Caribou Coffee

Avoid this location – Caribou is a good alternative but the this particular one has poor service. Met a colleague here in the afternoon with a simple order for two coffees – one regular one decaf. Staff takes your money and walks and walks away with no communication. Five minutes later I’m still waiting on my two coffees with my colleague sitting at the table waiting. Not worth putting up with service staff who just don’t seem to care about customers and seem to care more about talking with each other and on their cell phones.

A bad Starbucks imitation, bad latte coffee with zero foam, the oatmeal was made with water that we’re not hot enough so it remained hard. In addition both restrooms are out f order at 9am!
First and last time for me here.

Don’t order the berry mocha unless you enjoy berry syrup. Not my cup of tea!
However, the party I was with thoroughly enjoyed the chai tea latte. However, since this is a review of my experience… Sadly 2 stars.

This was actually my first time here and I’m sure not my last since it’s about 20 steps from my office but I’m still a Starbucks fan. Why? Because if you thought Starbucks is expensive don’t even think about Caribou Coffee… $ 4.06 for a small skinny vanilla latte! Are you kidding me? The latte was a little too sweet for me and I get the «campfire» themed drink names but it’s a little corny. All their other drinks seem just too much. This place is sort of like Panera and Starbucks went on a camping trip with a 5 star resort price.

I think there is a stigma with people working in the coffee industry around Farragut North. After many faithful years as a Starbucks patron, I was disgruntled, and started going to Caribou instead.
They aren’t terrible, but I can’t really classify my experience thus far as anything about «transactional».
So I have a few qualms:
A. I have been going every single day for a month. In this time, I have only been helped by two different people, each numerous times. Neither of them knows my name. Yeah, I know, sounds like I’m a bit superficial. I was a barista for over 5 years. If a customer came in 3 times, I would remember their name, as at that point, they are a regular. So 5 days a week, for 4 — 5 weeks… and you don’t know my name.
B. I receive the wrong pastry 75% of the time. I’ve only received the correct pastry twice. I no longer purchase pastries here.
C. I’m pretty sure all of the baristas here are allergic to eye contact. This morning, I paid $ 6.48 for an iced soy pumpkin spice latte with only 2 pumps, and additional shot of espresso. I got a hot not soy (I’m lactose intolerant), full pumps of pumpkin, no extra shot latte instead.
Then it took a solid 3 minutes to get anyone’s attention to fix it.
Then I got the «well it wasn’t typed in as iced» as if that was MY fault, followed by a rolling of the eyes, and taking their sweet time to remake it.

The one thing I hate about DC is how snobby, elitist, and career-​oriented some of these people are. I refer to the people who work downtown. They have job titles like «project manager» or «regional sales consultant» and you have no fucking idea what they actually do.
Caribou Coffee is filled with these people, but Caribou Coffee is also filled with lovely, down-​to-​earth employees who are taken aback when you are kind to them. It is as if they are unexpectedly hearing the words «How are you?» and «Thank you!» come from my mouth as I order a water bottle.
I ordered this water bottle for $ 1.75 for the luxury of having a place to refresh mentally before my interview with an environmental non-​profit. I wouldn’t be caught dead with a water bottle in an environmental non-​profit office, so I had to recycle that joint before my interview.
Isn’t it an oxymoron that the water bottle company advertised their commitment to the environment as well as to recycling? I didn’t mean to be a boner-​shrinker, but instead of using and recycling plastic bottles, you ought to not use plastic bottles at all. But alas, if you’re in DC in a J. Crew suit, trying to minimize all luggage, you resort to purchasing water at Caribou Coffee.
This Caribou Coffee location offers free WiFi, and no password is needed.
This Caribou Coffee location also offers two restrooms, but they only have one set of keys, labeled as «Restroom #2.» This is good because if they offered two sets of keys, then an unsuspecting, mindless, always-​in-​a-​hurry-​for-​a-​silly-​reason DC professional would unlock the restroom while you are on the toilet because these dolts don’t have the presence of mind to knock on the door to ensure no one is inside.
Caribou Coffee offers plentiful seating, including several leather loveseats.

This was a good location for a Caribou Coffee in Washington DC. Very clean environment, lots of seating, and free wifi!

I ordered an iced coffee and was rung up for two iced coffees. No big deal, right? Wrong– what a rude, rude girl who was working there. She gave me the true look of evil because she thought I said 2 iced coffees. Wow. What the hell did i do wrong?! Not worth the attitude.

Good basic coffee house. Prefer to Starbucks, who overroasts their beans. Free wifi, of course.

I was skeptical of this place because I know it’s a chain, but I would definitely come back here to study.
There was:
Free/​fast wifi, no need to go to an annoying front page to access it
good selection of teas
big tables conducive to studying
armchairs if you’re not studying
outlets
not too crowded (I was here a saturday afternoon).
This place closes kinda early though, 6pm, so that is something to keep in mind.

