To wonder why Costa is so popular?

[Pumpkinsspiceandallthingsnice]

I don't go in all that often but it always looks so cosy through the window.

Every time I do go in I can never get a clean table let alone a decent seat. There never seem to be enough staff to clear the tables. The cakes are always quite dry and not worth the money at all.

Yet it's always so busy.

God it's an awful place. I haven't stepped foot in one in years - like a noisy dirty canteen serving crap drinks.

I go occasionally to meet friends. It's close and they have a decent car park.

I don't actually like coffee but I do like the frostinos they do in summer, and their hot chocolate in the winter. I am still sad they discontinued bonfire spice flavour, I've never managed to find that exact flavour anywhere else.

YANBU. I only go if in a station, or similar, and no other option. I love coffee but I can't drink the coffee in Costa because it is lukewarm and slimy - just horrible.

I think some people like the familiarity that it is the same everywhere. I remember suggesting meeting an independent to a friend and she was worried it would be expensive (it was cheaper) whereas Costa is a known quantity

Of course peer is cheaper than costa for coffee/ cake! Never known anyone suggest different, Costa is known for being expensive hence 'costalot'!

I find their coffee really insipid. A Costa latte tastes like a homeopathic version of an espresso shot!

I hate their coffee - weak, full fat milk waste!

The definitive list for coffee on the high street is...

Independent
...
...
...
...
...
Nero
Starbucks
Costa
Pret

They have the nicest lattes but I always get takeaway

They do a decent cortado and free babychinnos.

I go to lots of nice independents but sometimes Costa is more convenient. I would go to a Starbucks for any money though.

The hot chocolate at Costa is awful, I even prefer Starbucks to Costa. The food is terrible at both and they are both always filthy. Of the chains we have in our town I like Pret the best for food and drink, followed by Caffè Nero except the staff at our local Caffè Nero are so bloody rude.

Argh. wouldn't!

Ok, let me reword that.

I don't understand why people return repeatedly to the big chain places when their coffee is dreadful. I mean, I understand convenience and so on, but selling coffee is surely the primary purpose of a coffee shop. You wouldn't repeatedly return to buy clothes at the same place if they always fell apart the moment you stepped outside.

I get it's just not to my taste, but I have trouble reconciling that with the fact I also find Cafe Nero and Starbucks coffees revolting, so I suspect it is that their coffees are pish and it's not just my tastebuds.

I absolutely agree that I've had some terrible coffee in independent places as well, but I'll still take my chances on a place that is variable over a place where it's invariably bad. The last few times someone has asked to meet me in Costa I've ended up sat there with a San Pellegrino, which seems an utterly bizarre for someone who loves coffee to be doing while they are sat in a coffee shop.

Expensive and all the food is inedible, tastes of fridge (cold food) and oil (hot food).

My absolute last choice always

Our town only had a costa and a couple of independents(which have shorter opening hours). The staff are nice, it is clean and has decent toilets. I don’t drink coffee so just go for hot chocolates for me and the dc.

Agree the cakes are horribly dry and always a disappointment, which is why I don't ever go in Costa.

We are lucky to have a little independent coffee shop that has home made cakes.

Greggs is better and half the price ... X

I tend to only grab a costa as a takeaway now but the one I’m my local village is lovely and well kept. I just really enjoy their coffees and I’ve been using Costa for years now, it was my little haven during my uni years!

100% - love Greggs

Costa is every where one of the main chains and usually in train stations. They do a good hotchoc, bakewell tart or one of their muffins is my go too.

Always get a Frappe when visiting my nan these could do with more flavouring for the money you pay though!

The cheese and tomatoe toasties is lovely

Costa may be popular simply because it isn't quite as bad as Starbucks.

I've never been in one that's remotely clean. And I refuse to sit somewhere that doesn't utilise staff to keep the place at a decent level of clean - if it's that grubby in the public areas, what on earth does it look like behind the scenes...........

DD had a smoothie last time I was brave enough to go into one. They had about 4 blenders dumped in a sink that was just rinsed under water and re-used. As we've got coeliac family members, I'd never chance them eating or drinking in there.

Joe & the Juice way better coffee but not sure if they exist out of London? They have indeed reached us in middle earth.
I have 4 local Costa's and one is always clean, bright and with friendly staff. I think the management make quite a difference, and some are franchises I believe.
Nero coffee is preferable, but my closest one is filthy.
I sometimes choose to go to chains because they display calories and I know what will be on offer. They are also a good bet for arranging a meeting spot. My measurement for the quality of the coffee is set differently to that in a specialist coffee shop but it is horses for courses (or some similar cliché)

Really nice hot chocolate, much nicer than Starbucks. Nice toasties/paninis. Nice atmosphere and the ones I used to go to are clean.
I don't really find it expensive either. I suppose it is if you compare with an all you can eat or a greasy spoon type place, but it's not a very expensive place to go for lunch.
Most of them have newspapers too.

Cafe Nero's also OK, but I have tea there as their hot chocolate isn't as good as Costa's.

I don’t like Costa, and would never go to our local one - overpriced, dirty and not remotely agreeable compared to lovely local independents.

But sometimes it’s the only option - they tend to be open much longer hours. I associate Costa and Starbucks and the like with being away from home, late at night or early in the morning, in the cold, on my own, waiting for a train, or someone to arrive on a train, or stopping at a motorway service station. A bit of grateful light and warmth and place to sit with a warm drink when everything else is closed.