Joe & The Juice — Restaurant in Uttlesford

On my way through Stansted on June 22nd I placed an order at the juice bar and stepped aside as instructed to wait for the order to arrive. It was my first time inside this bar and the menu looked attractive but I was immediately taken aback at their erratic system of shouting out the first name of the person waiting for their order when it was ready. Fine I thought if you've an unusual name but what happens if, like me you have a very common name such as Paul, Mark, Peter, Mary or like me, John! Sure enough, on three occasions the name John was called out and I stepped forward. So too did two or three other Johns. Same thing happened with other names and I wondered what would be so awful about having a ticket system. It seems to work everywhere else. Anyway, 20 minutes later I began to wonder and as my flight was soon to board I stepped forward and asked, again, about my order. I was asked my name. "John" I said. "Oh that's been taken" said one of the counter staff. "Well I've been standing here for the past 20 minutes" I said "and I've met all the Johns and all of them had different orders". At this point the girl who had been taking orders shouted out to the floor that they were no longer taking orders and so the queue began to disperse. Again I explained my predicament and asked how long more I'd have to wait. No clear answer was forthcoming so I then asked for a refund along with asking if it was their first day. Would I go there again??? Very unlikely. If the owners can't be bothered to train their staff, in my opinion it simply displays a contempt for their customers. Life and airport travel is stressful enough without having to deal with...

Joe & the Rude

I generally expect to encounter obnoxious men in their 20s at any Joe & The Juice branch, but this one is particularly awful.

The manager behaves like he’s an army general to his staff and customers. He acts as if he is doing us a favour by selling their overpriced products. He lacks the bare minimal common courtesy and doesn’t ask but orders customers to follow his instructions, almost shouting. He was incredibly rude and talked over me several times. What an awful interaction. I was having a lovely day until then. I would have left if I had the time to queue at an alternative place and risk missing my flight.

Why be unpleasant and spread tension around when you could positively contribute to your customers’s (and staff’s) day instead, is beyond me!

It’s not surprising that the atmosphere behind the counter is tense amongst his staff. No smiles at all, only miserable faces. I felt bad for them.

His knowledge of his products is as poor as his attitude. He couldn’t tell anything about the beans, blend or roast of the coffee they sell - which was of low quality and badly made. Pretty awful.

The açaí bowl is so diluted in goodness knows what, that you can’t really taste the açaí and there’s barely any granola on it as well.

The juices are nice, but not worth the...

Jo & The Juice, with… no juicer?

My first ever experience ordering at a Jo & The Juice was not the best by any means.

Tried to order a juice only to be told the juicer is not working. I was then told to pick something else on the menu, while a large queue behind me continued to build up. While feeling rushed, I picked an item that did not require the juicer. Why does a shop that specialise in juicing only have 1 juicer?

I don’t really blame the staff, they’re just getting by. That being said, the service was not good. 1 person was preparing food with gloves on, only to then use the till. Completely defeats the purpose of wearing them.

The same could be said with the man that served my partner a coffee. He was responsible for manning the till, while also preparing the coffee. It became quite clear that he has no training in making coffees, and he certainly was not a barista. Once my partner got her coffee, she realised there was no sweetener available and no coffee cup lids.

All this going on while bar volume music blasts through the speakers overhead. Can someone please turn the music down?

If you want no juice, and a coffee with over-steamed (burnt) milk, make a trip to the Jo & The Juice at Stansted.

Not going back to any Jo & The...