I went here with a friend yesterday evening, and it was a great experience. We were exhausted and…read morewent for a cold sweet drink to wake ourselves up.
The strawberry lemonade itself was nice - tart, sweet, cold - but not the reason for my review.
The customer service was amazing. The young person with curly hair helped us (I forgot to get his name). When we entered, there was a large Portuguese-speaking group of people getting many drinks, so it was a bit of a wait. The worker was making friendly conversation and asked them about the language they spoke, which is why I know it was Portuguese. He said his friend may speak it, but wasn't working at that time. (The friend/other worker came in later but I don't think he ultimately spoke Portuguese, but it was ambiguous. I think he spoke Spanish to some later customers though. I was pleased to hear multilingual service!) He apologized for the delay in taking our order (even though it couldn't have been more than five minutes) and was generally very kind and conversational. He seemed to be genuinely interested in everyone having a good experience.
While we waited, music started playing. It was at a nice volume and very positive feeling. The atmosphere of the large group and the worker was very pleasant, calm, and friendly. I think the music playing was Portuguese, at least some Romance language that wasn't Spanish as far as I understood, so it is possible this guy put on Portuguese music specifically for this group. They had a little baby with them and some of the music was very nice and clear like kids' music. Maybe I am wrong about the music part, but either way, I loved the music that played. It was the perfect balance of relaxed and happy.
I asked for a recommendation of the strawberry or passionfruit lemonade, and the guy said the strawberry because it is sweeter than the passionfruit, which is more sour. I like that the staff are familiar with the fare enough to give recommendations that are substantiated with details like that. After getting our drinks, my friend and I remained for five to ten minutes to enjoy the music and the environment before walking home.
When leaving, because the guy was so friendly, I asked about some cannolis I have been looking for (chocolate-covered shell with strawberry cream) and if the store or other stores in the city carried them. He told me this store didn't have that and naturally didn't know of any stores that carry that, but the whole conversation was pleasant and perfectly satisfying despite my remaining inability to find this cannoli in New York.
I know perhaps all of this is relatively unremarkable, but regardless, I must remark. I had spent a long day at work before this and was almost ready to fall asleep on my feet, but the interactions I had in this store (and the way this guy also spoke to and interacted with the other patrons) filled me with a comfort of community that I usually only feel in places where I am a regular. I don't think I will be a regular here, as I don't tend to spend much time by Bryant Park, but I think that this is very important and worth noting. I think this guy is doing his job right, but beyond that, treating people like people first and not customers first. I feel like in this day of increasing characterless corporate and chain stores, often people are too exhausted or rushed to really engage with the people they interact with at work or in public places. This place may be a chain for all I know, but the workers seemed to get along with each other (like when he called the other worker his friend rather than his coworker) and everyone was calm enough to be pleasant to each other. Therefore, perhaps this is also to the credit of the management of the store making sure that it is not so strict on efficiency or contrived time pressure, the employees can still take a minute to be curious about the people they're meeting.
Anyway, I am leaving this review to let this guy know I think he has a good vibe, and so the owner/management know that he is largely contributing to the positive atmosphere of this shop.
