I recently received a gift card in order to secretly dine at Costa.
Upon entering the Costa cafe in Bridlington market place, it was quite busy, but very clean and tidy. We were able to order promptly and once our order was ready we went to sit upstairs.
I ordered two ham and cheese toasties and two large lattes with a lemon tart.
The coffee was super hot and served exactly as I had ordered it, one shot latte for myself and the normal double shot for my husband, who prefers his in a takeout cup.
The ham and cheese toasties, I didn't enjoy personally, on one side it was toasted and crispy, and on the other it was sweaty and soggy. The ham was rather chewy and rubbery and the cheese wasn't very pleasant. It was more of a sauce than melted cheese and not very punchy or flavoursome. I think a mature cheddar would have been nicer and a side salad or garnish would just have the extra touch. My husband didn't enjoy the ham either but he didn't mind the cheese. I feel that for the price, the quality doesn't match up and it isn't good value for money; I definitely wouldn't order the toasties again and neither would my husband.
The lemon tart however was absolutely fantastic. Buttery crumbly pastry with a zesty but slightly sweet filling. If they sold bigger ones I would definitely purchase for a family dessert.
Overall the visit was enjoyable and the store was much cleaner than previous visits. The staff seemed a lot less stressed than usual, I do however feel that customer service could be better, there isn't a lot of customer interaction whilst being served, other than to take the order, no greeting, no happy smile etc. Having worked in customer care myself I understand how stressful it can be but also how important it is to gain rapport and engage with customers, especially in the current climate where people aren't as easily able to afford to eat or drink out as often.