Missing Bean Turl St — Restaurant in Oxford

It wasn't a great start to the morning, that typical English depression of rain, 0 degree temperature, and melancholic pedestrians. Coffee seemed like the only pick-me-up, that is, coffee by myself (as people - especially men - suck, and sometimes you need a little bit of independent caffeine to see the world clearly). I decided to forgo my usual trip to TSK and visit Missing Bean instead. Little did I know that my day would be ruined - an oncoming tragedy that would soon end up worse than that 2003 menstruation disaster.

I entered the cafe and was greeted by a scene busier than a Bangalore station. The Arctic conditions contrasted greatly against this Lucifer-like oven. It was vital to remove outer layers. I found a nice gentleman who was happy to share his table with me. As I was putting down my bag and removing my gloves, scarves and coat, one of the baristas came over telling me I had to queue before sitting down, because the people queuing now would want to sit down. However, the man next to me was allowed to mind a seat for his girlfriend while she ordered their coffees. I understand that I am not in a relationship - these things sometimes keep me up at night. Should I be punished for my lacking marital status? Why was no one except Cindy Lauper having my back anymore? Is there such a thing as discrimination against 'singledom'? There should be.

I simply wanted to have coffee on my own (discrimination against loneliness!). Not going back thanks to the condescending staff and my uncontrollable urge to cry. Because I'm single. And not allowed to take off my coat. Or have coffee....

It is never easy to give a negative review, but I was taken aback by just quite how bad the coffee was here. I know taste is subjective and I see a lot of reviews mention bean profiles and all sorts of buzzwords and meaningless nothings. I am not a connoisseur, and I am of the understanding everyone has a particular taste. However I was frankly annoyed when I tried this coffee. Recently my colleagues and I have been trying different coffee spots as we usually go to taylors as its nearby. We tried Jehrico coffee traders and it was good but not taylors standard. We all agreed that with the coffee from here there was no taste of coffee. The portion sizes were not only a third of the size, we all said that it was just milk, did they run out of coffee beans, it appears that they were missing beans. It's beyond me this was recommended to us, because we came away in a bad mood, these are meant to be artisan coffee places; tailored specifically towards hot drinks and coffee. Sure the pattern on my cappuccino was beautiful, but taylors far excels it for a fraction of the price, and is not meant to be a coffee place. We all took a positive from our experience though, and that was that we learned we should never go back here and...

Unfortunately, after frequenting this otherwise delightful place for over 6 years, I had the most unpleasant experience last Sunday (23 Jan 2022). At 3.10 pm (50 minutes before they closed) a guest and I ordered two coffees and two banana breads to have in. We asked for the banana bread to be toasted (the toaster was in full view) but were told they would not do so because it had been "switched off". When my guest politely asked if it were possible to "switch it back on again" the assistant said they would not do so as it took too long. Hmmm. We proceeded with our order despite this. The assistant then started preparing paper cups for our coffee. We asked for porcelain cups (everyone else inside was drinking from said china cups). We were told, again, no because they were closing in half an hour (in actual fact it was in 50 minutes time). At which point we left and will not, sadly be returning. Why must people be so obstructive. Just goes to show that in England, it is the staff, not the customers, whose interests are considered to...