Best Friends Coffee & Bagels — Restaurant in Brownsburg

I wanted to try this place because I follow them on fb and all their specialty drinks sounded amazing. I went here on 07.04.25 with my son. We are both coffee connoisseurs (not really, but we know good coffee) and are always looking for new places to try. He ordered some chocolate cherry cordial frappe and the biscuits and gravy and I ordered the MIL chicken salad and a strawberry pina colada smoothie. I paid $41 for that, which is insanely high for what we got. Including the tip is shady and the owners should do away with it. This is not a service industry job like waitressing and shouldn't require a tip. My daughter worked at a coffee shop and tips were optional, which is how it should be. Anyway, biscuits and gravy were great. The sandwich was so so. The chicken salad didn't have a lot of flavor, but I know that's a subjective opinion and noy a reason not to go here. The smoothie was awesome. My son's drink, however, tasted like it was all chocolate and milk and cherry flavor with no coffee/espresso whatsoever. At all the local independent shops (Beehive, Cabin Coffee, etc.) you can clearly taste the coffee, so I don't know if BFC is skimping or what but they should listen to all these reviews complaining about the built in tipping and lack of coffee in the drinks. The atmosphere is great. They had the two extended parts of the shop blocked off with signs saying no seating in there, which is dumb because the main part has next to no seating for the amount of patronage they get. People were ignoring the signs and seating in those areas anyway, so did we. All the complaints about service you'll read in these reviews is kinda goofy. I get the cashier not being friendly or staff ignoring people, but this isn't a sit down or table service business so get over it. Someone also complained about the orders being distributed at different times (drinks and then had to come back for food) which is stupid. Every coffee shop, including Starbucks, does it that way. I agree with the person who said don't visit if you're expecting a coffee experience--you likely won't even know coffee/espresso is in there. If, however, you just want unique drink flavors/options, it's worth it. Honestly, though, even with less options, I'd rather go to another local place simply because of how overpriced BFC is, which sucks because it really is pretty neat atmospherically. Enough people don't care about that though so I don't see them going out of business...

I do not mind the 30 minute drive it takes for me to get here. I absolutely love this place!

Staff - The staff is absolutely wonderful. I've interacted with almost every member and they were all friendly and helpful. The GM (I think he typically works M-F) is the nicest! He remembers when I come in, which means so much in a world where most think "All black people look alike." I've been here a few times when Chico is working. He always greets me and welcomes me back. I love that he does not mind rolling up his sleeves to make food, take orders, make drinks etc. it shows pride, fairness and more. This behavior is reflective a great work environment and leader. He even updated me on changes that were occurring. It really made me feel apart of the community at Best Friends. There's a lady with curly reddish hair who typically works in the kitchen, she is the most polite no-nonsense, make you feel at home kind of lady! She keeps the kitchen running and the customers happy. In short, I love the staff.

Environment - I love the sense of community here at Best Friends, customers are greeted with a smile and a suggestion. I love that periodically they announce if you're a first-timer there's additional space in the back to enjoy. I love the color scheme. It is simple and bright and welcoming. I love that some parts of the space is segmented - the different levels make the space look interesting and bigger. Overall, walking in feels like a big hug. I've gotten so much work done here.

Playlist Choice - The music is always on point. It's a good mix of new and old, and all genres. This is very important in making everyone feel welcomed in the space.

The Foods & The Drinks - Bart's Journey is by far my favorite breakfast sammie! It has a good balance of meat and veggies and it's delicious! I can't wait to try literally everything else on their menu. I am a creature of habit so I usually stick to my Vanilla Lattes which they are really good here. I've tried the Pick Me ups sans coconut milk because I'm allergic but those are also very good.

Value- Overall, the value is great. It's about how much you would expect to pay at a coffee shop.

If you needed a review to decide if you should check them out, this...

When ordering the music is so loud that the person at the register has a hard time understanding what you are ordering. (Maybe if the speakers were placed in a different location.) I ordered a cheesecake chocolate muffin and received a blueberry cheesecake muffin. I was unaware of how it was made. I thought maybe it was cheesecake flavoring. The entire bottom of the muffin is cheesecake. When you bite into it. The part of the muffin that meets the cheesecake is soggy and mushy. I took one bite and threw it out. Disappointing to say the least. When I took a drink of the "Zombie Bride". I could not taste the vanilla or blueberry. I could only taste the coffee. I chugged it for the price that I payed. The honey cinnamon cream cheese, should just be called cinnamon cream cheese. There was zero taste of honey. My bagel was a cinnamon bagel and it was the only thing that was good. On the other hand my best friend ordered a blueberry bagel and it tasted like a plain bagel. Zero taste of blueberries. She also ordered a mixed berry smoothie. When her bagel was up. She believed that her smoothie was done as well. Until she was yelled at by the pregnant lady behind the counter. That told her that she was grabbing someone else's smoothie. So we waited for the mixed berry smoothie. They handed the smoothie to my best friend but her smoothie was infact a strawberry banana smoothie... It is safe to say after our first experience. We will not be back. It would have been different if it was just a small issue. But there were several issues with our trip. Hopefully, they will look into having more than one register. You could put one in a different room. It should help with the noise and the congestion. I believe that they are still working out the kinks. I might try it again but in a couple of years. Wishing the...