Midnight Coffee — Restaurant in Coralville

Big fan of supporting local coffee shops that isn’t Starbucks (or any like it). I visited this place a few times and really liked the atmosphere, coffee and breakfast food items. My two complaints are:

1. the current staff doesn’t greet you when you enter the place or acknowledge you in any way. They just stand there behind the register looking at you until you say your order. I had gone on two separate days back-to-back (1/21/25 & 1/22/25). Customer service was consistently shit even though it was different people working those days.
2. they have an unwritten policy where if there’s only one (1) person on staff, they are not allowed to make breakfast sandwiches until the next employee comes in. Mind you, I went in the morning expecting it to be busy and all but there were only three people sitting inside who already had their drink order done. As far as I know, I was the fourth person in during that timeframe and there were no waiting customers behind me to order. I was hoping to get a cup of coffee and a simple breakfast sandwich. I had this order the day before and really loved the combination. When trying to order a breakfast sandwich, I was immediately refused. The gal (brunette hair in low ponytail and thin) who was taking my order told me she wasn’t able to make me the breakfast sandwich as she was the only one working at the time. I quickly looked around and saw that there wasn’t a single written policy anywhere in the store (or online) stating that “due to low staff, we can’t take breakfast sandwich orders.” No warning. No apology. And again, there wasn’t a line out the door so I didn’t see why the breakfast sandwich couldn’t be made as I was still the only one making a pending order at the time with no customer(s) behind me waiting. I didn’t make a fit or try to argue back. I simply was disappointed. So I ended up just ordering a cup of coffee to-go. The girl didn’t even bother to put a lid on my coffee cup. However, the staff on the day before at least put a lid on my coffee cup without me asking. Unfortunately, I had to go and get a hot breakfast item somewhere else.

**Now having gone through the other reviews, I can see that there is a general consensus that the staffing here has been an issue. I strongly agree that the staffing here is a big issue. It could be easily fixed if management actually trained (and care to train) their employees on basic customer service skills. It’s very telling that management does not care for staff. The replies from the company keep saying that “they’re working on it” or “they’ve addressed this already.” Well whoever this “new” management is, you’re not very good at your job if reviews from 6+ months ago are saying the same thing. It’s 2025 and you haven’t managed to do...

I don’t enjoy giving negative reviews… But I rely on reviews quite heavily,when making decisions where to go for food and coffee… My friends and I stopped in for coffee drinks, 10 minutes before closing, last night. We were greeted with a very unwelcoming “ just so you know we’re closing in 10 minutes” when I went to place my order, she informed me that they were out of cold brew, they weren’t serving any food, and she had cleaned the espresso machine… She was acting so annoyed that we were even there, so I asked her if she would prefer if we just left. I could tell that she tried to act a little bit more accommodating than, but the whole experience was very unprofessional and discombobulated… She messed up on two out of five drinks, and never apologized. The whole time she just seemed like her main goal was to close up and get out of there. We walked out seven minutes after closing time,. Which I didn’t think was that bad… I’ve worked in retail stores for a combine amount of 10 years, and it was rare that we locked the doors at closing time. And we never made people feel unwelcome.😔 most of us were happy with our drinks in the end, and my friend chose to drink her latte, hot, even though she had ordered iced, and doesn’t like hot drinks. We just didn’t want to upset the barista anymore than she was already. I would not advise getting an iced dirty pumpkin chai… my friend had to re-order her drink, because the chai tasted very soapy😕 I’m really not sure if I will ever go to this coffee shop again… Customers are what make a business succeed… And I’ve never been...

Since the new owners took over, this place just hasn’t been the same. Certain staff often seems frustrated, and no matter if it’s busy or not, it takes at least 15-25 minutes to get a drink and a sandwich (I’ve even waited 40 minutes before).

The coffee used to taste rich and flavorful with a nice aroma, but now it just doesn’t have the same quality. Gluten-free substitutions, which used to be free, now cost an extra $.50. I understand the charge, but it was nice before when they didn’t penalize people for a dietary need.

The sandwiches have also gone downhill—cheap-tasting bacon, dry overall, and not worth the price for the quality. For around $20 for just a drink and a sandwich, you’d expect the quality coffee emporium delivered. Unfortunately, the quality and experience have both declined, and it’s frustrating as a customer who used to really enjoy coming here. I use to tell everyone I knew that coffee emporium was my absolute favorite coffee shop! I saw a comment from the owners mentioning that more staff would be in at this time of year and there were three working yesterday, and with one table sitting and no other customers ahead of me, I still waited 35 minutes yesterday for two drinks and a sandwich. I would love to see this place not say things will be better in the future but genuinely provide...