Aroma Maya Coffee & Donuts Dartmouth — Restaurant in Dartmouth

I have gone to both the Truro and Elmsdale locations and really enjoyed the selection and taste of the items. I was looking forward to the Dartmouth location, but I think management has a lot of work to do to ensure this location matches up with the others.

The first visit was shortly after they opened. The line was out the door, as I expected. By the time I got to the front, pastry options were slim and there was a long wait for drinks. So I bought two donuts, both of which I found to be too greasy. This was not my normal experience with Aroma so I figured I'd wait a bit and go back.

It's now mid January and I was in the area. We went in and there were only 3 people ahead of us with many others already sitting enjoying their food/drinks. The first 2 in line were together and didn't get drinks, the person directly ahead of us did get a drink. We ordered a latte, two of the refresher type drinks, and half dozen donuts. It came to $32 I think.

The good: they had a great selection of donuts for a Saturday afternoon. The birthday one with pink icing is my favourite and tasted really good. We also tried the vanilla with charcoal and chocolate with vanilla, both also really good. Also good, the 2 staff people (I only saw 2) were really trying. They were polite and obviously hustling around to complete orders. I heard phone orders and drive thru while waiting. 2 of our drinks were good, and I enjoy their lattes, it's a great bean they use. Bathroom was clean.

The bad: we were there 30 minutes total, 20ish of which was waiting for the drinks. I'm honestly not sure why this is such an area of slow down. While we were waiting, a customer who had been sitting with a few others when we arrived, went up to ask about their hot chocolate. Based on when we got there, they had been waiting at least 20 minutes for a hot chocolate. The two 16oz refreshers we got were a bit of a disappointment. One cup was filled noticeably less than the other. Strawberry kiwi was a hit, while the mango dragon fruit tasted odd (like peach my daughter said) and was not a great aftertaste. Not exactly sure what was going on with that, but after waiting so long we had to leave and I couldn't wait to get the drink fixed. The Nutella filled donut did not taste like Nutella. Looking at the description after, it's like a hint of Nutella added to items for the filing. Also, the bathroom didn't have paper towel. The Nu

I felt bad for the workers there. They were trying and I don't blame them, unless of course they were directly responsible for staffing the right amount of people and training, because it really shouldn't take that long. Honestly, they shouldn't have opened a drive thru right away because they can't get orders out quick enough and with only 2 working, that's not enough to keep up with the inside volume. I'll wait a bit before trying a third time and hopefully they can get these kinks worked out, at which point I will...

Went to go buy breakfast for my dad and myself while visiting him at his retirement home and was greeted by the 2 employees then told to wait a moment while they got donuts ready for later as if they didn't it, they would be out. No biggie, I waited 2 maybe 3 minutes max until the lady came back to the cash to take my order frantically. I said I'm gonna need 2 breakfast sandwiches, one will be on a sesame with butter. Then she asked Bacon, egg, n cheddar, or sausage, egg, n cheddar? I said Bacon for this one. For some reason she starts repeating "sausage, egg, n cheddar" about three times very fast and I look down to see the screen saying "sausage, egg, n cheddar." I had to repeat myself a handful or more times after that just for her to end up with both sandwiches being the same, which I also had to point out and correct as well. Even after the bad experience of getting my order thru, I still tipped in hopes of my food not getting messed with or being poorly made. Andddddd let me tell you when I got back to the old folks home that breakfast sandwich was the worst concoction of "breakfast" I've ever witnessed after mistakenly taking a hunger induced bite. The bagel which was supposed to be an all dressed bagel toasted with butter was a burnt sesame bagel, the sausage had the texture of uncooked and obviously looks uncooked. Don't forget this place is 'artisan' which is big fancy terms for 'overpriced.' I don't drink coffee but others have said theirs is bad unless you use their flavour shots which is probably just another ploy to...

Customer Service: Had a very uncomfortable experience here today. First time visit. Ordered online based on a friend’s recommendation and received a notification that it was ready. Arrived and waited at the online pick up side of the counter for about 5 minutes, no one greeted us. So we moved over to the line up. Order wasn’t ready. No problem. We planned on sitting in anyways. While we were waiting there was 2 clearly newer staff members working, both ESL and what I assumed was a supervisor/manager. The supervisor was EXTREMELY condescending, and patronizing to these 2 employees. Ordering them around, hollering at them from one side of the bar to the other, and even took control of a drive thru order via headset and was VERY rude to a customer regarding bagel flavours? Come on. It’s coffee. It’s not that serious. Customers in the store looked uncomfortable on how brazen and downright rude this employee was. Truly ruined the excitement I had of visiting all week. I don’t think I’ll ever return.

Food: Breakfast sandwhich on a bagel was smushed to a pulp and sliced down the middle. Bagel was hard to chew. And dripping in mayo. Maple donut was excellent. Also ordered a Mezclado, and would not order again. Reminds me of old school Tim Horton’s Ice Capps - after a few sips, it’s a cup of blended ice.

My hope is the company reconsiders who is leading and training their team - with respect for one another and collaboration is its top priority....