Backhouse Café Coffee & Tea — Restaurant in Williamsport

Great experience and coffee RUINED by VERY poor hospitality

My son and I are from out of town, on our way to our final summer adventure before school starts. We are staying at a local hotel that has grab-and-go breakfast which was fine for him, but I wanted to walk somewhere to get some coffee from a local shop this morning. My son grabbed a waffle and off we went.

We walked to the Back House Café & coffee, and tea… and I let me say it’s a spot we were initially VERY impressed with the atmosphere, it’s in a really neat antique home converted into a business. And when I tasted the drink I ordered, I said to my son that I thought it was one of the best iced coffees I’ve EVER had in a local shop. In fact, in this review I still gave the food and atmosphere five stars… then we had a staff member approach us and that’s where this visit fell off the rails.

As we were talking, we were approached by one of the employees who noticed my son had that grab-and-go plate from the hotel I mentioned earlier, and she said they didn’t allow outside food. I smiled, apologized and explained our circumstance, and then lightheartedly I asked if we would be kicked out… and was STUNNED when she said she would have to ask the manager and left… Then she returned and said we were asked to LEAVE the building because they didn’t permit outside food!!!

I was shocked, and then explained that I felt as jf this was a bit extreme… let’s be honest, it was a plain waffle on a plate. Not some branded bags or a breakfast spread from a competitor.

She said they didn’t want to get sued if we got sick, which I thought was the most ridiculous “reason” I’ve ever heard. Obviously I won’t be back because I live nowhere near here… but I felt it was necessary to share this so that the staff can hear how this action made one of their “valued” customers feel. Very disappointed.

To the owner: I don’t care how good your food is or how tasty your coffee might be… how you make your patrons feel is way more important, and an experience that started out as quite positive will remain forever etched in my and my sons memory as “the place we got...

Lost two local customers. We have come to this coffee shop several times and enjoyed the coffee and ambiance. Male barista/owner always been kind. Today, the women owner/baker who took our order heard us incorrectly and mistakenly chose "to-go" instead of "for here." We sat at one of the tables as usual, especially as she said, "you can go take a seat and we will bring that out for you." The barista brought us our coffees and was pleasant. We were confused why they were in to-go cups instead of house cups, but this was no issue to us. We awaited our quiche to be served. The woman comes to give us our food and voices that it was entered as to-go and so the food and drinks were in containers because of this. We say, "no problem," as we were fine with the containers and were understanding of a simple mistake. That is until the woman says, "actually, it is a problem because every to-go cup and container costs money. If you are ordering for here you need to tell us." We were baffled. I voiced that my fiancé said it was for here when we ordered. She pointed at the receipt and said, "it says to-go right here." This is very poor customer service and shows an inability to recognize your own mistake and treat the customer with respect. We paid nearly $20 to be "scolded." I use this word because her last response was, "I don't want to scold you but you need to tell us that it is not to-go." Our whole perception of this business has changed. We left and we are likely to not come back. We live locally and we even spoke to her about this while ordering. We will go to the other lovely coffee shops Williamsport has to offer where we...

Picked out this little café to break up a day's drive from Philly to Rochester. It's a cute little establishment in the first floor of a large house. It was slow when I stopped by around noon on a Monday, but a few more people had tricked in by the time I left. Staff were friendly and helpful in answer questions on any drinks, and they offer a 10% student discount! Always a nice bonus. I got myself an almond milk latte and an almond croissant. Four stars rather than five only because I didn't love the non-flavored latte - that is, I prefer to take mine without any flavor shots, and I found that here the espresso was a bit off from what I'm used to. I'm sure I might have preferred it with flavoring, and for most people who want a good French vanilla latte, that's probably fine. I'd also love to go and try some of their pour over coffees next time; there were some interesting looking flavors listed when I went in. Lots of seating available, and I saw a chessboard in one of the side rooms. If I were a student in the area, I would see myself and my friends spending lots...