Starbucks

Definitely love the atmosphere and interior of this Starbucks over the one on Shattuck. It’s understandable that the place was extremely busy during the Happy Hour week, but the lines and wait was extremely long. Not only did the workers mess up and spill (and waste) many drinks and orders, they ultimately took a long time to get everyone’s drinks done.

I’ve been here multiple times because it’s near the bus stop & bart station, and I’ve been amazed by their amazing service every time! The wifi is pretty good, so it’s a great place to study, but there is limited seating, so I wouldn’t bet on going there in the afternoon. Great place to chill!

Worst Starbucks ever. Which is saying something considering there are millions of them. My very simple green tea lemonade is always wrong, I’ve gotten spinach wraps that are cold, the bathrooms are filthy, and the partners are rude with a touch of incompetent. When there is a line out the door, why have only one person making drinks? Also, when it gets really busy and there is a backup of drinks, the empty cups start wrapping around the register area. Except, my coffee misto would already be half full with coffee. So, people are just passing change and food over empty/​half empty cups– very sanitary.
This Starbucks is awful.

Not the nicest group of Starbucks employees on Friday nights. I guess they get a lot of homeless walking through which has shaded their service to other customers.

Plentiful upstairs and downstairs seating with a mix of bar, table, and couch depending on your preference. It still manages to be packed, especially in the mornings.
The smoked butterscotch latte (AKA Harry Potter butter beer) is where it’s at. Hope they don’t discontinue this special!

My go-​to location in Berkeley when I want my soy chai latte in the morning. Despite the early morning line at 7:30 am, the normal wait time for my drink can range from 5 minutes (with 4 people in front of me) to 10 minutes. The morning team is pretty on point though with getting orders in and the barista churning them out. The quality some times varies (not enough chai) but for the most part they are consistent. The workers seem happy to be there and cheerfully great you at the register and when they hand over your drink. I give them a 4.5 and may up it to a 5 after more visits!

Usually I separate the rating of food, service, and environment. But when the service is sooooooooo bad, I don’t even need to rate others…
Me and my friends, a total of 11 people, went in and were thinking about what to order. We were aware of the situation so we let the people behind us to go first!
However, this lady (I really want to know her name) yelled at us: this is my line, you guys need to go to the side. Excuse me, we know! And there’s no one behind us ughhhhhh! So we decided to leave because she continued yelling at us, even when we turned around and decided to leave. It’s Starbucks, and at one time I admired their service like the Starbucks book. But this is just the worst experience ever!

The drinks: The drinks here are the standard Starbucks drinks; they get the seasonal offerings just like the rest of the stores and the menu is pretty universal. I think when you come to Starbucks, you probably already know what type of drink you’re going to get. That being said, the staff here is WONDERFUL. All the baristas are friendly and upbeat, and always put a smile on my face. There seems to be a high turnover, but you’ll probably see a friendly face. The one time my drink order didn’t come out correctly, they gave me free-​drink coupon, which was nice. Sometimes this Starbucks can get CROWDED, so it may take a while to get your order, but the best way to avoid that is to not come at the top of the hour/​/​give a little leeway if you’re coming in the morning. I do think there are better coffee places nearby, but this Starbucks is close to campus and has ample seating.
The atmosphere: There’s an upstairs as well as the main ordering area. If you’re coming here to study, I would suggest getting here early. There’s a couple of long tables downstairs, so you’ll probably have to share those, but there’s 2-​people tables as well (those are probably where most of the outlets are). As a quick tip, if you easily get cold like me, I would suggest not sitting near the door and bring some layers – it can get chilly inside occasionally.

I popped in here for a quick hot cocoa and received great customer service from the total pro of a barista.
Picking up my drink, I also grabbed a few seasonal snowman cookies to share with my family members.
They love these holiday cookies and there is always silence while they «Nom Nom Nom» on them, biting their little snowman heads off :)
The hot cocoa was good, although I do prefer a bit more vanilla flavoring in my drink.
Turns out, one of the baristas from the Downtown Walnut Creek location transferred to this location and is going to school at Cal. This place is probably twice as big as the Dub C locale. Doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.

