Starbucks — Restaurant in New York

I have some deep feelings about this Starbucks location. Not because I love Starbucks, but because there are changes afoot in this neighborhood and this place is a metaphor for many of them.

Let's start with the fact that it exists here a all. Whenever a Starbucks comes to a neighborhood in NYC it's a sign not of impending gentrification, but of solidly underway gentrification. Starbucks is not showing up in the hopes that gentrified folks are around, and looking at the people who live mostly on the west side of Broadway? It's clear: the gentrifiers have succeeded.

This Starbucks also here because other cafes have paved the way. In the last 10 years we went from having no cafes to having a burst of a ton of cafes to having fewer cafes because many of them didn't make it. Why? There are a lot of reasons, but the biggest is because it's an expensive business. You have to balance a lot of things. And you need a clientele willing to pay certain prices to keep you afloat.

Even in a gentrified nabe like this one there are still a ton of people who are concerned with authenticity and local-ness (as long as those things are made to feel comfortable and welcoming to THEM and not necessarily the people who lived around here before them). So I can see them eschewing the Starbucks in favor of Darling Coffee down the road. Those people can keep that place.

After having spent several days in this Starbucks writing, working, and people watching, here's what I've noticed about it: a true mix of people comes in here. Yes, you have the white folks, the hipsters, the yuppies, and the baby carriage pushers. Those aren't the only people who come in. There are plenty people of color, especially Dominicans, who drop in for coffee or stay to work or hang out. This place is pretty hoppin' on weekend afternoons and on some weeknights. The people who work here are mostly brown, and as a brown person I appreciate that. Contrast this with the very white clientele and staff of Darling Coffee or even Taszo down in Wa-Hai.

Curious, that. A chain coffee shop draws a more diverse clientele than the "local" shops not so far away? How is that possible?

Maybe because Starbucks isn't only here for the gentrifiers. Maybe because the people of Inwood are a bit tired of "local" places that aren't so friendly toward what we consider local people.

One of the biggest drawbacks to this place is how few seats there are. A communal table in the center seats 6, bar seating by the window seats maybe 4, tables in the back corner can fit up to 8 if everyone is willing to get snug. I usually find a seat, even if I have to wait for a bit. It's worth it.

There are outlets, there is free wi-fi, there are good drinks (chai latte, come to mama), there are friendly people. I would spend all my days here before I spent an hour in certain other cafes.

I wish that they'd gone for a bigger space with this location. I wish that the other cafes in this neighborhood hadn't disappeared or made themselves unfriendly toward certain people. I wish we didn't need chain cafes to make other places step up their game. I wish hipsters and yuppies hadn't discovered Inwood. I wish a...

Yet another person with a Horrible Experience at a Starbucks... Specifically, the Starbucks at Johnson Creek Crossing in Portland, Oregon. I was trying to give my order at the drive-thru, but apparently the person who was taking it couldn't hear me very well. A short, decaf vanilla mocha non-fat no-whip. Still, she had every thing right but the vanilla, so when she asked me if it was right, I said "Everything but the vanilla." She said she was having trouble hearing me, so I said loudly "Va-nil-la!" She said she was still having trouble hearting me, and for some unknown reason changed the drink to a grande vanilla latte, so I said loudly "Moch-a!" and then asked her why she changed the drink/size? She said she more about not being able to hear me, so in a very loud voice I said "SHORT... DECAF... VANILLA... MOCHA. NONFAT... NO WHIP" At which point she said I was treating her badly and refused to take my order. After some pointless back and forth I asked for the manager. She claimed she was the manager. I asked for the contact information for her supervisor. She insisted that I come up to the window, and after waiting for other customers, I did, and she gave me the business card for her supervisor. I asked for her name, which she refused to give me because I was being "too aggressive". She also claimed that the name on her apron was not really hers. I asked for a way to identify her with the supervisor and she would only give me three digits from her employee number.

Suffice to say, after telling me multiple times she couldn't hear me and then, in a clearly passive aggressive manner, refusing to take my order when I tried saying it loudly enough so that she could hear me, I find it hard to imagine ever wanting to put myself through this again. It's a shame - after 30 years of patronage, I think I'm done with Starbucks over-priced drinks and childish staff. It's not the first time I've experienced immature Starbuck staff, but it will...

I went to Starbucks today just like I have done for pretty much every day since they opened. The manager was taking my sale. When she asked me what I wanted to drink I jokingly said “cause you don’t already know” and rolled my eyes. This turned into a huge mistake. Johelis then told me I couldn’t have a drink and that I needed to leave the store. When I asked her why she called the police and refused to talk to me at all. I repeatedly asked her why she was doing this and she would not tell me. As I stood there being heckled by the other emloyees, Travis was the name of one I think, videotaping this ridiculous situation. The highlight was when they jokingly yelled at me infront of everyone in the store “where is your privilege now?” I was laughed at and treated like nothing in a store where it’s all too common. I shouldn’t have to go somewhere else because the staff doesn’t like me. The way I was treated was like I was nothing, I have come in every single day, the amount of money I have spent at that store and I get treated like a joke. You guys should honestly be ashamed of yourselves. You have no rite treating someone like that....