Partners Coffee West Village — Restaurant in New York

The good: the beans are pretty great, I've pulled some of the best espresso of my life using their Elevate blend. Their mail order beans were a staple for me during the pandemic.

The meh: In terms of speciality coffee I'd rate the quality of drinks as average. Miles ahead of Starbucks for sure but on par with other specialty chains like Birch and Stumptown. Probably a matter of taste but I prefer the iced coffee and espresso drinks from Blue Bottle.

The bad: I've visited often on weekdays and always had super nice baristas. In the past I've asked where's the bathroom and they always point me downstairs. I visited this Saturday and made my way toward the bathroom when the barista nastily chided me "where do you think you're going???" as if I've strolled through the TSA after setting off the metal detectors. I stuttered out "uh the bathroom" and then added that my friend was in line to order in case her problem was she thought I wasn't a customer. She took a pause and said "bathroom is closed!" I took my friend out of the line and headed somewhere else. Maybe that bathroom downstairs was always meant for employees only, but I had no idea based on the way other employees had directed me there. Either way, any establishment serving coffee needs to offer a place to return their product if you know what I mean. But bottom line, she was so unnecessarily rude it kinda ruined my day, or at least had me fuming for the next few hours, and it makes me hesitate to visit again. It was a relief when I arrived at 11th st Cafe which had a public bathroom and a very sweet barista who made me feel at home and a lovely chill...

Mistakes happen. Whether it be a chain coffee shop or a local one. Of course when they happen, it’s annoying. But, we’re human. I try my best to not judge a place on the mistake, but rather, how it is corrected. Today, my first visit to Partners, I ordered a mocha latte and a spinach pretzel sandwich. They both arrived promptly. I went outside and sat down. I took a sip of coffee and unwrapped my sandwich. First thing I notice - a hair. Gross. I take a picture of it. But, it happens. I go back inside and inform a barista, showing them the hairy sandwich. They then take the sandwich and take it back to what I assume is the kitchen. Can you say health code violation? About 5 minutes later they return with a sandwich and apologize. I go back outside and study the wrapping a bit more. I unwrap the outside, compare it to the picture I previously took and realize - IT’S THE SAME SANDWICH. Sans hair BUT warmed up. The hair was a mistake. Taking back the sandwich and not immediately throwing it away is a health code violation. Makes me wonder what other shortcuts they’re taking. Hard pass...

Since they only have one register the entire experience is very inefficient, with customers waiting for a long time and the staff feeling stressed to keep the line short and therefore providing you with pretty awful customer experience. I had a very rude and short tempered cashier who was just waiting to get to the next customer. Unfortunately, I had an issue with my online order that required a bit more attention. instead of helping me figure it out, I was told from one cashier that they will call doordash to cancel the order and from another they they will call doordash to release the order to them so they could go ahead and prepare it. Two completely different outcomes! I left the store without the food as they told me they will cancel the order. 15 min later I was asked by the doordash app to rate my experience and of course I was charged for an order I never received. Too bad, I was really craving their...