Burgie's Coffee | South Ames — Restaurant in Ames

16oz hazelnut latte, iced, with a dash of cinnamon, but hold the employee attitude.

Burgies at Southgate is a generally well designed coffee shop with some patio furniture inside for a soupçon of (ironic?) low budget chic. There are too many large tables and only a few single or double spaces. Coffee ranges from passable to above average quality depending on who is in charge of the pucks that day. There’s a young man that does all of the “this makes me a viral tiktok barista” unnecessary aesthetic flourishes and flashy tricks when pulling shots and always ends up pouring a gram of awful tiger stripe silt into every cup. Employees stare at their phones and talk about customers in derisive tones within earshot. They will stand around in groups staring at customers waiting at the register because “the person assigned to the POS” is apparently the only person that can operate the complex mathematics and touch screen wizardry involved in ringing up an order; and that person may be away from the desk on break, or in the bathroom, or perhaps out to lunch. Many of them can’t even explain the menu or a basic history of the company, like it’s en vogue to not know or be ignorant while representing the business. It’s never a good look to (barely) explain the flavor profile of a coffee blend by reading the bag in front of the customer asking. Professionalism and work ethic pick up when the owner is on site, but it shouldn’t require his presence to do that. I have enjoyed the coffee here for almost a decade, especially the years when Luke was pulling shots, but those days are gone and the customer service has taken a notable hit since then. Order something to go and enjoy it somewhere away from The Plastics behind the counter.

UPDATE: Good to see that the owner that rarely appears is upset that I didn't see them personally. I'll be sure to take that up on the golf course, maybe I'll have better luck finding him there. Maybe that's too "inside baseball". I will give them credit, things have improved. The excellent fine cut gem is no longer wasting time "applying extra care" to simple things. The phones are down. The pecking order appears to have been disintegrated. Since the staff can't help themselves but blab about things in public, I know a meeting was had specifically about my sad and unprofessional review from "anime portrait and name" shortly after it posted that is at least partially to blame for the negative and egregious effect of improving customer service. Great! I have been so ungrateful as to continue frequenting the place and seeing if it improved, which it did (though I was told to stop coming in because I'm mean and have opinions the owner doesn't like, shhhh don't tell anyone I went...

Amazing, unsuspecting coffee shop located in the same building as a gas station (and a bank! Talk about a one-stop shop). Cozy interior, but I normally get drive-thru on my way to the dog park.

They unfortunately got rid of my favorite drink...the frozen latte. I liked it because although it was the texture of a frappuccino, they used cold brew and didn't use a million syrups in it. Therefore it wasn't disgustingly sweet like many of those drinks and actually contained coffee! They got rid of it because they were starting to make everything, including syrups in-house and the drink uses frappuccino powder. I hope one day they recreate something similar because it was truly unique! Though, I can admire their switch to better ingredients.

This is a great family-owned coffee shop with quality products. They use Picket Fence milk, which makes a huge difference in quality. The Jamocha shake is very good when you're in the mood for a very rich drink. My boyfriend got a malt there recently and it was shockingly delicious. I think it might be one of the best malts I've ever had, and I've had a lot. I don't go there quite as often now that my drink is gone, but we like to treat ourselves occasionally. Their burritos are delicious, too. Really, I've never had anything bad there.

I'd easily call this the best coffee...

I love this place, the staff are all amazing and friendly. The coffee and tea are always great and the staff is trained to make expertly crafted drinks from the espresso bar.

The baked goods here are all homemade every day so you even get freshly made biscuits on your breakfast sandwich! My favorite baked good is their scones, I've never really cared for scones, but their scones are so wonderful that I often end up getting one after already having breakfast at home. I then tell myself that I'm going to save it for later as a snack, decide to sneak just a bite, and then I eat the whole darn thing. Every time.

The final thing that makes this place stand out is their extensive manual coffee bar options. If you have ever considered buying a manual brew method or want to try pour overs, this is a great place for that.

They also sell whole bean and ground coffee, brew supplies, and they roast...