Xo Cafe Lounge in North Hertfordshire

Firstly on a positive note. I had the mixed grill and my wife had the chicken strips. Both very nice and reasonably priced. However the issue came with the deserts. We both had apple Crumble. The crumble was not crumbly. But microwaved to an inch of its life. Extremely hope. Extremely sweet. But NOT value for money. I did complain to a staff member about the issue. But she said there was nothing they could do and that’s how they come. The custard was cold and Lumpy. I did say that I wouldn’t be having them again and that she said fair enough. There was no offer for compensation or to have something different. Both of us left our deserts. I would rather had given the £11.00 spent to a charity than pay the pub for two awful puddings. Such a shame. It could have been so much better. We live and learn. Be warned.

Having read some reviews now, I can see that the rude way we were treated yesterday by a female member of staff is the norm at Costa Hitchin. I arrived with my young son and baby girl. We started to order and I was told abruptly that they were closing soon. I continued ordering and was given the drinks. We sat down. A polite man with a Christmas hat on came round gently saying they were closing. I said okay. I hadn’t realised that the till closing would also be the store closing, as many coffee shops stagger this by half an hour or so, and so I had started breastfeeding my daughter. Within 1 minute of the gentleman telling me they were closing, the woman said, “How long are you going to be? We are closing.” I replied that I’d only just been told and she snapped, “I did tell you. Now you’ve started feeding the baby. So how long are you going to be? If it’s 5 minutes maybe I can give you 5 minutes.” Her manner was aggressive. I immediately stopped feeding (and had to leave with a screaming baby) and said, “fine, I’ll leave right now, but we won’t be returning.” The woman carried on ‘telling me off’ (this was how it felt with her aggressive tone) as I left. I realise that the mistake was mine in sitting down to feed my baby, but I just feel the tone and argumentative nature was rude and unnecessary. We definitely will not go back - there are a lot of coffee shops in Hitchin and we will choose others every time in future. I was after a coffee and a chat with my small son while feeding his sister and instead I was told off and kicked out!!

Really good coffee thats why i like Starbucks. Friendly staff and great service but sometimes they were getting slow after serving a customer or two because but the staff busy in gossip conversations in front of the customers who are waiting to be served. Location is good so do the atmosphere.

staff not that friendly as some say. depends who their serving, cleanliness could do with improvement not always clean inside or out. i was shown up by the manager and a member of staff last time i was in there Infront of other customers. i will never go in there again. i have been to other Costas and got a much better experience and very friendly. and just a note to add not that has anything to do with the service, but one of the girls was sacked from there for taking 2 sandwiches but the managers farther get coffee and food free and sits in there all day, one rule for one as the saying goes.