Starbucks

NOTE: This review and rating pertains to THIS location of Starbucks alone, not the entire chain and/​or company.
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Yes, I’ll admit it — I LOVE Starbucks. No, I’m not a coffee snob, as I’ll drink the sludge variety too, but I do most certainly appreciate an amazing cup of joe.
Let’s start off with the good at this NEW (yay — close to home!) location of Seattle’s foremost java export: the inside and out of this building are now gorgeous. Obviously, in opening 12 million cafes around the world, the Green and White has learned something about making an attractive, inviting and warm place to consume God’s gift to caffeine and a solid WiFi connection. Lastly (yes, this is only the second «good» thing, and it is the last), service has always been prompt.
I’m sure that, being coffee royalty, they will iron out these nitpicks, but my gripes are as follows…
I LOVE the Clover (read up on it if you haven’t heard) and what this modern miracle does to coffee. I’m all in. So, suffice to say when I heard that this location, which is no less than 25 miles closer to my house than the former option, was going to have a Clover machine and Reserve Coffees, I cried. Tears of joy, that is.
Then I arrived for my first visit, and cried again. Not the joy kind, this time. They were out of all their reserve coffees except two, just a few days after opening. Oh well, right? They’ll restock. Well, either they do and this area of JoCo has been so thirsty for high-​end coffee that they continue to run out on a near-​daily basis, or they only get restocked every blue moon.
On my second visit, I asked a couple high level questions about the two (uggh) reserve coffees on tap. The gentleman taking my order provided me false information in response, albeit confidently. No, Cameroon is NOT located in Central America and should therefore not be described or classified as such. Yes, for $ 4.00 a cup, it makes a difference to me.
Same visit as that: the same gentleman informed me, 50 minutes before the store was set to close, that the Clover machine had been (voluntarily) shut down for the day for its cleaning cycle. If you close at 10:00 pm and expect to make money until that time, ALL items for sale in the store should be available until 10:00 pm, not 9:55, and certainly not 9:10. Big no-​no in my world.
Lastly, and similar to the aforementioned issue: the crew began cleaning up the store at about 9:30 that evening. Everything from emptying the food case, to vacuuming. Sorry kids, closing at 10:00 means closing at 10:00. Feel free to begin cleaning at that time, on the dot. If people loiter after that, it’s up to you to start shutting down and it’s in your right to do so. Before that, you’re messin’ up.
Sorry for the long review… It’s Monday morning, and I needed a break from work! Inquiring minds want to know, right?
I’m rooting for this location, seriously. Here’s to hoping they dust off the opening months’ rusty start and get it right soon!