Heine Brothers Coffee - Gardiner Lane Shopping Center — Restaurant in Louisville

I went through the drive thru to get an iced americano. No one was in line and the parking lot was half empty. I paid for my coffee at the window and waited. When my drink was finished, it sat inside the window for 8 minutes. I sat there and looked at my drink for 8 minutes. When the barista handed it the window, they just said “here you go, have a great day.”

Coming from Seattle and living there for 18 years, I’ve seen this business model happen for a long time. While they are local and have made this imprint on the city for a long time, they know it, and feel that they can get away with it all that they want. They’ve won the hearts of the city and are re-structuring their business practice now that they are able to. Their employees are underpaid and the locations are understaffed. This shows that the owners of the company are conservative with their money and are hoarding it.

Do you know who else does this? Costco! Costco claims to give back to the community, pays a decent wage, and sells what they think are great products. Its constituents are loyal to the Kirkland Signature brand and will buy ANYTHING with it on the label. But what you don’t know about Costco is what goes on behind closed doors. Once you enter, you abide by their strict rules and borderline sign some waivers. I digress on this, let’s get back to coffee.

I am sorry to put weight on this location, but Friday morning was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In my 6 months of returning home, I’ve visited several locations within the Watterson Expwy and never had a great experience. Mainly the wait to get an order. Usually I have to order at the counter and go sit at a table for 10 minutes to wait on a drip coffee. Can you imagine being on a coffee date and waiting that long for a drink with the person you are meeting? Well it happened, just sitting there with an 8oz water from the jug.

To the owners, I’m merely an ant, but I’m not very happy, and I cannot guarantee I will return for a coffee on my way to work. I ordered at 7:10 am, waited until 7:20 am, and got to work with 3 minutes to spare. It’s a good thing I had enough time to put my lunch in the fridge before clocking...

EDITED/UPDATED This clearly used to be a favorite cafe of ours and we planned our Supercharger stops around this specific place. Unfortunately it has gone downhill the past couple of times we've been here and tonight, our service was simply unacceptable. We ordered with a girl at the desk who was obviously not happy to be there. Fine, it's closing time. I get it, no big deal. Here's a good tip before I even get my order. Well, kind of regretting that decision because when we receive our scone and muffin, they're cold to the touch and the scone is hard. Literally, it made a noise when I tapped it on the table. I walk up to the counter (it's about 7:30 now- we ordered around 7:20) to ask her to heat them up- they've always just come that way previously. She says "no, the ovens are turned off because we close at 8". So... Ovens are apparently turned off before 7:30 even though you close at 8? I didn't say anything but I was pretty bummed. We try to eat them anyway and the muffin was fine but the scone was like eating a piece of chalk with bacon bits in it.. I'm hoping these are one of situations lately because I'm about ready to change our trip route to the other nearby charger- this cafe was literally the only reason we chose this location to charge our car. Please hire better employees.

This is one of our favorite Tesla supercharger stops now simply because of this coffee shop. Not only is their coffee amazing, the staff is friendly and the scones&muffins are to die for. I've never liked any baked good with poppy seeds or lemon in it until my husband got the lemon poppyseed muffin here. It is DELICIOUS!! We also tried the scones- bacon cheddar, chocolate peanut butter, banana chocolate chip, cinnamon streusel, etc. We've yet to be disappointed. We now plan our route through Louisville specifically to come to this coffee shop. Highly recommend!

Vegan...

I tried this location from 6/1/2024 - 9/26/2024. In short, the coffee products are great and the food products are decent but the service suffers from inconsistent bipolarity that vacillates from commendable to abysmal. My last visit, which will be my literal last visit, went as follows:

1:14 PM: Placed mobile order for in-store pickup through the official app, which gave me a 1:35 PM estimated pickup time

1:19 PM: Arrived in-store and waited near the mobile order pickup, which was empty and stayed empty as I waited in front of various, uninquisitive attendants

1:40 PM: Requested at the register that my order made 26 minutes beforehand be cancelled. My cancellation request was denied. I was instead given a lukewarm coffee from the drive-through queue along with the insinuation that I ordered incorrectly (despite having previously flashed my app order, which showed in the top left corner a "1:35 PM estimated pickup IN-STORE time"). I was then told that I may cancel the order through the app. Despite immediately knowing and later confirming the order cancellation suggestion to be pure misinformation, I cut my losses and left. While the app and confirmation email did welcome me to call (502) 458-7770, I am disinterested in having a second sidebar conversation about a cup of coffee that cost $7 and 26 minutes.

Moral of the story: my money and effort are better spent elsewhere. Even if that's my own kitchen, at least I can get a decent cup of coffee without overpaying, being hassled, or, frankly, being needlessly politically...