Starbucks in St Katharine's Dock London

Advantages: Great views, great atmosphere, great coffee
Disadvantages: A bit expensive

...Everybody knows Starbucks, the largest coffee house in the world. I am going to review the one in St Katharine's Dock in London as this is my nearest and dearest. I think Starbucks is rather like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. Some people hate the fact that they have to pay £3 for a cup of coffee, other people can't get enough. I am definitely in the second camp, I am a Starbucks fan. I think what has captured the world is their relationship with coffee, they like to think of their stores as a "third place", ie the third place you go in this world after home and work and I think it is this attitude that produces the friendly asmosphere and sense of belonging that their houses promote. The store in St Katharine's dock is a beautiful building, it is a round, almost mill looking type building with a dome on top and has...

Spottydog11 10.04.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks (London)

Starbucks - Not A high star rating

Advantages: Competitive priced Coffee
Disadvantages: Taste and Priced not as good as Caffee Nero

...Starbucks is a well known, almost global coffee brand. This chain of coffee shops are fully company owned. The price of coffee per metric tonne is approximately £883 a tonne. So for coffee shop stores there is a very high profit margin to be made. I was travelling on my way to Crawley and as i was in London Victoria i noticed a burger type van advertising Starbucks. I thought to myself i have been to Starbucks before lets see how they fare. Firstly i was not impressed with the service here. There were 2 staff in the van, no customers in the queue, and dispite this it took me 2 minutes to get served. I noticed the bin they were using was full up with some plastic rubbish. Certainly not inviting for regular customers or great first impressions here. The display of my coffee money was in a take away Starbucks plastic cup...

costas1234 09.01.2008 (31.03.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks (London)

Starbucks Review

Advantages: Great coffee, nice surroundings
Disadvantages: Expensive

...Starbucks is a global coffee house chain; in fact it's the biggest coffee house company in the world. It was founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, and now has over 15,000 stores in 44 countries. It enjoyed a huge expansion in the 1990's which included its first chain outside North America (Tokyo in 1996) and the first UK Starbucks in 1998. As well as coffee, Starbucks sell a wide variety of beverages including Hot Chocolate, Fruit Smoothies and bottled water. They also sell snacks such as muffins, caramel shortbread as well as healthier alternatives such as yogurt and 'skinny' muffins. To me, the prices overall are a little expensive, but I pay them because no-one makes coffee like they do! I know a lot of people don't like it and they think the coffee is too sickly etc, but I do like the sweetness. I don't like black coffee so...

Walter_Kovacs 17.01.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks

Under the grips of Starbucks

Advantages: Addictive, costly and taking over the world
Disadvantages: good coffee, good service, good selection...

...For many years I reveled in my hatred for Starbucks and everything they stood for. I despised them for their corporate branded image. I condemned them for their over the top prices. I recoiled at their growing popularity as one by one they popped up on most city street corners. I categorically refused to be sucked into the brand and for several years avoided every setting foot inside one. Last year whilst working in Glasgow, I allowed myself to be taken in and I succumbed to the unthinkable. I remember that day well. It was quarter to eight one morning last November. It had been raining in Glasgow for what felt like two years, and as I trailed up Buchanan street in the pitch black, shivering against the wind and trying desperately to ignore the fast stream of water running down the street and over my feet; I felt a warmth radiate...

ally2kc 09.08.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Starbucks

The Barrista's that put the r's in Starbucks

Advantages: Plentiful
Disadvantages: The More you ignore me the closer I get

...'s displaying a continual level of self-importance or completely misplacing your order due to the complicated self-imposed method of division of labour, its the place where 'nobody wants to know your name'. I first went in to the smaller one, another opened in May, in January and used the personal space that this provided me with to make several 'key' decisions in life. This was mainly to place empty mugs in a variety of positions giving you full visual effects of young attractive women bending over tables. (I made the last remark up on the basis that it makes me resemble some kind of Benny Hill impersonator). Yet the key thing to this pseudu Friends existence is that you do not go into Starbucks for the Coffee and definately not the food - over priced and by most means underflavoured - but for the variety of Insurance workers that populate...

