Nope.
Their coffee is excellent, both the whole bean, the cold brew, and the coffee beverages. It's an exceptional product. But you cannot -- CANNOT -- coast on the product alone.
I've been a customer at this location, the downtown location, and the booth at the Kendall Yards Night Market. I'm a city person and a frequent patron of coffee houses worldwide, so I'm used to bad service and surly baristas. I don't write negative reviews on one bad experience, unless it was egregious. I gave Indaba ample opportunities to NOT make my purchasing experience incite rage sufficient to burn the place to the ground. They have failed consistently across the board.
(1) A recent experience at the Kendall Yards booth is pretty much indicative of the service you can expect. I waited for approximately twenty minutes in the hot sun while the desperate boothie tried to get in the pants of the two women in front of me, plying them with samples of the cold brew. They didn't buy anything. They didn't give him a phone number. They didn't even friend him on Facebook. I wanted to buy a bottle of concentrated cold brew ($15-$16 a bottle, depending on which employee sells it to you, no kidding) and clearly, a paying customer is far less of a priority for some dumb little boy than finding someone to polish his knob.
(2) I went in to buy beans. I wanted a specific brew, and I was looking to them for advice and suggestions. And -- are you kidding me? -- the people working the front counter don't know much about the coffee they sell. And they don't sell pounds, or half pounds, or any other measure, more or less. They sell 3/4 pounds. And it's over there. (Points vaguely.) They sell COFFEE. And the people taking your credit card DON'T KNOW OR UNDERSTAND THE PRODUCT. They can make a drink costing $4-$5, but don't seem interested in selling a $20 bag of coffee beans that isn't a full pound. It's like a auto dealership focusing their business on seat covers.
Really?
To the precious little cupcakes at Indaba -
If I want attitude, I'll go to Atticus. I may get a barista with the perky personality of a cornered wolverine, but they KNOW THEIR COFFEE. They can talk about the beans they sell with the expertise of an experienced sommelier, even to the descriptives used in describing wine.
If I want good beans, I'll forgo the convenience factor, and drive to Doma in Post Falls. That's right -- I'd rather go to another state than deal with your crap.
If I want cold brew, Roast House's bottled F Bomb is excllent, and I'd much rather give them my business.
After my experience today, the cop who stopped me on the Maple Street Bridge going 50 said he understood why I was angry and that he avoids Indaba, and suggested another nearby coffee house. And the people at that coffee house had some interesting/negative gossip about certain employees at Indaba. And suggested a couple other places to get beans.
That says it all. read more