Baxter Baristas at 16 Hales Street

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#3 of 47 Coffee & Tea in CoventryQuick Bites, Cafe, ££ - £££

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Baxter Baristas at 16 Hales Street

Review

At a glance

Open until 5:00 PM

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Website

+44 24 7625 7300Improve this listing

About

Features

CUISINES

Cafe, British

Meal types

Breakfast, Lunch, Brunch

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

FEATURES

Accepts Credit Cards

American Express

Delivery

Discover

Dog Friendly

Free Wifi

Highchairs Available

Mastercard

Seating

Takeout

Visa

Wheelchair Accessible

Wine and Beer

Location

16 Hales Street Coventry Transport Museum, Coventry CV1 1JD England

Does this restaurant offer table service?

Yes

Unsure

Order delivery

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Hours

Suggest an edit

Open until 5:00 PM

Sunday

9:00 - 17:00

Monday

8:00 - 17:00

Tuesday

8:00 - 17:00

Wednesday

8:00 - 17:00

Thursday

8:00 - 17:00

Friday

8:00 - 17:00

Saturday

9:00 - 17:00

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4.4

199 reviews

Excellent

136

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Patricia M

Coventry13 contributions

Afternoon tea for two. (Delivered to my home)

Mar 2023 • none

I used to order from the delivery menu when I was isolating during the pandemic and looked forward to the lovely fresh food being delivered. I ordered again at the weekend and I certainly was not disappointed with the delicious afternoon tea for two delivered for my friend and I . Freshly cut sandwiches, three different fillings on bloomer brown and white bread, garnished with salad. Scones with jam and cream, large chocolate chip cookies and a selection of cake bites plus some fresh fruit (strawberries and grapes) . I highly recommend looking at the delivery menu, there are lunch boxes, cookie boxes etc..AND they cater for vegetarians too, and great value for money. Can't wait to visit to see what other delicious goodies are on offer. Thank you Steven and team.

Written 7 March 2023

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

nopoeticdevice

Coventry16 contributions

Love the new rebranding!

Feb 2023 • none

No longer an Esquires, this is now Baxter's Baristas (under same management) - with new menus, new logo, new window art, and quite a few new staff! Congrats to the team. Whatever you're up to, Baxter's Baristas is a good meeting spot in Coventry city centre thanks to a variety of seating options; cosy two-seaters for intimate chats over coffee, good size tables for family feeding and even some long tables for bigger community groups. If you've just been to the Transport Museum, you'll enjoy this extension of your visit with motor/cycling-themed decorations to look at while waiting. We enjoyed some coffees and an iced tea. I can recommend the ham toastie, which is made into a full meal with salad and crisps on the side. Seen some negative reviews mention tables that are dirty. I can vouch that we arrived during the busy lunch hours but witnessed multiple tables around us being cleared away and wiped clean by staff. Staff were friendly and working hard.

Written 17 February 2023

Beverley

2 contributions

Afternoon tea delivered for 60th wedding anniversary

Mar 2023 • family

Cannot fault the afternoon tea I had organised for delivery to my parents for their 60th anniversary. The presentation was beautiful with a lovely assortment of sandwiches , salad, scones with clotted cream and jam. Cakes and cookies and strawberries . They loved it and said it was delicious . Thank you for making their special day I will be recommending to friends and family

Written 16 March 2023

Suzanne B

3 contributions

A disappointing end to a wonderful visit to the museum

Oct 2024 • family

We were stood waiting to be served for at least 5 minutes at the counter with the absence of any staff. When our order was taken the lady was very friendly. We ordered a cheese toastie and poached egg on sour dough toast. Americano and milkshake. The coffee was nice. The milkshake was poor in that it was over £5 and just tasked of flavoured milk with cookie sprinkles. We then waited over 20 minutes indoor our simple order. The spread used on the bread was really awful, cheap and nasty. The eggs hadn’t been blotted and so they made the other slice of toast mushy because of the water. The salad of the toastie was poor and the cheese again, its texture and taste was plastic and poor quality. We had a bite or two then left. One of the staff turned her back on me and very unhelpful. I don’t mind waiting if the food if a venue is busy. I don’t mind paying £21.70 for the above if it’s edible. Really disappointed. Won’t go there again. We are Sitting writing this review in another venue having a nice lunch!

