Soul Brew Bellmore — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

Not a great experience yesterday morning. Went to SB at 8am when they open for business. A group of three women ahead of us , got their order without any snags, left and went on their merry way. My daughter did the ordering, I wanted a Decaf latte with whole milk, daughter wanted a regular latte with skim milk and a flavoring. Daughter's coffee was made, barista was about to make mine when she discovered there were no decaf beans. I decided to settle for a regular coffee. Daughter realizes with this change in the order, there is a price difference, and told the barista this. Daughter wanted barista to refund to her only the difference in price, not a full refund. Barista had to contact the owner. While barista was waiting for a call back from the owner, she gets an idea to look for decaf beans on some shelf, where she finds a bag of decaf beans. I'm thinking, ok I"m finally going to get what I had really wanted. But the debacle continued as barista now says the grinder isn't working. In the midst of this now being 20 minutes plus that I'm without any beverage, and cold because there's no heat on in SB, the owner calls back. Barista proceeds to tell owner, that "they", want a refund, while apologizing profusely to him/her. What she failed to tell the owner, was that we only wanted a partial refund for the difference in price between the two types of coffees, and not a full refund as was her implication. At this point, barista is apologizing excessively to anything that breathes, while I'm sitting there without any beverage for what seemed like an eternity. If I had been in a dunkin donuts or a starbucks, I would have been served what I wanted in 5 minutes, and would have been able to go about my merry way, instead, I endured complete ineptitude, and I should have walked out, and given my business elsewhere. In addition, I was referred to as a "they", when I'am a "she". So, thanks for putting me in the gender less twilight zone, oops hope I haven't offended anyone here, heaven forbid. Being fed up and cold, I just got a regular latte, instead of my originally wanting a decaf. By my settling for a caffeinated Latte, I relieved the overwhelmed barista of the apparently daunting task of issuing me a partial refund. Just an overall unpleasant experience, where at every turn there was one snag after another over a simple request for a decaf latte. All this was avoidable, had there been better management/ownership in place, knowing exactly where the coffee beans are kept rather than guessing where they might be, and having a grinder that actually works. Isn't a coffee grinder an essential part of a coffee shop that uses whole beans?? Sure, there are some unforseen hiccups and mishaps that can occur anywhere, at anytime. But, if a coffee shop is going to open for business at 8am, employees should have it together and be ready to give customers what they ask for, but this was utter chaos, and being completely disorganized. The icing on the cake, Daughter noticed on her CC a charge she didn't know what it was for. Turns out, the barista took the liberty of giving herself a tip!! Since when is that allowed to do with someone else's credit card!! Not to mention , daughter had already left a tip in a jar for tips on the...

Used to be a regular here and loved everything about this place. I was very excited to see that they had reopened. Finally went to try it out and the woman there was EXTREMELY RUDE. There was still a whole hour until closing time and they weren't busy at all, there were only two people sitting down drinking coffees. We were greeted very brusquely. When I finally POLITELY asked her a question about the syrup flavors, her response was a very blunt 'yeah' and she didn't even bother looking up at me. Her whole demeanor was standoffish and she didn't look at my face once or change her tone of voice. Not once did I give her any reason to disrespect me. I was friendly from the start and her attitude made me walk out empty handed. She didn't even GLANCE at me as I walked away, but I heard her greet the customer behind me. I am so disappointed that this cafe is now run by rude lazy people with horrible customer service tendencies. Go give your money to a cafe who actually appreciates your business.

EDIT: Not sure how this behavior was "misconstrued". I know disrespect when I see it and I do not tolerate it. I understand we all have bad days and we get busy with other tasks at work, but I've worked in customer service for over 10 years and no matter what, disregarding a customer, avoiding eye contact, or not caring to elaborate on a question given by them is unprofessional. I've removed the profanity simply due to the fact that you acknowledged the situation, but none of us will...

Brought my daughter here for her first time. Our shared review starting from the parking lot: the lot is small and shared with other shops, street parking is available but fills up quickly. There are a few new Bistro tables and chairs out front on the sidewalk. These are a nice addition due to the shade on a very hot day. Walking through the front door is a burst of Cool! The place is full of hipster type stickers and mini Polaroid pics of people and pets. They always have customers either working a lap top or laughing and visiting with friends at the tables. The Atmosphere is relaxing and welcoming with plenty of Grateful type music overhead. My daughter gave the bathroom cleanliness a favorable nod. There were 2 Baristas behind the bar. Both were very friendly, answered questions we had, did not rush us and treated us professionally. I ordered my normal double shot espresso, daughter got a refresher and a slice of chocolate chip pound cake. Both of our drinks were delicious and hit the spot! When we were all done with our drinks I asked her how the cake was and she said “ they haven’t brought it out yet”. I went to the counter and the gentleman said he forgot and apologized. Other than this little hiccup everything was very good. They have a small selection of normal coffee house eats, the coffee is fantastic and the prices are fair. We will work this shop into our rotation....