goodboybob coffee roasters — Restaurant in Santa Monica

:( sucks to have to write this. I am a regular customer at the GoodBoyBob in Santa Monica, visiting almost daily. A deeply upsetting experience happened today with Sarah Mendiaz “Cafe Specialist.”

To summarize: I attempted to order one of their specialized lattes with matcha vs. espresso (for reference, the drink is espresso + a premade syrup stored in a bottle). The kind barista assisting me mentioned she would check with the manager if the substitution was possible. She returned to inform me that it wasn’t, but thoughtfully recommended another matcha drink. I appreciated her help, noted that I had tried and loved the “Iced New Moon Latte” with matcha the previous day, and suggested it might be a great addition to the menu in the future. I then proceeded to order the suggested matcha.

While I was seated with a colleague on the couch, Sarah abruptly approached me from the backroom in an alarming manner. She demanded that I describe the barista who had served me the specialized latte with matcha the day prior, repeatedly asking if he was a "tall guy." I expressed that I wasn’t trying to get anyone in trouble, as I had simply enjoyed the drink and made a suggestion. Despite this, she insisted, saying, “No, I need to get him in trouble, so let me know if he was tall.” When I stated I wasn’t sure and am uncomfortable with having any involvement in an employee getting in trouble (& especially for something that did not seem to match the aggression Sarah was directing my way), she responded aggressively, “Well, I can check the schedule and find out anyway,” before walking away.

This interaction left me shocked and extremely uncomfortable, and those seated nearby visibly noticed as well and it was discussed amongst the people in our vicinity. As a loyal customer, I am confused and disheartened by how I was treated—especially given that I didn’t contest the barista’s explanation or create any issues with my order. I am also concerned about the work environment for staff, as all baristas I've encountered have consistently been warm and professional. I am also very worried that this situation will potentially hurt a barista who was simply being kind vs. Sarah be held accountable for her lack of emotional regulation towards a consistent paying customer ($10 drink + tip) & evidently towards staff. Also worth mentioning, I spoke to her manager after the incident who defended her behavior stating “we’ve been trying to figure out which barista is making these specialized drinks with matcha instead of how they were meant to be created.” What’s lost on me is this is coffee we’re talking about, no one’s life was in danger.

Take your $10 elsewhere, there are a plethora of lovely cafes in the area where you won’t...

Walked in, were greeted and asked what we wanted. Said it was our first time, didn't get any info. She said "ok what would you like" so I said "what do you recommend" with almond milk. We were told the iced almond milk latte vanilla was good. So, I ordered the large Iced Almond Milk Latte. $4.50 for the coffee, $1.50 extra for the almond milk and $1 extra for vanilla that I wasnt told we'd be charged. We weren't told that in fact they're all the same size and there is no large, only found out once I looked at the recipe emailed to me. Came out to $7.70 with tax. Pulled out cash, turns out they only accept card or apple pay. Ok. We sit down, very close and in direct view of the employees. There were a few people in the small shop already. Before I even sat down I saw a small iced drink on the counter and didn't think it was ours. Neither people told us it was ours. We waited a few minutes and then I finally got up to see if maybe that was our coffee and indeed it was. Ok. It was already watered down a bit from the ice, I wish we were told it was our coffee when it was ready. Now I never pay $8 for a coffee and it was the size of a small coffee from Starbucks and heavy on ice. So I was expecting this to be one of the best coffees I'll ever have, which is the only reason I stuck around. I take a sip, low and behold it tastes Bitter, Burnt, Watered Down and Flavorless! Barely tasted the almond milk, barely tasted any coffee flavor other than a burnt taste. Didn't taste even a hint of this $1 vanilla we paid for! And I have a very sharp palette, I bake and cook so I'm familiar with flavor and vanilla. Couldn't even taste vanilla if my life depended on it, for some reason I could taste a bit of cinnamon instead. Honestly I almost never review anything, but this was just very bad. $8 for a small iced latte that tastes bad is just crazy and disgusting. If I didn't pay so much for it I would've just thrown it out. Honestly didn't seem like the kind of place to complain and I dont like confrontation so I just kept my mouth shut. But after an hour I just felt the responsibility to leave a review. Hey I dont know, I'm sure other people have had great experiences, but I definitely didn't. Just...

After a stellar 5 star experience, I had a 3 star experience :(

Goodboybob is a serious coffee shop, or so I believed and experienced in the prior visits.

I was warned by a coffee aficionado that their problem is consistency. I didn’t realize what that meant until today.

I ordered the side show Bob, which is the same coffee bean expressed as an espresso and pour over.

The espresso was excellent. I was super impressed. I chugged some sparkling water that they so helpfully provide to cleanse my palette and waited for the pour over to get to room temperature. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. It tasted over extracted, lacking any of the subtle flavors of a beautiful Ethiopia from Rako. When you pay double digits for a coffee at a place that’s renowned you don’t expect it to taste like gas station coffee.

I asked for a refill of the sparkling water in case my palette was blown. But nada. It still tasted one noted.

When I checked with the helpful baristas, they confirmed that both the espresso and pour over should taste special, not just the espresso. In fact they agreed that probably they need to tweak the grind size and try a coarser grind. Ironically, they said someone else had the same complaint.

So what would be a reasonable expectation? To redo it right? Except they didn’t offer lol. This is the difference between a good and a great coffee experience, ones who truly care about their quality and ones who are running a business or caffeine delivery.

I’m not sure where we go from here. But I remain deeply disappointed that a neighborhood icon fell from grace. If you do decide to visit, make sure you hit the notes, and maybe I should’ve been assertive and asked for a redo, but it felt rude to ask when it should’ve been the default offered....