Written 30 October 2024

Francis S

Coventry1 contribution

Appalling for world famous Museum and Art Gallery

Feb 2025 • solo

Avoid the Baxter’s Barista in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. Disgustingly short staffed leaving tables filled with dirty plates etc waiting to be cleaned. Given a cup of hot water with a tea bag and a small bottle of milk that happened to be left by a previous customer. I would have had a coffee but was too embarrassed to hold up a long queue behind waiting for the slowest coffee makers in the business. What was I to put the expired tea bag in - no saucer, ?on the table?used one of the menus .nothing available to eat, note on counter saying 40 minutes wait for meals. Bad management, knowledge of half term and rowdy children sadly unaware of.

Written 20 February 2025

Steven Prime

Hello, Thank you for taking the time to review us. I’d like to apologise for your experience at our site at the Herbert Art Gallery. We have 100% been short staffed this week and have struggled to increase our staffing levels to cover the trade. As a small, local business we are limited by the number of team members we have across our 2 sites. Both of which have been busier than expected and therefore stretching us. My team have been working incredibly hard to keep us with demand. I am very proud of them for this. Sadly, this has resulted in longer wait times for food, we have struggled to keep the tables clear and overall slow service. We do normally get a lot of positive reviews & feedback cards for this site, so it has been disappointing to see this. Since we have opened this site less than a year ago, we have been working to learn the trade and provide staffing levels appropriate to cover this. For December & January we have been very very quiet and struggled as a business. Therefore the 100% increase in trade this week has come as a surprise to us. I was not expecting this increase based on previous school holidays. I do hope that you will give us another try out of school holidays, support a local business that is working hard and consider us in the future. Kind Regards, Steven & Baxter

Written 20 February 2025

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

MH M

1 contribution

Baxter's Cafe Coventry

Jan 2024 • couples

Poor slow service, waited 50 mins for a simple order of sandwich and hot drink. We were then offered a free drink to pacify for the delay. The atmosphere was dissapointing and dark. One young person taking orders , serving and cleaning. The other cleaning and closing off sections of the cafe not used. Understaffed, and did not live up to the standards illustrated on its website. Will not be returning. Spend your money elsewhere- a couple of yards past Baxter's is the Belgrade Theatre cafe which is delightful with much better views and a slick service.

Written 24 March 2024

Steven Prime

Good Morning, I was absolutely gutted to read your review. I am very surprised to hear that you waited 50 minutes for your order. We have been busier than expected over the Easter holidays but you still should not have been waiting that long for your order. We aim to get all food out to customers within 15 minutes of ordering. Along with all feedback we receive, I have reviewed this with my team so that we can improve the service that we provide. I was sad to read that you dont like our window artwork. We pride ourselves in supporting local talent. This artwork was done by a fantastic local, renowned artist. As a locally owned business reviews all reviews are important to us. Please send us an email on steven@baxterbaristas.co.uk. I would love to sit down to understand more about your visit. Kind Regards, Steven & Baxter

Written 3 April 2024

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Keith W

12 contributions

Dirty and disappointing

Jan 2023 • couples

We visited before Christmas to find every table stacked with dirty tableware and general detritus to the point that our coffees were served in disposable cups. Today visited again to find no improvement. Every table was scattered with crumbs and food waste having not been wiped, lots of tables were scattered with waste on the floor and cleaning cloths and chemicals left lying around. I used to like the caramel shortbread here but today it was the only cake available and the three remaining pieces were broken, unrefrigerated and looked seriously like they had been dropped and swept off the floor. Generally this place has gone from a spotless well managed cafe with plenty of fresh cakes to choose from to a dirty dump with staff milling around doing very little. What a shame, avoid at all costs.

Written 7 January 2023

Steven P

Good Morning Keith, Thank you for taking the time to review us, I am disappointed to see that you have given us a 2nd negative review. As a small independent business our trade is driven by reviews so we are gutted that you have given us another negative review. As mentioned on the first review you gave only a couple of weeks ago please get in touch on 16halesstreet@baxterbaristas.co.uk so that I can understand some more details on your visit. Kind Regards, Steven

Written 10 January 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

James M

1 contribution

Poor from start to finish

Sept 2022 • couples

Visited last weekend and had a terrible experience from start to finish. The first issue was a long hair found in my partner’s milkshake. Then the food came out - my partner had ordered scrambled eggs on toast (as described on the menu) but they brought out a scrambled egg sandwich and simply said “that’s what we do now” when I questioned it. The final nail in the coffin was ANOTHER hair found in my full English breakfast. At this point I asked for a refund which they did give, but as we were leaving they offered no apology and were sniggering to each other as we walked out of the door. So 3 mistakes were made and all they could do was laugh. Would not return there if you paid me. It’s also not a cheap coffee house, so the service really was well below expectation.

