What do I expect from: Espressoholic?
An order of 15 coffees is a lot. I know that. But when I go into a cafe, such as Espressoholic on Courtenay Place, this is not the exchange I expect.
Me: ...long list of coffees...
Espressoholic Person: That's a lot, that'll take [the two baristas] ages to do.
Me: (in my head) Yes but I will pay you money in exchange for these good and services.
Me: (in reality) Oh well I can go to another place if it's a problem...
E-hole: No. It's just...(mutter mutter)
As time goes by a queue forms behind me, because it does take a long time to make 15 coffees (a fact which I aware of before making my order). Do the staff maybe take orders so that these poor folk don't have to stand and wait? Nope. Obviously I'm the asshole holding up the line with my unreasonable demands for coffee in a coffee shop.
So the order was completed and the various coffee types pointed out.
E-Hole: ...and that's the long black
Me: Sorry, I ordered two long blacks
E-Hole: No I just made one.
Me: (pause for thought) ok.
I paid and left.
And finally E-holic, I can do without the sneering too, thanks.
What do I expect from: Espressoholic?
To have fucked off about 10 years ago and not overstayed their welcome in such a colossally dismal way.
Me: (in my head) Yes but I will pay you money in exchange for these good and services.
Ahaha! You really should have said that.
That does sound likley seriously grouchy "service", but... if I were taking in an order that large, I'd go to a hole-in-the-wall place rather than a cafe.
I hope you got your tenth one free on the loyalty card :)
And Tom, (serious question) where would you go if you were standing on Courtenay Pl and needed 15 coffees? It's fairly bereft of cafes.
There's a good coffee hole under the Paramount, and closer to Espressaholic there's one next to The Ballroom, and The St. James is never very busy (although they're pretty slow).
I think Cue has a "Cue Fuel" coffee hole, though they may have switched emphasis to party pills. Cubita's just across the road and Bambalina about a block away. I won't mention Mr Bun :-)
To answer my own question I think that Sue is right with Shoc as it has the right factors of distance and coffee quality (and chocolate!).
I always forget the one by the Paramount. But it's nice to see no one said Starbucks :P
The cool guy attitudes of baristas around Wellington in general is enough to make me feel ill. Look your only making me a coffee lose the attitude.
It doesn't take an order of 15 coffees to get shitty service from Espressoholic.
I'll tell you what, Espressoholic use Piazza D'Oro coffee - the same coffee as Spotless (corporate toilet-cleaners and sandwich-makers).
Also, if Espressoholic don't change their decor and hang on another 5 years, they can become a retro '90s theme cafe.
Some cafés free of cool-guy attitude: Midnite Espresso, Sweet Fanny Anne's, Green Land, Peoples in Newtown x 2, Kiallis in Newtown.... oooh lookie, all of my favourites.
Love Kiallis to bits for the family atmosphere and the pancakes, but they can't make espresso. Since they use People's, someone from Peoples should go down the road and give them a few tips.
Huh. Mine has always been superb. Perhaps it depends who's working the knobs and levers at the time?
Yeah, I took Kathy there a couple of weeks ago, and we were highly suspicious of the rhubarb jam etc but in fact that was precisely what made the pancakes so delicious.
Their big fryup is also good too, but the pancakes are super spesh.
I wonder if anyone will read this rant even though I'm writing it so long after the original post?
I was at Espressoholic last night with a large group of friends, around 10-11 people. We pulled two tables together and a few of us ordered coffees right away. I went up after 5-10 minutes and ordered two coffees for takeaway and the guy working there was behaving very strangely. He asked me several times if I was sure I wanted it for takeaway, then he told me that the cups take 30 years to biodegrade. (Thanks for the tip, but why do you sell them if they're so eco-unfriendly?)
After getting my coffees I returned to my table to join the others. About 5 people at my side of the group had bought coffee, though nobody at the other end had purchased any. Around 5-10 minutes later the same guy that served me came over and told these people that they were expecting a large group of people from the theatre show and that if they weren't ordering anything that they should leave. As soon as I learned of what happened I went up to the counter and confronted the guy about it and told him how rudely he treated my friends and that I would not be returning.
Up till now I'd been a pretty regular customer. Lately I've been in there about once a week. Oh well, there are heaps of other places in town.
Of course it gets read! :D
That was so badly managed by Espressoholic. If they were expecting a large group, they should have reserved the table. And the guy should have cut your party some slack - it could easily have been that the rest of your group was waiting, rather than everyone rushing to buy stuff at once.
BTW, stay up-to-date with comments on old topics via the Tracker page.
Thanks Robyn, I'd not seen that page before.
BTW, are any Wellingtonistas headed to the Movie Trivia tomorrow night? Our team was sooo close to beating the film school crews last week.
I'm guessing the W'ista will be tied up with the bowling league for the next three weeks.
But good luck fighting those film foes! (Even though they are secretly quite nice guys)
My group has around 6-8 people coming at the moment. If you folks need a few more people to round out your team I'd be happy to fob off a couple of our members who don't know film. :)
Hope to see you there tonight!
OMG
seeing as how hundreds of offices around wellington do coffee runs on a regular basis. this should not have resulted in such shitty service. In future may i recommend the nice people at Schoc, they are just round the corner, but used to managing multiple orders and with a smile on their faces.