Three Ships Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

We had heard great reviews from friends and read the reviews on Google so we decided to visit this shop while we were in town for vacation. We brought our books to sit and read and sip our coffee together. That's where it went south...

Once we arrived, we were impressed by the cool feel to the coffee shop, but disappointed with the service and especially the coffee. It was about 9am on Sunday (6/26) and we ordered a Landlubber cold brew coffee and a regular pour over. The iced coffee was served quickly which was great but was really acidic and bitter for a cold brew, vanilla coffee. Just not a good flavor at all. The pour over took 20 minutes to serve because the staff simply didn't get around to doing it. So, I got back in line to ask if I could swap out the pour over to a latte for my wife, but the cashier didn't want to since the other barista had JUST began my pour over as soon as I got to the register, so I offered to just pay for a separate latte. She apologized for the inconvenience but didn't let us trade out drinks either when I told her we didn't like the iced coffee. She just shrugged and took payment for the latte. The pour over was worse... It was mostly watery and tasted of burnt coffee. I spent a total of 19 bucks for two awful coffees and one good latte. To be fair, my wife LOVED the latte that came after and liked the second baristas attitude when she offered to make it sweeter if needed! Shout out to her!

So overall, maybe it was just the staff and a bad start to the morning but we probably won't ever go back and I can't recommend it to anyone who likes when their baristas want you to enjoy your experience and coffee! Honestly, management should encourage their staff to foster a love for good coffee (by offering to meet your customers taste when they honestly dislike something) and good service. We come from college towns with high quality coffee shops and they will ALWAYS make sure you like everything you order (within reason of course)!

But 2 stars since the store was quaint and that...

UPDATED RESPONSE TO Owner:

Hi, Thanks for the response and apology. I’m generally not the type of person who leaves bad reviews, but I was taking care of a toddler and couldn’t confront the issue in person at the time.

I raised the review slightly due to your response, and would be happy to raise it more, but could you please first clarify what you mean when you said there’s rules regarding giving away free things? Are you referring to the cup? I still don’t understand the reasoning behind that whole interaction.

I guess I was just taken back by his complete refusal to provide the free-refill in a to-go cup as opposed to in a mug, and honestly his general negative attitude towards a bunch of happy paying customers.

It’s not like I was trying to get over on anyone and wanted extra coffee; like I stated I even said I’d take a little less being the mug holds less coffee than the cup. I just needed the coffee to go because my toddler was starting to get unruly, so I wanted to take the show on the road and head back to our out-of-state home with some bags of whole beans from a cool spot and some new swag (we love supporting small businesses in new places we visit by purchasing their merch). Kind of ruined the vibe to an otherwise great experience.

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Manager was awful.

I spent $40 on coffee and biscuits. Then I went up to get a free refill and to buy two of their big whole bean coffee bags and one of their sweatshirts (my wife loved the sweatshirt.) When I asked if I can take my coffee refill to go, the manager said no. I was about to spend an extra $50+ and he wouldn’t even let me take my free refill in a to-go cup. I even said I was okay if he gave me a little less coffee to match the amount in the mug, and he still said no.

Coffee was really good, and the girl working behind the counter was really nice. But as we all know all it takes is one jerk to ruin...

After a ride on a cold day, my wife, father-in-law and I stopped in Three Ships Coffee Roasters. We walked up to the register and my wife asked if they had flavored(s) to add to the coffee was told they only had syrups. She then asked anout the Holiday coffee and a woman behind the counter handed over a notebook to the cashier and he explained the flavor from the book, my wife said it sounded good and she said she would have it. The woman then leaned over and said they are not serving that, only Columbian in a rude tone. She walk away not wanting anything. Since I had previously ordered for my father-in-law and me, I got ours and 2 muffins and sat down. I offered my wife some of my banana muffin, then I realized it had walnuts, she cant eat them, but it was not told to us when I ordered it. My father-in-law opened his drip coffee only to notice the milk had curdled. My wife brought it back to the counter and was told that the milk had been out since this morning and they poured another and the employee told her he had added cream from behind the counter. After about a minute, it also curdled again. This time I brought back to the counter and this time the woman asked if she could help me, I explained and she asked if he wanted anything else. I said he didnt and she just walked away. I stood there dumbfounded and after a minute she came back and again asked if he wanted something else, and I said I would like my money back, she let out a heavy sign and tried to work the card machine. She then got another employee to do the return. We will not return, I'm not sure why we were treated so rudely but that behavior does not deserve a...