Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen — Restaurant in California

It’s pricey, but they have pistachio milk, and their mocha is good. Barista makes a good coffee. Breakfast I’ve had with a super tasty. Thumbs up on product.

Thumbs down on service. I understand they are slow, no problem, come prepared, they are slow, but it’s good.

But the passive aggressive under the breath service is too much.

Had to check on my drink, the barista tells me she has my order in her hand. “Great. Thank you.”

A few names called. Not me. I see someone after me with their drink. I ask again, “No mocha for Daniel?”

“There’s a mocha out there.”

“Yeah, but that says it’s for Brenden.”

“That’s the mocha you ordered.”

“What’s in it?”

“Whatever the ticket says is in it.”

“The ticket is gone now and that’s why I’m asking. C’Mon ladies, I tipped $3.00 on $10 coffee.”

Barista rolls her eyes! lol.

Look, I’m not THAT important, I can totally get over this. They are busy, it’s slow, I get it. But I tip to be nice, not to get my way. I go to a nice establishment that broadcast human dignity on their walls, I do expect a little human decency as we exchange the goods. I don’t want to be suspicious that they don’t offer to add my points to my account because they don’t care. Or that they deliberately use a smaller voice when they call out the names. Or that they don’t care 2 seconds enough to remember to write the correct name on the order. I don’t want to wonder why the barista doesn’t look me in the eye and say to me, as I stand 5 feet away, “your coffee’s ready.”

It’s too much work and I’ve been through too much to start doubting my intuition now. Nah, you keep the hate. I know what I see. The elder that walked out with me heard and saw it all, and even she felt like she had to apologize to me for the girl. “If this is the worse thing wrong with my Sunday, I’m still doing way fine! But I wont be back!” Lol. Hell to the nah.

I wont be going back. No way. And its way worth my time to call...

Hello To All!

Hope all are well!

Close your eyes & Imagine what you think or picture definitively what you know of the modern espresso based urban coffee establishment..........mmhmm, that is exactly what it's like! SHOUT OUT TO TOM SEGURA!

The minimal, mercantile decor, you know the exposed ceiling & rafters with the beams & air conditioning piping. Accentuated by the kitschy, eclectic & ever idealistic mostly millennial female crew, richly mentally resilient but coffer shorted.

Couple this with a tension filled aroma(nationalities who call themselves races & ethnicities, who KNOW THEY ARE NOT EQUAL but smarter than their collective education levels, to be so collectively ignorant. e.g. whites, blacks, latinos, pacific rimders(my word) etc. trying to avoid eye contact or muster uupa smile of assurity) with the ever pretentious entrée.

But the coffee & edible fair is good, priced for the more readily afforded patrons to indulge. As with any place that allows public access, keep in mind that it is not your place of business.

Enjoy If You...

Look I can very clearly see that a lot of people love this place. I, however, live across the street but will drive ten to fifteen minutes to get coffee from somewhere else. I have NEVER had coffee from hilltop that was good. When I have gotten a latte from here, the drink is consistently bitter and the milk is too hot. It is so bad that I can not drink it. Consistently. Also, the menu is really confusing. Like who is ordering a corn and acai breakfast bowl. Definitely not me. I suggest they scrap the whole menu and hire a consultant with experience putting together a menu. Again, this seems to be another situation where people had an idea (start a coffee shop), but no experience in coffee or running a restaurant, and were able to execute it well enough to please the people in this neighborhood. However in the grand scheme of LA coffee and food culture, Hilltop is well...