My husband and I entered the Obscura at 5 pm to find 2 members of staff looking bored and disinterested. We ordered 2 hot chololates which were close on £6. The cafe was generally extremely grubby. The tables, chairs and floor was in dire need of a good clean. While we were there, the manager arrived (assume he was manager, as he was booted and suited) and he proceeded to stack the spare chairs onto the tables, making a lot of noise and making us feel unwelcome. Another customer had arrived by this time and he was generally glared at for having the cheek to arrive so late in the day although the cafe was obviosuly still open.

Before leaving we visited the loos which were in a worse state than the cafe. If the Obscura wants to shut it's door at 530 they should shut to the public at 5 and not do their best to make the paying public feel totally unwelcome.

3 hours later we flew to Benidorm - what a difference. Everything spotless, smiling staff, hot chocolate with a brandy for 2 Euros.

Obscura - get your act together

My girlfriend and I visited yesterday for a lunchtime snack. We have been before and like the position. The standard of service we got yesterday was appalling. We waited for 10 minutes before being served, we only wanted a tea, coffee and do-nut. The coffee and tea were not very hot, pity we couldn’t say this about the do-nut though, it was warm. For this we paid £5.60. When the waiter came with the bill I paid in cash and gave him a ten pound note and 60p in change to get a fiver back. After another 10 minutes I asked the waiter for my change, I think he thought I’d forget about it or that I’d given him £10.60 by mistake and he was going to keep the difference. When asked he said “It’s on its way”. Another 5 minutes passed and we walked in to the cafe to get my change. The Eastern European waitress behind the counter asked abruptly “What table?” I had already told her that I had a bill for £5.60, gave the waiter £10.60 so needed my £5 change. The same waiter was now stood beside us and said “Oh, you want to go now?” He then indicated to the waitress that the saucer with the £5 in it was ours. There were no less than 15 saucers with change in them on the counter waiting to go back to customers. The waitress grabbed the saucer and said again “What table?” We told her what we had ordered and the value again, “What type of coffee?” was her terse reply, at this I shouted at her “That’s my change there in your hand and grabbed it.
The staff there are rude and very slow, possibly not too honest either.

Cafe Obscura must rely almost entirely on it's location for it's popularity. The unhappy faces of the staff are surely a reflection of the manager who wears a permanent scowl and who I have personally seen turning away parents with children wanting to use the toilet facilities, unless they become customers. Despite this the toilet is unclean and very smelly.
The hot drinks taste awful, being produced from an automated machine of the kind found in cheap hotels with self-service breakfast, and then ridiculously over priced. It is a shame that having achieve possibly the best location for a cafe in Bournemouth, the owners do not feel any obligation to provide good service or even a decent beverage. These are exactly the sort of cafes we Brits are fond of criticising when we find them abroad, but at least abroad one can usually get a cup of 'real' coffee and not some reconstituted powdered substitute. C'est typique n'est pas?

Although the cafe has a great position, it lacks ambience. The food and drink are mediocre, and the service was poor.