Starbucks — Restaurant in Waltham

Update: The coffees were overfilled so even though I was careful to keep the bag upright, they overflowed through the bag and all over my car, but before realizing it, I picked the bag up and it broke, so one coffee landed on the ground. I’ll be calling corporate about the bill to clean my car. —— Sorry but terrible service today at this location. Before 5:45am, I ordered 4 coffees, one with cream on the side. When they come out, the woman working tells me they don’t have any trays, so do I have a way to transport them in my car. I say no and I should have been told when ordering. Before I have a chance to ask if I can be partially refunded since I can’t take them all with me, she says, “Sorry, I don’t have a solution for you,” and walks away. So when I see the woman I ordered from, I ask for a bag and let her know I’m frustrated. She hands me a bag and says nothing. Mind you, it’s before 6am and I’m the only one in there, so it’s not like I was having unrealistic expectations during a super busy time. And I know ish happens, but why are you out of trays before 6am OR why haven’t you already made a plan for communication to customers before they pay. Besides that, I ordered a salted caramel something or other expecting it to be sweet, and oh, I don’t know, maybe taste like caramel. I got an overpriced bitter black iced coffee with foam on the top. Supposedly it’s the foam that’s flavored, but no improvement when I tried to shake it up. They gave me caramel syrup when I asked, but again, no acknowledgment, apology, or offer to remake it or make me...

On 7/31/25 I spent the entire day (7am-4pm) working from Starbucks at 12 Market Pl Dr in Waltham while my Rabbit had a procedure at the MSPCA.

I arrived around 7am; the parking lot was full. As I grabbed my backpack I prepared for the worst. In my head I assumed “busy parking lot means busy café means stressed employees and bad service.”

Upon entering the building the first thing I noticed was how calm and orderly the staff was. I was greeted immediately and then waited at the front counter for less than a minute. I ordered a drink and a breakfast sandwich. My order was ready quickly and was made correctly.

Throughout the day I saw a couple of drive thru customers come inside with reports of silly complaints or mistakes – they were addressed with a smile and the customers left happy. I saw so many “regulars” come in as if they were long time friends with the staff.

I ordered additional food and drink throughout the day, via the mobile app. Everything was prepared quickly, served at appropriate temperature and tasted exactly as expected.

Starbucks at 12 Market Place Drive in Waltham is an absolute...

Workers are mostly lovely, although of course there is a high turnover. Union may be a good idea? But the reason I am here is that the food just has gotten so bad. I know it's all pumped out of some central location and shipped, but I bought a donut the other day thinking how hard can a donut be? It was inedible. It didn't taste like a donut, or anything really. Just chemicals and a too moist texture. I have gotten other food here in the past but stopped each item as it got grosser and grosser. Frozen in the middle, burning on the outside. Now even their coffee tastes chemically to me. I mean, I go here for convenience knowing full well it's not an epicurean adventure, but I don't think I can justify a $4 coffee that tastes like I am drinking liquid...