Michael M.
Google
I originally posted a 1 star review because I wrote it at a very stressful time. My mother-in-law was in the hospital in Federal Way. She has a couple different issues, had a hard time eating and was weak and in need of efficient nutrition. We wanted to buy her a bunch of this Rojo juice because it would be so good for her restricted diet and would provider her with much-needed nutrients and energy. Well, I rescheduled my morning work meetings to allow us to drive to the market, park and be at the store right at opening. We arrived at 8:50am hoping someone might be there, but it was closed. At 9am, nobody the doors didn't open...9:15...still no one...at that time, I was getting frustrated because I had to decide to I forget it and ignore all impacts to my schedule, driving, etc only to not have the juice (i.e. a lot of inconvenience not to just me and my wife, but also my colleagues who had to adjust their schedules and huge waste of time), or do I wait another few minutes hoping the shop would open so I could get the juice and take it to the hospital (which would have made all the schedule gyrations, traffic, etc worth it).
In this frustration around 9:30am, I posted a 1 start review for being inconsiderate about people's time and not respecting their customers. The juice is pretty expensive, but super good for you (nothing really like it in the fresh, whole juice market) so it's a conscious choice to buy, but then to not be open when you advertise being open just felt like a slap in the face and like the success was getting to their heads and customers had to work around their schedules.
At 9:45, after I posted the review, my wife was talking to the store owner next door who happened to have the Rojo's owner's phone number. The owner said she got a flat and was waiting for assistance (I wasn't 100% believing it, if I'm being honest, but when I'm stressed and frustrated, benefit of the doubt kind of goes out the window). She said if we could wait for about 15 minutes, she would be there. I was "in for a penny; in for a pound" so we waited. It was more like 25 mins, but we she got there, we got our juice and we were able to take it to my MIL, and she loves it (so it was all worth it). Perfect for heart-healthy, multiple medical issues diets.
In recognition of the fact that we waited over an hour for her, the owner decided to not charge us at all for the juice, and we were buying over $50 of it so after thinking about it, I've pulled my 1 star review and upped it to 4 because she gave us a lot of juice to make up for our wait. 5 stars for food quality regardless. It is truly fantastic raw juice with no pulp which makes it very easy for those in the hospital -- it's easy as drinking water through a straw.
Taking one star off overall is because Market owners are like a business family and help each other out...if they have phone numbers of other owners around their store, and an emergency really comes up, they should ask a neighbor to put up a "Family emergency; ETA XXam" sign on their store so people know what to do. At least then we could've made a conscious choice to stay or go without getting incredibly stressed and continually shuffling my schedule. Outside of that, the service she provided once she got there was fantastic and the atmosphere is great -- how can you argue with a storefront right in the heart of the Pike Place Market which is kind of the heartbeat and spirit of the downtown Seattle that has existed for generations and is hanging on for life as the rest of downtown falls apart. We need to support these small businesses that have outstanding product because they are a key component of getting downtown Seattle to it's old vibrant self.
