Frankie M.
Yelp
We've been to this coffee house 2 times before the name change, also back when they offered their delicious Maple Bacon Latte. The man working the counter, whom we believed to be the owner explained to us the process in which they created their own house made syrups, for specific lattes to one's liking. Overall we were impressed by the uniqueness of varieties such as Maple Bacon and Salted Maple Bourbon. We were also pleased with the friendly and informative customer service to boot! Taking all of those objectives into account, we always kept the idea of visiting again a sure thing had we found ourselves in the Whiteaker neighborhood.
Sadly, this third time around (July 24, 2016 at 3:30pm) was a huge disappointment. They must have lowered their standards since the last time we stopped in and hired rookie baristas as replacements. The woman behind the counter (long dark hair, mid-twenties) acted aloof and was not very friendly. The service received wasn't your standard coffee house hipster vibe, which many coffee places give off naturally (I know, I've been in the coffee game a while), this was more of a "why are you even here?" type of vibe. It wasn't just me that felt this emanating from the barista, I was told by my partner he felt the exact same as we both got back in our car. To top it off, my drink wasn't even made correctly. How hard is an Iced Vanilla Latte? I was unable to detect any vanilla flavor in my drink, let alone espresso. Talk about leaving with a bad taste in your mouth, both literally and figuratively! The barista condescendingly added "more" vanilla to my drink after I complained about its lack thereof. At $4.25/12oz, it's fair to say I was taken back by such unprofessional service.
Now, the way I see it, paying customers should never be treated this way if you expect to run a viable business, catering to the public.
Maybe the lady was having a bad day, but that's not enough reason to slack on the job, serve poorly made coffee and make people supporting your shop feel unwelcome. No one deserves that kind of disrespectful behavior, not even the coffee.
I absolutely hope problematic employees such as this get trained better for the sake of: 1) Customers, that are satisfied and will continue to spend money at your establishment 2) Getting, keeping and maintaining a stable business 3) Employees themselves, if they want to make decent tips and still have an existing job. Everyone CAN win.
Rating used to be a 3 out of 5. Had high hopes for this place but until they correct some of these problems, i will not be back. Taking everything into account, a star was knocked off leaving the final rating of this coffee bar a 2 out of 5 for me.