Panacea CoffeeHouse, Cafe and Roastery — Restaurant in Waynesville

I write this as a decades-long fan of espresso, and of coffeehouses in the US and abroad.

This place is my #1 favorite in the US whether I'm getting a drink to go, buying their own roasted coffee beans, or spending time at a table writing, reading, watching the river and the people. (Plus, they've bounced back from hurricane Helene in a hard-hit area! I have mad respect for this.)

I like many kinds of espresso drinks, but for me, a test of a coffeehouse is their Americano. Water down the espresso and then you can really tell how good that espresso is--how good the beans, roast, and grind are, how clean the machine is!

But also, it's a test of the training: at many places, once an employee hears 'Americano', they cut corners. They don't check that the water is fully hot, and especially they ignore anything else you say, such as, "please add HALF the amount of hot water you usually add". People have actually rolled their eyes at me when I say, "very hot" because most of the time it just isn't. (It shouldn't be this hard, right?)

In online forums, Starbucks employees talk about it, so they know better--with their setup, to get the fully heated water, they need to let some water run out first because it cools in the pipes--yet in person they often make fun of Americano drinkers.

Panacea is the ONLY place in the US I've been to that makes an Americano that really hits the spot. It tastes rich and deep with many flavors (NOT watery, bitter, burned or boring). So they're using great espresso!...

First timer and an awkward experience. We order our two coffees and a snack, so far so good. She gives us a table number with Uno cards, alright nice cute and quirky I like it. She tells us our coffees will be on the bar when ready, so we go and sit at a table while we wait for them to finish. After sitting for a minute, I get up to go check if our coffees are ready and she meets me halfway to give me my coffee and tell me the other will take just a little longer, okay cool how nice. I walk to the counter with the sugar and cream to spruce up my coffee and I overhear her smack talking us and how we just expect them to bring our coffees out to us because we sat a table with our table number.

Like what? Even if we weren't keeping an eye or ear out for our order, what's the point of even being given a table stand with a number? I'm too awkward and introverted for this place I guess. After overhearing us being talked down to I felt too awkward to really properly prepare my coffee so it probably could've been better than it was? But it was pretty mid. Probably my own fault but again, at that point I just felt unwelcome and uncomfortable. They also got the second coffee order wrong so when they called it out, we didn't pick it up for a good 5 minutes because it wasn't what we ordered, so we couldn't have known that it was ours.

Cinnamon roll was an absolute banger though I won't lie. And I...

Not so welcoming, the manager was rude and lacks customer service skills. It's a big open space and gets loud when its busy. My friends were asked to leave because someone complained we were being loud, everyone has to speak up to be heard above the ambient talking. We were not any louder than anyone else. He chose to ask us to be quiet when apparently someone complained, if more people complained, I would understand as the place was full of people. We chose to leave and when we stopped to question why he confronted us, he got belligerent, yelled to get out and threatened to trespass us. He shouldn't be in charge of handling customer service issues and is responsible for loosing a large group of regular customers who I'm sure will never go back. He could have explained to the person that this is a large open space that provides a fun and inclusive experience. If the customer was seeking a more quiet setting, he could have offered the customer a refund and suggested options that might be smaller and quieter. He lost a loyal group of regular customers to please someone that wasn't happy with us being there. Our group has been gathering there monthly...