Consistently, hopelessly appalling. I have been abused by this snack bar so many times, in so many ways, that I need to warn the unwary.
Don't get sucked in by the fact that this is the only coffee dispensary in the lakeside shopping centre - wait until you reach the Downtown...What is most impressive about this....facility.....is that they can get it wrong so consistently, and on a different level each time. The coffee is poor - everyone in Nelson agrees on that one. It survives because it is the only coffee outlet in our lovely Lakeside mall, and it is friendly to seniors, who often need somewhere to sit down.
Concern 1: never the same server twice. Doesn't matter if you visit every week, the server has changed. What does that infer about management?
2. abysmal service, from those serving their time. When I last succumbed (October 2010), I asked for two coffees: one a regular drip, and the other an espresso. I was told that that was only one coffee, as "espresso isn't a coffee, it's espresso". I then received the sort of blank stare I had hiherto thought was only reserved for Parking Attendants. Was I made to feel stupid.
Previously, I have also experienced: cold coffee/cardiac-inducing over-sweet coffee/incorrect coffee and coffee being left on the serving counter without the order being called out (see 'cold coffee')
3. wait times. A line up of any more than one person in front of you spells a 5-10 minute (or longer) delay
4. quality of the comestibles. Don't touch the food - it seems to have been there for eons, and that's exactly how it tastes. They have cut down on their prepared food 'offer' recently....maybe because people are finally realising that there is better food in the supermarket across the way?
5. Prices - talk about exploiting a monopoly! Nelson is full of coffee shops, but the mall is not. Spend far less and get far more just 1 mile away in the town centre.
The point is that in a small town which is wonderfully supplied with fabulous coffee shops, you would do well to avoid the Java Garden, as it is only there because it pays the rent, not because it provides a good cup of coffee. read more