Cartel Roasting Co. — Restaurant in Phoenix

This is a beautiful location in downtown Phoenix. We just moved here, and it’s walking distance from our apartment, and had great reviews, so we decided to give it a try today. I’m not sure if the baristas were just having an off day or what, but our experience was terrible. The guy who took our order seemed EXTREMELY annoyed by our questions (sorry, it’s our first time here, should we just automatically know everything…?). No flavors are listed anywhere that we could see, so how are customers supposed to know what you have unless they ask? And when your staff says to someone, “That drink comes with four shots of espresso, is that ok?” And then the customer asks if they can do three instead, maybe encourage your staff to not roll their eyes and say, “We can only do two or four,” like I should somehow telepathically know that? We sat on the patio for awhile after ordering and it was very interesting to see how enthusiastic and kind they were to obvious regulars, and how cold and rude they were to everyone else.

In addition the menu listed for this location online doesn’t match what’s actually available in the store. You can order things like homemade pop tarts, scones, etc. online from this location but they don’t actually sell those items here. It was a very limited menu, which isn’t a bad thing, but having a different menu online is misleading. Our coffees weren’t mixed at all (my boyfriend’s iced mocha had a solid layer of chocolate at the bottom that very obviously wasn’t mixed into the drink) and both our drinks tasted very bitter, like the shots sat too long. I couldn’t taste any vanilla in the vanilla latte I ordered. I doubt we’ll be back. Fix your staff’s...

I’m sorry but why does everyone here always seem so miserable to be working here? I have to work in downtown every so often and have stopped here for coffee most of those times over the past few years. It seems that I’ve given this place way too many chances because there has not been a single time that I’ve been here where an employee has been in a good mood or at the very least, even smiled.

Pastries are good, but the coffee is always way too acidic. They always act like I’m inconveniencing them by ordering something. Whether it’s busy or dead, they all always act the same and my previous visit was the last straw for me. Especially when I always make an effort to show respect and be polite to them first because I know what it’s like working in the food service industry.

It’s too bad because this place has so much potential with it being so centrally located with their convenient ordering window and outdoor patio. But Press coffee around the corner never has any of these issues so I’ll be going to them...

on sunday at around 10:30AM, I was given a caffeinated drink despite asking for decaf. I like caffeine but can't have it due to heart palpitations. I know it was caffeinated because I had immediately to a beta blocker to make them stop.

I purchased several decaf drinks throughout the week and was happy with them, which is why I kept coming back. but this particular instance left me wondering if the server knew it was caffeinated.

I had good experiences with other servers at cartel, but had a rude interaction with this particular server the day prior. no big deal but then today, I was randomly asked if I liked my "decaf drink" while I was sitting outside. emphasis was placed on "decaf", which I found strange. this is why I'm wondering if he knew.

the coffee is good but if you need decaf, no. if I'm ever back, I'll avoid this particular server. I'm disappointed because this place obviously cares about quality coffee, but I need to trust my coffee won't exacerbate...