West Oak Coffee Bar — Restaurant in Denton

This is a far overdue review for my experiences on 10/18/2019. My husband and I are not really coffee drinkers, but we splurge every so often on special occasions. One such occasion was the day before we got married and we decided to grab breakfast and coffee on the square. We had never been to West Oak Coffee Bar and wanted to try it out. When we walked in, we were instantly greeted with warm smiles and hellos. Of course, me being a novice coffee drinker and all, I had no idea what I wanted to drink. Fortunately, the barista was beyond helpful and made several recommendations and our drinks were DELICIOUS.

My now husband and I sat down at one of the many comfortable seating options and began to enjoy our drinks, the entire time being absolutely smitten with each other. One of the employees personally approached us and asked us what the occasion was and we said we were getting married the next day so we were in very good moods. Upon hearing this, he went OVER THE TOP to make our first trip special and warm and we just loved every bit of our visit.

West Oak Coffee Bar is now our favorite place for a quick coffee when we’re on the square. The coffee is great, the prices are modest, and the staff is phenomenal. Thank you, everyone at West Oak Coffee Bar, for helping to energize us before our special day!

TL;DR: Great coffee. Modest prices. Phenomenal staff. Just make the visit, I am sure you...

Changing my rating due to how they treated their longtime, loyal staff during the pandemic. Failing to take employees concerns as legitimate will always spell trouble. I have known most of West Oak's OG staff for several years. There's a reason they all left during the pandemic, those that weren't fired of course. It's also very strange who they chose to fire and why they told them they could reapply later (i.e not a guarantee you'll get your position over a new applicant). It's also telling that none of them came back.

There is a lot of misinformation going around that West Oak fired it's employees for speaking up about safety protocols during the pandemic. This is not true but West Oak did fire the people that consistently criticized them but not directly BECAUSE they criticized them. It was very strategic.

However, West Oak did fire an employee whose medical needs inconvenienced them (which is illegal). They also had a party with all of their shops in which no one wore a mask. Sure, you can make self-centered instagram post about how none of your staff has contracted COVID but that doesn't make their actions any more justified.

It's very sad that I don't see myself coming here anytime in the near future. The owner is out of touch with reality and the senior employees are brainwashed to defend him...

I’m a frequent patron of West Oak. It’s my favorite spot to study in Denton because I love the atmosphere. Very hip and down to earth. The staff is friendly and polite and the menu is delicious.

As a graduate student, I try to save where I can so I usually just sit and study at the bar. Every now and then I’ll order a coffee and pastry.

One day I went in and the place was really busy. Most of the seats were taken but I found an open spot at the loveseat. I was there about half an hour before one of the baristas approached me with a menu in case I wanted to order anything. She left and I looked over the menu and considered ordering a drip coffee. A few minutes later she came back to check on me and essentially told me there were paying customers walking in and couldn’t find a place to sit and would leave. She was insisting I purchase something otherwise have my seat available to a customer who did. However, I noticed a couple of open tables. I felt really uncomfortable so I left. Now I wonder if my previous visits there had been welcomed. I never bothered anybody and the staff wouldn’t disturb me so I thought it was okay.

If it weren’t for this experience I would give the shop a five star rating, but now I don’t feel...