Olympia Coffee Roasting — Restaurant in Seattle

This review is about corporate customer service, more specifically, how they choose to treat potential employees.

When you are seeking employment, you hope you will be met with fair, honest employees who are doing the interviewing and hiring. Not the case here.

My husband and I went to the West Seattle location two different times and found the atmosphere and drinks to our liking. My husband, who is looking for a part time job, applied for a posted position and was quickly offered an interview. There was a 5 day gap between the interview offer and the actual interview. At no point in time was he contacted to let him know that the position he was hopeful of getting had been filled, until the actual start of the interview. Begrudgingly, my husband completed the interview, frustrated to find out that what he had hoped was an actual interview was now nothing more than a meet and great. He answered the standard question and ended the interview. Shortly after he followed up with the usual thank you email sent to the interviewer.

In response to his email he received a short and curt email basically saying yeah, yeah, we have your info, don't call us, we'll call you.

When we, as consumers, choose to spend are hard earned dollar at a company we need to be mindful of how they treat the people that work for them, as well as the customer. In this case, the customer was a potential employee however, OCR decided to treat the person in front of them as just another tick on their search to fill open positions. This then leads me to wonder how they do treat their employees, and based on the dismissive, don't bother us, were busy response not to mention the lack of courtesy to call ahead of the interview and give the applicant the information that the position had been filled tends to make me think "not very well".

Crazy idea, I know, but maybe rather than pleasantries when we go into an establishment like "how are you today?" maybe we should be asking the person on the other side of the counter "how are you being treated today? because I don't like to spend my money places that don't treat their employees well."

Minimum wage workers get little support, so maybe it's time we, as consumers used our voice and our dollar to support them. Yes, there are bad employees out there, but there are also a lot of great ones. Ones who get up every day and put a smile on their face and work really hard to give you the goods and services you need. This isn't about income levels, it's about human decency, and OCR showed no decency to my husband, and Starbucks is no better. So we continue to look for amazing coffee houses with great coffee who treat their employees and...

I am going to give my unfiltered, very honest opinion after coming here continuously for the past month and a half; I also trained at Olympia years ago (as a former barista trainer myself), so I know firsthand how dedicated they are to perfection and excellence. I'm offering Olympia's West Seattle location 3 stars entirely due to the atmosphere set by the baristas through their interactions with customers. This includes not only my own experiences as a customer, but also my observations of their interactions with others.

Twice the same barista and their shift partner greeted me warmly the moment I walked in, and engaged in a genuine manner the entire time. Those experiences were lovely and left me wanting to return. However, every other time I have been in (and I come in almost daily), the baristas often don't greet me or others when we walk in, wait until the very last second to begin engaging fully and rarely smile or offer any sense of warm welcoming. If they talk at all, it's mainly between themselves. This space is way too small to disengage from customers. Frankly, it feels pretty uncomfortable, which is disappointing and unfortunately pretty standard for so many Seattle coffee shops.

I live and own a business within walking distance, and would really prefer for Olympia to be my main spot. I also bring my clients here or direct them to Olympia on a regular basis. There are a few lovely shops in the area that offer the same price point, dedication to providing high quality specialty coffee and the same or greater seating options, and after another disengaged experience today I am considering switching over entirely. I want to love this place, but if the only difference is feeling welcome in my regular spot...

As someone who deeply valued my job as a barista once upon a time and went out of my way to create a warm environment for my customers, my recommendation is for the baristas to make a stronger effort to engage with their customers with presence. Everything else about the space, products and location is beautiful, and I hope this evolves to...

The next wannabe Starbucks in the making and not in a good way. Lots of effort going into it for merchandising and prepackaged goods. That's never a good sign for a small, local boutique coffee chain.

I read some positive reviews and went to check it out. There was line out the door so I took that as a good sign until I noticed the line wasn't moving.

Saw people looking at their phones or watches and walking away.

I didn't see a lot of people leaving with stuff so I didn't know what the holdup was.

Got inside and received a barely lukewarm greeting from one of three staff standing at the bar. Service = Rude? Check.

I inquired about one of the menu items. I got kind of a cursory description that made me feel like they were just winging it and didn't really know what the product was either. I risked it and tried it. Not bad but they didn't even fill my cup. There was about a half inch or more of space between the beverage and the top of the cup. Poor Value for Overpriced Drink? Check.

I guess this is what passes for "good" around here. I will say I enjoyed my pricey pastry but the same person that didn't know how to describe the drink I ordered also gave me the wrong description of the pastry as well. It tasted nothing like what they described. Poorly Trained Staff? Check.

This place is not cheap. Given the reviews, I had high expectations but apparently some folks just have low standards. One reviewer was correct: someone else posted a picture of a coffee drink that hadn't been filled all the way so apparently this is a thing. I thought maybe it was an exaggeration and they had taken a drink before taking their photo....