Civil Coffee DTLA — Restaurant in Los Angeles

UPDATE: I removed the original picture I included with my review out of privacy for the employee. I posted it for the company to be able to identify the main employee who was rude to me, however Civil Coffee never responded to me or made an attempt to follow up with me about the situation.

Original Review:

I’ve been to this place three times and the staff has never treated me with customer service. I came in today as one of two customers in the entire shop, with three workers sitting around. No one welcomed me and I entered or as I read through the menu. After a good five minutes of silently reading with no staff acknowledgement, I was ready to order.

Apparently the cook, who does not look any different from the baristas, saw me waiting and made eye contact with me. I thought they were going to take my order, but they finished one task and started another. They passed me by at least three times, each time making eye contact with me, but never said anything to me and didn’t let anyone know that I was ready to order. Not to mention that the rest of the staff also saw that I was waiting.

I had to say “Is anyone going to take my order?”before one of the baristas finally came over. I calmly explained, and I wasn’t even upset at that point, that “the cook”had made eye contact with me several times but didn’t take my order. The barista said something like, “Thats because he can’t do anything, he’s the cook.”

I’m let him know that as a customer, I don’t know that and that I felt some type of way because they all had seen me and didn’t even acknolwedge me when I came in. The barista proceeded to get defensive and argumentative, saying that he was busy, even though he was finishing up a drink as I came in and was reading through the menu. Their immediate response was there are other coffee shops to go to and that I should go to Verve.

To keep it short, I was never trying to start a dispute. And even I as made the effort to steer the conversation the other way, the barista said he refused to serve me because of my attitude, even though he was the one who turned the situation into a dispute.

After I called him racist and misogynist he “took offense” and told me to leave. Side note, I don’t know why white adjacent individuals feel the need to say they are offended when someone calls them racist. If you are accused of bigotry, that is not an insult, and acting as if your character has been shot is disingenuous. Moreover, as the only customer walking into a coffee shop that had three non-black male employees facing the entrance with only one other customer in the entire shop, it is not unreasonable for me to call them out for mistreating me based upon what I look like. Nobody should be ignorant to the fact that a lot of establishments and individuals in Los Angeles do not treat black women with respect.

Back to what happened, I asked him to give me his name, the manager’s name and contact, and the owners name and contact. He then proceeded to call security even though I said I would leave after he gives the proper contact information to speak with the owner or manager, and also, nothing about me or the situation was violent or threatening.

Here is a picture of the problem barista of the day. At first he said he was the manager, but I guess after I exclaimed that I was serious about speaking with someone over him, he then revealed that the manager is someone else.

Outside of my experience, the coffee is not that good and the entrance doors are nasty, yet are always closed.

Also if anyone wants to try to dispute my claim, there should be footage of the entire incident that should confirm that I have no reason to make this shit up. I came in today a little...

I find that, as companies grow, something usually diminishes, whether it be the customer service, product quality, or personality/character of the business. This is NOT the case for Civil Coffee. I don't live close to either the Highland Park shop or the new DTLA shop, but will travel for good drinks and food. I must give this disclaimer: I do not drink coffee! The Liquid Gold (matcha with a splash of lavender) is just as good here as in HP, with the distinct and smooth matcha flavor that the lavender perfectly enhances.

As for the food, one really can't wrong with any of the items, but my faves are the burritos, both of which travel well and if I chose to lounge a while and enjoy the Wifi in the beautiful sleekly designed shop, I'm sure the burritos would lounge well too. :).

Oh, and the service at this location is just as friendly and knowledgeable as that at the HP location. The delicious eats/drinks, Tribe in the background and excellent service really promote that it's a good day to be Civil. :).

Normally this is my go-to place for grabbing coffee because it's amazing (the Figueroa specifically). However, I will not be ordering anymore food from here. I ordered my usual coffee and decided to order a breakfast burrito on the side. The guy rings me up and then I pay and wait for my coffee. I look over and I see him touch my burrito and put it on the grill. At first, I thought I was tripping so I let it slide and just watched him carefully. He then proceeds to take other customers orders touching the screen, touches his nose, just to use his hands to flip over my burrito. I then see him touch his hair, and once my food was done take his hands to package it up. I immediately ask for a refund for the burrito. He did offer to remake the burrito, but I kindly declined. With everything going on right now, places should handle food better. Very unsanitary. I appreciate the lady who made my coffee and used tongs and washed her...