Starbucks — Restaurant in Joplin

Honestly, it was one of the worst experiences at Starbucks in years. We waited at the counter for at least 10-15 minutes without a single employee acknowledging that we were even there... no "be right with you" "give us a minute" no nothing. Almost to the point we just walked out. Finally took our order (if we weren't on a road trip and needing a quick snack, we would have left). They made our drinks fairly quickly and yelled out our name. Kids were kind of crazy so I was keeping an eye on them and went to get my drink.. I didn't see where she set my coffee on the counter... among the 9 other cups sitting there. The young lady wasn't 5 feet from the counter when I said "excuse me miss" and she just kept walking away. I stood there awkwardly trying to see the label under the sleeve for several minutes. Finally a gentleman in plain clothes behind the counter came over and asked if I needed help and I said yes I have no idea which cup is mine and I don't want to touch all these other cups to find mine. He asked my order name and pulled the sleeves down to see names and got our coffee. He was very polite and helpful. I have been on the fence about Starbucks for a while as the prices are ridiculous for an Americano with cream... 6 bucks now for .25 worth of beans and water?!?! Now the service is in the crapper and getting even more not...

Good, not great, and bad for this location...

The good: The final product. Once we got our coffees and breakfast sandwiches, they were as good as would be desired.

The not-great: Inside open, but can't sit. The drive through was backed up so we went in and figured we would order and sit down. However, it is still closed for seating, so would be nice to have a sign or something.

The Bad: This was the most disorganized group I have seen in a "fast food" environment. It was quickly obvious that they did not agree/understand who was making what orders. With 5 people working everyone seemed to be making drive through, walk in and mobile orders, instead of having designated areas to work. What this caused was a lot of confusion on where the drinks went when completed. This also caused orders to be made all out of order. Multiple mobile order customers waited a long time for multiple drinks, get one every few minutes, while other customers got their orders in between.

Lastly, sandwiches should not be made and set on the counter 15 minutes before the drinks are made. They didn't tell us those were are sandwiches, and they were soggy when we picked up the bags.

I would give this place a 1 or 2 🌟, but the did remake the sandwiches, and everything tasted good. They did not lack effort or desire...just organization...

Staff has changed since I first started going so the dynamic is different, vibe isn't as good as it used to be. The corporation is seemingly attempting to make the brand a drive-thru/pop-in type place now, I assume that the customer is of no importance after the drink is bought and paid for. Not the place to chill and study or sit and people watch while drinking a cup of coffee.

There are a few other places to go for a coffee in town, and to feel comfortable with sitting for a while after making a purchase. With the hectic vibe at Sbux, the Frappuccino and super sugary drinks being a huge part of the draw there it's just not able to be about the coffee anymore, and the coffee aficionado should probably just seek out a different type of place. Unfortunately. The rewards system has changed too, so it takes longer to get free stuff.

Most of the time it's fast ordering through the app 🤔. And the coffee tastes exactly the same no matter where you are ordering from, so that's a plus. That's about all they have...