Little River Coffee Bar — Restaurant in Spartanburg

COFFEE LOVERS REVIEW OF COMPANY READ BECAUSE THEY’RE GREAT

Ethical, Kind, Heartwarming Workplace Culture

On September 24th, 2025, I enjoyed a graceful, whimsical, and lovely cup of coffee inside Little River Coffee Bar.

At 3:50pm, the baristas Andrew Kongkeo and Sara Martin, had me, a customer, walk up to them with need in my eyes: a need for coffee. I said to them, “Please please please could I pretty please have a cup of your drip coffee please,” both Andrew and Sara quickly proceeding to laugh and giggle because I was being a silly goose. “Would you like that in your mug?” Sara Martin asked. “There’s no way…” I replied, followed by evil smirks and laughter from myself and Andrew Kongkeo. What Sara didn’t know is that I’d taken my mug home the day before so that I could bring a different one in. I would gladly give Little River Coffee Co. / Bar all of my mugs if they had the shelf space. Alas…

To clarify, the coffee is exceptional. It is delicious, good, and humane. “Humane” because my human life would be a punchline if not for this coffee. Anyone who thinks I am kidding has literally never met me. And all of the workers – not just at this location – are great too. Little River Coffee Bar / Co., you hire great people and serve delectable coffee.

Your company’s bold blends FEEL delicious to my palette. In fact, they don’t just “feel” delicious, they ARE delicious. They are WONDERFUL. They are EXQUISITE. If your coffee ever changes, hell, I bet it’ll be good then too. It’s like y’all vet the beans or something.

What makes the coffee even better is the sincere kindness, the warm smiles that each barista greets each customer with. I am not embarrassed to say that I speak with each barista I see and try to build a jovial rapport with them all. I can only assume that the kindness of the baristas mirrors the company itself: polished words like “open debate,” “empathy,” and “diversity” seething through each pourover. I hope these things are never swept under the rug, that Little River Coffee Co. / Bar's Google ratings go higher and higher. I hope that every coffee-drinking Spartanburger comes to a Little River location. I want to be clear that businesses and people like this contribute so much to our community, a community that I know Little River actively advocates for.

I have felt no internal struggle writing this review. What else could I do but be supportive of this great local business? I am not a praying man, but if I ever decided to pray, I would pray that Little River and its many locations and employees keep up the good work. Businesses like this keep my heart adrift in a world that’s constantly trying to drown it. Here’s to coffee stains on my teeth, my tongue, and my soul. I do not expect a reply, but hey that’d be pretty...

I have been a regular customer at this location for some time now. Although I do love this location, there are a few things that need improvement. Although customer service has improved in the last few years, there are still a select few baristas that are not the friendliest to customers. Not to mention there have been times where some baristas stood behind the bar having personal conversations, being too distracted to notice the line of people at the register. Most recently though, at Coffee Bar and at Pharmacy, there has been a significant lack of food products. My friends and I often go to one of the two around 12pm-1pm on weekdays and they are already out of most of their ingredients. I understand that the avocado toast is popular, and that a loaf of homemade bread is not going to produce the same size slice every time, but I am seriously tired of paying ~$6 for a piece of toast that is as big as my hand. I have not had this problem with the peanut butter toast, so why am I deprived of sustenance when it comes to the avocado toast? I will say there are a lot of good things about this place like the strong espresso and the quality of the in-house baked goods. I would just like to see some improvement to keep me coming back instead of...

(3/1/18) this was my first experience at this coffee bar, I'm not usually one to write a review but I couldn't help myself on this because I want people to experience this as a great way to spend your morning especially if it's rainy like it is today, as soon as I opened the door the aroma from the coffee smacked me in the face, it was a wake up call to what I've been missing..I love folgers coffee and that's about it besides Starbucks but for the location it's literally only 2 min from my house and the prices are phenomenal, a nice medium brew coffee was only 2 bucks and free refills as long as you stay in the establishment, i don't know of a better cheaper place to enjoy coffee. This actually made my day and I am def gonna return probably tomorrow to be honest...I would def recommend this place to every one, the staff is nice and welcoming with smiles and very helpful, I made my own cup of coffee just as a complimentary breakfast at a hotel but if you would like something different they make it for you!!! HANDS DOWN, THE BEST COFFEE BAR IN...