| Product: |
BB's Coffee & Muffins |
| Date: |
04/07/09 (43 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Delicious, variety
Disadvantages: cost, busy
A couple of weekends ago, I was in town with my grandma, and I had promised myself (as well as being forced too), to have lunch in two with my grandma. The past few weeks had been hard and so I was fairly doubtful about whether I'd be able to manage but luckily I did.
The place of choice for our bite of lunch was BB'S, sometimes known as BB's coffee and muffins.
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The first UK BB's store opened in the year of 1997, and over the past 12 years it has become the largest shopping centre café in the UK. BB's boasts that their stores have a "relaxed ambience"...but would they be right?
..
The Café itself
After some shopping in town we decided it was time for a bite of lunch and so we arrived outside BB's in the shopping centre. BB's, I have always though is sat in an unusual place in our centre- right next to Subway, and opposite two bakeries- the Carlton and Greggs. However, although being placed in the prime eateries spot, BB's looked fairly busy from outside and the queue was fairly expanding too.
As the café was in the centre- it was fairly open plan with only one wall at the back. The outside was very attractive, a deep brown exterior with BB's written in a different shade of brown. The interior was just as nice, a cream wall and a wooden floor. There were plenty of tables too, some with four seats, some with two, and a table at the back with eight seats, obviously for bigger groups of female shoppers out on shopping spree's. The tables were spread out evenly and there was plenty of room to walk around. At the front of the café there was a handy spot to park buggies, where you could easily keep and eye on them from your seat. There were from what I could see around 3 highchairs in the whole café, which for the size of the place was quite poor.
There was a sign on the wall stating that you were required to get your food before taking a seat. I found this quite a silly idea as you may have your food and then have no where to sit which would obviously be a bigger problem. None the less, we followed the rules and found it easy enough to get a table. Once we had collected our food and drinks we proceeded to our table of choice- it was a 2 seater. The seats were fairly comfy with a decorative brown cushion to support the customers back. I thought this was a brilliant touch. The table when we arrived was extremely sticky, but as soon as one of the waitresses saw us turn our noses up she finished sweeping up and arrived promptly at our table with a damp cloth to clean it up; this was the end of that problem! The table was a decent size with plenty of room for both of us, however we did have to put our tray on the floor to give us a little more space.
Ordering food was pretty easy, although we did have to queue for around five to seven minutes. This was fine though, as it gave us enough time to decide what off of the delicious menu we would decide. The counter was huge; the end of it had a huge cabinet with various ice creams on show, then you proceeded to where some of the sandwiches, wraps and toasties were on display, then turning the corner you arrive at the tills where you place your order. Your drinks are made straight away which is a bit of a problem if you order coffee or hot drink as it may be cold by the time you get it depending on the wait of your food. After you have ordered your food, you will either be told to sit at your table and the food will be brought too you, or if the food is ready or is only going to take a few minutes, you stand and wait on it. Luckily ours only took a few minutes so we got the food hot and promptly.
Overall I was fairly impressed with the restaurant/café. It was clean and efficient with plenty of tables and places to sit. The ordering process was fairly quick and simple, and we didn't have any problems at all, except the slight wait.
Staff and service
BB's is pretty self service in the way that you pretty much fend for yourself. However, the employees that I did come into contact with were pretty friendly and looked genuinely happy to be in work. The girl on the till was in her early twenties I presume however she didn't look like a "greasy girl" who would be more suited to McDonalds; she was very smiley, with her hair tied back in a tight pony tail off her face; so there was no risk of hair being found in food. The staffs uniform was plain but attractive, and wasn't too intimidating as some places can be. There were various waiters and waitresses walking around the café making sure everyone was alright with what they had, and most of them were sweeping up and doing some cleaning of tables. We were interrupted once by a tall young waiter who wanted to make sure we were alright, and after telling him yes, he quite happily left us.
Although the majority of staff were efficient and friendly, I did notice one young chap moping about and texting on his phone (yes texting......during work!!!). However as there were so many staff around it didn't cause a problem- I just thought it was a bit rude!!
Overall I was really pleased with the service we received and I'd say it's the best we have received in a long, long time. I have to comment also on the fact it looked like a really happing and friendly working environment.
The Food and Menu
Perhaps the most important part of the review. The food. The food menu was up on a huge board above the counter, and so I took a good wee while deciding what I wanted. I had been to BB's before but only ever for an ice cream or a cake, so I didn't actually realise how much there was too offer.
I decided on a cheese and ham toastie- something which I felt safe with and something which was almost guaranteed to be delicious. I had seen the toastie in the cellophane wrapper in the glass counter before ordering and it looked like a perfect size. It only took around 3 minutes for it to toast and it was steaming hot when it arrived. It was served with some ready salted crisps and some yummy looking salad, which I hadn't ordered but was a pleasant surprise. My toastie was delicious. There was rather a lot of filling in it but I managed to polish it off with a little break in between the two halves. The cheese had melted and was stringy and oozing out the sides of the toast. I think it was cheddar cheese- it was delicious anyway. The ham was very tasty and had a very peppery taste to it which was really delicious. The toast was perfect too- very crunchy but not burnt in the slightest. All together, the toastie was a wonderful combination and surprisingly very filling. I only managed one or two of the crisps- they were very salty- probably Walkers or such like. The salad was gorgeous and not limp or soggy at all.
My grandma choose the piri piri chicken baguette. It was huge and she only managed around three quarters of it. The chicken had a slight orange coating on it which looked delicious and the chunks of chicken themselves were rather large and provided a generous helping on the baguette. Alongside the chicken, was a slight spread of mayonnaise and some delicious looking salad. My grandma commented on how delicious it was- the chicken was soft, the bread was perfectly warmed and the salad, like mine was exceptionally fresh. The baguette was ready made, so we didn't have to wait on it at all.
