PJ's Coffee — Restaurant in Madison

My husband and I live on the Northside of Highway 72, Madison, Monrovia, Harvest area. We had someone recommend PJs Velvet Mocha coffee. So, we decided to give it a try last night we were not aware that they closed at 6pm. We arrived at 5:45, walked in, first time here, we were only one there other than someone sitting at a table. No one offered help, we realized that you order from side, so we walked to where the young lady was counting cash register, she finished counting and then we placed our order. Large Velvet Mocha Decaf with oat milk. I ask her if that was possible for decaf, she said no problem. Our order came up, the barrister came and placed it at the pickup area and walked away. I reached to get it and noticed the size, (one of the other young ladies standing there cleaning) I ask her if that was a large and she reached and grabbed a large cup and showed me, It clearly was a medium, cup had my large label on it but was a medium cup. The cashier came and got it and poured it into a large cup and the barrister went in the back and came out with blender and poured what remained in my cup, I guess not enough because she went in the back and blended more, no apology, no response, very cold attitude from all. She finally brought it back out and set it on pickup counter and I told her thank you and I appreciate it. Still no response or apology for their mistake. We walked out and left. I took about 3 sips, it was a very good flavor. And then my heart started racing. I knew that she had put what seemed like a double expresso in it because of how quickly my hear began to race. Let me tell you, there was not any sleeping going on at my house at all last night. I do not know what happened but my husband took a couple of sips also and he said the same thing and he is a heart patient. I just want you to be aware that if someone orders something decaffeinated, it is not just preference, it could be life threatening to someone that has heart disease. Customer service is so important, we passed almost 4 different coffee shops and across Madison on a Friday night (which is gridlock) to patronize your store. ...

I drove through and gave PJ's a try yesterday. I was a little apprehensive after seeing a lot of shaky reviews early on, but whatever opening jitters they might've suffered earlier, I had a positive visit with little evidence of any of those issues mentioned by others.

Stopping by at around 11:45 on a Thursday, there was only 1 person ahead of me in the drive through. I will agree with other reviewers that the drive through setup is a little wonky and you could definitely get stuck in it during busier times or if they happened to be providing slow service.

Fortunately for me, neither of those things were true; I was able to order and drive away in less than 5 minutes.

One kinda weird thing is that the voice coming out of the speaker in the drive through was so soft. Idk if the staff member was whispering into the mic or if there was something wrong with the speaker, but either way, I could only barely hear her. Honestly, I think she might've welcomed me twice bc I missed it the first time. Lol.

The menu has a fairly large selection of coffee, other beverages, snacks/sandwiches, and beignets -- wouldn't be coffee of New Orleans without them. ;) I'd like to try the food, but I'd already had breakfast and just wanted a pick me up, so I decided to try a mocha granita.

In truth, I have no idea what the difference between a granita and a frappe is. They offer both. I figured I'd try the granita since it was slightly lower calorie and also just new to me. After tasting it, it reminds me a lot of, well, a frappe! So I still don't know the difference, lol.

Regardless of my somewhat silly confusion, I liked the mocha granita! Honestly, it was like a slightly icier version of a chocolate shake. Didn't taste much coffee, honestly, which was kind of a bummer, but I liked how dark chocolate-y it tasted. It was pretty, too! It had a slightly chalky aftertaste that was a little odd, but overall I definitely enjoyed it. It worked well as a pleasant treat in the afternoon.

I'd return to continue trying other menu items (especially the beignets), and also to check out the interior...

First time going today. Went through the drive through and ordered 2 breakfast sandwiches and 2 drinks - a cold brew and a flat white. When I got to the window, the first weird thing was that guy read back to me my entire order before letting me pay “1 sausage egg and cheese bagel, 1 turkey sausage egg and cheese muffin, 1 nitro cold brew and 1 flat white?” It wasn’t that weird, just slow. I don’t think they do that usually in a drive through. Didn’t bother me that much. But what bothered me was that I was holding out my phone to pay, and instead of scanning it, he holds out the scanner and says “can you take this.” So I reluctantly reach over with my right hand (that’s not holding my phone) and take the square reader and touch it to my phone…. Very awkward. I figured out why he wanted me to take the reader - because the tip screen was going to pop up. I handed it back to him before the screen popped up and he was like “ are you sure?” And I said yes. Not because I was like opposed to tipping - I almost always tip. Just not in a drive through usually? And to be fair, they are just microwaving 2 sandwiches, pouring a coffee and making 1 espresso drink. Hardly tip worthy service. So this whole interaction felt very strange and awkward. My opinion? I think this is a terrible user experience. I don’t know who else has touched that square reader. I don’t know if they clean it every time it goes out the window. I don’t know if this man spit in my coffee because I didn’t tip him… the nitro cold brew took like 5 minutes somehow because I had asked for liquid sugar and they were out somehow at 8 am on a weekday. Maybe I’m drinking this dudes piss or something? I don’t know what happened to take so long, so my worst fear is retaliation because I didn’t want to tip. Also… what if someone drops the square reader on the pavement? What if it breaks and interrupts service? Just thoughts here. Overall I will not be returning. Sandwiches were generic, service was slow, cold brew was meh but the latte was good. That’s the only reason I gave it 3...