Dropped by today with some friends. I'd never heard of this place before, but I always like discovering new locations and trying them out.
The coffee shop itself is nice. There's a room off to the side with a few bookshelves stuffed to the brim with a lot of great titles. The wooden floor, the ambiance, and the furniture give it a very nice, homely feel.
Seating area in the front of the building is also great - it's not on a busy street, so you'll still be able to enjoy conversation while sitting outside and enjoying any nice weather. And spying on people walking by.
The reason my rating for this place is low is because of two things - the coffee and the customer service.
They use Ozo beans, which are delicious, but for whatever reason their latte just didn't taste as good as a latte straight from Ozo's coffee shop. Artisanal coffee shops are a dime a dozen now. It's hard for me to justify dropping by this place again when they use Ozo's beans but then can't match the drink quality. I don't mind driving 5 minutes to an actual Ozo shop nearby.
On top of this, the baristas were grumpy. Hardly mustered a smile, didn't bother really making conversation or saying hi. It's like having customers was an annoyance. I felt like I was a nuisance or something with the way they were looking at me. Sorry for buying your coffee?
Just grump. And the worst part was how rough and careless they were with the drinks. They didn't rinse their espresso shot glasses between pulls (eh?), they didn't rinse their portafilter or portafilter baskets between drinks (how old is the residue I'm drinking?), and they were setting cups and glasses down harshly like it was my fault they were slammed and understaffed. I thought my latte was going to spill over the edges with how hard the barista set down my drink.
Halfway through the lunch-hour rush, one of them just turned to the other and said, "I need to head out. Are you ok?" and the other barista just didn't respond. No, apparently she wasn't okay.
Now, I don't know if something happened. I don't know if they had had a fight, or if there are problems between baristas, or if they're dealing with things in their personal lives. I don't know. But I'm not supposed to know. It's none of my business. Customer service is a hard job because you have to deal with customers and keep your own personal problems at bay, and I really empathize.
But I was not a rude customer. I just wanted a latte, not a heaping dose of feelings of worthlessness as well.
If you're walking around town and want coffee then there are other great shops within walking distance, or if you don't mind driving, you could just drive straight to an actual Ozo coffee shop at the Village at the Peaks shopping center. Straight from the source, and the people there actually give the impression that they appreciate their customers. read more