Esquires Coffee in Runnymede

The place looks and smells lovely inside and I looked forward today to eating and having a cuppa with my husband. The young staff are very nice and polite, I only wish I could say the same for the owner/manager. You help yourself to a table & order at the counter. Drink orders are shouted out once they are ready for you to collect. A shame as it’s a busy place so hard to relax or have a conversation when this is going on. Food is brought to your table. My husband ordered a sausage bap which took about 15/20 minutes. I ordered 2 poached eggs on sourdough toast. This took considerably longer by then my husband had finished eating and we’d had our drinks. The toast had no butter at all & with 2 of the smallest poached eggs I’ve ever seen. One was not much bigger than a quails egg & this was overcooked & hard, the other was undercooked & snotty. I took it back & politely explained why I was returning it. The manager looked annoyed & said ‘you won’t find anywhere that butters your toast or provides butter for it’ I disagreed but he carried on saying the same thing. A young staff member said they would make it again for me. 20 mins later my food arrived & again one egg was completely hard & absolutely tiny. Although this time they had placed loads of butter pats on my plate. I returned it again but said ‘I will eat it but I just wanted to show you there is still a problem’ I didn’t want anything for me, I just wanted them to be aware. The manager then picked up the hard egg in his bare hand & looked at it before plopping it back onto my plate, saying ‘they are eggs. Eggs come in different sizes so some will be overcooked and some won’t ’ shrugging his shoulders. I replied that I wouldn’t be able to eat it now he’d handled it & he rolled his eyes & said he’d refund me in full. I was then stood at the till with him & he went on to serve 2 more customers & just ignored me.I was then handed the money for my food albeit £1 short. I asked for his name & he said ‘I’m the owner so if you are thinking of complaining then email and it’ll be me that picks it up so….’ & smirked at me. I said it’s reviews that can make or break a place and he shrugged & said ‘I don’t care, I already have 4.8 score on google.

Arrived Saturday morning for breakfast, good service at the point of ordering. Was informed that you collected your own drinks when they called your table number and food would be served to the table. We ordered 1 full English breakfast 1 eggs royale 1 Cappuccino 1 Americano Drinks were prompt and hot, it was good coffee.BUT we waited and waited for the food after drinking the coffee and watching the ‘chef’ through poached eggs in the bin over and over and our plates sitting on the side going cold and waiting another 10 minutes decided that we couldn’t wait any longer, had been there 20 minutes we asked for a refund. The refund was prompt and the manager told us there was a problem with the eggs…it was more a problem with the person cooking the eggs as we watched the young man through egg after egg in the bin, they clearly couldn’t cook poached eggs. Wouldn’t return probably ok if you only want coffee.

Walking from the station to a business appointment, under heavy rain, I noticed this clean looking and enticing place. Organic and carefully selected beans, what could be better for a coffee lover looking for some protection from the weather? The space was indeed nice, but unfortunately the coffee was poor. Mediocre to poor taste and aroma, and horrendous execution. Too hot, too. Next time better to face the rain.

Absolutely fantastic place!!!! We don't go to Egham much ( I live in maidenhead ) but this is a gem of a place! The service, excellent food quality, and good coffee are all 5 star rating..... Staff are lovely and really friendly. In the words of Arnie........(.well, you know)

Popped in for coffee and cake about 11am on Sunday morning. It was fairly busy but we got a table in the window with comfy seats. We all had coffee which was actually HOT and really smooth tasting. The service is really friendly, very chatty and genuine, and happy to make drinks the way you want them. This was my first visit but I'll definitely be back. A great addition to Egham.

Went in this morning as this was the first time I had seen this place open. Was very clean and welcoming, with a large array of baked goods available for a range of palates (chocolate, lemon, nutty, fruit etc), and fresh sandwiches. Only purchased some lemon cake, but the menu looked very well priced for the area. Manager and staff were very welcoming and chatty, but not oppressive to the more introverted customer. Will be visiting again with friends.