Great location for this Starbucks since it’s close to campus and bart as well. There is usually a line at this location, but they also usually have two registers open to order and manage to move through people fairly efficiently. They have run out of certain products before, which was slightly disappointing when I wanted them, but I was flexible in my order. Other than that, they are always busy so I’ve never had a chance to grab a seat, which is fine since I usually grab and go.

While the location and the interior of this Starbucks is incredibly nice, I guess that’s why this place is also a pain to try and get work done at. You might be confused and go, «Huh? That makes no sense!» Well, bear with me.
This Starbucks’s exterior and interior has a cozy elegance to it, complete with many tables and a second floor. It’s incredibly clean and well-​maintained as well. But this lovely Starbucks also draws a large crowd, even when the day is well into the afternoon. The lines are long and slow, all the tables are taken up (I went to the fourth floor, innocently looking around for an available table, and then an old lady snapped to me that she was saving four empty-​looking seats for other people. Ok, old lady. It’s not like I asked you, I didn’t even approach your territory, geezus.), and outlets are scarce. I feel like a lost kid looking around for an available seat in a school cafeteria… only upgraded to an upscale coffee shop.
I guess this place is like a pretty cake. Pretty to look at, but full of empty calories. This place is lovely and it’s nice to take in the atmosphere, but otherwise pretty helpless when you’re trying to find a spot to be productive at. Drinks-​wise, it’s standard Starbucks fare.

I used to come to this Starbucks all the time to study because the staff is incredibly friendly, which is why I’m giving it 5 stars.
Things to keep in mind:
–Because it’s so close to the Berkeley campus it can be difficult to find a spot to sit, especially if you’re trying to sit with a large group of people.
–There’s only one bathroom, and it tends to be closed the majority of the time

Coffee — no one is coming to Starbucks for good coffee (I literally just get a double over ice and chug it)
Service — friendly
Studying — 2 stories of tables. There are at least 2 tables that would be good for group studying.
Outlets — never a problem here
Bathroom — just one but usually open

PROS:
— right next to campus
— seating has been rearranged from a group setting to more of an individual study setting
— it opens at 4:30 AM NOW YES (it is 4:11 am and i am writing this as i wait to leave my apartment to get there and work)
— the baristas are used to us youngin’s ordering crazy drinks… such as cotton candy and red velvet frappuccinos… so they have mastered the customized drinks, or at least more so than other starbucks i’ve been to.
CONS:
— bathroom is always out of order
— the place is 90−100% capacity from 8am-​6pm or so
— the baristas become real lazy with sanitation when it gets busy… mainly wiping down the nozzles and washing the coffee blenders…
but you know. i’m way too happy that they’ve extended their hours to 4:30 am-​9pm now.

Toilets always «out of order.» They can serve up the swill but nowhere to release it…

The line can be crazy here and seating is very limited. Try to come earlier to get seating. Happy hour is right now from 3 – 5 pm so that is pretty worth it. I love the limited time mocha cookie crumble frap but they don’t always have it. The service is great but the time is slow. Make sure you have enough time before you come in and order.

Please have the employees learn the difference between wet and dry cappuccino.
And then learn them how to make the wet and dry cappuccino.
Only one of your employees knows how to do this, but she’s not always making coffee…

