Strange Matter Coffee Eastside — Restaurant in Lansing

AVOID if you like coffee and need to be somewhere. I never write reviews but this place is worth telling other busy people who wanted to try the right thing and "buy local" and "support the little guy" and stay away from big chains...big mistake. I decided to try this location to see if they had cold brew - they do! its on the trendy chalk board! ahhh just kidding...they don't they were "working on the recipe". STRIKE ONE.

Next best thing - iced coffee. I ask the Master Barista whom is sporting a trendy ill fitting outdoors sweatshirt with embroidered buck and denim hat "whats your favorite" and he advises me to go with the Peruvian. Sounds great, you're a profession coffee wizard go for it. I then wait 15 minutes - not kidding - fifteen minutes to watch the two people working the counter make two cups of coffee, and a tea. One chooch goes and hugs a guy while the others are working. STRIKE TWO.

But alas! my iced coffee is ready - the barista but a cup on a scale, filled it cube by cube till it weighed the magic number (she literally put it on a scale and did one cube at a time - hey lady - the ice will melt - it will still be cold - get on with it - and finally poured the coffee into a cup. WOW - $4.59 later it was ready. Oops...forget to ask if you wanted cream or sugar...filled to the top....STRIKE THREE.

My grandmother lives with my parents and I know to ask her if she wants cream or sugar - you do this for a living... a BUSINESS. I did it. I tried it, I came to my office 10 minutes late after I supported local, drank organic, invested in my community...and I got 4 oz of coffee and 8 oz of ice. I know this because I poured it into a Dart polystyrene (don't say styrofoam) cup.

So, in closing if you are looking for a job and need to tell your girlfriend you were canvassing town all day, go here. If you are hiding from your roommate whom you met on Tinder and realized the magic is gone, go here. If you have spring break and no one to break with, go here. But if you need to be anywhere on time, and not spend your daily allowance on a cup of ice splashed with Peruvian drain water - then Life...

Update: Although I had a couple of bad experiences here. The management responded to my feedback, and my service was much improved when I returned later.

If this was the first time I got bad service from Strange Matters Coffee, I wouldn't write a bad review.

It is not the first time. I walked into SMC today and received sub-standard service.

There were two people behind the counter when I walked in. One apparently had finished serving a patron and was chatting with her.

The other was not waiting on anyone at all. Neither acknowledged me or offered service to me.

After waiting a reasonable amount of time, I left. All paying customers deserve good service and noone should have the feeling they are doing anyone a favor when they are handing over their hard earned money for goods.

As I mentioned, this is not the first time I received substandard service from Strange Matters Coffee.

I hope that SMC takes my review constructively and adjusts...

Sadly I had repeated bad experiences with the staff there. When I first went I had just gotten out of a wheelchair after several years of not being able to leave the house without assistance. I guess spending my money on medical bills instead of cultivating the hipster vibe didn't reasonate with the staff who felt they were trendy. I contacted them about bad experiences and was not satisfied with the continued poor treatment by the sand staff. I had others tell me they noticed I was treated poorly there as well. Some staff were lovely, others made it so uncomfortable that I can't even get family to grab a coffee on my behalf. I enjoyed one of the pastries they got from an Ann Arbor bakery and was able to bring to my former mil in extended care and was grateful for the experience while I could tolerate my cup purposely being overfilled, etc. Nothing like a barista that wants to humiliate you. Would not recommend them after my...