baggyman 28.07.2000 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks (London)

Starbucks

Advantages: Nice sized cups of tea
Disadvantages: Pricey, no comfey seats, no trays

...Created in the 1970's, Starbucks must be one of the most famous world-wide coffee chain. It is quite comforting in a way to know that no matter where in the world you are going, there is a good chance that you will find a Starbucks - comforting if it is something that you are used to. In Inverness where I live there are 2 Starbucks stores, one is in the shopping centre in town, and the other is located within a Borders bookshop store in the town. I do not know what the one in town is like, although when I am passing it I quite often see mothers with children in it so it must be quite child-friendly. I often visit the one within the Borders bookshop, mainly because there is nowhere else to go at the retail park just for a coffee. I was in Starbucks today actually and because it is located within another store it is not a huge...

jules.34 04.08.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks

To love or or not love?

Advantages: Comfy seats, good selection, non-smoking
Disadvantages: Quality of coffee, prices

...write a review on the establishment itself. ***Decor and set-up*** With hundreds of Starbucks all over London and in the UK as well as worldwide, I cannot speak for the decor of every single Starbucks. There are smaller establishments with only a few wooden highchairs to have a seat. There are middle-sized establishments with only wooden chairs and wooden tables. None of these are particularly comfortable. There are however some middle-sized and larger branches that have a lovely livingroom feeling to them, filled with ample couches and plush armchairs. These are the most comfortable Starbucks outlets and really seem to invite you to stay for hours and hours reading your paper, a trashy novel. Many students find themselves drawn to these - for a few pounds they can sit here all day and study instead of having to spend their time in...

Delicate_Orchid 20.08.2004 (17.12.2005) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Starbucks (London)

Starbucks vs Coffee Republic

Advantages: Big Brand Name - Consistency
Disadvantages: Consistently poor coffee!

...Starbucks is alledgly the market leader in expresso bars, and is certainly dominant in the states. However, their coffee is weak, sandwiches are expensive and cakes are hard! I used to really enjoy drinks from the seattle coffee company, which starbucks took over last year. The staff tended to have a good sense of humour and level of service was generally better. This all seems to have changed since the takeover, and Coffee Republic now seems to be making the running, although has a lot to catch up in terms of numbers of outlets. I hope CR can make it on its own, and not get bought out by one of the big boys - their coffee is the best and the service outflanks all the others....

laycocd 02.09.2000 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks (London)

The Starbucks Generation.

Advantages: COFFEE!!
Disadvantages: Pricey coffee...

...or so to read through the entire menu, but it was a very happy half hour for me, filled with excited anticipation. During this holiday in Vancouver, I would drag my parents into every Starbucks we passed and try a different coffee. I was determined to work my way round every branch in the city and every coffee on the menu. Unfortunately we were only there for a week, so I never acheived my aim (but I'm going back next summer so who knows?!). I spent the whole week buzzing, talking like I was trying to break a world record, and grinning inanely. But I was happy, oh was I happy. When I came back from this holiday I was devastated at the lack of Starbucks in my home town of Reading. It seemed to me that my Starbucks days were well and truly over. A Coffee Republic opened, and for a while I was satisfied, but every time I was in London I would...

louiseypees 11.08.2002 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks, Leeds

Starbucks - an absolute must on cold, wintery days.

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!

...Don't you hate it when it gets to winter time and you find that Christmas has crept up on you yet again this year? It seems to start earlier each year! You always seem to find yourself cold, stressed, laden with bags and frequenting large queues outside department stores and you just feel like screaming "Bahhh Humbug!' to anyone who's near you. Well I have eventually found the ideal cure to what I call 'The Christmas Crisis'. When you just want to give up and go home and think 'oh forget that last present, i'll get him some socks instead'. Instead of abandoning ship and sludging home in your winter boots deflated and stressed, I urge you to find a Starbucks! There is truly nothing more satisfying than collapsing into one of their cosy leather couches with a caramel latter and a 'too-good-to-be-allowed' piece of cake. I guarantee you...

zoelouisa 13.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Starbucks Coffee