The Coffee Shop — Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach

Had a rendez-vous here for a party of three. Two of us had arrived. The two of us sat in waiting for the third member of our party to arrive.

It was only circa five minutes of us sitting there before the skunk-haired woman (the manager or owner, or both; not sure of her position) approached our table to accuse us of "loitering". We were waiting for the third member of our party to arrive before ordering, as he was the one paying, and, you know, it's polite. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the verb "loiter" as "1 Stand or wait around without apparent purpose"; We gave her our very, very reasonable justification (i.e., purpose) for sitting there: Again, we were waiting for the third member of our party to arrive, who was mere minutes away. Therefore, per the definition of "loiter", we did not loiter.

After realizing she had no basis for her accusation, the woman then spots a small, plastic water bottle between my friend's legs. It's at that point that she cites her "No outside food or drink" policy. Any, and I mean any, reasonable person interprets that interdiction as having an exemption for a water bottle, as it's necessary to stay hydrated for a myriad of reasons, and, for Christ's sake, it's simply water; It detracts from her profits by no means, and, if anything, saves her the task of fetching the free, commonly-requested glass of water that goes along with a cup of coffee.

My friend proceeds to return the water bottle to the car, in compliance with the skunk-haired woman's demand. While he is doing this, I politely ask why she was being so unreasonable. I mentioned the potential medical need one might have to carry a bottle of water around, and the potential ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) violations she could be flirting with by forbidding the bringing of water.

She then accuses me of having "an attitude", and asks me to leave the café. She said I was "ruining a zen environment", irony being, of course, that she initiated the dispute in the first place where any reasonable human could see there was no problem whatsoever.

Look, I had been to this establishment several times before, and had even left tips for this same woman, so the idea that I'm out to get her or her business is unfounded. But what she did was beyond the pale.

I can only conclude that she was looking for pretexts (first the "loitering", then the "No outside food or drink" policy) to discriminate against my friend who has an ADA-covered disability. She clearly prejudged him by his appearance and demeanor (which was disturbing no one), and simply did not want him there, and was looking for any reason to kick him out.

Just go to the Starbucks a bit further down the road at the Grand. The ADA is respected there, and you won't get harassed if you arrive circa five minutes before another member of your party. And it may be cheaper and with many more options. Incidentally, the music at 30A Songwriter is mediocre at best, lackluster at worst. Listen to a nice Spotify playlist at Starbucks.

Addendum: See Bob K.'s Yelp review for precedent for what I am claiming here.

TL;DR: Don’t come here if you have a disability or care about...

I keep trying to give this place a shot. I want it to work, but they keep getting in their own way. This place does not have any realized service. Call it what isn’t is: just called a music “shop” - Don’t act like you wanna be a café too.

Today I very politely asked that the music be turned down two notches. I got a flat out rude refusal because “ Music is part of their identity, and the speakers are only in the back and therefore the music needs to be played loud so that the front can hear it’s. “ This was explained as two women in the front are screaming at each other to be heard over the music. I offered politely to the gentleman that perhaps he’s around music a lot, and his ears have been affected or acclimatized because the music was quite loud. He refused to lower the music even for the moment that I was in the store- Which would’ve been an hour (there were three other customers) In order to consume the salad on a plate so small 1/2 of it ended up in the table. He told me to move up front- where there were no available tables. Upon departure, I informed the gentleman behind the counter that if music is part of their identity they should consider setting up the speakers in surround sound configuration. P.s. It’s a shame, and I’m sorry to say it this way, but the coffee has sucked without improvement over the...

Slap. Your. Momma. Amazing! Stumbled onto this café today on my way out of town. Saw their sandwich board advertising a chicken salad croissant with a spinach side salad. I thought that sounded better than trying to eat Chinese food to go LOL This was truly the best homemade fresh chicken salad on fresh bread I’ve ever tasted. Also had her freshly baked cinnamon cake. I ate that in the evening with a cup of coffee to break up my long drive back to Tampa and it was awesome! I hope to be moving to this area for a new job, if I do I know I will be...