Starbucks — Restaurant in Town of East Greenbush

So I called this morning just to see if there’s any indoor seating at this establishment yet, as things are just starting to open up with Covid waning. The staff member was extremely hostile and rude to me as she told me that there is no indoor seating and I still have to wear a mask tomorrow if I come there as it is New York State policy. I was polite and tried to nicely explain to her that I work for a corporation that has been following the guidelines very carefully and yesterday it was announced that New York State as a whole is not requiring indoor mask use for vaccinated people. She flat out argued with me in a very nasty manner and told me that the state policies have not changed (Starbucks has actually announced as a company that they are not requiring masks for vaccinated people in states that do not require them as of tomorrow. I cannot believe nobody here has even informed the employees of this major change?) She then throws me on the phone with her manager, who I didn’t even ask to speak to, and the manager didn’t know of this change either. I told her perhaps she should just look at recent news articles and Starbucks announcements. I wouldn’t have cared if they weren’t informed as that is not their fault, but the nastiness and hostility I received from the staff member was extremely over the top and needless. I wasn’t arguing whether I can or cannot wear a mask in her business I was trying to help. Well guess I won’t visit...

I went here this morning and unfortunately had a very negative experience. When I pulled on the door handle it was locked, and the barista basically glared at me from behind the counter. I checked the hours posted in the window and saw that I had arrived 10 minutes before they opened (BTW, I do NOT expect anyone to open early for me in this situation).

Once the store opened and I went inside, I was immediately struck by the freezing temperature, and I was soon shivering despite wearing a thick sweater. I ordered coffee and an apple cider donut, and the barista's mood had not improved. I know that smiling is not mandatory, but it sure makes a customer feel better about the ordering experience. Thankfully that process was quick and easy, and I was soon at a table.

The coffee was hot and delicious, and after a few sips I took a bite of the cider donut. It was terrible. I'm usually easy to please when it comes to sweets, donuts in particular, but this one was hard and stale, tasting like it had sat on a shelf for a week. I managed four bites, and the rest went into the trash. I hope that my negative experience was an anomaly - maybe this place is better most of the time. But I don't have any desire to go back and see. There's a Dunkin across the road, I'll go...

I will be honest. The sandwich I ordered, didn’t have half the ingredients as advertised - half the sandwich was just bread by itself. The other half, barely had any ingredients it should’ve had as advertised. Second, I asked for extra cold foam in my cherry chai and paid for that - they did not give me extra cold foam. Third, I asked them to warm up my banana nut loaf bread, they offered to warm it up, it was not warmed up at all. And Starbucks wonders why their revenue loss is at its highest in the US and abroad in 2025, they are skimping on ingredients, their staff cannot properly make orders for customers, do not pay attention to how orders are written so that customers get the items and drinks the way they paid to have them made, they get rid of good drinks and bakery items that actually sell, and keep ones that realistically don’t, etc. I won’t come back to this Starbucks, they cannot make drinks the way customers order them and pay for them to be made, they clearly intentionally do not warm food up when requested and even when they offer it, and they cannot handle a busy drive through, walking, and online orders at...