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RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/02/13 05:05Request for comments:
Staff and owner attitudes in cafes.
I can usually tell, right away, when I am going to have a really bad experience in a new cafe or a cafe I have been in before. A few obvious clues:
Staff look bored, distracted or disinterested
Staff (or owner) is hostile to new customers - (note: In some markets this is considered normal or cool)
Cafe is unkempt and does not smell like coffee
Espresso machine has seen better days
Portafilters are in a sink of cold water
I would appreciate the feedback and opinions of the readers.
Post edited by: colin, at: 2006/02/13 05:09
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the baker
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/02/20 01:01Sometimes it is better if cafes have great buns
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scoobydoo
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/02/27 03:40I was down in the Cook street village are yesterday and decided to check out Cafe Fanatico. I was impressed by the set up and how allt he shops in there are blended into one. I ordered to drinks (one for my friend and myself) and had great service..girl did up our drinks, did a great job but man the two jackass guys were useless. all they had out was cream so my friend had to ask the guy for skim milk..oh what a chore that was for him..he actually had to work.
Basically I was pretty impressed right up until she gave us the drinks. This is totally different than my experience at the King street location.
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colin
Admin Admin
Posts: 773
Karma: 19
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/02/27 10:15I have heard report after report after report after report after report of wierd behavior at both Cafe Fantastico locations - but it is hit and miss. Most of the time it is a positive experience - for me, about 19 times out of 20 I get treated like an adult. They take my money. They give me coffee.
From time to time, I feel like I am being talked down to... or they feel the need to quiz me on my knowledge of basic coffee brewing:
"Will you be using this coffee within 2 weeks?" "Do you know how to brew coffee?" "Do you promise NOT to mix new beans with old beans?"
Okay -- that third one is a bit of a stretch.
I guess on some level - the coffee is worth the odd hassle or wierdness. It is, after all, among the best of bean for the city of Victoria.
Colin - Editor CoffeeCrew.ComColin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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scoobydoo
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/02/28 03:35hit and miss you say. for some reason that doesn't make me feel better. For me its the whole experience and atmosphere that I want to get a good coffee and sit down and enjoy it all.
there have been places I've gone where the atmosphere is great..coffee..ahhahah lets just say ...lacking but overal I enjoy it. Other places..great coffee..crappy environment.
I've been going to Discovery coffee on the way to work lately and its great place..Sam is there in the morning roasting his coffee bean, great help from the people working there..enthusastic..would be a better word for the people who are working there. They enjoy their coffee and enjoy sharing it with people even if its at 7am.
I found this website by accident...looking for something totally different (no not porn) and I've enjoyed coming here. I've found a wonderful bunch of new places to go for coffee. My friend calls me a coffee snob now. I've made the plunge finally retired my Starbuck Grande Preteo espresso machine and purchased as Miss Silvia (money well spent).
A suggestion...would it be possible to do a reveiw on the different places that roast beans in town and their rating? Keep up the good work.
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Truth be told, there are a myriad of cafes in Victoria and the Island (even Vancouver) where you will have a good experience without any painful surprises...
-2% Jazz and/or Discovery Coffee, damn fine coffee and skilled coffee/espresso showmanship second to (almost none) in Victoria -Buon Amici's Tyee Road, great food, awesome staff, superb coffee... perhaps one of the most cosy cafes in Victoria -Coyote's Nanaimo Stewart Street - Synesso cafe in the hands of skilled baristi... need I say more? -Broadwalk Cafe Chatterton/Royal Oak - few people on Vancouver Island know more than Geir does -- and coffee to match
I could go on... but I won't - read my Cafe-reviews, menu on left.
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Bill - the Big Guy
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/03/10 02:24I don't really get out to Ryan's location but I do go to the Fairfield location often. I never had a problem there, no coffee nazi attitude and no bad cup of coffee (I only order Americanos). However, perhaps I have zee proper coffee attitude and will punish those for insolent questions.
