Santos Coffee Hoover — Restaurant in Hoover

Shop: Santos Coffee

Parking availability - 1 It’s in downtown so the parking is all coin machine street side parking.

Outward appearance - 5 It’s very cute and very appealing outside! Deceptive of the inside. They have some outdoor table and chairs that line the sidewalk which is good for a cloudy day, but there is no protection from the sun.

Atmosphere - 1 Inside there are 6 seats. I came inside with 3 people and we had to sit outside due to it. The storage is under the condiment bar uncovered in large cardboard boxes. There is music but so lightly behind the counter through a plugged in speaker. The cafe is located in the downstairs open lobby that feels more like a hallway with doors and elevators that aren’t a part of the shop. I found out the shop is run by one of the offices located in the building - not a bad idea, but consulted no experienced professionals for anything on this little store. And if they did, they should have gotten more opinion and those professionals were posers.

Pricing - below average A couple dollars go a long way - a cappuccino is only 2.37 before tax.

Barista friendliness - 3 Maybe the most redeeming part of this trip. Sadly the feeling I got was there wasn’t a ton of coffee knowledge, but friendly and light in conversation.

Cleanliness - 1 Floors are kept neat and seating is clean, but this is all due to there being no space for customers, and not a lot of square footage to keep clean. But behind the bar was messy. But there were no customers so to not be able to stay clean is unacceptable.

Coffee flavor - 1 It always comes down to execution with the product. The best coffee can oversee bad parking and price. My cappuccino tasted like hotel coffee with a ton of white foam. Even if it wasn’t pricy, I do wish I hadn’t gotten any coffee.

Overall rating - 2/10...

I come to Santos often. I went into the establishment to place my order. I ordered an egg croissant and the representative (appearing to be in training) informed me they did not have the croissant. I ordered the mango Fresca....no mango. This is not an issue. What is an issue is the lack of concern/urgency....as if I should be gracious that I'm standing in the staff's presence...food be damned. I moved forward with my ordered as the cashier in training's bewilderment grew as she looked to her coworker for guidance. Just as bewildered, I continued my order forgetting to tailor my order. I've never been to this location without the representative asking the probing questions to cater the order to my liking (cheese type, etc). Why else would I pay this much for a croissant?...I REALLY like the customer service the food tastes like home and its close to home. I get home to a sandwich that my 2yo nephew could have thrown together with more love and care. I call the location to vent my concerns. No manager....no clue when the manager will be back....no number for the manager. Ohhhh...It's you...uninterested tenured coworker that should have helped...Got it. As I wait for the day that robots take over the fast food industry and we all experience the Chik-fil-a level of customer service...if it's after 10:30 AM I'll just go to Publix and make my own croissant. Manager keep the trainee...that's the only person that cares about the success of this location...but I won't be back...

My fiancé and I came in today at lunch and have been here multiple times before but wanted to try something new. As we’re looking at the menu the lady who was going to take our order was waiting on us she had pink hair and a bandanna on as we’re ordering my fiancée wanted a croissant shown on the menu with avocado and he said “I don’t know which one that top right one is but I would like to try that” and she acted like we were stupid and then told us that she didn’t know what that was and so he ordered the bacon egg and cheese croissant and she said she could add avocado. As they’re making our food we’re receiving ugly looks which we over looked. We then got our food and was extremely disappointed. Our croissant had no avocado and tasted like a warmed up croissant that you get from Walmart. The crepes were so thin there was hardly anything in it. Anyways still no big deal I go get another crepe this one was excellent. But then we continued to receive dirty looks from a girl with black and blonde hair and the pink hair girl mentioned from earlier. My fiancé at this point had enough and didn’t want to finish our food there so we got to go boxes and left. I haven’t had any issues with santos before but after today I will not...