I rarely ever leave reviews because I'm big on giving people the benefit of the doubt, but…read moreunfortunately this has become a consistent enough issue that I feel it's worth mentioning.
This is the closest Dutch Bros to me, so I visit this location pretty often. I've ordered the same drink for about four years at multiple Dutch Bros locations, and more often than not, my drink is made incorrectly here. Mistakes happen, and having worked as a barista myself for years, I have a lot of grace for people working in a fast-paced environment.
I want to be clear that I have not had this issue with the male baristas at this location. Unfortunately, on multiple occasions, I've been met with attitude from some of the female baristas when I've mentioned that my drink doesn't taste right.
Last night was by far the worst experience I've had.
When I received my drink, it was a completely different color than it normally is. I tried it, and it tasted bitter, so I politely let them know that I didn't think it was correct.
The dark-haired barista turned to the blonde barista and said, "Just stir it, all the flavor is just at the bottom."
I explained that I didn't think that was the issue.
The blonde barista then handed the drink back to me. I'm not sure whether it had actually been remade because it looked exactly the same. When I said it still didn't look right, she responded, "Did you try it? Can you just tell me what's wrong with it?"
I explained that I order this exact drink almost every day, that it is normally a completely different color, and that this one tasted unusually bitter.
Her response was, "Well, I just put even MORE syrup in it and made it extra sweet, so it should be fine."
At that point, I asked her to tell me exactly what was being put into the drink because I wanted to make sure we were talking about the same recipe. We went through the ingredients and were saying the same things, so I'm still not sure what went wrong.
Instead of trying to troubleshoot it with me, she continued insisting that the drink was correct and seemed increasingly irritated that I was questioning it.
After trying the "new" drink, it still tasted the same and had the exact same appearance.
Again, I completely understand that drinks get made incorrectly. I've been on the other side of the counter and know how stressful and exhausting food service can be. I would never leave a negative review over someone simply making a mistake.
What bothered me was being treated like I was being difficult for politely pointing out that something I order regularly clearly wasn't right. I wasn't rude, I wasn't demanding, and I wasn't asking for anything unreasonable. I just wanted the drink I paid for to be made correctly.
I really hope this is something management can address, because I genuinely believe there are inconsistencies in training at this particular location.