Gloria Jean's Coffees — Restaurant in Mentor

I accompanied a family member to a Gloria Jean's stand directly beside a mall food court yesterday. I had not expected to order anything, as the prospects of finding a caffeine-free and low-sugar beverage did not appear sound after a brief glance at the menu. As the order was being placed, however, I noticed the selection of fruit drinks. I inquired about what the banana "chiller" contained and was told that it only had ice and a banana purée. I reasoned that the purée would not need any significant amount of added sugar, if any. It is unfortunate that I must share that, even for items that should be a healthy choice by any logical extension of the imagination, establishments like Gloria Jean's Coffees cannot be given the slightest degree of trust in regards to what they find suitable for their customers to consume.

Upon the first sip, I immediately marked the unnatural, almost syrup-like sweetness that the beverage had. At this moment I made yet another error; I reasoned that sugar had been added, but it would amount to 30 grams at most. Although this already hits the upper limit of one's daily added sugar intake value, I could not simply discard the beverage that my family member had been generous enough to pay for. Walking towards the mall exit and to our car, the beverage was nearly gone.

Some time in the car passed after I sipped the last of the liquid, and I began to receive a general feeling that routinely comes upon me after consuming a sugar-heavy dessert. I was already disconcerted at the fact that an intentional decision was made somewhere to inject a conspicuous quantity of sugar to a menu item of enough apparent simplicity and natural sweetness as a fruit smoothie (in this case called a "chiller" to differentiate it from what I later learned is an even more astronomical sugar and calorie count beverage served under the guise of a drink at Gloria Jean's). Partly out of curiosity and partly out of disgust, I decided to visit the Gloria Jean's Coffees website to see how much sugar I had just consumed.

I then learned that the Banana "chiller" beverage contains 99 grams of sugar in a regular size. The feeling one receives after being violated, duped, or used then came upon me most strongly. The length to which I have already gone to write this review might appear histrionic to some, but allow me to elucidate the absurdity of the aforementioned figure. 99 grams of sugar is more than three times the amount that a human should consume in one day according to the National Health Service. Although I do not suffer from any health condition that made my body unable to absorb this blow, one must ask himself why this would have to be processed in the first place. The human body is not designed to be intaking such quantities of this substance. And this is only one item one might consume throughout the day. Why is it that such inhuman amounts of sugar must be added to these beverages? There comes a point when an item is already so overwhelmingly sweet that the taste buds are desensitized-- that adding any more sugar only contributes to a higher calorie count. Beverages with figures as high as 160 grams or more from Gloria Jean's menu well exceed...

I'm not sure as to who the cashier's name was, but she was a woman in her upper 30s/early 40s with brown hair and glasses. And was beyond rude and extremely unprofessional. I had already been charged $7.25, only for the cashier to try and double charge me, but when I stated she had already charged me and showed her the transaction on my bank account, instantly she got aggressive with me and said that it was not true, and basically made me out to be a liar in front of everyone.

So as I sat down at a table to put more money on my card, to basically be double charged, here someone else paid for my drink. I told her not to, but she did anyways, and the cashier had the nerve to roll her eyes at me and say "someone paid for your drink," as if I did it on purpose or something. Very unprofessional, she needs fired. All I said was I know I was charged, please don't double charge me, and even showed her my phone with the transaction, in which she instantly got aggressive, made me feel belittled and stupid, to then make me feel even more belittled as I was putting more money on my card in front of a bunch...

Gloria Jeans has good specialty drinks. That's about it. The girls that work here seem to be mad that you want to order from them. I came during a time that wasn't too busy, yet it seemed like they were completely overwhelmed by the 4 drink orders they had with 5 employees behind the counter. I watched an employee get visibly mad at the customers waiting on their drink because no one claimed the drink they called. Good product is good product, but good service is what brings people back. Based off the employees attitudes, I'd debate...