As, for Sam....Sam loves what he does, from the day he starting working in the shack in front of the Times Colonist. Sam's Staff has always had a good sense of humour as well.
Very different attitudes in the stores however they both produce great coffee.
I judge a coffee shop by their espresso/Americanos first Atmosphere is nice, but as Starbucks in Fairfield is popular, if I am forced to go, I drink tea.
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colin
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/03/10 06:52Was talking with Adam T. over lunch at Ottavio - and the debate was:
Is this current infusion of 'state of the art' coffee tech a blip or a trend.
Sam Jones has and is taking us places most Victoria residents have not been before.
Question is: Will there be a following and will it get taken forward as it were.
OR: Is this all a flash in the pan?
Footnote: Adam and I did espresso coffee at a cafe that is a promising newcomer to the scene (no names at this point in case this was a fluke...) and the espresso was awful. Sigh -
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scotth
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/07/27 09:52Greetings from Seattle! We love Victoria, even named my daughter after your wonderful city, but I have to say, my espresso experience some time ago leaves me cold. We visited for a couple of days and found a 'Blenz' (?) espresso shop near our B&B. Our first visit was our last. Now, down here in the US our 25-cent pieces CAN bear a strong similarity to your 'Loonie', of course, dependent on the angle of light, metal content, time of day, % caffeination of person holding said coin, etc. We needed espresso and this was the first shop we found. Now, this "tipping the barista" thing is STILL odd to me: I tend to leave a tip AFTER I receive my coffee, as after a meal, based on the service and quality of the experience. Many times I've left a dollar and found my espresso to be lousy and the service bad. Anyway, we ordered and being an out-of-towner (the staff didn't look very pleasant or happy with their jobs anyway) I took the change from my purchase and dropped it in the jar. I noticed the clerk and the barista suddenly look at each-other and smile, not a GOOD smile but a "dastardly"kind-of smile. We got our drinks and my other half asked "how much of a tip did you leave?" and I told her "the change, a few quarters"...it was then I realized I had dropped about EIGHT LOONIES and some odd change in the tip jar for a $3-4 purchase. NO WONDER the clerk was smiling! When I realized my mistake I told the clerk, very nicely, that I had made a mistake, and being unfamiliar with the coinage left about $10 in the tip jar. She told me, nicely, "too bad". She knew my mistake and was not about to allow me to correct it! I was NOT going to pay $14 for two espressos, so after sparring verbally with her and the manager(!) for ten minutes, the manager(!) said I could take my tip back and leave an appropriate tip. How nice of them! So, I took out probably slightly less than I dropped in the jar, and returned an American DIME to the jar. I hope that on our next stay we can find a MUCH better cafe with not only better espresso but nicer, more honest people. By the way, the espresso sucked. Is BLENZ your equivalent of our STARBUCKS...?? I wouldn't be surprised if they are owned by Starbucks or are bought up by them. Sorry for the long story. My Best to all of you up North! Thanks to the "good" people that more than made up for that episode!
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Robb
Visitor
Re:RFC - Cafe staff attitude - 2006/07/27 12:23Sorry to hear about your bad experience, Scott.
Yes, Blenz is a chain.
I'd encourage you to send a letter to the manager at that store, let them know what happened, and give them a chance to Do The Right Thing. The BARTs (my sister-in-law's term for Barely Acceptable Retail Teens) certainly aren't going to mention it to their managers for you.
Robb
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You need to keep in mind the actual number of people that still buy espresso pre-ground and in (shield your eyes!) brick packs!
Yes, it is pretty nasty ass - but this is what people do.
I have s...
For espresso I'd even say an hour is WAY too long. It should go from the grinder to the pf. After 30 seconds I consider my espresso old and dump it. There's just too many chemical changes happening...
GROUND coffee is fresh for about an hour.
Ditch the pre-ground coffee and grind it yourself.
Your espresso is never going to be right if you use pre-ground.
Sad reality....
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Really?
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