Amber W.
Yelp
I have loved and been loyal to Summermoon since moving to Austin in 2018. I have downright celebrated their expansion over the years.
Today, I am done with Summermoon Westlake.
The past year or so, they've become more inconsistent - I go to at least six different locations semi-regularly, three regularly.
Sometimes short pours happen.
That's life, right?! Not that big a deal.
Two weeks ago, I got a *really* short pour.
It was at a busy morning hour, they were packed... but it was just too short to let it slip. Busy or not, these drinks are $10 a pop and I wanted my money's worth.
The barista immediately acknowledged how short that pour was and went to fix it right away, hardly a word spoken. It was a seamless acknowledgement and action taken. The manager, however, not realizing I could see her, rolled her eyes multiple times and coached the barista on how to add more milk.
I emailed customer service and within minutes got an incredible reply: he was disarming, understanding, apologetic and genuinely kind.
That exchange alone doubled up my love and loyalty with Summermoon.
However, today, the same thing happened, but there was no busy rush of customers and the vibe was low key and slow. I ordered a large matcha with oat milk, with extra matcha.
The moment I picked up my drink, it felt too light. I was chatting with a friend, so I figured, it's just one of those days, i can let it go.
But then, when I got to my car, I opened it to add my sweetener and saw the top inch of my cup empty. (Note: pictures.) I walked back in to show the barista and she kind of shrugged it off and just said, that's probably because the foam dissipated and that's just the difference.
NEVER HAVE I HAD A MATCHA WITH AN INCH OF FOAM SERVED. Not at any summermoon. Not ever.
Not to mention, it's a latte and NOT a cappuccino...
If Summermoon doesn't know the difference, they probably have no business serving coffee...
Even if there was a lot of foam, never has it disappeared so quickly.
The second picture is after the foam disappeared and shows exactly how much drink I was served before I even took a sip. (1/3 of the drink was missing.)
The thing is, she then said, 'I can froth more milk if you want', but it was said with such mild inconvenience and apathy (after I've already been dismissed by an excuse) that I was genuinely taken aback, mainly because if I've just walked all the way from the parking lot back into your store
- IS THAT NOT THE ASK?!?
I said no just to get out of there at that point.
I imagine if it was her drink, she wouldn't hesitate to make it correctly.
I messaged Norman, the same gentleman who had so compassionately responded to my grievance two weeks ago, but he minimally responded by saying they'll 'fix' this but I don't know what exactly that means. Nothing was 'fixed'.
The thing is, a simple apology goes a long way. In fact, that's really all it would've taken for me to have walked out being satisfied even though I was objectively shorted on my ten dollar drink.
Coffee and matcha are a luxury at this point.
Summer Moon seems to value big business; disregarding their customers seems to be the cost.
Disappointing.