Nekter Juice Bar — Restaurant in La Habra

This is my review regarding a recent rude experience at Nektar, the La Habra location. The incident occurred Thursday August 4, 2022 and I hope my sharing is of help to potential customers.

(This is a lengthy review, but I want to be as transparent as possible...)

I visited Nektar to request a business card.  My mother was poorly treated by Nektar employees that same day and I wanted to resolve the situation as respectfully as possible. I saw two Nektar employees when I entered the establishment. I had no idea that these two employees were the same workers who had been rude earlier to my mother. I noticed one of the employees was staring at me in a mean-spirited way, but chose to wave it off. As someone who has worked in customer service, I get it--serving other people is not an easy job and I am sure these employees are dealing with so much. However, I was a little stunned by the open hostility. I asked one of the employees for a business card/contact information and relayed some of what had occured with my mother's treatment.

I believe the rude treatment of my mother was racially motivated. Another African-American woman witnessed my mother exiting Nektar after the incident and confided that she too had experienced rude treatment at this same Nektar La Habra location.  After hearing my mother share her experience, the woman shared that she had hoped management at this Nektar location had changed as she had stopped visiting Nektar La Habra for over a year. The woman decided to come back because she was trying to give this location a second chance, which is unfortunate. My mother's treatment and this woman's treatment indicate rude behavior has been ongoing. The woman decided to leave Nektar La Habra that day without making a purchase.

After leaving Nektar, I gave Shannon, the business manager, a call on behalf of my mother. I truly hoped for conflict resolution and some accountability to transpire on this call, but this was not the case.

Shannon was very rude, continuously interrupting me even as I allowed her to speak. She was bent on protecting her employees' even if their behavior was clearly wrong. She eventually threatened to end the phone call by hanging up. My response was that I would hang up instead seeing as she was not interested in having an adult conversation. I understand there are ALWAYS two sides to every story, however I wonder why all the blame was placed on my mother. Shannon stated that her employee, Ariana, apologized two times with the response of “I’m sorry, I’m busy.”This is untrue. What actively frustrated my mother was not being acknowledged as she entered Nektar and Ariana responding not with an apology but with, "I'm busy." Shannon reported that she watched footage of the event and concluded that the length of the video meant the encounter was not significant.

Shannon continuously gave excuses for her workers' rude behavior and also shared about working conditions. .She spoke about late deliveries. She said that family stress made it difficult for her to have certain conversations. Shannon shared that her employee Ariana was going through some tough life things and that I have no idea what she was taking on. Shannon also said that her employees' age (20 years) was a viable excuse to treat customers poorly. Shannon was full of excuses, defensiveness, and refused to take any personal accountability. As the owner of four Nektar locations, I really question Shannon's ability to lead by example with professionalism, integrity, and basic human respect.

So, while my desires to remedy this interaction were rebuffed, I do hope my review here can be of service to future customers of Nektar, (especially the La Habra location) and that Nektar takes this feedback into consideration and focuses on equitable customer service.

In the meantime, I recommend local institutions like Robeks and Movita for your smoothie and acai bowl deals. Not only are their offerings delicious, they are not served with a side order of rudeness :)

Take care everyone and please share...

Update for new visit 12/26/22: It was great! Greater than the last time I visited this location. I was helped shortly after entering the store. My order was made quickly after I arrived. I arrived earlier than the quoted time for pick up. My bowl was made perfectly. Base was thick as requested and fruit toppings were filled the best of all my visits to Nekter. I was VERY HAPPY with how my order was fulfilled! It'd be nice if there were more granola First time at this store and ordering on mobile app. Staff member was really nice but a different member who made my bowl didn't give much care to the bowl. My bowl was not filled to the top and omitting one fruit made the bowl look half eaten. It didn't look appetizing but it did taste great. It is sensable to fill the space of the omitted fruit with the other included fruits but that did not happen! It didn't help your mobile app didn't have the option during customization. Unfortunately, it looked worse than it tasted! I asked the nice team member how I can customize via online order in the app but she didn't have much to offer except to suggest calling in after placing order or ordering in store so it could get done exactly as preferred. Some options in mobile app were not available and no free form box to add additional notes. I definitely like La Habra store over another store I've tried with a friend in regards to the consistency of the base filling blend. I hope it is better next time and the mobile app will have flexibility in customization feature so I would not have to do...

I’ve been ordering the same drink (cold brew protein smoothie) and açaí bowl (banana berry) for years now. The açaí bowl is always amazing. The drink is honestly hit-or-miss. It just tastes different every time. I never know if it’s the workers messing up the recipe or if there even is a recipe. I don’t know if they just put ingredients together and eyeball it because sometimes it’s amazing and perfectly smooth and sometimes it’s watery or bitter. I just don’t understand. But the times that it is perfect (which is about 50% of the time), it is soooo good!! Which is why I end up giving it another shot. But I hope someone can clarify whether or not there is a recipe or if it’s normal for it to taste different everytime. I wish I can just be guaranteed the perfect taste every time and I would most definitely always get...