Starbucks

Ordered a normal flat white and whatever it was they served me was undrinkable. I went back in and clarified if they’d given me the correct coffee. The lady was kind enough to remake it - which only took her about 30 seconds, which seemed off. Don’t know how you make proper espresso coffee in that amount of time. Anyways. The second one came out and tasted even worse, it was not drinkable. I have never experienced such disgusting coffee before. For a place that is a specialised coffee store, you’d think they would know how to make a basic coffee.

this is a review that was meant to be written in January, however i do not believe that there is an expiration date on bad customer service as i’ve heard this Starbucks’ customer service hasn’t changed. as i work in customer service myself, all i’d have to say is i’m absolutely appalled. coming on a holiday to Surfers Paradise from Sydney NSW, i was still unfamiliar with Queensland’s government regulations on wearing a mask as in Sydney it wasn’t compulsory to wear one. i had realised that in Queensland it was compulsory, so i corrected my mistake the remainder of the holiday & wore one. i’m completely fine with that & i 100% stand with wearing a mask if i’m asked to do so for the health & safety of myself & others. i walked into Starbucks to try one of their drinks (without a mask as i still was unfamiliar with the government regulations), & this was one of the first places i had visited when i arrived at Surfers Paradise. as soon as i stepped towards the counter, there was a lady at the registers. she was tall, i’m suspecting European background, chestnut brown hair, (i think) coloured eyes & a normal Australian accent. i had greeted her with a smile & good vibes. when i look back at this, i just wish i could’ve gotten her name so i could add it on here too. when she acknowledged me, she instantly looked annoyed & said “we don’t serve people who aren’t going to wear a mask”, i said “oh i’m so sorry, is it compulsory here to wear one?” she looked at me as if i was stupid & hadn’t known this entire time, & she said “yeah… do you have a mask? if you have one then wear it before you order”, i said “i have a spare that i can wear, im so sorry about that”. she then ACTUALLY had an attitude to slightly roll her eyes at me, loudly sigh & yell out “next waiting!!!”. i had went back to my apartment, gotten the spare mask & came back to order again, which is surprising because i would be the type to not come back into the store again. however, it was near my apartment & i don’t see Starbucks often so i still came back. fortunately there was another lady who had ended up taking my order, who was MUCH nicer than the other lady was. after a few minutes of waiting, i had received my drink & i really enjoyed it, hence why i didn’t only put 1 star :) as a person who works in customer service myself, if my manager were to find out that i had been speaking to customers this way, regardless of the reason why, i would have been sent home or fired. you’re supposed to be approachable towards customers & speak to customers in a nice manner, it doesn’t matter if they hadn’t known that they had to wear a mask. when it was compulsory to wear masks in Sydney, i’ve had numerous customers everyday not realising they had to wear one, yet i still spoke to them in a nice manner & made them feel like they’re still welcome. it’s a mistake at the end of the day. for a person who’s dealing with customers this way, with the girl at Starbucks as an example, i do believe she needs to work on being nicer to customers & allowing them to feel welcome regardless of the situation. however, i shouldn’t jump into conclusions as maybe she was stressed out by overcoming a busy hour, or she could be going through something else at the workplace or in her life. if she is, i hope she’s okay. however, if there was no reason to it at all, i do believe that it was absolutely unnecessary to be this rude & unwelcoming to customers who had made a mistake, especially tourists from other states or countries. if someone were to come to the Gold Coast & this is the first place they had visited yet they were treated like this, their first impression of the Gold Coast wouldn’t be as good as they had expected it to be. i really hope my review is taken into consideration. i also hope i don’t come off as a Karen or someone who seems entitled to things, but this is literally the bare minimum to ask to be treated nicely at a store.

Good consistent level of service with a nice food selection and great atmosphere. There is a nice selection of sweets and savoury items including cakes, wraps, sausage rolls,etc. I don't like the standard dark roast coffee blend but find the special medium roast to be much better even though you have to pay extra for it. This Starbucks has been here for years while many shops come and go. Positive happy place where people are friendly and respectful.