Joe Coffee Company: W 85th St — Restaurant in New York

TL;DR: Great coffee, great people, irritating tactics that makes everything feel extra expensive if you’re not extra careful.

The person serving me there was sweet, but I was surprised to see how much two drinks ended up costing me. I wasn’t asked if I wanted a receipt, so I ended up calling to see if they could tell me about my transaction. They claimed they couldn’t look at transactions from 5 days before, which seemed odd. Ultimately they explained that when you don’t specify a size For a drink they default to giving you a large. On top of this there was an up charge for several of the things I asked for, that weren’t explained at the time of my order.

Joe’s has never been considered cheap coffee to me, but this certainly does not help. Why would a coffee shop default to giving larges? And why are none of the upcharges defined on their menu, let alone verbally conveyed to people? Why wasn’t I asked if I wanted a receipt, or shown the screen with the receipt before I paid?

There used to be a Joe’s in Philly that did not operate this way, so I guess it’s just...

I was just about to leave the metropolitan when I asked one of the staff there -- who was a local -- for a nice coffee shop in the area; she immediately pointed out this place, so there I went.

I arrived around early evening and stayed there almost until they closed, and I had a great time sitting there with my tablet and working on a painting. There aren't a lot of tables available at the shop, but I got there early enough to get my spot. The coffee itself was nothing special, but on the other hand I also had a banana chocolate-chip muffin which was great.

The real plus though were the people. The two guys there who served the customers were extremely friendly. The place seemed to have a lot of regular customers, all of them sounded cheerful upon arriving to the place, and some even had stayed and had long conversations with the guys who work there. This gave the place a very welcoming and cozy-friendly vibe, and since the place is rather small it never felt as if it was too noisy.

If I were to live around that area, I would've definitely visit...

Alright, I had been avoiding Joe Coffee because of its prices, but i wanted to see why people liked it. First of all this place isnt cheap so im expecting something good. Ordered a Cortado with an employee who genuinely seemed to be trying to do a good job, but my order was passed along to two young men who were... less than great. Laughing joking clutching each other in hysterics, and debating how much joe coffee the company would be worth if it were sold. One was doing some work making orders, but super slowly. The other was solely distracting and not caring at all. Moral of the story, there were not many customers waiting for orders beside myself, my drink which consists of one espresso shot and a small bit of foam took 10 minutes to make, and ultimately the drink itself tasted burnt and low quality. Will never buy from here again. A manager was present and seemed to see this happening but did nothing to get her staff back on track. Really poor for what brands itself as an upscale option for...