Farmacie by the French Market — Restaurant in Highlands

Came with friends at 9 Sunday, first impression, quaint pretty coffee shop with an assortment of home goods, like a local Rose Apothecary from the TV show. The space is large, airy with a few tables to sit inside alongside a gorgeous outside area. We ordered an assortment of baked goods from different types of croissants, quiche, chocolate grenache tart as well as different coffees from espressos, lattes, drip coffee, decaf, and bottle mango juice. The baked goods were tasty, no problems there. But the problem that day started with the coffees.

The shop uses Illy coffee which I have had many experiences with as that is the coffee brand at my job. They morning, they had two baristas and while both were very nice, they were struggling to get orders taken and done as after our order of five people, were a group of runners and other guests. One of the baristas was new, and wasn't familiar with the register system as well as the setup of the coffee stations which added to the disorganization that morning. The lattes according to my friends were off in terms of steamed milk to coffee ratio. My black decaf took an additional 6 minutes to make because they didn't know where the decaf was so a call was made by the staff. No problem, I had my pastry going. However, when i got my coffee it was beyond watered down. And for a $5.50 cup of black decaf, it literally was hot water with a small dash of drip coffee added in. To confirm, the brew was indeed pale. By then they were swamped so I decided to wait until they got caught up. Luckily that was when reinforcements came in, with two more baristas arriving to help and get the orders caught up. The issue was noted that both baristas came in from the fdon't door, straight to the coffee stations without hand hygiene in the fmen of hand washing or usage of hand sanitizers, just straight to coffee malong, handling of cups, lids, etc. I then approached one of them to discuss my coffee how it was beyond weak and watered down and showed her, and while she was nice, the response was, "we can make a replacement, it'll be on the house." I didn't know what to make of it except to say, I hope I don't have to pay for a replacement. She sent to another barista, bit did come back and say that I may have a complimentary mini croissant. I thanked her for the offer, but declined and just asked for me decaf to be re-made. Minutes ater she brought it, but told me " just so you know our decaf is made Americano style so we do add hot water to it." I told her I know, however, the hot water to coffee ratio was really off in the first cup. The replacement was fine and was good like what it should have been.

Based on the lack of hand hygiene, being lectured about how my coffee was made and the price point, I am not sure if I...

My first visit was simply for a cup of coffee. I found it to be a bit weak and the barista and I had a very different understanding of what "extra sugar" meant. The store is warm and inviting and the staff is friendly and attentive. They have some nice things for the home available for purchase. Today I made my second visit and ordered an Americano, looking for that stronger Java kick, and a broccoli cheddar quiche. The coffee was better and the quiche was excellent. It made me want to try ALL their food, which is prepared fresh daily. Still a little confusion over what "extra sugar" means, but altogether a good experience. The only other nitpick, and it IS a nitpick, is the $.50 charge for putting cream in my coffee. I'm a firm believer if you're paying nearly $6 for a cup of coffee then there's no justifiable reason to charge extra to make that coffee light and/or sweet. The place is a little pricy but I'm willing to pay that little extra to support a local business and to receive a superior product. All I ask is they don't nickel...

The place is cute but one of the baristas was incredibly nasty. The young woman who was helping me was very nice. I asked her if the Chai mix had milk in it as some do. The older woman came over and snapped at me “of course it has milk, how else do you make it?”

If someone is asking if there’s milk in it, you should think maybe they are lactose intolerant or vegan, so instead of snapping that answer she could have said we can make it with a milk alternative. After snapping her answer and walking away, the nice young woman said let me check and walked over to the mix to read the ingredients. I appreciated that and why I’m giving this a ⭐️⭐️ vs ⭐️.

Other than that, it’s a shame that amongst their extensive sandwich menu and pastries there were no vegan options. There are other coffee shops in Highlands. Maybe not as trendy...