Starbucks — Restaurant in Walnut Creek

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I never write bad reviews—it takes too much energy, and frankly, I usually don’t care enough. But today was different. Today was really bad at this location. I’ve been to this Starbucks many times, but what happened today left me completely speechless.

I was driving with my two young kids—my 3-year-old daughter who is potty training, and my almost 2-year-old—when my daughter urgently said she needed to use the bathroom. I pulled into Starbucks and went straight to the restroom with both kids.

“Excuse me, you need to purchase something to use the bathroom,” an employee said.

“I’ll get something on the way out,” I replied, knowing full well I wasn’t planning to buy anything—but my daughter had to go.

As we exited the bathroom, the manager approached me and said, “You need to buy something if you’re going to use the bathroom. My employee could get fired if you don’t.”

I explained, “My 3-year-old daughter is potty training and it was an emergency.”

Instead of de-escalating, the manager followed me all the way to the front door to continue the confrontation:

“We have over 700 customers a day—I don’t need any issues coming from you.”

I was stunned. I fully understand the concern about people misusing public restrooms, but in this case, a little common sense and compassion were clearly lacking—especially from someone in a management role.

I’ll be sharing my experience and will never visit another Starbucks again. Not that it’ll matter to you—but it sure...

Starbucks as many people know is a highly liked company to work for. They have a huge customer base and that base has come to expect some things like promptness, courtesy, accuracy and a general interest in coffee. So of the 4 criteria this Starbucks inside of the Target only had accuracy. With 3 people just stepping in front of my I waiting 30 minutes for a green tea soy latte. 4 drinks ahead of me should take 10 minutes tops. Not only was the staff slow, they were not friendly, but actually standoffish. I get that perhaps they were having a bad day, but even in conversation the answers were curt.

They made my drink perfectly to order, but not only was I annoyed, but the other 3 people ahead of me and now 5 people behind me were annoyed too. With 3 employees working and 1 of them at the register 1 did not join the rest once there was no more line. I get it's a Starbucks in a target and most people go to the stand alone stores, but overall the experiences here were lacking. Yes it was clean, yes it was well stocked, but without the other big 4 this Starbucks gets a 2...

4/30/13

NICE OUTDOOR SEATING AREA

A few tables out front in the sun, a couple in the shade, and all the seating inside this Starbucks is really a nice perk about this location. I have always found service to be quick here. I lived a few blocks away for many years (at my parents house).

The biggest inconvenience here is that you can't drive directly from this parking lot into the one with the BevMo next door. It's hard for me to turn down a cold frappaccino, especially on the hot days. Seriously, I have no self control. Extra whipped cream, please. We had to join a gym recently to counter all the whipped in my life.

I had a friend that worked here years ago and I used to come in from time to time just to say hello. I don't know if they had free wifi then but they definitely do now. Just like most Starbucks, you see people sipping their drinks at tables while pecking away at laptop keys. If this location were closer to home we'd be happy to frequent here, but the smaller Starbucks on Treat...