Village Roaster Coffee & Tea — Restaurant in Lakewood

(my complaint has NOTHING to do with the company i drive for & EVERYTHING to do with the treatment i received but THAT'S OBVIOUS I MY REVIEW) Literally 1 hour prior to my visit here i was annoyed by Starbucks overpriced drinks & the fact they are on every corner always distracting me from the idea of other coffee shops. So i decided to find a new daily stop for my macchiato fix....TODAY and it's going to be an independent one as i support small business owners as much as possible. Well about a half hour later my new stop came to me (i thought), I delivery driver for many restaurants & received a delivery for Village Roaster, not what i expected at all....it's bright, cheery & more than a coffee shop. They have so so many things to offer that aren't commonly found elsewhere & I was thinking what a great place to buy a last minute gift for almost anyone. While i waited to get someone's attention i looked over the menu deciding what i will come back for after i drop off my delivery. Well i received a notification on my way & neglected to check when i arrived or i would have known before walking in that my diner had cancelled. Anyway the woman who i believe to be the owner said it sat for over an hour. It hadn't been an hour since i accepted this delivery & i had one question so i could later deal with dispatch issues with the company i deliver for. The woman looked away while i was speaking to her and started talking to a customer rudely dismissing me. WOW! This is long i know but in the event the owner reads reviews i would like it to be known how I'm on a mission to find a new stop & this WAS going to be it but i will not give my hard earned money to support a business operated by those who can't be kind to everyone who walks thru that door. And by the way since i started as a delivery driver over a year ago I've discovered & become a regular customer of many new(to me),restaurants, cafes, bakeries etc. that i otherwise would not have tried or even heard of. So to The Village Roaster owner....stop & think, you never know how your next new customer will find you....or maybe you've gotten too busy to care. Either way my search continues. Onto another...

This coffee shop has been around for quite some time now but only the owners are the constant in the business. Staff has had change overs and sometimes they forget the food people have ordered and paid for and are waiting on to get. Not a full service kitchen just microwave for warmups. The breakfast offerings have changed also with smaller sized portions while the prices have increased. The coffee offered along with brewing equipment and accessories remain their strongest draw as well as the free wi-fi. They have a lot of internet “lounge lizards” who overstay their time there as most are conducting business or doing college studies and others are having what should be more private counseling sessions. There should not be personal counseling going on as it can be disturbing since it is open seating. Customers need to manage their time there better and make use of the local libraries for internet usage and doing homework as this is a business not a frat house. The changes inside for more seating have taken away some of the ambiance but the addition of the outer deck seating area is a plus they just need upgraded outdoor furniture like wroth iron instead of plastic chairs. Overall a good place to get coffee and non coffee beverages. Parking is limited as it shared with another business and there are times when none is available for patrons so it becomes off side street parking away from the business and walking to it. There is a large church across the street but don’t park there unless you like having your car towed as they have on site security monitoring the area for their...

I've been buying coffee from the Village Roaster for almost 33 years- first the Mecingers, then the Curtis couple. I go through a lot of coffee and have 3 prosumer level espresso setups- one at home, one at work, and a third at a vacation home in Thailand. VR coffee has always been great....until about a year ago. I buy in 5 lb bags, so I just thought I got a bad bag. Not so, when it was gone I bought another and felt the same way. I also tried it it all of my setups and got the same results, shared it with friends to get their opinions, etc. No more round, nutty flavors, just tastes like what I can buy anywhere. A third and then a 4th bag followed (I'm loyal to a fault). FInally, I contacted the owner, brought him in both unground coffee they sold me and freshly ground coffee from my Ceado grinder. He said it wasn't their espresso grind- I send him a pic of the bag showing it was. He basically agreed that it wasn't right, but indicated there was nothing he could do about it- that is what they had. It's been a great run, VR, but I will need to start to shop around for coffee beans, because life IS too short to drink bad coffee. Very sad to see a coffee...