Barista Blues Cafe — Restaurant in Battle Creek

Went today for lunch to support a local restaurant. I ordered the Italian sandwich which comes with chips and a pickle, and I ordered an iced tea. While I am standing aside waiting for my carryout order, one of the dine-in customers calls a server and sends back her drink to exchange it for a coffee. I see the drink set behind the counter. I notice the lady who took my order side glancing at me as if to see if I was watching and half turning, as if to shield what she was doing. She was putting a lid and a straw on the returned drink. I thought surely not.. but I decided to wait and see what happens. A few minutes later my sandwich is done and packaged and she brings it to to hand to me, along with the returned drink from another customer's table! While she was holding it out in front of me, I said, "I don't want that drink, it was returned from someone's table." She said oh I made a mistake your drink is over here and proceeded to go back behind the counter and pour me a fresh iced tea and bring it to me. Now, we are all human and make mistakes and it is possible that I misread her glances and actions. However, I honestly felt very uncomfortable, regardless of whether I was mistakenly or knowingly served a beverage that had been sitting at someone else's table for several minutes and was returned to the counter and then repackaged with a lid instead of being immediately dumped or placed somewhere else besides where fresh food was being prepped. Even pre-Covid, that is just unacceptable. As far as food, the sandwich was mediocre, just regular white Wonder bread type with some toppings like I could have made at home and a bag of regular Lays chips. There was no pickle included in my box, I think...

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this place -- is it an Italian eatery or a coffee shop with a lunch menu? Even after eating there, I am honestly not quite sure. The decor looks a bit like a dated Italian restaurant, but the name and menu leave me undecided. My friend and I went in for a weekday early lunch and so tried coffee, the quiche, and a sandwich. Firstly, I enjoyed the quiche pretty thoroughly. The crust wasn't crisp, but I don't really expect that of restaurant quiche because reheating just has to happen in order to serve warm quiche over several hours. The sandwich, while not bad, was nothing to write home about. It looked like a sandwich I might have made for lunch had I not gone out to eat. The milk in the cafe au lait was not steamed properly and so was not silky and smooth like steamed milk should be, but was instead unevenly steamed with large bubbles. It's not the end of the world, but I expected a higher quality of coffee from a place with "barista" in the name. At the end of the day, it's not a bad place...it's just not somewhere I'm likely to...

I was in Battle Creek for a quick work trip and this was close by. The two ladies inside were so welcoming they honestly made my whole day with their compliments. I order a bacon grilled cheese babbyyy is gave me everything I needed and more. I had to close my laptop so I could enjoy the meal, it came with fresh fruit and the cutest little brownie! The decoration were the icing on the cake and I would recommend anyone to go. Even just to talk to that two ladies they...