Starbucks

I prefer to buy my coffee at independent coffee shops, but once and a while Starbucks is my choice. This location is connected with Barnes & Noble. On the weekends most sitting down spots are taken, so I only come here when I want to take my coffee to go. Staff is friendly and very efficient.

Now that there’s snow on the ground, my choices are to walk 15 minutes in the cold from the Park and Ride or stop at Starbucks on the way to wait for a bus that gets me closer to work. Guess which option wins.
For over a month now, I’ve been stopping in most mornings during the work week. Most of the time I’m greeted by Wolfgang, who always is working hard, but makes time to talk to everyone.
In typical fashion, I came in this morning around 5:40 AM, and Wolfgang was busy marking down items with their sale prices (I’ll have to come back to check that out when I have more time!).
But he stopped what he was doing to help me because the other Barista was busy. Since they don’t have decaf ready to go (most people must drink leaded; wish my doctor hadn’t cut me off!), Wolfgang had to make a special drip for me. Let me add that I am not that full of myself to think I’m the only one who gets that treatment.
But Wolfgang is so sincere about being friendly and all of the customers who interact with him get a nice positive start to their day; myself included. Most of the other Baristas are nice, but a few can learn from Wolfgang. That’s why the rating. It probably would be a little lower if it weren’t for him.
So at least through winter, this Starbucks is part of my morning routine, because a «Have a nice day» is as important as the Venti Decaf Soy Misto.

I work up the road so I’m here like 4 times a week. The staff are amazing, and provide exceptional service. The only downside is a lack of indoor seating.

The staff is always friendly and knowledgable, and the unsweetened iced coffee tastes better than many other locations. As many of the other reviews have stated, it can get very busy, but the line moves fairly quick. There is a lot of outdoor seating, which is a big plus as its in a nice spot of St Paul.
Parking can be a bit tricky on the weekend with so many surrounding businesses.

I usually don’t review chains, especially chains with a billion locations. But I have to say that this particular Starbucks is really great. Today I was blown away when I paid for my coffee with a gift card. The guy running the cashier was possibly the friendliest Starbucks employee I have ever encountered and totally shocked me when he said, «This gift card now has a zero balance. [I started digging for my wallet] … I took care of the remaining 62 cent balance for you.» [I looked up shocked to see if he was serious.] When I looked at my receipt, I saw that he’d zeroed out the total.
In the long run, yes, it’s 62 cents. But I really appreciated the gesture. I hope I don’t get him in trouble :-) My only complaint about this location is that it is ALWAYS crowded. But they move along pretty much as fast as you could expect, and the coffee is always good.

Always good service and a nice place to read or get some work done.

Yes, I’m giving Starbucks 5 stars. This might not have been something I would have done 5 years ago on principle, but these guys do a great job.
This Starbucks is one of the best I’ve been to: the staff is exceedingly friendly (and if you go often enough and have bionic hearing you can get updates on their personal lives: weddings, babies, hurray!!), it’s conveniently located, they are always washing the floors.
Though it is small, they recently redecorated so I can almost always find a chair and the outdoor seating is fun people watching. and yo! Free WIFI! Plus, I like the mix of people who visit this joint, which makes it different from the nearby cafes. It’s a surprising ethnic mix, with rich and working class, and people 12 – 92 often enjoying their frappes side by side.
They did change their hours to close at 10pm recently that peeved me. I loved that they closed at midnight.
As for the food and bev, it’s pretty standard as anyone knows and everyone has their favorite drink. But I do think they make it as good as any Starbucks here.

As Ian said, this is like every starbucks in the world. Everyone knows the menu, the vernacular, and pretty much what to expect.’
However, I will point out a few things that make this certain location a litle different:
— Parking is tricky on busy times — the Barnes and Noble and Chipotle are competing for spaces there.
— No idea why this place get’s so busy, but occasionally in the morning it’s like going to a Starbucks in lower manhattan with lines wrapping back to the bathrooms and throughout the store.
— Come at the right time in the morning and the sun will be streaming in the windows from the East.
— Nice outdoor seating in the summer

It’s Starbucks attached to barnes and nobles, whatever. Docked a star off (wish i could dock off a star and a half) for the fact that there is a theft detector thing between them and barnes an nobles, meaning that you cant take unpaid-​for books in there and read them. Isn’t that the whole point of having a Starbucks in a barnes and nobles?

At the dawn of time, I briefly dated someone cute and innocent who worked here while she was going to school.
I went in to visit her and she pretended not to know me but was all shy and nervous. It was so adorable.
Apart from that, it’s like every other starbucks in the universe. It is, as many are, right next to a B&N.