Written 16 September 2022

Patricia M

Coventry13 contributions

Spend more time with friends at home by having lunch delivered to your door.

Oct 2023 • friends

Had another excellent lunch box delivered today. Fresh, tasty and great value. There was plenty of food for four and my friends were really impressed with Baxter's Barista take away menu. They agreed on 5 stars.

Written 26 October 2023

Penelope

Birmingham83 contributions

Attractive surroundings for a catchup with friends

Aug 2023 • friends

This cafe is situated right next to the foyer of the Transport Museum and has a chilled out atmospere and plenty of seating. I'd been before, but never for breakfast. Service was efficient as before and credit too for continuing to serve great quality loose leaf teas. What let our breakfast down was the bread: what the menu referred to as "bloomer" was standard supermarket white sliced bread and the soughdough served with the poached eggs was barely toasted. For £5.50 a portion, we thought this was a bit weak.

Written 9 August 2023

MiniMammoth

Coventry109 contributions

Nice but a but cold

Feb 2024 • friends

Nice atmosphere and friendly staff. Cost was reasonable. The food took quite a while to come and some elements of our cooked breakfast were actually nearly stone cold (beans, egg and mushrooms) which did spoil it a bit. It wasn't even that busy. We will try again as it was nice food but just a shame about the wait and cold elements

Written 12 February 2024

essexfarmers

Essex8 contributions

Coffee stop

May 2022 • couples

We decided to have a coffee break when visiting the Transport Museum next door. Had a very long wait (10-15 minutes) to be served even though there was no one else waiting so did feel slightly irritated. Coffee was disappointingly weak too.

Written 26 May 2022

katt

1 contribution

Poor service

Jun 2021 • family

Went in to order drinks, asked for a smoothie, but was told none available, so asked for chai latte which was on the menu, but told no chai available. Then ordered tea and coffee, which when charged for was different to the advertised price (the board behind the tills) after some discussion and talking to supervisor was given the correct price - but this took some persuasion. Then whilst drinking the tea I didn’t actually want the person at the table next door was given a chai latte - which 3mins earlier had been unavailable!!

Written 14 June 2021

Steven P

Hello Katherine, Thank you for taking the time to review us, Firstly I'd like to apologise for the issues that you faced when visiting my store. We normally get excellent reviews of our food, beverages and service so I am upset to hear that you have not had an enjoyable experience. We have been having many supply issues with all of our suppliers since we began to reopen fully where they all have shortages. This isn't an excuse but hopefully an explanation as to why we have had products missing. However I am disappointed to hear that the staff did not resolve the issues adequately on your visit. I would like to find out more information of your visit so that we can review and improve the service that we provide. Please get in touch by emailing stevenp@esquirescoffee.co.uk Kind Regards, Steven

Written 16 June 2021

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Mark C

Ipswich8 contributions

Godcakes and breakfast

May 2023 • solo

Cycled here from Ipswich for their 'Coventry Godcakes' a lesser well-known regional pastry. Baxters was an oasis in central Coventry situated next to the transport museum. Stacey was very welcoming and hospitable (even let me leave my bike in a safe place). Had the Baxters full English - which was excellent and the usb charging points were much appreciated. The Godcakes were excellent.

Written 29 May 2023

Dzintra

1 contribution

The best almond latte and pastries

Apr 2021 • none

I was recommended to visit Esquires Coffee in Coventry by quite many people, and for a quite a while I couldn't do it, but when finally I happened to be nearby I decided to pop into the store to get some treat for myself and my husband. Luckily, there was no queue, so I was served immediately by a nice and polite girl, who took my order and prepared it for the takeaway. I had some cookies and cakes, and an almond latte, which was so delicious. The design of the takeaway bag was very pleasant, and I can see that they are taking care of the environment, because it was recyclable. Anyway, me and my husband we very much enjoyed the treats and can highly recommend Esquires Coffee for a nice sweet treat, and not only that, they also do lunches that you can order online for yourself, your family or colleagues.

Written 6 May 2021