Caribou Coffee — Restaurant in Maple Grove

Was a "love/hate ... love" beginning, nonetheless, I'm a #MNBold Caribou Patron. In my experience, at FIRST I was going to drive away completely unsatisfied, BUT I have a great Barista coach at my 'FAVE' location (169 & 36th New Hope, MN) where I was told to get exactly what YOU are paying for when YOU order, whether it is a "$tacked points$" drink or not!

Sooo, I called back, and after literally BATTLING past the Barista for 'MANAGEMENT' after giving a name and # was willing to get manager (to identify me I'm sure), after going through all that I still had to battle the Barista!😯🤦🏽‍♂️ ... finally I said I only want to speak with management, for this is an issue that needs to be addressed from next level...

I than got management on the line. Handled the conversation VERY professionally. Heard out my customer feed back, came to an agreement on addressing customer relations, and even offered a reimbursement of a propper drink ... nonetheless here's my. Caribou quarry (star bucks and Dunn bros doesn't tangle over): I order a Large Caramel cooler. K. 4 HOT shots of espresso *Blended, hold the whip, wit the drizzle, xtra drizzle to gain sweet back from espresso bitter, and after blended give, please give extra from shots instead of pouring down the sink...

I order this drink *Every single coffee joint internationally (blended coffee). 'ONLY' Caribou has a 'combative' "spirit" per'se when it comes to giving you exactly what you pay for!

I mean, c'mon Patrons! Customers! This isn't a rant. This is a review! If you go to a restaurant, order extra ranch, and it's .50c a cup, you than order 2 extra ... they only bring you 1 aaand charge you for the 2, are you going to say "it's just .50c" or give me 'exactly' what I paid for...?

So. As a heavily reviewed 'National ''restaurant critic'', I would say Caribou neeeeeeds to change their ways. I Love my "BirdTown" hometown Robbinsdale / MPLS coffee joint! But if the 169 and 36th manager wasn't in business, setting a STANDARD, raising the bar for Caribou Coffee 'distribution', Caribou would've lost me, and MANY other patrons!

Review almost through! 😁🤪😘

...Thank you to the kind management at THIS location, who took literally 3- 4 minutes to hear exactly where I was coming from (that's actually a LARGE amount of time to a Barista manager!). I will not give up on the Bou just yet! It's a "Bou Thang" ... but I will not be silent anymore! 🤷🏾‍♂️ #JS...

Unbelievably bad, can't believe they have stayed open this long. Consistently very poor service, employees too busy chatting with each other and playing with their phones to watch for customers, and a manager that doesn't seem to have any interest in the business. I've given it a lot of tries for the sake of having some variety in the area, but in the time they've been open, I've never had one positive non-problem visit. Counter people all seem to be untrained and not familiar with the menu; food orders, once charged to the customer, are frequently just forgotten until reminded (as is giving the perks / credit cards back), drinks are inconsistent and often wrong; service is unbelievably slow -- as few customers as they have, there's no excuse for this kind of slowness -- and I've never seen so many people in a single store have such issues with the register or basic math. Tonight I watched one counter person roll up a dirty work-area floormat, without even wearing gloves. And when I ordered food, they charged my card, and after a few minutes when no one was making a move to prepare it, someone else came back and said they didn't have what I ordered. And she did not know how to do a refund, and there was no manager there so she had to call on the phone. So ten minutes to order, get billed, and then get credited back. It's clear there is no interest in improving anything there, they should just shut the location down. We can get real service, accurate drinks and decent food at the Starbucks on the other side of the parking lot. Or at one of the other Caribou locations. This one is...

This location always makes my beverages perfectly and the staff can be really nice

But occasionally I have to argue with the workers here about what I am ordering despite my order being a menu item, with no additions, no substitutions, and no subtractions. I do not mumble or speak quietly either, so I do not understand the confusion. One of the times: I was ordering a blended beverage, and they literally refused to accept that my order was blended. They asked me twice if I wanted it bousted despite me emphasizing that I did not want it bousted when I ordered it. Then they asked if I wanted it sparkling. When I reiterated the same thing, that I wanted it blended and not bousted or sparkling, they seemed to not believe me or thought I was going to bring the beverage back or something and just seemed really skeptical, which is bizarre because its a menu item. This has happened multiple times with more than one drink on the menu so I dont really understand why they put these items on the menu if that's the response workers give (Ive never gotten this reaction from any other location or business in my life so I don't know why it happens?)

Plus the company treats its customers like absolute garbage (which I assume extends to its workers as...