Offshore Grill and Coffee House — Restaurant in Manzanita

There's a first time for everything!

My family and I stumbled upon this shop in search of some afternoon caffeine. They had something on the menu I'd never tried - white espresso. The lovely cashier/barista explained that it has a slightly "nutty" flavor and a bit more caffeine that traditional espresso. Sold. Double shot latte.

As we sat outside enjoying the courtyard, the kids began to climb a tree. White espresso, a beautiful day, what a treat.

Then, a manager-type person came out to the courtyard and asked the kids not to climb the tree. Let's pause...

I have no problem with a kid climbing a tree, but this is a private establishment and they can ask anybody anything they want. It is, after all, a eucalyptus tree which after further research is completely fine to climb and will suffer no harm. But still, it's their courtyard. Back to the story.

The manager-type then said, "That was really careless" and closed the door quickly as to avoid any chance of us responding. Manager-type was really mad.

We quickly gathered our things, told the kids they aren't bad people for climbing a tree, and left.

Yet I couldn't just leave. So I went back in to try and bring some resolution to a surprising interaction. Here's how that went:

"Hi, I fully appreciate you asking the kids to not climb the tree, I just..." "I've never seen a kid ever climb a tree here. I can't believe you let them do that." "Ok. I just think the 'careless' follow-up comment was a bit unnecessary. Climbing..." "That's a eucalyptus tree and an herb garden. It was incredibly disrespectful." "Just so you know, climbing a tree is pretty normal behavior for a kid. It will likely happen here again." "You need to get out of my store." "Why are you being mean right now?" "You're a horrible parent. Never come back here again."

At that point I just laughed and walked away. Little did manager-type know I wrestle deeply with my aptitude as a parent and this tree climbing incident may be a symptom of even more unresolved issues. Back to counseling for me!

It was a day of firsts. My first time being directly confronted about my horrible parenting, my first time being banned from a store, and my first time enjoying a white espresso. It certainly was nutty.

I would encourage you to find this comment "helpful" below so that other people can know that this coffee shop is not a safe place, unless you are a...

There is a server at this place who is the worst, nastiest person I've ever met who worked at a restaraunt. Honestly, she's just an abysmal, misery inducing, rude beyond words, pissy person who has a tendency to ignore customers she doesn't like (who knows what that entails), leaves the door open to freeze everyone out, laughs on the phone while she's supposed to be helping people, and gets mad when you ask for anything. Incredible. It's a shame, because the food is quite good. Here's the full story, as I didn't say the worst parts:

We have been in multiple times because we thought she may have simply been having a terrible day the first time, but no. My mom and I are very friendly, not loud in public, polite, understanding, and we both know how hard it is to wait tables -- we are always kind which is why this person's awful behavior was so baffling and I'm wondering what we did to warrant it.This is multiple indicent behavior in relatively short period of time too, as we are locals. We brought in friends with us both times, and the second time was more embarrassing than the last because of this worker's awful behavior and mindset. Our company also noticed the bad behavior and became uncomfortable.

The worst time was the last, naturally. My mom asked politely for an extra slice of pickle with her sandwich. Five minutes later, no pickle, my mom's friend asks the waitress for something -- a side of sauce. The waitress immediately brought the sauce and still didn't bring the pickle my mom requested, she has forgotten at this point. This would have been totally fine and no big deal of course, except for the waitress's reaction when my mom politely asks her again -- the waitress stomped off after sighing in an exasperated manner, then slams a whole pickle down in a tiny useless bowl front of my mom. Not a pickle slice for her sandwich. A whole pickle. Then the waitress laughed about it with the cook, and we could all hear her.

This waitress is a word I cannot type here. Don't go to this place and support her. She's...

AVOID IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES!!

I explained to the employee working the register that I have a dairy allergy and would be ordering an oatmilk latte and also asked her if she could verify if their caramel syrup has dairy in it since it is not a brand that I am familiar with. She was hesitant to help me but did look at the bottle and it was a sauce instead of a syrup so it did have dairy. She then stated they did have a caramel butterscotch syrup instead to which I asked again if she could review the ingredients for dairy. This time she definitely did NOT seem happy that I had asked and verbatim her next words were "It's caramel butterscotch, there should be no reason for there to be dairy in it" and she didn't even attempt to check the bottle. So rude and unprofessional and honestly hazardous to dismiss someone with an allergy so callously in a food service environment. I had to explain to her that she would be surprised how many everyday products contain dairy that we would never even realize. Thankfully there was someone else actually making the drinks that heard our interaction and that employee came over with the bottle of syrup and verified with me that there was no dairy in it. If the other employee hadn't done that I honestly would not have felt safe accepting a drink from the girl working the register knowing that she wasn't willing to ensure safety.

I have never left a review before but felt compelled after my experience here. I know people will leave a bad review before they leave a glowing one, but when it comes to safety I feel it's important. For reference this was the morning of August 5th in case the management/ownership would like to work with this employee regarding her demeanor and how to accommodate customers...