Juan Valdez — Restaurant in Bogota, Capital District

This café saved my life! I made the choice of sleeping at the airport. I arrived in Bogota at 8pm and had reserved a hostel that was a drive away from the airport. This was my first time being to Colombia and was not familiar with the money or taxi system at all. That, in combination of not speaking Spanish very well I decided to have a sleep over in the airport. My flight was not to leave Bogota until 11am the next morning so I had plenty of time.

I was in and out of sleep, partly due to my paranoia of someone running away with all my belongings and my souvenir gifts I had bought for all my family.

Once it had been 8am I finally decided to get up and find some food. I was also in dire need of some coffee so up I went. I didn't discover Juan Valdez until it needed my time to board. The aroma danced it way to me and I saw that they served affogatos and that was it.

I ordered one and that was all it took. I was instantly more awake than I had been 5 minutes prior. Before my group was to board I decided to order another one before I boarded. This café was the absolute best and the coffee was...

Juan Valdez Coffee chain, became very Americanized, maybe to compete with Starbucks. If you are looking for Colombian pastries and coffee, this is not the place. The coffee shop, even assumed the North American cultural custom, that the customer cleans the teable after they are finished. In a country where this culture is alien and labor cost is low, the only reason to implement this is to save a few pesos. The Juan Valdez coffee shops I visited in different cities, didn't even have the proper setting and containers to dispose of the trush. I had to clean someone else's mess to be able to use a table in two occasions, including then one at the airport, in the international departures, where I had breakfast, at El Dorado airport. The breakfast there was disappointing; The arepa was raw, the eggs cooked in the microwave and the cardboard around the cup, to avoid burns was a hazard, it was much bigger than the cup. The only colombian custom Juan Valdez Cafe kept, was the small coffee serving, it is half the size the small American coffee, how...

Sorry Juan Valdez, you have a lot of work to do regarding customer experience. The wait in line was long, with only 3 in front of me. When I got to the front I see it wasn't necessarily the staff but the order machines. Word a minute for the charge to go through. Secondly my coffee took 5 minutes to be prepared. There was enough staff that it shouldn't have taken this long. And then the coffee was given without a cover. I actually had to reach behind the counter to get one. The coffee itself was pretty good. I ordered a medium but the cup was so small. Maybe I was given a small cup but I didn't bother asking - not worth it. I get it, every location is different so I want to stress this is only the...