Cup A Joe — Restaurant in Raleigh

When I go to a coffee shop, 90% of the time it's between appointments and I work on my laptop. While I can do some work without an Internet connection, most of my job requires it. Unfortunately, I've gone to both Cup A Joe locations and had the same issue - an inability to access their wifi despite multiple attempts and some general assistance from the staff, and even some empathetic customers. While I'm far from an IT wizard, I have never have this issue at ANY of the other coffee shops I've gone to in town, including Deja Brew, both Jubala locations, Sola Cafe, Full Bloom, Third Place, Crema Coffee, Barnes and Noble locations, Grounds Cafe, Sir Walter Raleigh, BREW Coffee Bar, Sosta Cafe, Benelux Cafe, and of course, any Starbucks location (yes, I go to a lot of coffee shops). It's unfortunate, because the coffee is good at Cup A Joe and I like that they have more on their menu besides pastries for those times that I need more. I would skip their location on Avent Ferry if you're looking for atmosphere, but the Hillsborough location has plenty of it. The staff is a mixed bag - they seem to have other things on their mind and want to move on from you quickly. I asked one at the Hillsborough location to leave room for cream and she filled to the brim, so I had a lake in my saucer after cream overflowed the cup. Later, she became obsessed with a napkin at my feet, which required some contortionist moves on my part to retrieve it for her. It was more important for her to get to that napkin than for me to enjoy my coffee and do some non-Internet dependent work. However, I can't be too hard on her, because one thing that I noticed at both locations is how obsessed they are about wiping down tables and cleaning the floor. Someone must have put the fear of God into them to spend nearly every free second doing these tasks, and I can tell you that it is mission accomplished! Would I rather have dirty tables and floors in the coffee house? Of course not, but their obsession seems to have made them lose sight of other customer service issues, like whether their customers can connect to their wifi, filling cups to order, etc. In my case, this wifi issue means that I will never go to Cup A Joe to work, which pretty much means I won't set foot in there ever again. It's too bad, but the place just doesn't...

It's a college coffee shop that roasts their own beans, so it's hard to go wrong compared to Starbucks. They have amazing coffee, a cool name, and a beautiful company logo. I've been going here a few times a week for years. It's a fun and quirky atmosphere with friendly staff.

However... I really wish someone who has a clue how to run a small business would buy this place and refurbish it. It's ultimately lovable, but remains one of the most painfully awkward small businesses in the area.

The place needs to be shut down for a couple days for interior paint and at least some steam cleaning on the chairs and tables. Anything that's not a tabletop is sticky and/or dusty. The windows are very dirty. Maybe just do some serious cleaning after hours and knock out half a room at a time?

Some of the AC outlets are broken.

By far the most disgusting bathroom of any public establishment in Raleigh. Worse than a dive bar. When the door to the men's room opens, everyone in the main room can see the back of whomever is standing at the urinal. There's no mirror, sometimes no soap, and a tiny trash bin. The walls and floors are totally saturated with urine. The door is absolutely caked with dirt and there's no metal step to open it with your foot. Again, absolutely disgusting.

They explicitly allow smoking and even provide ashtrays at one section outside along the wall. The smoke usually blows down the side of the building to everyone else, including families with small children there on weekends.

Even though they usually look overstaffed, there's often a group of customers awkwardly waiting for their drinks. So clearly they need a decent sized area for these people who have already paid... But instead, we are forced to stand in a cramped spot between shelves full of t-shirts, multiple tables covered with bags of coffee beans, and metal racks holding kitchen supplies out in public. The owners don't seem to have any sense of the intensely awkward atmosphere this creates. That whole space by the front counter used to be a large sitting area for paying customers. Apparently now selling several T-shirts per week is the big priority.

TLDR: Often extremely awkward experience, but...

HORRIBLE customer service! This is probably one of my worst customer-service experiences! I asked for a double espresso with some hot milk on the side. The worker there said I would have to pay for the milk. I said I only want a little bit though, he said the drink would still have to be charged as a Macchiato. I said that is fine I will pay extra for the milk. In the smallest cup (the espresso to-go cup) I told him I would like milk up to here, pointing to one third of the espresso cup. He said show me exactly where you want the milk to be (Remember this is in THE SMALLEST ESPRESSO CUP). You want it up to the word "beans" or "your" (two words that you will see on the to-go cups". I said I guess up to the word "your" which is RIGHT ABOVE the word "beans". He said sorry I would have to charge you for a latte now. I said why? he said you want more milk that I thought. I said you want to charge me for a latte for a freakin spoonful of hot milk that I already paid for? (remember I already agreed to pay for a macchiato instead of an espresso)? He said sorry sir these are the rules! At this point I was pretty pissed! I said just think about it for a second, you would rather lose a customer than a put a spoon of hot milk in my macchaito? he said he couldn't help me and that I would have to talk to the management. I told him but I can pour as much half-and-half in my coffee right? he said yes. I told him then how come you want to charge me 75 cents on top of the macchiato price for a spoonful of milk? I told him if you have no power over this (which I think HE DEFINITELY DOES), can you at least pass it on to your management? he said maybe I will...