Caffe Nero In Blackwells in Liverpool

The cafe is really nice with lots of tables. The entrance is confusing as you have to enter through Blackwells! It’s well located near the University and I will definitely return here in the future!

I have visited a number of Caffé Nero outlets, including four in Liverpool alone. This particular Caffé Nero, located inside the Blackwell's Store on campus, has got to be one of the worst I have visited. By way of positives, the hot drinks are nice and reasonably priced (although I was vexed that there are no teapots), the tables (and indeed the toilet) are clean and *some* members of staff ('some' being the operative word) are nice and friendly. From there, it all goes downhill. The standard of customer service in this place is really below par. I rarely have problems with coffee shop staff; so long as they make up my order correctly in a timely manner, and are polite enough, they're friendly and helpful in my eyes. However, some of the staff here don't understand the concept of customer service and I never feel appreciated as a customer. Frequently, the staff look miserable and ignore you when you try to give them your loyalty card. They all act like they hate each other/working there, which is probably true! One member of staff same also uses the outdoor *customer* seating area as their personal smoking area, which does not paint this place in a good light! I don't care if people want to have a smoke; that's they're prerogative - but don't do it in full view of customers wearing a T-Shirt with 'Caffé Nero' plastered on it! On another visit, I asked the member of staff for an 'English Breakfast Tea' (very specific, to make life easier for them), only for me to repeat it four times because she didn't know what English Breakfast Tea was! It is quite worrying that this woman is paid to be a barista, when she didn't know something on the CN menu! God knows what would have happened if I told her about putting cow's milk and granulated sugar into my English breakfast tea - she probably would have felt like I was giving her a lecture in quantum physics! The snacks offered here are overpriced and poor value for money. I once ordered a toasted ham and cheese sandwich for a grotesquely expensive £4.15, only to be served a bitesize portion, which I polished off in under 5 minutes! On the plus side, this CN doesn't seem to run out of snacks, but that's probably because they're extortionate! This place also gets very busy and they're simply aren't enough tables. If you are lucky enough to find a table, most of them are positioned awkwardly. Sitting near the counter always makes you feel hemmed in because of the queue beside you and some of the tables are those low down ones, which are not fit for purpose! Also, the wooden chairs are very uncomfortable and always cause me back pain. I would recommend one of their booth seats to you, however on one occasion, on a busy lunchtime, the same Einstein member of staff who didn't know what English Breakfast Tea was came over and demanded some woman sat with us because they're weren't enough tables! This meant my friend and I had to curtail our gossip and sat there, awkwardly, knowing that there was a random woman listening into our every word! Overall, whilst it's a bog standard Caffé Nero, the execution of this place is poor and it's not very well run. The customer service especially is lacklustre and sadly, this could be improved very easily without much effort. There are so many other eateries on the University of Liverpool Campus, including a Starbucks and a Costa Coffee less than a five minute walk away, so just go there instead. NB Please don't take this as a reflection of 'Blackwell's' itself, which is the bookstore connected to this place, which has lovely, helpful staff and a good selection of books for University students.