AK Alchemist Coffee — Restaurant in Alaska

I'm very disappointed. I've been coming here almost every day for the last 3 months for coffee, and it's been great. The service, coffee, and atmosphere were 5 stars easily.

This last month I've been working different hours so I've been coming in the morning (6:30 am) vs afternoons (3pm) and every time I've been turned away. At first the gentlemen who I believe to be the owner told me they were closed today until 7, which was fine I understand things happen so I came by a week later at the same time (6:30am) and he told me his barrista was running late. That's perfectly acceptable, I understand. These roads have been rough lately. Yesterday I stopped by at the usual time and I only saw him in there and he gave me a motion that he couldn't make coffee through the window, so I gave him a thumbs up and left. Today, I stopped again, this time at 7:30 a.m., and he told me he didn't have anyone that could make coffee. I asked him what times he's usually open, and that I've been here multiple times in the morning and if I should go somewhere else in the mornings (seeing how he can't make coffee in the morning) he told me "That's up to you" to which I responded with "I just don't want to be driving here every morning for coffee if you guys can't make it". I wasn't trying to be difficult, but if it's consistently happening where you can't offer service in the mornings, I'd like to know so I don't just get waived off when I stop by.

The gentlemen told me, "That's up to you. You expect people to serve you coffee at 6 am. Nobody has to serve you. You can go get coffee at Starbucks, 7/11, McDonald's, I don't really care." I left after that. Wow. What a response. I am very disappointed, I liked this little shop. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll...

I ordered my burger medium rare yet it arrived dry and overcooked all the way through to the point of being burned, as if to spite my order of medium rare. Coupled with the fact that it was not served with mayonnaise resulted in a ridiculously dry and ridiculously overpriced burger that is easily bested by any fast food restaurant in town.

In fact, the very next day I went to the most rundown Burger King in the worst part of town just to compare their Whopper with cheese to AK Alchemist’s “burntger”™️ and sure enough that Whopper with cheese was magnitudes better than what AK Alchemist served. After eating my Whopper with cheese (never forget the cheese), I told the entire Burger King staff how their food was unbelievably better than the overpriced fancy restaurant I’d eaten at the previous day and I thanked them sincerely. (The responses I got were: “Thank you”, “I like that guy”, “I don’t know what to say” and a thumbs up with a downward nod.)

The next time you see the statue of Ronald McDonald on top of the kitchen of AK Alchemist, let it be a reminder that you’re better off going to any fast food restaurant in town rather than wasting your time and money on an AK Alchemist burntger™️. It’s almost as if that’s why ol’ Ronald McDonald is up there. And if you ignore that advice, he’ll be up there smiling down at you as if to...

Update: Since the change to winter hours I've been disappointed. Main issue is the early close, at 6 pm, but service had also slipped. I ordered tacos 30 min before close today, went to pick up 15 min before close only to have the order wrong and the cook explain that he had to restart the grill because "they were closing", either you close at 6 or not. Then I get home to find half the amount of taco filling as usual. Very disappointing, I've gone here several times a week the last few months, spending hundreds of dollars in food/drinks only to see the place decline.

Fantastic food, both the tacos and fajitas (I always get carne asada). The coffee is also pretty good, on par or better than most of the other coffee stands. My only complaint would be the evening service, I usually do drive through pick up for dinner and there's often only one server. They're always running between the bar and kiosk, doing the best they can, but with only one person service does...