The Coffee Bar — Restaurant in Bennington

Time for some customer service training! My family and I visit The Coffee Bar at least once a week for the good coffee and though the manager is never cheery the gentleman pick up where she lacks with their smiles, sense of humor and fantastic customer service. This morning, I asked for a chai latte and I must have forgotten to say ice. I was served a hot latte and I apologized because I wanted ice. Kate (the manager) insisted that I didn't tell her ice. I apologized again and asked for ice. She went to the back for what I thought was a missing ingredient as I waited ten minutes, she didn't return. After waiting, I yelled from the front several times, "excuse me" getting no response. Finally I left my hot latte and began to leave when I noticed she came back out. I went back inside to ask where she went because I thought she was re-making my drink. She continued to say, "you didn't say ice when you ordered." Instead of arguing with a person that didn't understand customer service, I asked for my money back. She stated she couldn't refund me. FINALLY she said she would remake my drink (with an eye-roll) but the look on her face told me I better not. I left my coffee and my footsteps there for the last time, I will not be returning after that kind of service. People such as Kate, are the employees that push locals away and close the doors to a very cute establishment. My recommendation is get that girl some management training or hire a new manager or your doors will be closed before you know it. Sad to say, my family and I will not be returning and word of mouth gets around quickly in a small town. Off to Starbucks to add a little joy back...

Stopped by here on my drive home. The cafe latte was decent enough and the blueberry muffin quite good, but service was decidedly unfriendly, bordering on rude. I recognize it’s not the best job, perhaps especially on a Saturday morning. The payment screen offers customers a choice of 15%, 20% or 25% tips. I tipped as I always do out of respect for people in these service positions but the Coffee Bar staff definitely didn’t deserve it. If you visit, consider leaving a cash tip AFTER you receive your order. Otherwise you may regret that you tipped. I’ll spare the details of my experience. Suffice it to say I’m taking the time to write this in the hope that it may benefit future customers and to be completely candid, also to vent my displeasure. I also write in the (more distant) hope that reviews such as this one may nudge the Coffee Bar staff towards learning, appreciating and implementing the basics of acceptable customer service and recognizing that tips are not an entitlement but a reward for good service or at a minimum service that doesn’t prompt a customer to write a review such as this one. If you’re reading this, please check out other reviews, both positive and negative. Perhaps you’ll have a better experience if you visit or simply an uneventful one from a customer service perspective. I’ll be curious to see future posts just to see if there are signs of any positive changes at this...

This new coffee bar rocks! When the place is packed the barista‘s work like a team and are awesome, when it slower they also deliver great drinks. The design the layout works great considering what they had to work with, beautiful artistic ways of doing the lights and how they displayed everybody’s artwork is really nice seeing all sorts of local people I know. Haven’t got to go see a show yet because it keeps getting sold out but looking forward to the next one! And then getting hooked on all the hot chocolates, chai lattes and coffee that I can drink and those cinnamon rolls may be a little too addictive so I might switch to a cupcake to calm the cravings and that coffee cake is pretty good too so decisions can be tough! All in all great experience, looking forward to possible breakfast sandwiches...