Hot Shot Espresso — Restaurant in Oak Harbor

I used to come here regularly and loved it as a quick stop on my way to work. When Ebonie and another girl who I believe was named Brie used to be there, I had wonderful experiences. They would always engage me in conversation and would make drinks quickly and correctly. However, within the past month or so I’ve noticed a change in staffing. That is to be expected with people moving and I understand that coffee shops can have a high turnover rate for various reasons. I myself was a waitress/barista for over two years and a barista for over four years at another local popular coffee shop. The change in staffing seems to not be for the better in this case. There is one barista there who is very pleasant and sweet and makes conversation still, and I wish I knew her name. However, I have now had two extremely unpleasant circumstances with another employee who works there. I do not like to “bash” businesses or employees, however I feel that something needs to be addressed with this person. The first time was when I had a free coffee and asked for an iced mocha, and was handed a coffee that had an inch of missing space from the top. I consider myself very polite and usually won’t say anything, however in this circumstance I was going through a rough day and wanted my free drink’s worth of coffee, so I apologized and asked if the barista would mind filling it up a little more. The barista acted extremely offended and then did what I asked, making an excuse for why she had given it to me with room. I thought it was very odd behavior but continued coming to Hot Shot Espresso nonetheless. However, after my experience today I am not sure if I want to continue coming back, especially when this particular barista is there. I was picking up two drinks, one for my sister, who had requested a 16 oz iced americano with almond milk and no water. The barista acted as if my request was absurd and asked me if I knew that americanos were made with water. I told her I did. I myself had made drinks myself like this when I was a barista for almost five years and I myself enjoy Americanos that have little to no water. This is entirely possible as the ice with the hot espresso creates a bit of water and you have room at the top for filling it with a little extra cream or milk. After the barista showed me the iced Americano with room at the top still and asked me if this was how I wanted it, I smiled and told her as nicely as I could that I believed my sister just wanted a little extra almond milk for cream. She made a face at me and said “that’s a latte then.” I was a little in shock and didn’t quite know what to say, but I told her that I had been a barista myself for a long time and that I knew what I was asking for. I explained that we wanted the Americano with the flavor mixed with espresso, packed with ice, and then a little extra milk for cream. I told her it would be the same as if someone ordering a hot americano asked for extra cream. She still went on arguing with me about how that wasn’t right, that it was a latte. Which is simply NOT true. I became very frustrated with her attitude, and said I’m sorry I’m not trying to be difficult. She relented and added more milk to it and then handed it to me saying she could get in trouble for ringing it up as an americano. I drove away extremely aggravated and frustrated that someone working in customer service would actually have the audacity to argue with me as a customer when I knew what I was asking for and was being extremely polite to her the entire time. When she opened the window to the shop when I pulled up, I even said hello how are you doing when she didn’t even greet me. Again, I am not looking to get anyone in trouble or bash a business. However, I truly hope that the owners of this establishment take what I write here into consideration. If I had ever spoken to a customer at the coffee shop I used to work at like I was treated today, I would have had serious consequences. I hope one day if I come back I will be able to change my review to something...

I usually LOVE hot shot, its my go to place, and Ebonie is the BEST barista, however lately I have sensed a change. The newer baristas don't seem to have had any training and it shows in the fact that there are several drinks that they make improperly. Ebonie used to be the manager and her drinks were always on point and her disposition sunny and friendly. The newer people are still nice and friendly but the drinks are subpar and I've noticed that while Ebonie used to have a set schedule (I used to visit 4-6 times per week) that is no longer the case and I find myself having to drive by to see if its her or one of the new people as without training and honestly without Ebonie I will sadly have to find a new coffee shop. Many friends are regulars to hot shot as well and have expressed similar sentiments and one of them ended up being served a drink with blended black plastic in it by one of the new hires and the new hire never realized it, that's a health risk! Another friend had a caramel macchiato (her usual) and it ended up way too sweet with the aftertaste of burnt coffee. I am so sad that hot shot is changing in such a way, I used to love it and looked forward to my usual drink and casual conversation with my favorite barista but the lack of training for new hired, and poor tasting drinks now paired with not being able to order from a barista I love and trust to make my drink perfect each time because she hadn't been scheduled as normal makes me think I need to try to find somewhere else to find good coffee. If it were not for these new changes I previously would have given hot shot espresso a 5 out of 5, sadly I can no longer do this. :( After their poor social media and communication skills, I have to give them 1 star. Instead of trying to remedy the situation, they wanted to argue on Facebook about my review and tried to state that the plastic being blended into someone's drink and then served to them was a small mistake. After acting unprofessionally and attempting to argue about not only my review but others they decided to delete their entire Facebook page as that was the only way to get rid of negative reviews. This is highly unprofessional and I will most definitely not be going here again. You can get almost the same if not better at Honeymoon Bay Coffee Roasters which is where Hot Shot gets their coffee from. Hot Shot has let go of nearly every barista except the two new ones who clearly have no training in brewing coffee or in running a business. It is a shame as Hot Shot used to be the best, I will no longer be going...

This is by far my favorite coffee spot in OakHarbor! I can always tell which barista is working by how good my coffee taste 😳 but I can’t complain because if I knew how to make it myself I obviously wouldn’t be paying someone else to do if for me regularly haha. I wish they still gave out the chocolate covered coffee bean on top of your drink, hoping they decide to bring that little sweet bean treat back sometime soon. I’d say out of every 5 trips, the customer service could be rated at 4/5 stars while there is always a random outlier that falls below that.. staff seems to come and go often. Not sure why? Just wish the quality of that amazing drinks would stay the same no matter what. None the less Hot Shot is still the best coffee...