This Starbucks, in case you’re not familiar with its location, is located across the street from UC Berkeley’s campus. There’s a flood of students moving from the campus at any given time, heading right for the corner where this Starbucks facility is, located amongst businesses trying to separate well-​to-​do upper middle class students from their money.
Good luck trying to find an open seat or electrical receptacle to use there. Of the times I’ve been there, literally every seat in the house has been occupied, and everyone seemed to be banging away at their ubiquitous road warrior laptop. That’s not bad if there was any turnover in clients to speak of, but many of those seated there are college students who prefer to hang at Starbucks than go to classes (just kidding). At least that’s been my impression from the limited number of times I’ve been there. The conversationalists all try to appear very intellectual, but if you’re higly intelligent, you’d be studying at Stanford or MIT, right?
At least some of the students seemed to be studying.
There’s always a line of people on the left side of the store, looking in from the entrance: they’re waiting for their order to be called as they’re pushed out of the preparation area.
You’ll note that the tips containers are usually empty. I guess that it’s not politically correct to tip the help there: either that, or the employees are all good socialists — quite fitting, considering the neighborhood.
Just kidding.
Good luck with the parking. The city parking ticket dispenser had some notice about this being a premium parking rate area: that explains the empty tip container at Starbucks. The defeaning sucking sound you hear outside Starbucks is the city vacuuming money from the pockets of those hoping to conclude their business in the unreasonably short time you’re given to park here at admittedly premium rates, considering the long counter lines in all the businesses here.

As a general rule, I try not to write my reviews while I am still at the place I am reviewing. However, since I write all of my reviews from this location, I am in a bit of a jam. Instead of writing from home (where my cat makes doing anything productive near impossible) I intend to use this opportunity to soak in everything around me as I share my thoughts.
First, I must confess that I am a regular here. The location, the decoration, and the almost never-​ending stream of gift cards that flow to me from friends and family make this my go to study spot.
The drinks: this Starbucks features all of the standard options that the chain generally has to offer, so not much to report there. I generally steer clear of the «fancier» options in favor of an iced coffee (unsweetened) with soy milk. This has been my standby for years and it never disappoints.
The food: with the introduction of La Boulange products there are pastries and heartier options for all. If I’m here in the morning I get the bacon and gouda breakfast sandwich which, for just over three dollars, creates a tasty start to my day. The lemon pound cake is also delicious, but I reserve this after an exceptionally good run or «cheat» day as it’s essentially a sugar and butter bomb. If I come after class I get the tomato and mozzarella sandwich, but you have to fight the lines since their lunch sandwiches sell out around three.
The service/​ambiance: the main thing that keeps me coming back to this location, even though the other Starbucks is closer to the bus stop, is the service. The staff is incredibly friendly and always chat me up, especially in the slow mornings when they have wiggle room to talk. The furniture also recently went renovation, while the restaurant now looks sleeker there is considerably less room to sit and some of the outlets have now been covered so I find myself often going out of my way to conserve energy, which can be frustrating.
So, if you’re looking for a new study spot this can be a valid contender. As long as you get here outside of peak hours you can generally find a comfortable space to sip something tasty and get that work done. Even if you’re just looking for a drink I find that Starbucks offers consistency while other Berkeley cafes are extremely hit or miss.
Til next time, keep eating keep learning (the student foodie)

A former barista, I know that rush hours are typically in the morning as one would expect. That being said, I would highly suggest coming around 1pm if you wanted to avoid the long wait. The line I stood in today was 3 – 4 parties long. Because the cashiers were quick to taking orders & ringing customers, at most, I waited 5 minutes in line & just about the same when waiting for my coffee. I was offered excellent service by the cashier, Madison. She warmly greeted me with a smile & swiftly took my order.
Today, there is a promotion on holiday drinks. It’s a BOGO deal, featuring their newest flavor, chestnut praline. It’s from 2−5pm & until 6pm for gold members. I have yet to try the new flavor, but I’ve heard nothing but good things from friends who have tried it.
Resisting the need to get fancy with my order, I decided on a tall nonfat latte. To be honest, I maybe should have ordered half an espresso shot because it was a bit overwhelmingly bitter for my taste. FYI– tall sizes get 1 shot & grande or venti sizes get 2. Apart from the dissatisfaction of my coffee, the customer service was great. I’m sure I’ll be back & hopefully with friends.