Starbucks — Restaurant in Alameda

I live in Oakland, much closer to the Starbucks off E. 9th right near Boston Market, however I take the extra few minutes to come to this Starbucks...it's just that much better! I know what you're thinking "it's a Starbucks, they're all the same"...but quite the contrary! This Starbucks is THAT MUCH BETTER! I came here recently and orders a drink, before I even left the register from paying they had it ready! Obviously this isn't something that can happen on the regular, it just happened to be slow that day...but they still made customers the priority! Which is important! They also close here a bit earlier on Sundays (can't recall the exact time, since also during Covid the hours are different) but I think they close around 7 or maybe 7:30pm on Sundays and they serve customers right up until the time they close, thankfully! (The Starbucks near me has a habit of no longer serving AT LEAST 30 minutes before their posted hours..usually 45 minutes early, I hate that Starbucks, HATE IT) Everyone at this one is also very sweet, professional, and has work ethic, which is what you need to run a business successfully, and that's exactly what they're doing here! Drinks are always HOT (or cold, depending on the order of course) and they don't completely load iced drinks up with ice, so you can actually have more than 3 drinks of an iced beverage. Plus everything I've stated has been on a consistent basis, not just once or twice, also very important! All in all, one of my fav...

A barista (who apparently was the manager) made several mistakes with drinks (needing to throw them out). She spoke rudely to a young black woman who also was working there. That same young woman had just taken my order. She was polite and got my order correct. She had just taken several other orders successfully. The manager delegated her to do certain tasks which were janitorial type tasks. I was there for about an hour and never saw this young woman at the cash register again. Later she came from the back wiping tears away. The rudeness was obvious and caused me to notice. That kind of behavior is intolerable and I will no longer go there. Either she has not been trained or she felt that her status allows her to use demeaning language when addressing another employee.

Two days ago I decided to visit this Starbucks. A different manager was there. Service and interaction between staff were MUCH better. My understanding from her is that there's ongoing training with the staff. She was extremely knowledgeable and knew exactly what I was talking about. I COMMEND Starbucks for hanging in with a staff person who needs further support/training. So much better than...

Great location with outdoor seating area. Real nice! Wish they clean the tables every morning. I felt like that I worked for them since I had to bring the wet napkin to clean the sticky tables and chairs and wiped out left over crum. By the way, some of the receptionists weren't very friendly. And some of them often forgot to give a 10 cents credit when bringing my own mug. Moreover, she/he often got irritated when reminded. Such a sad story happens in such a great facility from time to time. I did notice the senior staff (looked like the person who was more of in charge) was often courteous and friendly professional. Updates on 2018-6-2: Since my last review, this joint has put quite an effort to clean up the outdoor seating area. The chairs are now lighter and easy to repositioning without annoying noise. Tables are now cleaner. Garbage cans are cleaned before it’s full. It’s very enjoyable. Thumb 👍👍👍👏👏👏😍!!! Update on 2019-3-15 I’d like upgrade this ☕️ joint to 5 stars status. It has become clean and tidy in my recent visits. What a pleasant place to have a cup of dark French...