Santos Coffee Gardendale — Restaurant in Gardendale

Don’t waste your time or your money. This was my third time visiting, and I will never be back. The coffee is mid, at best, and always way too sweet. I got the apple spiced latte two days ago, and I couldn’t even finish it because of how sweet it was. My husband and I always go to coffee shops and get the specialty coffees and enjoy them, but not here. The customer service wasn’t great. We had to wait a long time, and there were only 4 other customers in the shop who already had their drinks and maybe one person in the drive thru lane. The atmosphere I rated two stars. I only give two stars because I like all the plants and the windows. The place feels dirty. Every single table in there was dirty and full of crumbs. I had to wipe down my own table with a napkin in order to even put my computer on the table without getting crumbs on it. The table really needed a wet rag, though, because there was other syrup stains and stuff on it. Do they even wipe down their tables? We went there in the morning, and I wouldn’t expect the tables to be THAT dirty that early. And it wasn’t just our table, I walked around and looked at every table before I grabbed ours hoping to get a clean one. The chairs were also full of crumbs. The music was horrible. They were playing rock music, which is not the kind of music I think a coffee shop should play. My husband and I went there to study, but as soon as we sat down we wanted to leave. We only stayed for a few minutes, and I couldn’t even finish...

I was ecstatic to hear about another option in our town other than Starbucks so naturally I immediately flocked here. I have been here about 10 times now so I feel that I have a pretty good rundown. My main issue and the reason that I will not return, is that tipping is out of control. The last time I went inside I went with my mom. We ordered our coffees and full breakfast. They spun the tablet around and I tipped. Then we returned to refill our coffees and I added a pastry in the same visit. AGAIN she told me to fill out the screen while she and the guy with black hair stare me down with serious faces in the quiet environment and I felt that I needed to do it again and felt intimidated. The last time I went through the drive thru I ordered ONE Miya popsicle for my three year old. That is all. The girl handed it to me then handed me the machine IN MY CAR and said fill it out and wanted me to tip on a product she went to the freezer and handed me!! She said I love your hair! After being very subpar and monotone the entire time up until I was holding the machine. She stared me DOWN watching my hands. As a local business owner in the same city, this place needs to stop having their employees beg for tips as it is a bad look and I'm completely sick of it at this point. Starbucks would never have me tip in the drive thru and last time they did not ask me inside either. I will be returning to Starbucks where I can order my already very expensive food in PEACE....

Edit: This is the second time this morning that I have come inside and waited for someone to come up front, yet they never do. There was one car in the drive thru, but I never saw or heard anyone in the store itself. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to wait. I specifically came inside because I had a question about a drink and figured it would be easier to ask in person rather than the drive thru. I’m a pretty regular customer, and usually come out of my way to come to this location. Between not getting my rewards half the time like I should (I did talk to someone about this months ago, they assured me it would be fixed, but they never got back with me), and not being able to even order sometimes, I think I’ll just find a new place. I hate to complain because the coffee is amazing, and when I can order the girls are super nice and sweet. I just needed to say something because I also work in the coffee shop world, and it’s hard out there with the economy. However, things are generally harder for businesses that aren’t providing what they should for customers.

Love it!! The drinks are amazing. I did get a bagel sandwich once, and I’ll be honest it was nothing special for how expensive it was. I probably wouldn’t get food from here again. Everyone is super nice and I love...