Marks Spencer - Milton Keynes

It 's the same old story. I 've seen that in my last review of the café at M&S in the MK Shopping centre that it was virtually impossible to find anywhere to eat, mid-week. So I thought i 'd try the café in this particular branch again and, hey-presto! There wasn 't a long queue at the service counter or till. I ordered a cheese and ham toast, a rather delicious piece of coffee cake (how can you resist? Queing right next to the display of cakes, not too easy to resist? As someone said, possibly Oscar Wilde, 'I never could resist temptation, ' or if it wasn 't him, it ought to have been. I was served relatively quickly, by a staff who did at least acknowledge my existence as a customer. Take note, other eateries. Your staff can be incredibly slopping and inattentive and don 't always look as if they 're particularly interested in what they 're doing. Fatal to a business, surely, particularly in this day and age with so many businesses on the high street going out of business. At least it appears that Marks and Spencer train their staff well and they concentrate on customer service. If I don 't like using a particular business it 's often down to really sloppy customer care. Keeping customers waiting, making mistakes with an order, poor attention to detail, such as tea or coffee slopped in the saucer or other little mistakes really puts me off returning to that particular business. So, take note. The tables are kept clean and plates and cups and other debris is removed promptly and there were plenty of vacant seats available.

M&S dont deserve customers in their cafes and the only reason I go there is because I receive vouchers with their account.This cafe is the same as the rest of them, a long wait of at least 15 minutes to get a hot drink, tables not cleared and miserable looking staff. I do not understand why they have only one person taking the order and making the hot drinks and handling cash, it can only make service slow.We ended up rushing our food because we were running out of expensive parking time.Finally, it was January and the cafe was very cold and did not appear to have any heating.

Just after midday Friday and I had a click and collect to pick up at M&S in CMK. Initial plan was for a coffee first. I enquired if they did soya milk and was assured they did and ordered a soya latte £2.75). I then looked up at the menu and was tempted by the fish finger sandwich £5.50) and ordered one. The coffee was excellent. The fish finger sandwich took a little while to prepare and was served on white bloomer bread with mayo I would have liked more mayo) and some greenery inside and a decent serving of good coleslaw and a slice of pickle on the side. The fish fingers were lovely and the breadcrumbs crisp. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Popped in for lunch while shopping in the store as the vegetarian options looked good for my wife. Initial service was efficient and we got to a table quickly. However here are the issues in need of attention...1. All the tables were dirty 2.most empty tables had not been cleared 3. The waiting time for a hot sandwich was over 15 mins 4. The staff who eventually started clearing tables seemed miserable and were communicative. 5. A lot of staff seemed to be wandering around aimlessly and empty handed, in spite of how busy and messy the place was. 6. No one seemed to be managing the place. 7. The food was expensive £12 for two sandwiches and 2 cold drinks!

Sunday about 13:00 and time to buy the Christmas bits that Marks do so well. Stocked up OK and no queue to pay at checkout either.