Caffe Luce — Restaurant in Tucson

What a bummer. We've been drinking Cafe Luce for over a decade. When they open their Campbell location we were so excited. Everything has been smooth until the last couple months. They increased their prices and lowered their expectations of quality. It's a shame that they're holding themselves to the same crippling business models that you're seeing across America which is raising the price without any added benefit. I know things are expensive and sometimes you have to raise the price in order to compensate the overhead, but that doesn't mean that you should lower in quality.

Three of the past five times we have been greatly disappointed with the service. All of them have been with the newly trained staff which says a lot about management and who is doing the training. Today was icing on the cake and was the first time that we threw our drinks away from Caffe Luce and went somewhere else..

In the photos, you'll see what was supposed to be a pumpkin spiced latte. Instead, it was a latte with a dump of clumpy pumpkin spice on top and all along the side of the cup. No skill. No love. No finesse. No cares given. No tipped received. With prices like this, you expect a professional service. It's not like it was busy in there. The baristas (which I have a hard time calling them that) we're so slow that they were actually just socializing. When the usual baristas are in, everything is seamless. It's been that way for years. Whoever managed the new crew's training and made the decision for them to fly solo, has made a critical error.

We decided to go to Ren coffee House just up the street at the St Phillips plaza and they nailed it. Not only do they nail it, but the entire place was popping. Even under all the stress, their actual baristas did a phenomenal job....

Update 9/5: I wanted to try this place one more time because my last coffee was good even though the barista was terrible. I brought my friend in and she ordered and yet again, experienced poor customer service where the barista was taking out that she was understaffed on everyone that walked in. I’m completely done with this chain and the management is atrocious. They keep understaffing this place with rude service staff.

Update: this is for the store on Campbell next to Trader Joe’s

Had the most unexpectedly disrespectful interaction with the barista at 1:30 on Saturday, 11/21. Didn’t get the guy’s name but he stated off a little condescending when I asked about the menu. He referenced if “you’re looking for a latte at Starbucks it’s going to be xxxxx item.” It was a bit pretentious but I shrugged it off. He spoke quietly so it was hard to hear him. He was the only one working and didn’t really give any instructions and I ordered directly from where he was making coffee.

I went back to register area and the computer was turned around and on the menu with all drinks I could order. So I looked at it and assumed it must be a self service order and started to look for our drinks. He walked back over and condescendingly asked me “can you please not touch our stuff, thanks?” It was unexpectedly derisive but I still tried to apologize and explain it was turned around so I thought it was a self service kiosk. He then just plowed into “I’m going to help this other customer first” who had been just as confused as I was and just awkwardly waiting nearby with no direction either.

I’ve never been so rudely treated at a coffee shop. I was completely flabbergasted. He really didn’t have to be such a jerk through the whole...

I recently tried out Caffe Luce, as I had a couple hours to spare near there. I ordered a 12 oz soy milk latte, which was excellent and had a unique flavor. The shop was clean, and the service was friendly and efficient. So on coffee and service, I would give this a solid 5 stars.

I give the ambiance about 3.5 stars overall.

The drawbacks: I had my book and planned to stay a couple hours, but I left after 30 or 40 minutes. I found the shop too dimly lit for comfortable reading; the music was at least 50% too loud, though it was lovely and peaceful before the music started (once it started, some people went to sit outside, as it was too loud to talk over easily...music was in the foreground, not background, which made it difficult to concentrate on my book); the little round, stone table where I sat had sharp metal edges, and a very firm, almost straight-backed booth seating. I was hoping for a more relaxed, chill vibe with upholstered seating or well-worn wooden tables and chairs. There were two wooden tables that were occupied, which may have suited me better.

Though the shop didn't meet my personal expectations as a place to hang for a couple hours, the coffee and service were hands-down excellent, so I will...