Starbucks — Restaurant in South Carolina

Late Saturday afternoon, my friends Anita, John, and myself were looking for a place to have a hot drink on a cold day, so we agreed to meet at Starbucks. Other than walking through on at a travel plaza or grocery store, I've never visited a Starbucks so was curious to see what it was like.

When we walked in, the store was about half-filled with people, and there were six or seven people working behind the counter. Our party chose a small two-person table, because each of the three large tables that would have accommodated us better had ONE PERSON at it with their computer and their personal items spread around them in such a way that it would have been difficult for us to sit down. I found this particularly rude - when you visit Waffle House, a nearby business with a similar amount of space, they ask single individuals to sit at the counter, not at a table. It hurts Starbucks because if a larger party than ours had walked in, there would have been no place for them to sit down together. Starbucks should consider a similar policy.

Once we had decided what we wanted, Anita and I went up to the counter to place an order.

The second thing we noticed was that the menu boards really...aren't. Lots of inspirational sayings on the menu board, but little of real substance. I still don't know if Starbucks serves hot tea - one of the reasons I've never been in one is that I don't drink coffee. I sure couldn't find it on the confusing array we saw in the store we visited. To be honest, I'm not sure if they have hot chocolate either. I guess people who visit Starbucks don't really care what the menu is or the prices are - my only guess.

There was a three-woman party ahead of us at the cash register, and maybe this was their first visit too, because they were asking lots of questions. We were not acknowledged - we were NEVER acknowledged while we were there. No friendly hello when we walked in, no hello at the register, not even eye contact.

Let me mention at this point that I am a trained and certified Customer Service Professional, certification by the National Association of Customer Service Professionals. The first big no-no of customer service is not acknowledging your customers when they walk through the door. Even if it's just eye contact as you're racing about, you can at least smile and let the customer know you know they're there. We never even received that courtesy in our time at Starbucks.

As the women in front of us continued to ask questions, a second employee came up to the registers (there were TWO) and began helping the first employee in speaking to the party in front of us. Again, no acknowledgement of our presence. This went on for another FIVE MINUTES (yes, I checked) and during that time a THIRD employee came to the counter to help with the order. Again, no acknowledgement of us whatsoever. As a matter of fact, during the time we were at the register, the only person who acknowledged us at all was one of the women customers in front of us, who apologized for taking too long.

After the third employee came up and ignored us as well, I asked Anita in a normal voice if she was sure she wanted to have a drink there. Anita said, again in a normal tone of voice that could have easily been heard by those at the counter that she wasn't sure if she wanted to at this point, and I replied that we should go across the street to Panera Bread instead. Anita agreed, we returned to our table and got John, who had been watching the entire time. He agreed that it was ridiculous that with two registers and three employees at the counter, someone couldn't have taken our order in the time that they were all dealing with the other three customers.

We went to Panera Bread and had a wonderful time. We ordered coffee, hot tea, and iced tea, and refills were free. Everything tasted wonderful and our order came to less than $8.00.

Based upon our experience I will never visit a Starbucks again or buy their products. I would give zero stars if that...

On a cold and rainy night in Easley, SC, my daughter and I decided to stop into Starbucks for a hot coffee beverage.

I have been to Starbucks half a dozen times in my life. My main take away was that the drinks were either too bitter or sweet for my taste.

The decor is great at this location. It feels like you're in the place to be. We had a lot of drinks to choose from but chose pretty readily. I ordered a hot butterscotch latte. The barista asked about my taste. From my reply, she said she would use one shot of syrup instead of two in my drink. It was tasty and the right amount of sweetness for my palate. My daughter loved her caramel macchiato, as well. Great job with the drinks.

The place had a fairly steady stream of customers, but it was not overcrowded or uncomfortable. Speaking of comfortable, we took the two comfy chairs at the front.

The two of us were enjoying our drinks, talking to each other, and I was leisurely writing on my laptop. I was feeling pretty inspired, which I think was mostly to do with the change of environment. We were appreciating this visit tremendously.

Before long, a woman sat beside me and started talking to us. We started talking about the coffee and the location. We talked about a variety of subjects. Before we knew it, it was about closing time and we'd conversed for hours!

Before we parted ways, we exchanged phone numbers, so that we could keep in touch and go for coffee again sometime. How many places do you think you will get a hot beverage and come away with the bonus...

Drinks are ALWAYS wrong in the drive thru. I just decided to stop going. I started going to a different one. I’m always stopping when I don’t have a lot of time because I go here when I am running late for work, which is usually a couple of times a week. So I don’t have time to stop and get them to make the correct one. Or I pulled away before I realized that it’s wrong. I always ask for a caramel cappuccino. I have gotten a hazelnut cappuccino which my husband is highly allergic to hazelnut. And sometimes it takes a couple of sips of it if he sees me at work. I was able to catch him before he did that this time to stop him from drinking it and having a reaction. Ive gotten a caramel Frappuccino. I’ve gotten a vanilla latte I’ve gotten a caramel latte. I thought back and the last five times it’s been wrong. So I just quit going. I don’t know if they just can’t hear very well through the speaker and that’s understandable. But there’s nothing to make sure that a drink is right. Or that they heard right. There is no screen that shows you what your order is. And they don’t repeat it back to you so whatever you say, they think they hear is what they go with. They don’t double check because they don’t repeat the order back to you. It seems like a easy fix. But it’s frustrating because coffee is to expensive from here to get it wrong and not be able to drink it because it’s not...