Barista Parlor Germantown — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Have you ever seen that episode of Portlandia where the baristas all get together and make a manifesto of unacceptable coffee shop behavior? Well, they all pulled their money and created Barista Parlor. I live a block away and was excited to have a cool local coffee shop around the corner, after the first visit I knew I could never be a regular. They refuse to serve espresso over ice, ok, that's fine, I get it. Preserver the flavor, ok, a little absurd, but ok. Get a cold brew instead, it's the weakest thing I've ever had, I genuinely from the bottom of my heart believe it is iced tea. If you won't let me have an iced americano you better be delivering the strongest cold brew on the planet bro! Like can we all just be real, coffee is an addiction, not and art form. If I wanna slam iced espresso for the caffeine and not the flavor, an establishment that serves espresso and ice should do that for me. It's absolutely the most pretentious place I've ever been. And the baristas LOVE to tell you no in this silky, super villain tone of voice that makes you wanna reach across and give them a good slap. I gave the second star because the biscuits are really good, but I have no idea what their kitchen hours are because I was told at noon that the kitchen was closed? The ONLY nice person I've ever encountered working there in the three or four times I've gone (I kept hope alive!) was nice enough to SNEAK into the kitchen and make one for me anyway. Huge disappointment, should be called pretention parlor, you will only enjoy this if you are also a person who treats coffee like a lifestyle and looks on iced beverages (and most other human beings)...

I tried to order two shots over ice and they said they couldn't sell me that. I asked if they had ice. Yes. I asked if they made espresso. Yes. Was I on the set of Portlandia? Yes. She made a very pretentious fuss about it. It's just not something they can do. After I stood there in full-on dismay for a minute, she got all quiet and said she could maybe (break the rules) and sneak me a glass of ice and I could do it when the barista wasn't looking (!?). And they don't serve espresso to go, and also they can't give me a to-go cup to pour it in. Oh, and the order would take 5-10 minutes to make. To pull one shot of espresso. 10 minutes. Fiiiinally, my espresso arrives on a tray. She has already "slipped me" the cup of ice. I then had to pour my own espresso over the ice and head over to pour a splash of creamer in it. Creamer was out. So I approached the counter once again. She took the container to refill it... and then came back with it after a few minutes... they were out of 1/2 & 1/2. Out. It was 10am on a Saturday. The entire coffee shop was OUT of 1/2 & 1/2. No creamer for me. End of sentence.

Just behind me, my friend ordered some drink off the menu with a name I can't remember. Guess what arrived. Two shots over ice with cream and a pump of vanilla syrup. Wow. Really? They couldn't have made me that drink without the pump of vanilla? 🤦‍♀️

This place is a scene from Portlandia. Joke's on you, customer....

Should I remain a regular customer? Recently, Barista Parlor Made noticeable changes that I question as a loyal customer. First they reduced their coffee and food menu choices dramatically. Next, they eliminated food served to accommodate food allergies. Sorry, we can’t take off the cheese.

Advanced preparation of biscuit sandwiches simply means to me that they are not made to order and are not as fresh as they can be say if they were not subject to sitting under a heat lamp. The biscuit sandwich that I scraped most of the cheese off was as hard as a rock by Nashville and other Historic Germantown establishment biscuit standards.

Also, it’s pretty clear the staff are unhappy with many of the changes. The Baristas are pros and don’t complain, but you can see it in their faces.

I may be wrong but I believe I know financially motivated changes when I see them, but to be honest paying $4.00+ after taxes for a small at best medium drip coffee has me scratching my head.

Oh yeah, Barista is the only place in G-Town where you have to bus your own tables. I tip at the register (every time), cleanup my food, dishes and garbage and pay the more than any other place. To be clear, the pour over coffee, venue and staff are still great but I went from every other day to every other week given other options.

You can do better my friends! Remember when we met? Back then you had...