••••&# 8226;• Welcome to the extremes of Saturnian life. There is ple...
••••&# 8226;• Welcome to the extremes of Saturnian life. There is plenty that I don't have strong views on, but you wouldn't know if from these !
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Member since:21.06.2000
Reviews:200
Members who trust:31
Remember The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy ? At one point there is a reference to the imminent collapse of a civilisation often being preceeded by the observation that all of the shops in the highstreet have become shoeshops. I believe that this was a prescient, yet slightly inaccurate view of the future. Douglas Adams lived (once) in Cambridge and wrote accurately about its one way system. South Park has also observed the Starbucks takeover phenomenon.
Cambridge now has four FOUR Starbucks and has closed one old one. There is one near to the main shopping centre (The Grafton Centre) with an upstairs that is often not crowded. Head to the back of the store. There is another smaller takeaway only branch on Quayside my Magdalene Bridge (spelling ? who cares I'm a townie). Then there are two more by the market. They are next to each other. Actually there are two shops between them and one is a Cafe Nero. Oh seriously, look I know you think I am taking the piss now but honestly, there are two Starbucks in Cambridge practically next to each other. A really (too) big one in the Borders branch and another on the street. Now, the on-street one is about eighteen months old so, of course, it is being torn out and remodelled. Closed ? No remodelled downstairs.
Now don't get me wrong. I love Starbucks. I hate them too. They steal all my money but they give me somewhere to sit and do stuff in the mornings before work. In fact, I used to write all of my Ciao ops in the downstairs part of this particular Starbucks.
Grafton Centre opens 8.00 Market Square opens 7.30 Borders opens sometime but don't go there because it's too big. Quayside opens 8.30
but . . . and heres the thing . . . if you want REAL coffee & good service go to Savinio's by the bus station unless Italy are playing (footie) and it's televised in which case forget it.
My opinion of Starbucks overall . . .
I love Starbucks (didn't I already say that Timmy/Naomi ?). The expresso based drinks are generally very good if expensive. The drip (filter) coffee is rarely much good and often tastes much too strong - I like my coffee strong believe me and this is too strong. The iced drinks are also very good during the summer and some of them are dangerously cold. The food is generally expensive but of good quality. The muffins are large and tasty, often with a 'skinny' version. The skinny sunrise muffins are especially good. The bagels are good but the cheese ones have started to get really greasy (in Cambridge anyway). It would be nice if they did toasted bagels or but they don't. My favourite though is the granola bar which is a kind of flapjack on steroids, packed with all sorts of annoyingly healthy things smothered in sugar. Yum
The service is excellent in almost all cases and I have only ever had one bad incident when the till prices were changed but the board wasn't (1 out of hundreds of visits). On the other hand, Starbucks staff have gone out of their way to provide a good service, for example bringing me a replacement coffee when she forgot that I asked for decaff. Not only that but she had spotted that I had put nutmeg on top and remembered that too. So, execution of service ? Superb, 99/100. Quality 98/100. Prices, to damned high, but the shops are rarely empty so they must have it about right.
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I've re-rated; I particularly like the reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide! However I only rated H as I'm very pedantic and feel you could mention something about the price. So if you could just add a sentence... Timmy (stingy rater)! Cheers.
Kunama 31.10.2001 21:45
I'm not a coffee drinker, in fact I hate the stuff, but I do love their frappuchinos (sp?), mmm chocolate cream frappuchino, YAY.
timmyotoole 31.10.2001 21:22
I see your point but for a higher rate you need to say more about what starbucks offers and how well it executes these offers... i.e. how good the"product" is! Cheers, Timmy.
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Advantages: huge selection of great drinks and cakes, friendly staff, stylish and comfy Disadvantages: It's always been busy and uncomfortably messy when I've visited.
Philberry 23.06.2004 (23.06.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Starbucks
Advantages: huge selection of great drinks and cakes, friendly staff, stylish and comfy Disadvantages: It's always been busy and uncomfortably messy when I've visited.
Philberry 23.06.2004 (23.06.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Starbucks
Advantages: Comfy, excellent service, fantastic choice of drinks and snacks. seasonal drinks are amazing. Disadvantages: can be crowded and busy if you go at the wrong time, e.g. saturday afternoons!
zoelouisa 13.10.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Starbucks Coffee
Oct 31st, 2001
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