Zen Coffee Company West — Restaurant in Omaha

It's a niche coffee shop. Three menu boards listed HotDrinks, Specialties and over half of third board contains Smoothie options in 3 sizes) . Smoothie large size was by sight, small 16, 20, 24 ounces IF cup were served full here (compared to Smoothie King, Juice Stop,etc.) and not unique just peanut butter and banana, mango, pina colada (other person who received it stayed tasted watered down and subpar)... My peanut butter was thick, straw given didn't allow to enjoy right away. The Pina colada ordered for friend as paying ($7 - $8 whether type Elvis, peanut butter protein, etc.) plus if add sales tax, solicited tip, and confetti cookie. Basically $30 for 2 small sized smoothies and cookie. Though would be treating myself, instead just felt upcharged when not a premium fancy coffee, latte, tea, kind of splurgy drink. Likely it's zen for coffee or tea specialties. Wait expected to make as you order. Tried again. One young lady appeared with 5 in line. Young man came out with avocado toast. He helped with drinks, he would bring plates of food. Customers would ask as approached counter if their coffee or someone else as just casual voice advised what is while facing away and just having up there. I was handed the wrong thing myself, as told no to prior order when she said name of scone. It was 8 am. Turtle was nothing spectacular. Watching the daily operation briefly so others shaking head in disbelief and some commenting to others or helping order pick up, delivery, guesswork when not slow. Some questioned what name of item is, was when ordering. Maybe just well brewed coffee is all to focus on and some nice food. Menus are of drinks. You can see breakfast sweets in glass, but not much else like avocado toast...

Do coffee flight reservations not come with the expectation of having a table reserved as well anymore?? I have been to this location many times before and had good experiences. I know Saturdays here are very busy and hectic and it’s hard to get a table, so I made a reservation earlier in the week for Saturday at 10am to get flights with 2 of my friends. I remember when they first started doing flights and you could only get flights on the weekends if you made a reservation, which I have done multiple times before so I thought this time would be the same as before. When I walked in, the seating area was full and there were no tables open so I got in line to ask the guy at the cash register if they had a reservation down for 3 at 10am today and he said yes. I asked if they had a table reserved and he hesitated and looked and said “we usually do but let me ask my manager”. When he asked her if they reserved a table she said “We had a reservation for 3 coffee flights today” in a very snarky tone and didn’t even look up to make eye contact with me. The male employee was very nice and tried to take our order after that but we had to leave because there was no where to sit and went to another local coffee shop that now has my business from now on. I honestly would never be making this review if that manager had looked up and just admitted they either forgot, couldn’t get a table free for us, or that the reservation policy changed and they know longer reserve a table for coffee flight reservations anymore. Instead she was rude and disrespectful and I felt bad for the male employee who was trying to keep our business after...

Unfortunately I am having to update my review:

I have been back a few times lately. Once my husband picked up 2 drinks for us and it was $17 without tip. The other couple times I have been I have been pretty disappointed in the quality of the drinks. Based off of the taste of the espresso, it seems that it is being over extracted. It was very bitter and I couldn’t finish my drink. I was really excited to get the stroopwafel latte with maple spice syrup, but the only thing I could taste was bitter espresso.

I am not a fan of writing poor reviews of places, but my previous review does not reflect my recent experiences.

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For awhile I loved coming here all the time! The environment is great and the baristas are so nice!

I love that they give a discount if you bring your own cup and their loyalty program is one of the better ones in the community.

Their drinks are good. They are pretty comparable to most coffee shops around. I do like how creative they get with their drinks though! The pistachio white mocha is one of my favorites.

Unfortunately as they have raised their prices considerably, I haven’t been coming hardly at all. If you want a latte and then tip it’s going to be around $8-$9 for one drink. That’s a lot.. and a lot more expensive than other local coffee shops.

So, if you’re willing to spend the money, I definitely recommend this place! I will go for a treat every...