Rook Coffee — Restaurant in Long Branch

Pretty bummed, it’s been a long time since I stopped into Rook to order a coffee. From what I remember service was friendly and even for the volume of customers it was fairly fast, great coffee.

Maybe I should have ordered off of my app and my experience with the staff would have been different, but I didn’t have intentions on stopping and made a quick decision to since I had time to.

Took about five minutes for staff to acknowledge me at the counter while they were all making what I assume were orders because there was only 2 or 3 other customers in store waiting. Young lady who came to help me seemed annoyed to have to come take my order, and maybe 15 minutes later when I tried checking on my pumpkin coffee order I got a flat “we’re making it now.” Just think that with four people behind the counter, someone should be dedicated to walk in orders when applicable.

Wait was terrible, nothing was pumpkin about my coffee, and it was bitter even with oatmilk and a lil honey…and...

Good coffee but still have to ask 2-3x while my hot coffee gets cold...

Coffee is consistently great and we are very thankful for the staff here. They work very hard and it can get very busy.

In recent months the attentiveness of the staff towards customers has been slipping (they are very focused on making great coffee). Have not been receiving texts that order is done and when I go to pick up and mention name on order barista says it's not ready. Thankful for another staff member who saw me waiting for 7-8 minutes who checked for me and immediately handed me my two lukewarm coffees that had been sitting there all along. We will continue to come here but recognize the need to be more assertive when asking the staff to check if order is ready- to reemphasize, they are busy and work very hard. Still very grateful, but I love my Rook coffee hot. (Just got my "order ready" notice now, 5 minutes...

So I always give any Rook location five stars. However, due to my travel schedule I have not been able to go to a rook location in a while. I went to the one in Long Branch and the folks there are really nice behind the counter. And usually I'll get a bagel with cream cheese on it. I was told that they could give me the cream cheese and a knife and I would have to put it on myself. This may sound like a minor complaint but when you're in a vehicle struggling with a knife and cream cheese and trying not to make a mess it's a real pain. Also I'm pretty sure they charge the same amount. To me that's just bad customer service and as much as I love Rook coffee I think my love affair with them is over. Just one more thing, the employees who work behind the counter they always get a five-star rating from me. This rating that I'm giving now is for the owners of Rook who make the decisions. Sorry but it...