Starbucks — Restaurant in Overland Park

Wow.... Never have I ever experienced a more disappointing and irritating Starbucks run. Normally I go to brick and mortar stores as they tend to have WAY better coffee because they have better trained employees. This was by far in my many years of going to Starbucks the worst yet. First I paid the same way I have for a while now; loading my drink total onto my gold card. Well the employee had no idea what she was doing this process took over 10 minutes!! Including the time she and I continued going back and forth on weather she could or couldn't load my card. I kept telling her it was not a gift card and she kept saying it was. Clearly there is lack of training if any in this situation.

Then she starts my drink ( I ordered a venti iced caramel macchiato non fat) Its not hard to be honest... You put 5 pumps of vanilla syrup in the cup, drizzle caramel on the inside of the cup (not everyone does this so if she didn't I would've been ok with that), then fill it with customers choice of milk to about have way between the top two lines on the cup, put in a bit of ice, then put in the 3 shots in a timely fashion before the shots die (yes this is important or it makes the macchiato tastes bitter and burnt).

OK now that you know how to make an ICED caramel macchiato this is how she made it. She began by frothing the milk (ok if your are getting a hot caramel macchiato but not iced.. Clearly more lack of training). So I didn't say anything thinking she was working on someone else's while my shots poured.... Well she wasn't. She put the frothed milk into my cup so I politely said "umm you don't froth the milk in an iced caramel macchiato." She said, "oh I didn't know." At this point I am thinking what the hell.... How do you work here and not know how to make the drinks.... So I give her the benefit of the doubt and be pantient. She pours the drink out uses the same cup pours milk into the cup and it was the wrong milk this time I ignored that and watched her. She never put vanilla in the cup and she poured 1 shot in the drink and put the lid on. This time I think you could hear my patience running out i said "you only put one shot in there, there is suppose to be 3 shots." She frustratingly says"you didn't ask for 3 shots!" I replied fuming at this point "I dont have to! It comes with 3 shots!" I finally said after being there for 20 mins between trying to load my freaking card and get my $6 coffee... I asked for my money back and she of course had no idea how to do this! So we had to wait for the guy to come back for break who also didn't know how to do this she and the guy told me I needed to go to customer service. I knew this was incorrect because I have received a refund from Starbucks inside of targets before, because the batista thought I should get my drink for free because of the wait. So now 30 minutes has passed since I walked up to the counter and finally another team member whom I am assuming is crossed trained for Starbucks (bc he was in target uniform no Starbucks apron etc) came and gave me my money back. He handed me my money and said a very quick "sorry Bout that" and walked away. At this point there was about 6 people in line. I was absolutely livid at this point. This is not the Starbucks standard, this isn't even Target standards!

I will never go back to this Starbucks. All the non brick and mortar Starbucks suck compared to the brick and mortars (even had a former district manager for Starbucks tell me this.) but this one inside Target at Blue Valley Parkway and 119th is THE WORST! They definitely need to do an overhaul on their training company wide (at least for KS and MO.) way too many inconsistent and that is not ok when you're paying $6+ on a drink. And driving a ways to get it we do not have a Starbucks close in Gardner. May just need to find a new coffee place as others...

This review is specifically to Claire the barista who made my drink. I used to be an employee of starbucks so I know what you guys do and we thank you for it. I ordered a simple drink, chestnut praline latte with soy no foam. She made my drink with lots of foam almost like a cappucino, so I said sorry but I don't like foam. Her reaction got so unpleasant just because she needed to remake my drink. She only has one drink at the bar so I don't know why she got so mad, it will only take 1 minute to remake the drink. And then she hand it off at the bar with an attitude that made the coffee came out of the cup. It was unbelievable. She didn't have to say sorry but atleast hand it off to me nicely. Sad to say but she was the rudest starbucks barista I've encountered. To the manager of the store, I feel bad you have a partner like Claire. It was totally the opposite of starbucks virtue of being cheerful...

I really wish I remembered her name, all I know is she had semi long brown hair and was wearing a grey sweatshirt. But I'm just hoping she sees this so she knows I appreciate her haha. I had anxiety in the moment and the words wouldn't come out at the time for me to tell her but not only was she doing a really good job working alone, but she asked me how my weekend was and seemed like she genuinely wanted to know. Little did she know that was big for me because I had a REALLY rough past week and she seemed like she actually cared and wished me a better week as I left. I wish I had told her to have an amazing one back, she even made my drink the BEST I had ever had it!! I was just shocked because I had never had a barista start conversation. Here's her hand writing if...