North Star Coffee Shop — Restaurant in Leeds

It pains me to write this as I have been buying North Star beans for years because the coffee is excellent and the service in the store used to be too, but of late every time I go, I just end up wondering why I've subjected myself to the miserable staff to pay £14 a bag for coffee again. Half the people working there are just so visibly miserable and intolerably rude. I just wanted to pay for some coffee beans and the woman at the podium quite literally looked at me like she wished I was dead with hate in her eyes for asking her if I could pay for them, whilst saying please and thank you to her the whole time. Ordered some sweets to go and they left me standing at the end of the bar while they all couldn't be bothered boxing them until eventually one of the baristas asked what we were waiting for as they were out of tickets and then sorted them out. She'd asked the other really miserable lady to sort them, and she said she would, but then just, didn't bother. We had brunch here the other week on a random weekday (the place was not that busy at the time so not rushed off their feet) and the service was equally miserable from half the people we interacted with (the waitress that day was the same one who couldn't bother boxing the sweets today being honest) and the food wasn't what it used to be. It was so disappointing when I was really looking forward to it as brunch in town isn't something I get to do often due to work but it just wasn't worth the effort of getting there to be treated like you're bothering people for being there when they've for some reason taken a job in customer service even though they clearly hate customers. I won't unfortunately be going back and will just need to plan my supply better to have time to order from some of the many other suppliers in Yorkshire available online that are also high quality and ethically sourced. Maybe the owner needs to have some people he trusts but his team don't know drop in some day and experience what some of his customers are experiencing instead of just making excuses for why his miserable, rude staff are...

Terrible coffee and INCREDIBLY rude and condescending staff! I recently went with my family and was initially ignored by the staff and then eventually served by an incredibly rude and patronising server who eventually took our order. We finally got seated after receiving some condescending responses to our simple questions and were made to feel like we weren’t welcome. I understand that we wouldn’t be the target market for this business, however it was difficult to ignore that it was we were probably being racially stereotyped whilst we were there. We received our beverages and they were lukewarm (at best) and lacked taste and it felt like this was an attempt to shorten our time spent in the establishment. When we asked the waitress about the issues with our drinks, she simply did not acknowledge me. I felt completely looked down upon and made to feel very very small, so much so that we left very quickly after being ignored. I understand that people may have off days, however it felt extremely offensive and in the service industry or even just as human beings I would expect much better. I was hoping to leave some feedback as I left, however after waiting at the front desk for 5 minutes, I was once again ignored on my way out. Would definitely not visit again and I sincerely hope that the staff (and the business) look at themselves as individuals and review what is important to them and treat ALL people as they would want to be...

Atmosphere: Fine. Food: Also fine. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.

Staff: I’m genuinely baffled by the attitude of the staff here (specifically at the Clarence Dock location). It’s one of those situations where you wonder who they think they are. Sort it out!

This could be a fantastic coffee spot, but the way the staff speak to customers is unacceptable. I overheard one staff member telling a family they only had 5 minutes left at their table. The tone and delivery were so rude, it prompted me to write this review – something I rarely do unless I've had a good experience. I prefer to leave positive reviews, not these.

Having worked in the industry myself, from start-ups to chain bars, there’s one thing that remains constant: service matters. Unfortunately, almost every staff member (except one) delivered such poor customer service that I’m genuinely surprised this bar hasn’t become another closure statistic. It feels like it's surviving solely on brand reputation, not the strength of its staff.

My overall experience was well below par, comparable to a franchised Starbucks where service expectations seem to have disappeared. Such a shame, given the potential...