(HAIKU) Wailuku Coffee Company — Restaurant in Hawaii

Unfortunately the clean and calm atmosphere does not make up for the poor service and quality of food. Went in with my family this morning for coffee and light breakfast. We ordered a large Americano, large London Fog, bacon/cheese quiche, and a bacon/cheese/onion ‘toastie’.

The goods: The plants, music, and cleanliness made the atmosphere relaxing and inviting. The coffee was great, the London fog was great, the house made focaccia was great!

The not-so-goods: There were 3 gals working and they seemed good natured but 2 were quite spaced out. The gal making the drinks seemed to be the most experienced. When my focaccia was ready they called my name and left it on the counter while looking at me. There was no one in line or waiting, the gal just stood there. I was seated at the other side of the cafe with my infant son in my lap. My partner had gone out to the car so I was solo at the moment. It wouldn’t have taken much to bring me the to-go container. Once I opened the box, I saw that the red onions were raw and the bacon was sparse. $9 for cheesy toast essentially.

They completely forgot the quiche. When we asked about it they had zero recollection of our order and looked in the microwave to perhaps see if it would magically appear 😆 Afterwards asking if we wanted it warmed. Who wants cold quiche when we are clearly sitting down for breakfast? My partner decided they clearly had no idea what was going on and settled with the cold quiche. It was sub standard.

All in all it was a bit of a bummer. We are big tippers as we both work in the service industry. We left 20% on our bill (paying when we ordered) and all they did was take our order.

Times are tough for families, this was a special treat that tuned into a disappointment. Of course we made the best of it. Will go back for drinks potentially but likely...

I like this place. I’ve been here several times and generally enjoy my experience.

The customer service this time around, however, was not the vibe. I ordered a drink, and it was given to me iced (neither the barista nor I specified hot or iced during the transaction), and she kindly remade it for me hot when I asked.

A different server came up to my table and interrupted my conversation to hand me my drink. With a rude and annoyed tone, she let me know to be specific next time because customers order things without knowing what they ordered. I in fact did know what I ordered, but it was apparently made iced by default at this location. I work in customer service. I was a pleasant guest; I asked them to remake it in a very kind and apologetic way.

Perhaps the company will considering hiring a manager to train their employees on the customer service side of things? I get people have bad days, but bad customer service is bad...

On our visit to Maui, we spent half the trip with our home base out of the Haiku area. Our Air B&B hosts recommended Wailuku to us for breakfast/coffee. The first time we stopped in, we were in love with the vibe - artsy (with local kids' art on the walls!), calm, welcoming, and fun! And lovely, kind, attentive staff! Their coffee selection was vast - we both went with a pour over and had the wonderful long lasting effects of poured-over Kona coffee for hours! :) But the real treat? The smoothie bowls! WOW! I custom made mine and added in peanut butter to the mango and banana plus all the wonderful toppings. Both of us were silent while we ate - eyes rolling in our heads with nirvana! Needless to say, we did come back another morning - ordered drip Maui coffee, which was also excellent, and more smoothie bowls! If only we had a Wailuku Coffee Company in...