Aroma Joe's — Restaurant in Orono

I go here a lot because I really enjoy many of the long term staff and I like the drinks here, but lately it's been very unpleasant with the inconsistent closing times and always closed cafe. The staff is doing their best, but management needs to hire more people. Everything says it closes at 10, yet lately it's been closing as early as 6pm?? It's inconsistent, I never know when this place closes, and its always super long lines due to how understaffed the place is. Again: what staff here is GOOD, which is why I rated this a 3. What the service needs is more people because every time I go through, they mention they're short staffed but I saw the hiring sign disappear ages ago and I still don't see new people. Management needs to hire more people or do a better job of advertising that they're hiring, because it's severely and negatively impacting the business now that UMaine's semester has started, meaning it's damn near impossible to get anything without waiting in a super long line. But scrolling through the reviews here, it doesn't seem like management is interested in listening to anything as the response is "Sorry you had a bad experience" and stuff from 2-4months ago still has yet to be addressed. The place is great, but it feels like its falling apart as time goes on (all the while increasing prices, which isn't great). Staff is great, but they're severely overworked and its impacting the business. This is clearly a management problem with staff doing what they can to mitigate, which is now impacting the business with random closing times and no...

I have been going to this Aroma Joes since 2021. I have probably spent an upwards of 1k on Rushes and the food. Since 2021 the prices have increased by nearly 2 dollars per rush while the consistency of both service and product has decreased.

Here are the problems: 50% of the time you as for light ice they give you a regular amount of ice

Asking for no ice? They don’t even fill the drinks to the top, I paid for 24/32 oz, I should get 24/32 oz of drink. Especially if it’s 5-7$ for a Red Bull and syrup.

I usually order the same 3 rushes—Black Bear, BlackJack, or Cotton Candy, they have been increasingly giving me different drinks from these, usually you can immediately tell by the color and then by the taste. The worst instance of this was them putting lavender flavoring in my drink—I noticed.

This is not to mention the incredibly slow drive through service, taking them an average of 10+ minutes per order.

I used to think Aroma’s was the best coffee/breakfast spot compared to Dunks or SB but I feel as though it has just been getting more expensive and slower while the quality of the food and drinks is the same. Expect AJ’s to increase in price...

I had a truly awful experience at Aroma Joe’s today, and it’s probably the worst service I’ve encountered in a long time. I ordered a Mango Pineapple Rush and a bacon Gouda sandwich, but the staff messed everything up from start to finish. After waiting around for 15 minutes, someone mumbled, “I think this is your drink,” and handed me the wrong order—even though I’d specifically asked if it was mine.

When I finally asked for the sandwich I’d been waiting on this whole time, the big girl behind the counter started yelling at the other employees, then shoved the sandwich at me without a word of apology for the delay or for forgetting my order in the first place.

The cherry on top? I got the distinct feeling that if I didn’t tip, they would’ve treated me even worse—like you have to pay extra just to get half-decent service. The staff acted like they couldn’t care less about customers, and I left feeling thoroughly annoyed. I definitely won’t be going back, and I suggest you find somewhere else if you want prompt service, respect, and the...