Kitanda Market - Coffee and Acai — Restaurant in Kirkland

I have historically loved kitanda. 1st time at this particular Totem Lake location, I'd been to the old Totem Lake storefront many times years ago. The woman making the drinks was wonderful & the man taking orders was respectful. I ordered a 20 oz chai latte w/ whole milk & extra chai, a cheese roll, & 4 mini cheese bread bites. It came to $20+ & I thought that seemed expensive. When my order came up they served me 2 chai lattes. I told them I only ordered 1 so the man told me to meet him at the register for a refund. While waiting for the man to come back to the register, I walked back to the drink counter & told them I would take both drinks, mainly because I planned on being there for a few hours while my truck was getting worked on. After settling in at my table, I walked back up to the drink counter & asked to get the wifi password, the man said they don't have wifi. At that point, I figured I'd drink the 1st chai as fast as I could then walk to a different cafe to get work done while I waited for my truck. Carrying 1 drink is easier than 2. The 1st chai tasted strange & while I drank it, I watched the man interact w/ other customers. He was respectful, but seemed lost, asking the woman making drinks for assistance numerous times. After finishing the 1st drink I started walking to another cafe when I realized why the chai tasted strange. They were made w/ oat milk, not whole milk. I dumped out the 2nd drink because oat milk is trash. It was painfully obvious that the gentleman taking orders did not understand what I or other people were attempting to order. Unfortunate breakdown in communication. I do not know if I will return to this location. If you do, make sure your order is what you think it is before paying & again...

Really love how close this place is to me and always get their açaí bowls 1-2x a week. However, I've noticed there is a total discrepancy in portions depending on the time of day you place an order for an açaí bowl.

Come on the morning and you'll get what feels like the largest portion of toppings - I add condensed milk to the Frutas and omit the dried mango. When I pull the lid off, you can expect the top layer of toppings stuck to the lid because whoever is working in the morning is an angel.

However I came here Tuesday afternoon around 4pm and felt like I didn't as much as I usually do. I could tell because it requires a lot of brute strength to really dig through the thick layers of toppings to get to the açaí bowl.

Today, at 5:45pm, I was craving a bowl after leaving the hospital and had my fiancé order a to-go order. When I got home, the bowl was nothing like the bowls I've received in the past month regarding toppings. I'm disappointed that throughout the day, it feels like I need to time when I place an order to ensure I get enough to feel satisfied for a few hours.

If I could do half stars, I'd say these two experiences would have my review at 3.5 stars; however, I don't want my experience to deter folks from supporting this business and trying their menu. Just expect better açaí bowl portions in...

While the kitanda bread is as delicious as everyone says it is, I am extremely unhappy with the overall experience. I am gluten free for medical reasons, and was extremely excited when I found this spot. While ordering I asked if everything in the case was gluten free (no ingredient or allergen list posted), to which the cashier said it was. I ordered multiple items out of their case. A few hours later I started to have an upset belly and cramps. I've called, with no answer, and the voice-mail referred me to email them. I emailed, only inquiring for confirmation if their other items were gluten free or only the cheese bread rolls, and they have yet to respond. Finally, I logged into door dash and found that many items don't specify being gluten free, so I can only assume the items I ate were not.

Thankfully for me after a couple days of not eating gluten my body will go back to normal. But some people have it much worse, and this misinformation straight to their face could be devastating.

And on top of it, I ordered an iced americano and they gave me a Chai. The wait was so long I didn't have time for...