Caffe Gusto

Popped in for a coffee and snack into the one outside Clifton Down Shopping Centre with my granddaughter, asked for a baby chino which came with no marsh mallows, and my rather miserable cup of instant coffee for me. I returned the glass saucer that had been given to my granddaughter as it had a large sharp chip out of the edge the young lady behind the till said that they were all like that and that she had told the owners but they had said to continue using them! I pointed out health and safety issue especially if serving to young children, total lack of interest. won’t be going there again! would say that they only got 1 star ‘cos that’s the least I can give !!!

It is strange that there is two Caffe Gusto’s so close to each other! You could go with a friend for coffee and have a race to see which Gusto can serve you the fastest and still be within ear shot of each other. I mean I’m no Alan ‘pug dog face’ Sugar but it seems like an excessive waste of money having two sites so close to each other. But they are doing very well as a business and popping up all over the west. In fact I think one day I’m going to wake up and find one in my lounge.
As far as I can understand it, the larger branch at the Clifton Down shopping centre just serves drinks and cakes and the smaller branch (that I am reviewing now) deals with food. More specifically they make great Panini’s and baguettes. I have always been a fan of their ‘build it yourself’ Panini option. It’s great; you have all the fresh sandwich filling laid out in front of you and you can choose exactly what you want (like subway but tasty). They aren’t stingy with the portions either, they really pack your Panini full, that’s probably why I like them so much, because I’m fat. I definitely recommend building one yourself rather than choosing one of the readymade Panini’s; these ones are always half empty.
It’s a love hate thing with their coffee, I love how it tastes but I have friends who hate it. I used to enjoy the vanilla late (ooh fancy) but they are extremely sweet, so order at your peril.

Quite stAndard food and coffee. certainly nothing special but a good spot and outside seating for people watching.

This café is often busy and serves good wraps, sandwiches and baked potatoes, cookies, flapjacks and other general snacks as well as coffee, tea and soft drinks. I have been visiting our local café gusto once or twice a month for the last year or so and although the food is consistently good the service is not. Every time I visit there seem to be different staff there who don’t really know what they’re doing and the service generally isn’t with a smile. Last time I visited my food to ‘take away’ ended up on a plate and was paraded around in and outside the café by staff looking for its owner. 5 minutes later when it was unclaimed they realised that it was actually mine to ‘take away’ so they shovelled the now cold pannini into a bag and sent me on my way. Hungry and running out of lunch hour I (maybe stupidly) didn’t ask for a fresh new one but it certainly confirmed for me that there are definately better places to get a light bite on Whiteladies Road.

This a great little café that has a wide range of choice and is an enjoyable place to have a spot of lunch. The food ranges from jackets with various toppings, to a large selection of panninis. The food is very good and although it is not cheap, you can pick up vouchers that make the food very affordable. It is just a nice place to enjoy a nice quiet lunch, read the paper or just take the good, healthy food away with you.