Starbucks Birchanger Drive Thru in Uttlesford

Small Cafe with cabinet sandwiches and drinks attached to a drive through service. Meeting a friend in the cafe today, bank holiday Sunday. The drive through looked busy but we were served promptly at the cafe counter. There were 5 staff. However, the whole cafe was very dirty. No tables wiped down and food/napkins on the floor and tables. The floor adjoining the windows was filthy. The single unisex toilet was very dirty. A polite complaint to a member of staff suggesting perhaps they were understaffed and please pass my concerns to the manager, was met with dispute. The place is “deep cleaned once a week “.

I like many of the reviews on here can not rate this low enough. Queued for 20 mins to then get to the intercom where a notice said cash only. I said to the voice on the end it maybe an idea if you put a sign up before you are committed to the drive thru that says cash only. A male voice said thank you for that, giggled and then said have a nice day. I asked for his name and he said Harry and laughed again. I got to the window to be met by three staff and asked if the male with the headset was Harry. He said no. I asked to speak to a supervisor. He said I am the supervisor. I asked his name and he said Harry!! He was giggling clearly enjoying his superior position. An absolute disgrace to the starbucks brand !! A young man trying to be smart and funny, no customer service and a disgrace.

Counter and tables were sticky Toilets were probably the dirtiest I have been in at any service area for a long time. It was 10am so not even a full day of use. Definitely avoid this Starbucks

Talking specifically for the drive through Starbucks. Customer journey is something that is very important and should be consistent across all Starbucks. Unfortunately, on a number of occasions there is a particular member of staff that can be careless when dealing with customers and can forget general practice for serving customers. I won't name name's, but I'm a firm believer if someone is unhappy to work there then they should leave... Some constructive feedback below : 1. Smile - a smile and manners go a long way. Some customers rely on people like you after a 2 hour drive to make their day, rather than feeling they are of zero importance. 2. Intolerances - Ask if the customer has any allergies or intolerances... This helps remind customers incase they forget and can avoid things like a wasted drink. 3. Receipts - it's great practice to ask if the customer would like a receipt... You never know who needs to claim it back. 4. Communication - the communication between the person receiving the order and the person making the order needs to be accurate to avoid mistakes in the future. A customer is relying on the staff to get the order correct... Once the customer has driven off they are already half way down a motorway. That aside, there are still SOME amazing staff there that do the above naturally. The management needs to celebrate the good eggs, encourage the above best practices and keep an eye on the ones that could be dragging down the reputation.

This happened on Friday 23rd Sept at approx 12:30 With a queue rangeing from one to two dozen I could not understand why only one of the five employees present was actually serving the customers. It took approximately twenty minutes to acquire two cups of coffee. At Birchanger there're no alternatives so I will have to plan any future journeys carefully to avoid this service area.

We stopped for a break, the cafe only had one person in and to be fair there was a comfortable seat and it was clean. The serving took an incredible time, the gents lavatory was truly filthy. The 'cheese and ham croissant' was served in a paper bag. The croissant was as limp as a glove and had a faintly sweet doughy feel and a taste of nothing- I even checked to see it indeed had ham and could see something pink inside, but it did not result in any taste. It was red hot inside and would have been dangerous if eating it while driving, so no good as a takeaway. The bacon sandwich was served in a sweet bun, the coffee was not enjoyable, bitter and unpleasant.

Ordered 2x white mocha fraps with blonde roast and caramel, got two basic coffee fraps. Bitter and horrible. Asked to pay on the app and the lady at the till said to my brother ‘oh she’s a fussy one isn’t she’! Poor service and poorly made drinks. Even repeating your order 6 times you won’t get what you want.

Offering drive thru, counter service and take away, Starbucks Birchanger Drive Thru offers, situated away from the main service area, is an easy and convenient solution to getting your coffee. The coffee is the usual Starbucks standard but the staff could do with being a bit more friendly, still it was at the end of the day.