Cannot follow basic instructions. My grilled cheese was congealed and my blended coffee was simply coffee over ice. As for wheelchair accessible, um… Not if you plan to sit anywhere or roll between tables.

I typically don’t review chains, but this Caribou around 1600 Pennsylvania Street, will have to speak for them all. I love these places. I am usually stuck to only enjoying Caribou from my Keurig, but this recent trip to the East Coast has made me fall in love with all the Caribou coffees out there.
The GOOD: Definitely the atmosphere. Each one I have been to feels like I am in a snow/​ski lodge in the middle of a mountain perched up high above Denver. The fireplaces, the wooden furniture — JUST feels freakin cozy.
The BAD: I have encountered many baristas with bigger attitudes than a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. So I have never been to a Caribou, asking about coffees is apparently a HUGE waste of a Caribou barista’s time… They are clearly way too busy to respond to such ignorance… :-/​
OVERALL: I still loved enjoying my drinks at Caribou coffees… the atmosphere made up for the Ass-​mosphere.

Besides the fact that I got my belongs stolen at this location, I am giving an unbiased review of this place.
Honestly, I think it is the East Coast version of Starbucks because it is nothing special (but if you need coffee like ASAP, then this place is alright). I got a vanilla latte with soy milk. It just tasted like hot soy milk in a cup, i’m positive there was a quarter shot of espresso in there… Also, the place is completely unorganized and dirty. When i walked in, every table was dirty with crumbs and had trash all over the place! That is obviously not inviting to the customer!
There are lots of study tables, but I feel like they have all been crammed into the space! I love the fireplace idea though, it feels like I am studying in a cabin. Now if they just up-​ed their quality and atmosphere, this place has so much potential! I will be seeking future coffee fixes elsewhere.

I’ve always been happy to come here. There are so many Starbucks on K and the surrounding streets, but they’re so cramped and PACKED. This one has plenty of clientele coming in and out, but with the size of this location, you never feel overwhelmed. This is one of the few coffee shops downtown where you could actually sit and stay awhile with your laptop, and sometimes, that’s what I need. Any time I’m nearby and need to study, this is immediately what I think of.

Caribou Coffee looks great!
I got a smoothie there recently and the strawberry banana smoothie was very tasty, even on a very chilly winter’s day.
What I loved best about Caribou Coffee is the atmosphere inside. I love how earthy and homey it feels, with its fireplace and log cabin-​type feel. It looks like a great place to study. Even though I hate coffee, tea, and all sorts of chocolate, I would definitely love to go back to Caribou and order another smoothie and sit there and read/​study.

Dear 17^th street Caribou,
You are not as organized as your counterpart in Logan Circle. While I like that you have a fireplace, I don’t like your after 9AM line (what time does the work day start around here anyways?), and your inefficiencies behind the cash wrap. Your barista had to start taking pre orders to prevent idleness, I felt dazed and confused and was happy to stumble outta there.
Sincerely,

Good coffee place — I’m not a chain person but it is better than Starbucks. This location is very very busy and it is usually tough to get a seat and there is almost always a crazy homeless guy hanging out here in the mornings.
I wish more places like this had more real Cuban coffee and high end roasts rather than trying to get fancy with sugar syrups and flavorings that cover up the coffee bean’s flavor. but it seems the American market prefers things like this more.

I love this place! I’m a regular coffee drinker and always searching for the best coffee shops. Came here for the first time and ordered a iced latte, which was very very above par. It was bold with nice aroma, which is JUST RIGHT!
The place is really chill, alot of tables inside and outside, great location in dupont, and I’m sure all of their other drinks are just as good!

I ordered a Wild Caramel Apple beverage thinking I was ordering a hot apple cider. It was not. However, my drink was very tasty. It was actually a latte with caramel apple syrup, espresso and steamed milk. I drank it slowly while waiting for my hair appointment across the street.
This location was very busy for a weekday afternoon. There were many people busy plugging away on their laptops. It is not as cozy in this shop as other Caribous I’ve been too. My table was right in front of the side door so every time someone came in I felt a chilly breeze.
Their beverages are tasty, but make sure you ask for a Hot Apple Blast if you want a hot cider and not the Wild Caramel Apple. My bad.

Ok, so maybe I may not know what makes coffee really impressive. And maybe ordering any caffeinated beverage with more than two adjectives intimidates me. But I do know a nice atmosphere and good places to plop down for a bit with my laptop.
This Caribou location is right down the street from Dupont Circle. I just ordered myself a mango iced tea (not bad) and sat on down, but not before getting $.10 off of my purchase for getting the answer right to the trivia question chalked behind the register. (Of course I knew which blonde hottie was married to Motley Crue!)
I sat for a few hours peacefully as I caught up on work and listened in on a few conference calls — never disturbed or bothered. There is free Wi-​Fi and a nice little nook in the back for additional room and privacy.
Definitely not a bad place for a makeshift work station.