Pistachios Coffee Shop — Restaurant in Hedwig Village

I came to visit on Tuesday, Sept 30. As we entered the shop, we like the decoration and interior. I did not know that they just open for a few days, so I was pretty unpleasant with their services.

The guy, who took our order was not friendly, I ordered an avocado toast and the Matcha Madness, which described as double matcha (since it also has matcha foam on top). I asked for no ice, and the guy tried to told me that the drink will not be full, and I already said I understand, and it’s totally fine with me (since I already came to 2 coffee shop before coming to their store, so I was pretty full and couldn’t drink anymore. I asked for no ice, so I can enjoy the drink later, without it being water down). The guy insisted on explaining the drink will not be full, and repeatedly saying “do you understand”, so i feel a little uncomfortable with him repeatedly asking and explaining even though I already said I know, and it’s okay. My sister ordered the banana matcha and the Nutty fruity toasted.

Our wait for the drinks was quick, like around 7-10 minutes. The Nutty Fruity toasted came out around 18-20 minutes.

the Banana matcha was pretty sweet, the banana syrup over powering the flavor of matcha, even though my sister ordered 50% less syrup, since they cannot make it No Sweet. my Matcha madness was not as Matchaly as I expected, it was close to none for my taste. I don’t see the separation of the matcha latte and matcha foam on top as expected. It was alright. the Nutty Fruity toasted was bigger than expected, full of fruits and sauces.

The same guy came to inform me that they run out of avocados, so my avocado toasted could not be served. I told him I don’t want anything else, and it’s totally fine, i understand, so just refund the toasted to my cards. He said okay, then he left. I was not updated about the refund for a good 20 minutes or more, so I came to ask one of the lady at the register. She was kind and nice to me, then she asked for my transaction and order number, but she could not done anything, so she as another guy to came in.

I had to explain to this gentleman, his name is Fares (i think he is either the manager or the owner) that the other guy said he will do the refund for me, then he just left without any saying or updating, then i have to asked the girl at the register for help. He kept apologizing, and he tried to refund me too, but it could not be done, so he give me cash back. The avocado toasted was $9.90, so he handed me $10.

I was just trying to get the refund and leave at this point, but then he told me that their store just open for 6 days, and kept apologizing for the mistake and inconvenience. His attitude really change my mood and calm me down. I was not happy at first, but then i left with a better point of view and understanding about the shop . . He even gave me a note on the paper bag that say free toasted on my next visit with his hand writing and signature.

We may come back to try other matcha on their menu due to the better services that the lady and the gentleman named...

Overall experience : 3/10

I was really excited to try this new spot since I really love coffee and thought the pistachio theme would make for something special. Unfortunately, my first visit was disappointing. I’ll give it a 3/10 because I know they’re just opening and still getting into their routine, but there were a few things that really stood out poorly.

First, the service wasn’t great. The barista with the long ponytail was noticeably rude and dismissive. When I asked about the sweetness of the pistachio latte, she smirked and shook her head, saying they didn’t have it—even though it’s literally in the shop’s name and it was only 11 a.m. Her tone felt condescending. I understand it’s soft opening but a nicer attitude would’ve gone a long way. When I later asked if the salted caramel latte was sweet, she laughed and responded with “YEAH, it’s sweet” like it was a dumb question. I asked for it half-sweet, but the whole interaction left a sour taste and didn’t feel great as I was trying to be kind.

Second, the coffee prep station was really messy. As someone who’s been to many coffee shops, it was surprising to see how dirty the espresso area was, especially at the start of the day. That didn’t inspire much confidence.

When we finally got our drinks, the presentation wasn’t great either. Both lattes looked overly milky and watery. My salted caramel had all the syrup sitting at the bottom, which shows they didn’t melt it into the espresso properly—a pretty basic part of making a latte. It ended up tasting like a glass of milk with sludgy syrup at the bottom. My partner’s brown sugar drink was the same story, and he gave it a 3/10.

The only positive was that the matcha looked good, though we didn’t try it. But overall, the drinks weren’t put together thoughtfully and the service made the experience worse. For the price and the wait, it just wasn’t worth it. Sadly, I don’t think we’ll be coming back—especially since I didn’t even get to try the pistachio...

My friend Ana, who owns Atta Salon de Cafe in Puebla, Mexico messaged me, knowing that I’d be coming down, to see if I could bring her some pistachio milk because she had always wanted to try it.

But I explained to her “probably not because the ones that I’d seen were refrigerated.

So what I did instead was to bring her an nut milk maker so that we could make pistachio milk on the spot in her cafe.

And this coincided with a dear friend of mine, who lives in Galveston, discovering that she really loved caffe latte when made with pistachio milk. So when I saw that there was a place actually called Pistachio Coffee, well, that definitely caught my attention; warranting a visit to check it out.

A little road trip down I-10 to Gaylord Street, which is on the backside of the frontage road for I 10 by Echo Lane, to investigate this little slightly off the radar place today.

Turns out that it’s right next to the Crust Pizza which I frequent fairly regularly and also another interesting place called the Chicken Salad Chick.

(A friend and I used to joke that whenever someone seemed to be writing about some teahouse anywhere in the world, there was always a sentence that said something to the effect that “the chicken salad is to die for here”. So that became an in joke for us about chicken salad to die for.

Even though Pistachio’s calls itself a coffee shop, it currently does not open until 11 o’clock, except on Sunday. So make a note.

So, to kill some time I went to my beloved Paris Baguette, up the street to sample a soufflé cheesecake , a coconut cream croissant and their fabulous Biscoff cookie buttercream doughnut. (Before heading over to the MAM thrift store, to kill some time before checking out Pistachio Coffee at 11.

Pistachio Coffee was PACKED. So many people. I had to ask. They’ve just opened, so are in what I call The Houston Honeymoon Phase. And so, I will have to return at a later date. I did get a photo of the...