Esquires Coffee Southsea — Restaurant in Portsmouth

I have visited on several occasions and although the venue looks nice, the service from some of the staff is appalling! Those who cannot grasp the English language should not be working in customer service... to mistake a lunch for a coffee is astonishing! Particularly as I had to repeat myself three times. The boy then had issues with knowing what buttons to press on the till and of course I didn't receive what I asked for (note that he has been working there for a while). Luckily I didn't order a decaf coffee as I can only imagine what would've happened. The waitress of the same nationality didn't help her colleague when she saw he was having difficulty and when she brought the food over the serviette was covered in wet fingerprints. Other occasions have resulted in long queues and frustration from both customers and staff (due to incompetent staff that should never have been hired). The manager deserves a medal! Owners sort this mess out before you lose all of your customers. And perhaps review...

This is quite a nice place - I like the layout, and the atmosphere. The chairs are a bit more comfortable than the average coffee shop chairs, there's plenty of space. The only thing that let it down for me was the coffee. I asked for an Americano. It came in a huge cup. Much bigger than a coffee cup. Obviously, if you make an Americano by adding hot water to a single shot of espresso in an enormous cup the result is a rather watery, unsatisfying cup of coffee that's basically hot water with a bit of coffee in it. We asked if this was a normal size coffee or a large, just to check. The woman said no, it's a standard size cup. Also, the sausage roll was big, but not very nice. It was like one of those slightly greasy ones you get in a service station. Disappointing, because this place should be great. The people were nice, the place was nice - just the coffee and the sausage...

The staff here are always amazing. Today, I met a lady on her first day and she was great too.

I come here regularly because they’re so welcoming if you want to work or have meetings. They’re dog friendly, and there are plenty of plug sockets, which makes it ideal for working on your laptop. Sometimes I stay most of the day, just ordering drinks, and I’ve never been made to feel unwelcome. That’s a big reason I keep coming back.

You can’t book tables, but there are always plenty available since this is a large café for Southsea. The drinks are excellent, the coffee is great, and the food is consistently good. I usually go for a jacket potato or a sourdough sandwich, and it’s always spot on.

The best thing about this place, though, is the staff. They make it somewhere you genuinely want to return to...