The Juice Box — Restaurant in Lakeland

Today I had an extremely disappointing and hurtful experience at this establishment today—so much so that another customer, after witnessing how I was treated, chose to leave without making a purchase.

I moved to Lakeland a year ago and have been a loyal customer, visiting at least once a week. As someone living alone in a new state, with no nearby family or close friends, this place had become a comforting go-to as I’ve been focusing on improving my health. I often brought along my small Jack Russell Terrier, who is well-behaved and has typically been welcomed.

Today, due to my apartment being painted, we had nowhere else to go. My dog, who wasn’t feeling well and was clearly anxious, barked a few times at people walking in. Out of courtesy, I chose to sit outside in the heat so her barking wouldn’t disturb anyone indoors. Each time she barked, I gently corrected her, and she stopped.

While I was finishing my sandwich—seated outside, away from other guests—a staff member I’ve never seen before (despite my consistent visits over the past year) approached me with an unnecessarily harsh and dismissive tone. She told me my dog was “scaring everyone,” that I “couldn’t have my dog barking at her customers,” and that I needed to move to a corner near the garbage bins or leave immediately. I explained that my dog doesn’t normally bark, I only had a bite or two left, and we would be leaving shortly. I even apologized. But she continued glaring at me, making it clear I was expected to get up and leave right then and there.

Another customer nearby who witnessed the exchange was visibly uncomfortable. She approached me, apologized for how I was treated, and told me she was choosing not to spend her money there because of what she saw.

After finishing, I went inside to calmly ask the woman if she was the manager. She said she was—and had been for five years. When I mentioned that I had never seen her before despite being a regular, she acknowledged she’d seen me and even admitted that my dog had never barked in the past. Yet, her tone remained condescending and cold. It felt like she was trying to publicly shame me in front of other customers, making me out to be a problem instead of handling the situation with basic understanding or compassion.

This place had genuinely brought me joy, but today’s encounter made it clear that not every customer is treated with equal respect or value. I’ve supported this business with frequent visits and spent a great deal here, but I won’t be returning. What I experienced today wasn’t just poor service—it was a complete lack of empathy.

I sincerely hope this feedback inspires a more thoughtful and kind approach to customer interactions in the future, rather than...

Was really hoping to love this place, but, highly unlikely I’ll ever return or recommend. My fiancé has a nut allergy, and can eat at places with nuts but can’t eat nuts themselves. This just means we have to be careful about ingredients and expect companies and restaurants to take enough pride and care in their product to want to make it accessible to anyone that wants to eat there. When we asked the worker if there were any nuts in the gluten free bread, we were told “oh we threw out the box so I can’t check ingredients. I’d suggest you just not eat here.” So, he wasn’t able to eat anything. Which, fine, whatever, throw out packaging, but at least have an ingredient list available for reference - to not do so is absolutely insane. I got the buddha sparks bowl, ordered it with an egg, didn’t receive said egg and when I asked about it, the same worker said “I didn’t hear you say egg”. So, no egg for me. Bowl was heavily dressed with a very overpowering dressing. Didn’t enjoy it at all and threw out more than half of it. Juice was fine, nothing special. Definitely not worth another visit. Can’t say this was a pleasant...

I paid 9.00 for the spice spice baby. What I received was 16 ounces of watered down carrot juice I could not taste any orange or lemon I could taste the cayenne and the water was very very very subtly creamy from the carrot juice. It felt like I paid nine dollars for a quarter of a carrot and a few drops of lemon and orange. Come on you Gotta do better than that. That's just terrible I'm never coming back here. Nine dollars for that? Are you kidding me?

And you might ask why did I spend that much to begin with? Because I've had juice and smoothies and the pop variety that comes between them across the entire country. And most the time you get a good deal and I understand fruit is expensive and they have to keep their doors open. But this was just water down and it on top of that had ice on it they didn't ask if I wanted ice. So it feels like I just got ripped off For what was in it. Guess I will be doing that myself at home....