7 Brew Coffee — Restaurant in Des Moines

We’ve always had great experiences at other Seven Brew locations in Des Moines, so we were shocked by how poorly things went at the Southeast 14th location. When we arrived, only one line was being serviced because no one was out directing traffic. About halfway through our wait, a few employees finally came out and started directing people into the second lane—people who hadn’t been waiting nearly as long ended up getting their drinks before us.

We were stuck in line for about 20 minutes, which made us late for work. The person who took our order—a girl in a Carhartt sweatshirt with a lip piercing and bangs—didn’t interact with us beyond taking the order. Instead of chatting like the Seven Brew experience usually promises, she went inside, ate a Pop-Tart, and made herself a drink. We couldn’t even get her attention after that—she just stayed inside while we waited. I eventually had to flag down a different employee from the other lane just to get help.

This experience was disappointing and completely out of step with what we’ve come to expect from Seven Brew. I hope the staff, particularly the girl who was disengaged and hiding out, receives additional training. We’ll continue to visit the other Des Moines locations, but we won’t be coming back to this one anytime soon.

Edit: I emailed them like their reply says to and they never responded to me. Their reply’s to bad reviews about sending it to their email is definitely a cop out so they can look like they’re trying to make it right when in reality they’re...

For one of the first times since they opened there wasn't 2 lanes full of cars around the building so I swung in to finally try it. You can't see which line is shorter until it's too late to switch so I ended up in the longer line but not by much. Someone immediately went to the car ahead of me to get their order. Or so I thought. Apparently there was a celebrity in the car ahead of me because the guy talked with them for several minutes and then walked with them as they moved in line. He was eventually joined by all of the staff. At this point the cars in the outside line were gone and 3 or 4 had pulled up behind me. NO ONE bothered to come get our orders, they just kept talking to the girl in the car in front of me who at this point already had their drink but continued to sit and chat. When 2 cars came around to the outside lane, one of them ran over to get their orders while the inner line sat waiting. Once the woman of the hour left, someone finally came and started taking the orders of everyone in our lane. Once I got to order, they made it quickly and were friendly. The coffee was ok but not great as it was more bitter than I like. Not having the option for online ordering is also a big negative for me. I will be staying with Starbucks after this...

I’m honestly shocked at how long the wait was at this location. We sat in line for over an hour just to get coffee — and once you’re in line, there’s no way to leave or get out. At one point, the opposite line was moving while ours didn’t move at all for a long stretch, which made the whole experience even more frustrating.

When we finally made it to the window, the staff didn’t even ask for my rewards number. I mentioned it, and the cashier said she’d “try,” but then another worker came out and told her to use the iPad — and still, no one ever entered my rewards.

I chose to stop here instead of Starbucks (which is literally right across the way), thinking it would be quicker and easier, but this was completely unacceptable. Waiting an hour for coffee with such poor communication and service is not okay. This location really needs to fix its drive-thru process and train staff better on how to handle rewards and customers who’ve been...