Costa Coffee - Colchester

I love a coffee shop including the chains! But this place was just unpleasant. I have been a few times in the past week hoping that each experience will improve and the prior one was a one off'! In fact, it just got...worse. Time Lads on holiday on phones, place untidy, tables sticky. Asked if i wanted the Columbia coffee I asked what the difference was, his reply with a shrug of shoulders. Time A little better service, but you had to ask if you wanted sugar etc otherwise you didn't get anything Time Came across a woman, with hair in a pony, who was so rude and made no pleasantries to her customers. Each time, brushes and cleaning stuff not put away and tables sticky. I was not impressed at all. Customer Service Training is required.

We left because it felt really unsafe, they are demanding you sit at tables that at unclean and they are too short staffed to clean. They don't provide a station for you to clean anything yourself, they are not practicing good health.

If, like me, you hate shopping then allow your partner to do her thing and pop in here for one of their delicious coffees. Plenty of seating inside and, if the weather allows, outside. Reasonably quick service taking into account how busy it is.

Shall we meet at Costa? has somehow become the lazy solution for casual meetings throughout our country. I had the misfortune of being sent to this establishment for such a rendezvous, it was heaving. Full of people who are either very easily pleased or conditioned...to believe that is how coffee should taste. If you want to sip on a coffee made without any pride whatsoever whilst sat at a partially cleared and dirty table then join the rest of Colchester as it champions what is at best a mediocre chain.

We stopped by Costa for a quick coffee today and were pleasantly accommodated as required. I opted to have a peppermint mocha but initially was advised they didn't stock this flavour anymore so opted for hazelnut. The barista then kindly double checked and to my...delight they did still have mint in. The coffee was of good quality and not one of the rushed half attempted coffee's you can sometimes get in big chains.