Black Coffee ATL — Restaurant in Atlanta

This is my second time at the location in The Vivian. First time I walked in I noticed no physical menu. No issue, I know what I'd like to order. Iced coffee please. The lady behind the counter was having trouble finding the item on the POS and didn't interact with me much at all. I overheard it was only a few days after they opened so I chalked it up to unfamiliarity with a new system. The iced coffee was fine I guess. Nothing really noteworthy. I might have even asked the barista more questions about the coffee they used if I had a feeling they would know the answer. Fast forward to Jan 10th '25, snow day in the city. Props to Black Coffee for being open on a day like today. Same thing, no physical menu, but this time I notice the QR codes that are by the order counter and am told it's a link to the menu. (I recall them being there first visit too, I just don't scan random unlabeled QR codes.) upon looking over the digital menu I notice the lack of pricing. I ask the barista what the cost of the sandwiches are. She says it depends on the sandwich and what's in the sandwich. Which is a great reason to have pricing on the menu. For example, they have an item called The Bodega Sammich: your choice of meat, your choice of cheese, your choice of bread, + a fried egg and special sauce. But nowhere on the menu is a list of the meats, cheeses, or breads to pick from. And it seems like the price would change depending on which ingredients I pick. Why not just have a more thoughtfully designed menu? I'm not taking a gamble on the food this time- it's snowing, I'll order an americano. She rings me up and walks away with the tip screen up and it's automatically set to pick a 15% tip. I had to do a double take, the price for my Americano pre-tip post-tax was $7.36. I kept the tip off. I don't know enough of the variables at play, but an americano from Portrait down the street plus a three dollar tip still costs me less than $6.36. Anyway- I accept the fate of my $7 Americano, I could have asked more questions about the price or not have paid when the prompt was up, but I felt the pressure of being the person first in line. A few minutes later an approximately 12oz coffee cup is placed in front of me- my Americano is here. I reach out to pick it up off the counter- it feels light. I pop off the lid and it's less than 4oz of liquid. Just tastes like a shot of espresso that was being pulled too long. Kinda weird. Overall, I don't think I'll continue to support this business. There are other shops that have more transparent pricing and higher attention to detail. There have been multiple reviews pointing out how the menu has no pricing, and the leadership here refuses to change. That's fine, there's other coffee shops I can walk to...

Whoever answers this IG page’s messages needs to be removed for their petulant and snarky attitude.

I used to be a satisfied and very frequent supporter of this establishment years ago when they came to Castleberry Hill, especially since it was black owned. I got to know a few of the baristas who were really cool, including the young woman who was tragically murdered by her boyfriend and that the then owner, Carl, would not let others off work to attend her funeral. Hmm.

A few weeks ago, I attempted to ask who the owner now was being that they had switched locations. I was told it was privately owned and was asked what they could help with.

When I explained that I was asking about ownership because I was concerned about former baristas being treated poorly and not being paid (which explains why I would show up to the shop and it was either closed during hours it was very clearly supposed to be open or there was one barista working), I was met with hostility and unnecessary pushback that the former baristas were merely disgruntled and then told that I “shouldn’t judge” because “I’m a Christian.”

The last time I checked, asking someone questions and holding them accountable to how they treated their BLACK employees as a black owned establishment is not judgment, but using discernment.

When someone is trying to gain clarification on if the owner is still the same, a simple yes or no answer will always suffice. But the way I was responded to and then blocked told me all that I needed to know.

If this new location had new ownership and a better attitude, I’d be happy to support. But I do not recommend supporting this place since this is how a formerly loyal supporter was treated.

There are other good local coffee shops to patron that do not have nasty customer service or a history of treating their employees poorly without apologizing and trying to make...

I’m honestly just following up to leave a review of me and my partners experience because it doesn’t allow you to reply to the owners reply and I want to “elaborate.”

I will preface by saying it was definitely busy which is why I’m leaving this at 4 stars bc I understand this is not a reflection of the business owners directly but rather the staff.

1. we asked if the drinks were double shots and were told they were not. I asked specifically for a quad shot and got such a confused frustrated look that I would ask for such a thing that I said never mind and held my tongue. It was indeed $9 for the drink which is already a lot, understanding now that it was indeed a double shot, at the time it seemed outrageous.

2. we also found it weird that the barista did NOT use the knock box. We are very familiar with what a trash can looks like and believe it or not we were impressed with the whole in counter setup of both the espresso machines as well as the knock box. That is not what happened. The puck went into the trash can, home boy pulled it out, and dusted it off like it was nothing. No rinse or nothing.

3. it took 30 minutes. This part I’m actually not that upset about staff wise. There were only two of them and this place serves food meaning that 1 guy basically was making food and drinks while the other was at the register.

Last note, staff was nice and chill tbh. I normally wouldn’t have even left a review. We surely do not have this place confused with another spot. You have QR codes all over the place to leave a review. I get that you want to protect your business but the attitude of assuming every customer with a complaint is an idiot is a horrible assumption. Not the first coffee shop we’ve been to, but definitely will be the...