BBs Coffee and Muffins are a national restaurant/cafe that sell mainly coffee and muffins. Some branches also sell sausage rolls, filled baguettes, various "wraps" and "seeded bloomer" sandwiches, scones, croissants, ice cream, smoothies as well as toasted sandwiches, packets of sandwiches and cookies.
My main experience of BBs comes from the Eldon Square branch in Newcastle and the branch which is in the Bridges shopping centre at Sunderland.
I first visited the Eldon Square branch about 3 months ago and bought a "Meal Deal" to sit in and eat. The sign stated that the deal was "only £4.55" and that the meal consisted of any small coffee, any baguette and any muffin, depending on what
baguettes etc were left, of course.
I asked for a cheese and spring onion baguette, a flavoured coffee and a lemon and coconut muffin. I got the baguette and the muffin but I was told by the assistant that flavoured coffee wasn't included in the deal. 3 requests later for various coffees and I was eventually told that only ordinary coffee or cappuccino were included. So much for "any" coffee!
Even more irritating, one member of staff was sitting chatting to a customer very loudly and messing about with her mobile phone.
I wrote to BBs and complained, in particular about the fact that the sign saying "any" coffee is included was wrong and was given a voucher for £5. They told me the assistant had been wrong and the deal DOES include any coffee.
So, that is a little bit about the service at this branch of BBs. Next time I went (with voucher) I got the "Meal Deal" and a sausage roll; I put the extra money towards it, as written on the back of the voucher. The staff quibbled about taking the voucher and one demanded to know where I had got it from! This sort of thing was one of the reasons I complained earlier! I was tempted to tell them it was because I'd made a complaint but I feared they wouldn't serve me so I just told them I'd sent off a consumer form for it.
The Meal Deal was a nice coffee, the same cheese and spring onion baguette I chose the first time and a chocolate chip muffin.
The coffee was hot. The baguette was very large and included 4 slices of cucumber and 4 slices of beef tomato - with the seeds taken out. Great, because I hate the seeds in tomatoes. The muffin was very large but delicious.
I took the sausage roll home for my mother and it cost £1.20. It was large but it's not worth £1.20 and I wouldn't have bought it if the cost hadn't been met by some of the value in the voucher.
The pastry was nicely cooked but she said the sausage was full of gristle. She gave it to the dogs who weren't too fussed either. So, nice sandwiches but don't touch the sausage rolls.
What about the prices? Well, the cheese and spring onion baguette costs an expensive £2.85 (take away price £2.30). The other baguettes vary but the cheese ones are the cheapest. Toasted sandwiches cost £2.99. The muffins cost £1.40 and some of the flavours aren't always available. The flavours are usually lemon and coconut, apple and raspberry, chocolate chip, double chocolate and blueberry. The muffins are nice and very large but are too dear at £1.40.
The cookies are 99p each and they sell white chocolate chip and milk chocolate chip. Both are nice. I haven't tried the croissants but they cost £1.
The Sunderland branch of BBs has a £3.50 "Meal Deal" which consists of "any coffee, a small baguette and a muffin". The small baguettes are £1.95 on their own. They also do a takeaway "Meal Deal" for £2.50 which has a packet of bread sandwiches, a bag of crisps and a bottle of 500ml pop.
What else is important about BBs? Well, the baguettes are made fresh on the day but often, they don't make enough of them. When they sell out, that's it.
The Eldon Square branch allows smoking in all sections, so it's not a place for children.
I wouldn't really recommend BBs in general, except for a taste of their baguettes but that would only be a once in a while treat for me.
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