Starbucks — Restaurant in Meridian

I have had okay experiences here in the past, but today my fiance and I had a terrible experience. I am extremely allergic to dairy. When I consume it my throat swells. It's not quite anaphylaxis, but it's still scary and definitely not enjoyable. I have never had any problem with any Starbucks until today. It started out just fine while we were ordering our drinks at the drive thru window. I ordered a chai tea latte with soy milk, and my fiance ordered his drink. When we got to the window, I double checked my drink to be sure that it was made with soy (like I always do...just in case), and it wasn't. My fiance asked Beth, the barista, if we could have it remade with soy instead. She got extremely huffy and said, "I didn't catch the soy." in a very sarcastic tone. My fiance apologized, yet we definitely had mentioned it while ordering. Soy chai tea latte is my favorite drink. A few moments later she returned with the drink. When my fiance and I thanked her, she was very indignant and wouldn't speak to us, let alone look at us. Beth was extremely rude after realizing she had made a mistake. It was not a big deal at all. Everyone makes mistakes, and honestly, if it weren't for my allergy I wouldn't have sent it back. I'm not that picky, but with my allergy I really cannot handle dairy. So I needed the drink changed. Beth simply did not handle the situation well. After leaving the drive thru, my fiance picked up his drink and realized that his grande was not even filled all the way. There was a little over an inch of empty cup before you reached the whipped cream floating on top of his coffee. Overall, this was an extremely disappointing experience, and I will not be returning to this Starbucks because of...

Right, so I thought I’d pop into Starbucks for a coffee—haven’t been in years, and after today, I reckon I’ll wait another 20.

The place was empty. Not a soul. Three people behind the counter, just sort of… milling about, looking busy but achieving absolutely nothing. Fifteen minutes later—still no coffee. Not even a hint of movement toward making it. Honestly, I was starting to think I’d accidentally walked into a performance art piece about inefficiency.

So I ask, “Where’s my order?” And do you know what they say? “We couldn’t find it.” Couldn’t find it? What do you mean, couldn’t find it? It’s not like I slipped it into a hedge! Meanwhile, my Black American Express could definitely find it when I dispute the charge. Amazing how that works.

And get this—I asked for a full refund. Thought that was fair, considering they literally hadn’t even started my order. Should’ve been simple, right? No, instead I got that corporate-trained, dead-eyed look of confusion.

Honestly, Starbucks, if you don’t want customers to come in, just put a sign on the door. “Go away. We’re busy doing absolutely nothing.” Would save us all the trouble. Absolute waste of 15 minutes....

I went through the drive thru and the guy at the window was so nice! I ordered two drinks thinking it was buy one get one free but he explained that was only for espresso drinks. He said that since I ordered an espresso drink I could add another one to my order for free. I know it can be annoying to do that at the window but he said it was no problem at all. Someone inside told him to have me pull forward, so I did. There was only one car behind me, so it wasn't very busy. An older lady came out with one of my drinks and I asked her about the third one. She was very rude and said that I had cancelled the 3d drink (the nonespresso one), and when I told her she was mistaken, and I paid for two and got one free, but was missing my 3d drink she told me I was wrong and was pretty rude about it. Eventually another person brought my last drink - they were super nice. The drink I was waiting on was a cold brew with nothing in it, so it wasn't a complicated order. I hate giving only 3 stars but it only takes one rude employee to overshadow the...