Intelligentsia Coffee Watertown Coffeebar — Restaurant in Watertown

I have been a loyal customer of Intelligentsia Coffee in Watertown for over five years, coming in regularly and supporting this business. Unfortunately, today’s experience made it clear that customer loyalty means nothing here.

I ordered a large latte, and the cashier even double-checked the size with me, showing me the large cup. I confirmed that this was what I wanted. Yet, I was handed a small coffee instead.

When I politely pointed out the mistake, I expected them to simply fix it—as any customer-oriented business would do.

Instead, I was told: "If you want a large, you’ll have to go back in line, get a refund, and re-order."

When I pointed out that this was an inconvenience and a waste of my time, since the mistake wasn’t mine, I was met with indifference. The response? "The cashier just made a mistake, that’s it. You need to re-order."

So, they made the mistake, and I was the one who had to waste my time fixing it.

To make things worse, the cashier didn’t even know how to process the refund—she charged me again, and I still don’t know if I paid twice for a coffee that was entered incorrectly in the system.

This isn’t about the money. 💬 It’s not about a few cents’ difference in cup size. 💬 It’s about how this business treats its customers.

For years, Intelligentsia Coffee had my trust. I’ve had minor order mistakes before—wrong milk, wrong size—and they were always corrected without issue.

But today, I was met with complete disregard, no apology, no attempt to correct the situation—just: "Too bad, you’re not that important to us."

A good business understands that loyalty is built on relationships, not just transactions.

I sincerely hope this isn’t company policy, but rather a poor choice in personnel or a failure in customer service training. Because if this truly reflects Intelligentsia Coffee’s approach to customer service, then the lack of business sense is astonishing.

If this is how they operate—willing to risk years of customer loyalty and override thousands of dollars in profit from a regular patron over a few pennies' difference in coffee size (which was mistakenly entered by their own employee)—then that is a staggering business failure.

Any common-sense business would own its mistakes and prioritize long-term customer relationships. The fact that this employee at the Watertown location refused to do so is not just disappointing—it’s shocking and appalling.

Intelligentsia Coffee made one thing clear today—they don’t value their customers.

I won’t be returning.

Great coffee is great, but not when you're treated with such...

June 18 and June 25, 2021 updates. They’ve eliminated their outdoor seating in the parking lot, and it’s just the benches along the side +3 small tables out front. They do have A couple of tables in the front and in the back indoors now, and masking is optional.

They continue to offer the excellent Avena latte, and today I got it with milk instead of the suggested oat milk. It’s still yummy! See details below.

May 30, 2021 update I tried their flat white, which is the new 8 ounce latte at many barista places. But Intelligentsia does it different, they add 4 ounces of milk only to the double shot of espresso, and it’s in a smaller cup of about 6 ounces. So it’s more in the direction of a Cortado, compared to many shops which make it a full 8 ounces.. I had it with the shot of vanilla syrup, and that took the edge off the harshness of the espresso for me. Quite yummy!

October 31, 2021 update

I tried the excellent Avena Latte Seasonal Drink, which is the Black Cat Latte made with Oat milk and spiced with ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and orange peel. I got the optional sprinkling of cayenne. I was skeptical of the oat milk, but the barista said that it’s a core part of the drink so I accepted it. And the drink was excellent! The cayenne bites hard initially and then becomes a nice background tingle. I love the mix of spices as a nice fall drink, and it’s an unusual and tasty alternative to the typical pumpkin spice latte offerings.

They have indoor seating as well as the two nice areas of outdoor seating, and a couple of benches.

My favorite is their mocha, which has a nice dry darker chocolate taste and is one of the best mocha‘s in my area. I’m also a big fan of their ham and cheese croissant from Forge bakery which has everything seasoning on top of it. Very flaky and tasty and definitely best shared so that you don’t get all those calories yourself!

If you are driving, their driveway is one way flow, northbound, from Mount Auburn Street to Belmont Street. I can often find parking in their 5 off...

Not surprisingly I normally write reviews when something is excellent or terrible. A family member had mentioned it seemed cool and I should check it out. Let me explain why I found this place terrible. The layout is awkward with "some" seating on either end of a long bar but a very tight corridor the length of it where you order, wait for your order(wasn't sure) and have to remain vigilant of servers and customers passing by. Ok so whatever, the layout kind of sucks. But the real reason for the review was when I walked up to the bar area, no one else was around ordering. A barista stood 3ft in front me waiting for a drink to pour, and just didn't acknowledge me. I finally asked, "where do I order?" She just pointed to one end. Ok, not super friendly. The menu is what it is. I got the cheapest thing $3 expresso. I gave a $1 tip. I waited about 4mins as there was 1 order/2 drinks ahead of me and stood in the awkwardly tight area in front of the bar. Finally the drink was ready. The same barista from before presented my $3 espresso to go in a mini Dixie Cup, no top. No "thank you", no "have a nice day", no eye contact. Look, I'm not hating to hate, I just like the good places to get the proper credit they deserve. This is not one of them.

Oh yeah, the espresso wasn't very...