Second Cup Café — Restaurant in Ottawa

Great selection of drinks and friendly service. Would recommend this place in a heartbeat. Recently, I also read a review from a poster named Rawan who totally bashed Second Cup and the owner Anu. My mom witnessed this interaction as she was there at the same time Rawan was. Their might have been a fly in the restaurant, but they were certainly not all over the cake display. Rawan said that her London fog was disgusting. However, Anu offered to remake it and asked her specifically what she wanted in it and when asked if she wanted pumps of vanilla syrup, which usually comes with it, Rawan said no that it was the likely cause of what ruined her drink the first time. Rawan took the remade drink and was drinking it, and took it with her. To add a note, Anu at all times was respectful, polite, and apologetic. Rawan on the other hand, was rude and verbally aggressive, she wrote a negative review right then and loudly stated that was she was never coming back. Personally, my mom and I have been to both Anu's second cups, almost daily and have never experienced anything but attentive service, excellent products, and if there is a case of a drink not being made properly by accident, they quickly remedied the situation, and are always friendly, even when they are slammed with customers. I'm not trying to slam Rawan, however my mom felt it wasn't fair, that she gives such a negative review based on one interaction, which she became the aggressor. If second cup has a policy, then Anu has to abide by it,...

If you go to a coffee shop, look at the menu, and order a "Latte", and the barista asks you "Is that with Chai?" or "Is that with Matcha?" are you allowed to answer that you just want whatever a "Latte" normally comes with? Is it safe to assume that the items on the menu have a stock recipe and stock ingredients associated with them?

I ordered word for word off the menu a "Flash Cold Brew: Mocca" and was asked "Is that with almond milk?" to which I replied "I don't know... is it?". My response was not received well and the barista taught me in a really assuming voice that "Some people want the one with almond milk and some people don't" at which point I replied in frustration "I just want the one I'm looking at on your menu. I'm reading Flash Cold Brew: Black, Vanilla Bean, or Mocca and I want whatever comes standard with the Flash Cold Brew: Mocca".

It turns out there is a new product called the Almond Milk Mocca Flash Cold Brew which is a variant of the product I ordered (hint: the secret ingredient is almond milk!). I would have appreciated if the barista explained this so I could understand the context of her question and reply with "I just want the regular one" but I guess it's the customer's responsibility to know all of Second Cup's menu...

The second star is because the drink...

Went thru the drive-thru at around 8:30pm tonight. When I got to the window and went to pay for my drink with cash, the girl at the window looked at my cash and said, "oh sorry but we don't take cash". I laughed and said, I beg your pardon, you don't take cash?! The young lady told me she closes the cash one hour before the store closes. I explained that that seems like a her problem, not a me problem. I then asked what would happen if I didn't have a card. She said she could only take exact change, WHICH BY THE WAY I HAD IN MY HAND THE WHOLE TIME! Nothing was said about the no cash thing when I ordered.

This was ridiculous and terrible customer service. Why would the cash drawer be counted and closed out 1 whole hour before closing?! Seems like a very strange business practice to me. And if this is your standard practice perhaps you should tell your customers before you accept their order. Now I can't help but wonder if my $7.05 ever made it into the cash register. I will NEVER go to this store again. I will go somewhere that is more willing to take...