Palmieri Cafe — Restaurant in Dallas

EDIT: the owner of this coffee shop refunded us our coffees and made things right to better help his coffee shop. Amazing communicator and goes above and beyond to make sure his customers are happy. Next time I’m in Dallas, we will be getting an iced coffee here! Their iced caramel macchiatos are amazing!!

My sisters and i stopped by for a coffee Saturday morning (January 4th, 2019) after being at the farmers market. When it was our turn to order, we were greeted by a nice young man. We ordered 3 iced caramel macchiatos (2 of them with almond milk). I could tell he was new but we had lots of patience for him as he was getting our order put in on his screen. He couldn’t figure out how to put the order in and a blonde girl with short hair stepped in and with a very disgusted voice said what to push while she pushed the buttons for him. It was not polite to do in front of customers to a coworker. I thanked the guy after he completed our order. As the blonde girl turned around I heard her make a rude remark about my order and could see her talking through the back wall in disgust. That was the start to our time here at this coffee shop. Negative.

As we waited for our coffee (they were quite busy and behind on orders). There was a total of 3-4 workers. The blonde girl took a break in the back with her water bottle shortly after I put my order in. We waited about 25-30 minutes on our coffees. I wasn’t upset waiting... i could see how busy they were. We started to get our orders and they were hot coffees instead of iced. My sisters were ok with hot and didn’t want to wait any longer. Well I didn’t want to pay $5 for a hot coffee... I like mine iced and it’s what i ordered! I told the barista I ordered iced, not hot and I asked the barista kindly if it would be a problem that I get an iced coffee? She was very sweet and said not a problem at all.. Then the blonde haired girl, who was back from her break in all the commotion, proceeds to answer my question of ‘would be a problem that I get an iced coffee?’ She responds YES out loud and then covers her mouth like ‘did I just say that outloud?’. And I said ‘oh it will be a problem for you?’. She comes back with ‘we are just extremely busy if you can’t tell’. As I’m holding my 1 year baby (and 4 months prognant) she then tells me ‘oh but your baby is so adorable’.

I walked away and couldn’t believe how rude she was and how she was going to sugar coat it by making a comment about my baby.

I will never get coffee here again if this girl is to be seen. She was very rude and was clearly not there to help serve the clients. I worked in food services for 8 years and that is absolutely NOT how you treat your customers. I love to support locally/small coffee shop businesses but it’s hard to go back when you’ve had such a bad experience with a server/worker there.

If she is in management, she needs to read this and think about how her attitude...

I use the too good to go app to learn about new places and also get last minute sweets randomly. Before coming here I’d had a failed pickup at Shipley’s donuts due to them leaving the early, when it happened again a few days later here I was upset and left reviews for both places as the app doesn’t allow you to leave reviews unless you have a successful pickup. I was pleasantly surprised by the response from the owner of this establishment. Following my review, the owner reached out to me, taking proactive steps to rectify the situation and improve my overall experience.

During our conversation, the owner provided valuable insights into their business operations and the circumstances behind the incident. They explained that their employees had left early without authorization, and they shared some perspectives on the unpredictability of life’s natural incidents and the growth journey of their employees.

While I still hope that, in the future, they can find a way to better manage situations when employees need to leave early, it was genuinely refreshing to gain a deeper understanding of the company’s ethos. It became evident that my two experiences, though initially similar, were not exactly alike.

I don’t frequent the Dallas farmers market often, as I reside up north, but when I do, I plan to support this business either during regular hours or through too good to go. Despite the initial mishap, they went out of their way to make amends and demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction.

My original concern was with their integrity and ability to fulfill orders, but their efforts to make things right have certainly changed my perspective. If you’re considering ordering from this establishment on the Too Good To Go app or during regular hours at the farmers market where you can grab some coffee and gelato, I encourage you to give them a chance, as they’ve shown a willingness to learn...

I know that a coffee shop should be rated first and foremost on the quality of the coffee, menu items, and service, but I would be wholly remiss to neglect the incredible atmosphere that the Farmer's Market at large provides. It's wonderful for anyone, and you can go at different times of the day and week to get the kind of environment you like. If you go to Palmieri between 10am and 2pm on a non-Friday weekday, you'll get that kinda-but-not-too-quiet feel that you might go to a regular coffee shop for, but it's so much better because there's a much more diverse activities going on here. I go pretty often, and I cannot recommend it highly enough for the atmosphere alone. As for the coffee itself, it's pretty good. Not fantastic (especially for the price; expect a 16 oz. latte for $6.50), but good. Much lighter than, say, Starbucks, but bolder than a Panera coffee. Somewhere in the middle, there. They've got some (equally exorbitantly priced) Italian pastries which are actually fantastic, and you have to try them at least once. Plus, the service there is pretty great, especially considering that there really aren't that may people working there at any given moment. All in all, it's worth it to visit at least once. And hey, if you don't like it, you've got the rest of the Farmer's Market right there to go and try. What have you...