The CAFE : BAR by Benugo at John Lewis

"I have been to this coffee shop several times now and every time I question why Everything is consistently dreadful - the cleanliness, the mannerisms of the staff and their overall attitude stinks! Each time my coffee has been served with dirty cups and saucers and when asked to change I received a snarky comment and look from the woman serving There are also no vegan lunch options and when asked if there were any the woman just stated rudely ‘we have what we have’ Do not visit here unless you want to be put in a bad mood and possibly made ill by unhygienic cups and cutlery! I am appalled by John Lewis and shall not be returning unless they sort it out - their staff need a serious talking to"

"Impressed with range of tasty food options, whether sandwiches or hot or cold mains. Good selection of cakes and superb scones. Staff are efficient and friendly. Coffee isn’t strong enough for our tastes. Fancy coffee options have far too much milk foam or froth (air!) than a decent cup of actual coffee with a beautiful crema. Wish there was a choice of larger flat white available too - they are always served in small cups which isn’t a satisfying quantity of coffee. It’s always a busy cafe but we don’t usually wait too long to be served, we tend to opt for a late lunch just to avoid the main rush. Personally I’ve missed the original cafe and cake bar, also the sandwich bar at the back of it offered more extensive, interesting choices when the Cheadle store first opened. The current offerings have since been rationalised and are therefore limited but we’ve managed to find an acceptable tasty option nonetheless. The current self serve system of push button hot drinks machines feels impersonal, akin to a cold, canteen-like experience, in a similar fashion to Ikea. Dislike using them as the coffee is bland. That said, it is far quicker and more effective than a barista service if your time is at a premium. There is also a manned hot drinks station (rather tucked away!) for when the queue isn’t long. A particular bugbear is the queues at the tills are extremely busy and slow whenever we’ve been. This is frustrating because any hot food gets colder which is less palatable. Just never enough staff manning the tills. Plenty of tables which are cleared and cleaned effectively. Overall the cafe and food are very good, the staff are generally efficient and helpful. Room for improvement with the strength of coffee and the canteen vibe around the drinks machines, also the quantity of flat whites. Need to improve the tills to achieve a quicker flow when paying."

"This is a place where the customer is NOT always right. I eat scones on a regular basis and here I was told that the lumpy cream for scones was standard. With management not even knowing the standard it should be, in addition to arguing with the customer."

"Disappointed. An independent company within John Lewis as "The Cafe Bar" by Benugo at John Lewis. More like a depleted service station cafe. My chai latte was out of a tin of powder I could have bought at Sainsbury's. I wish I'd given my business to a local independent in Cheadle."