As well as the two sandwiches, we ordered a drink each; myself a diet coke and my grandma a coffee. My diet coke was perfectly fizzy, just like any other diet coke and the coffee was steaming hot and looked again, like any regular coffee would.
Among the various other eating options were: baguettes with lots of fillings to choose from including tuna mayonnaise, BLT, chicken and sweet corn, cheese, cheese and ham, sausage and around twenty others.
If you didn't want a baguette though, you could opt for a toastie like I did, with fillings such as bacon, tuna, cheese and ham on the menu.
As well as toasties, there were also Panini's which came with fillings such as chicken, cheese, tuna and all of the other usual ingredients.
A healthier option may be one of the wraps, with fillings including egg mayo, chicken salad and cheese salad.
If you are not in for a lunchtime meal like a sandwich, you could always opt for one of the cakes or muffins. BB's is most famous for its muffins of all varieties. I remember about two years ago, although I'm not keen on muffins, a friend and I "treated" ourselves to one. I remember choosing a muffin with a huge thick layering of white icing on top, and dotted with coloured giant smarties. The icing had been delicious, very sweet, almost like home made. The smartie type topping was delicious- creamy chocolate, and the muffin had been absolutely gorgeous- obviously very recently made, it was warm and crumbly and resembled the home made muffins my nana used to make in her baking days.
Of course, the icing and smartie muffin may not be for you, and if this is the case, do not fear. There are plenty different flavours to choose from including; sticky toffee, blueberry, chocolate chip, double chocolate and a delicious sound apple and cinnamon flavour. The muffins are on display in the background, in huge brown baskets- very bakery-esk.
As well as the muffins, BB's does a variety of different cakes and pastries. These include croissants which you can either have savoury with cheese and ham or as a sweet dish with jam and butter. If you don't like croissants, you can choose from a delicious looking selection of brownies, scones and cakes. On the counter, there was a small selection of cakes, including cherry scones and fruit scones which were huge and looked delicious. All of the other cakes were kept in the back next to the muffins.
If none of these products appeal to you then you can go for some of the other savoury options including sausage rolls and pies, or order a bowl of soup with a generous chunk of either brown, white or wholemeal bread. I saw two older woman sitting with what looked like a bowl of lentil soup. There was steam coming out of it which Is promising in the temperature of it, and they both polished it off, bread and all. (Not that I was spying on them or anything...........). BB's also boast they have delicious cookies to offer. These include flavours such as raisin, white chocolate, double chocolate, chocolate chip and a scrumptious looking cranberry and raspberry cookie.
As I mentioned before in my review, there is a glass counter in most BB's stores (well the two or three I have visited), showing off their delicious array of ice creams. Recently our BB's café has introduced sorbets instead of ice creams, in flavours including berry and mango. These are boasted on a large poster on the wall to be fat free!! However, when I used to go for my ice cream treat, I'd always choose one of the high fat (I assume) ice creams. The ice cream flavours include mint chocolate chip, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream and one of there popular ones with the kids- bubblegum!! My brother recently got a tub of ice cream in BB's- opting for a scoop of chocolate, a scoop of honeycomb and a scoop of mint. He said they were delicious.
BB's as well as serving up some delicious dishes, does not let down when it comes to drinks and refreshments either. Ranging from smoothies to slush puppies there really is something for everyone. On display, there is a slush puppy machines which traditionally does the two "normal" flavours, blue raspberry and a strawberry tasting one too! I used to always get slushies from here and they were always tasty and reminded me of my summer holidays. As I mentioned before, there was a poster on the wall shouting and showing off about how the sorbets are fat free, and this again is the case with the smoothies, although not saying they are fat free, as they aren't. The smoothies come in a couple of flavours including a strawberry and banana, a mango and banana, a mixed berry, and a banana and peach flavour. If you don't fancy a smoothie though, you could always choose an iced coffee which come in flavours such as vanilla, caramel, and regular. BB's are also very proud of their popular milkshakes which come in flavours such as toffee caramel swirl, chocolate mania, and the regular flavours, strawberry, vanilla and milk chocolate.
Teas, coffees, soft drinks and fruit juices can also be purchased here too.
Overall I think the choice of food and drink for a place like BB's is fantastic. There is a huge variety and definitely something to suit everybody!!
Prices
I wasn't paying myself for our lunch so I wasn't too bothered how expensive it was- after all it was pretty delicious, however my grandma was a bit more conscious. Although she loves treating me and splashing out, she does admit it was quite an expensive lunch for what we actually had.
Our two drinks and two reasonably plain sandwich meals cost us around £10, which I thought was a bit expensive.
Most of the toasties, baguettes, Panini's etc were set at between £3-£5 which I thought was again very expensive. My diet coke was around £1.50 and my grandmas coffee was around that price too.
I'm not sure what the exact prices of everything else were however they were all a bit expensive. If you want to get an idea, think for example what you would charge for an ice cream cone and add 50p -£1.
Overall/My thoughts
Overall I would definitely recommend BB's. I enjoyed my lunch very much and the atmosphere was brilliant. There was no music on it the background of the café though, which I found quite unusual but I suppose I was in the centre of a shopping centre so it may not have been heard anyway. There were no toilets in BB's because there were the shopping centre toilets opposite us. There weren't very many children's facilities such as highchairs or colouring books and crayons but in all honesty it isn't really a children's place.
I'd recommend BB's for a quick bite to eat or a leisurely coffee. BB's is very popular with all different ages, and genders as there range of products is quite huge. The prices let it down slightly but for a once in a while treat, it is definitely worth it!!
SweetTooth93
Summary: /
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