Caribou Coffee — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Edit: Despite emailing the address that has been left in response to some of these reviews and leaving this review over a month ago, I've yet to hear back from anyone regarding these chronic cross-contamination issues. Since food safety is apparently such a non-concern that I cannot get a response, I'm taking my rating down to 1 star. I haven't visited this location since posting the review, and do not intend to until I hear that these issues are being addressed. Original review below:

While I am thrilled with the convenient location of this store, you may want to avoid it if you are a fellow vegetarian (or have any food allergies) and are in the mood for a sandwich from Einstein Bagels. There are very severe cross contamination issues - to the point where I'm pretty sure they would get written up during a health inspection.

I do not eat meat and always just got an egg & cheese bagel. My past 4 visits, I've had to pick pieces of bacon out of every item on my sandwich. Every time, the prep counter appears to not get cleaned at all in between orders despite being filthy with bacon/meat crumbs and pieces of food left behind other orders. The knife they used also doesn't seem to get cleaned in between cutting sandwiches, even if prepping a vegetarian sandwich after an order that contains meat. The last time I ordered, it appeared to be a slow enough time that I don't feel like there was any excuse to not wipe the counter - especially since they do set down things like eggs and cheese directly on top of those crumbs.

I have also submitted feedback to corporate and really hope this changes so that they actually implement policies to avoid cross contamination. The staff are always friendly and I've never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes for service - the cross contamination issue is the only thing that frustrates me...

The cashier (visual identification-black female with no name tag), couldn’t care less that a customer was in front of her. This was my first experience with her and my boyfriend had been ordering there for the past several days since we were staying as visitors in the hospital for about a week and he wanted to get coffee. He said she’s been this way the whole week when he’s ordered as well. She was looking away looking up looking down. I actually had to say hello hello I’m ready to order and she, while looking away, said I’m listening I’m multitasking. Meanwhile, she was very dismissive and not paying attention at all or giving any kind of pleasantry or to show that she was listening. Furthermore, when I gave my order, she didn’t write it down or enter it and had asked me to add additional times to repeat it so therefore she was not multitasking. She was just truly not caring or listening. She wasn’t doing anything else. She was blatantly disregarding us as customers and was not actively doing anything else. Her behavior made it seem like she was on another planet, if that makes sense. She also did not greet us and did not thank us at all. also when getting our beverages from the pick up counter, there was no thank you from them as well.

The drink was good andas I remembered it years ago when I lived in Minnesota. But the service was horrible and I have no idea how no one has mentioned this behavior and conduct before and or eh it hasn’t...

I’m pretty disappointed with the service I received today. I requested a refund because I never heard my name called when my order was ready, and the app never notified me either—even though several customers who ordered after me received their drinks. I assumed my order had simply been forgotten.

When I went to ask for a refund, a male employee with short hair said something along the lines of, “Yeah, the app doesn’t always show when drinks are done—you’d think they’d get that right for customers.” I told him twice that I’d be perfectly fine if they just remade my order, as I just wanted my food and drink to be fresh and hot. Instead, he ignored that request, handed me a free drink that didn’t equal what I originally purchased, so I told him again "If you could remake it for me I would be ok with that" and then stood at the register trying to figure out how to process my refund.

A kind female employee eventually stepped in and offered to have my order remade—after I’d asked for the third time. While waiting, the same male employee continued to glare and scowl at me the entire time until I left. Maybe he was having a rough day, but that kind of treatment toward a respectful customer isn’t acceptable.

I’ve always preferred Caribou over Starbucks, even though Starbucks offers more flexibility with milk substitutions. However, after this experience, I think I’ll be taking a break from Caribou...