup! Sarcastically she replied, “I’ll have to charge you”! I asked why as I’ve never been charged before? But she replied you only get one ketchup with certain hot meals! So in light of this I simply replied not to worry I’ll go without. So, three things; One, I’m at the hospital with my terminally ill mum and really didn’t need this attitude as I was very polite and needed a break from my very upsetting day! Secondly, why lie when two independent people saw you did NOT not use a different knife! Thirdly, why be so pathetically childish and feel you are having one over on the customer to make him pay for ‘your’ mistake! Worse day ever made even worse by such terrible customer service! Fancy having such staff working at a hospital...

I often grab my morning coffee before a shift and the staff are usually very attentive. The last few times that I've been, unfortunately, staff were not. When I popped in during this past week, I was the only customer trying to queue, with 3 Costa staff behind the counter, and 1 in front. All 4 were chatting (I'm unsure what about to be fair, could have been work related 🤷🏽‍♀️) but I wasn't even acknowledged, to the point that the 1 on the outside of the counter nearly bumped into me! Like I was invisible to her. I had to eventually engage with the Costa staff to make my order. The entire experience left a very bitter taste in my mouth. As hospital staff we are always pressed for time which we are prepared to do when popping into Costa during pinch points during the day. When there are no customers however, I do expect a bit more. Or at the very least, some politeness would...

Costa Coffee in Maidstone Hospital. 4.30 on a Wednesday afternoon. No prices displayed on cakes. Cakes were at end of the day and looked dry and stale. The Lemon Curd tart that I was given in a paper bag because they had run out of plates was as dry as I had thought. A plate would have been nice so I could at least use a fork to eat tart with. Latte was in a takeout cup because no proper cups were available. I thought they were giving me a take away order so I said it was to eat in. Thats when cashier said there are no clean plates or cups. Cashier was serving folk faster than the chap on machine could keep up with although watching him he seemed to be very good at his job. I must say that this is my experience on this occasion. Other visits here...