Thorntons

Thornton’s café is one of the units within the Fort Shopping Centre, you can sit inside at one of the in-​store tables (walk through the shop to get there) or also outside in a small ‘al fresco’ area. The main shop sells all the usual Thornton’s delicacies, and currently has lots of halloween themed items (as well as Christmas). I like browsing the shop as it has some nice original things which you cannot get elsewhere such as chocolate shaped cars, champagne bottles and things which can be personalised with writing icing.
I associate Thornton’s with specialist and ‘posh’ chocolates (when I was small the cappucino Continental was the epitomy of sophistication in my eyes) but I was sad to see that the chairs in the café were all worn, having lost their colour and covers. Ideally I would really like to sit on a velvet couch and listen to classical music whilst enjoying a luxurious Thornton’s coffee to match up to that ‘childs eye’ view of its brand, but this is just a functional and bright café, some wooden seats and some (vinyl?) seats. Some of the tables were very close together and it was rather busy at the entrance to the café area, although we got a seat by the window and watched the world go by.
The three of us enjoyed a large latte, double espresso and mocha, as well as sampling three different cakes (black forest, toffee and carrot) as there was a special offer for hot drink and cake. I watched in delight as the mocha was made with real chocolate flakes, not a powder, and imagined a delicious conconction of coffee and real Thornton’s chocolate. The added cream with more real sprinkles added to my anticipation (and they give you a free chocolate with each hot drink, marvellous!). I really enjoyed the taste of the mocha, but I found it was not mixed very well as at the end of the drink there were a lot of unmelted flakes. My friend said that his coffee was not very strong (OK, but not amazing), but the double espresso was quite tasty. We all really enjoyed the cakes, infact they were rich and moist, and two of them came with drizzled sauces to complement them (a nice touch for a café).
Overall I enjoyed my food and drink at a new (to me) coffee shop, and would visit again if I were at the Fort, but the tired décor leads me to only three stars, sorry Thorntons!

I love all things Thorntons… So much so that Scott and I visit the same store once a month to purchase the same items; hot chocolate, chocolate flakes and the dessert favourites box. Not that Scott knew before this review (sorry), but I sometimes sneak in an additional visit to the store in Dundee to pick up chocolate smiles, fudge and a selection of other chocolate treats! My sweet tooth is insatiable!
I love the flavours that can be crafted into such a small piece of confectionery — who knew that a chocolate the size of a 2 pence coin could taste as good as banoffee pie, if not better?! What about the delicious white variety of hot chocolate they serve? Or the ridiculously moreish chocolate smiles that seem to disappear rapidly from the jar… One just doesn’t cut it.
This particular visit to the Glasgow Fort branch was a little disappointing. I would normally hold Thorntons up as another gold standard for service in the specialist confectionery retail market but the service we observed today fell far short of what I expect from this company.
We arrived at the café counter and ordered two packets of hot chocolate flakes along with two bottles of water. The staff member on the till point was new — receiving training from the colleague preparing the coffee. The concern being the lack of focus and support for a trainee, given the barista was unable to adequately provide support while — clearly — struggling to cope with the demands of her own role. Both colleagues were pleasant — while the male colleague on the till point searched for the correct buttons on the till, the barista prepared our packs while asking for some assistance from another colleague. The senior colleague simply pointed out that the button was under ‘miscellaneous goods’ and continued walking towards the stockroom — not great service when this leaves the customer waiting a further 5 minutes for the colleague on the till to find the item code.
Perhaps Thorntons should stress the need for management to foster a culture where teamwork is the centre point of all operations.