Starbucks

I like this location and it has always been nice and clean and the people have always been friendly. It’s a Starbucks. I believe that is corporate mandate.
You can expect the regular prices and all, but don’t expect to use any promotions at this location as it is a privately held Starbucks and they won’t honor any of the stuff you hear about.
The nice thing is that it is in a nice location near a park that surrounds the Veranda. It’s a great place to walk. So, get a sugar bomb and take a walk.

First thing to note is this is not a «real» Starbucks, meaning it is a licensed store not a corporate full-​service Starbucks. Unfortunately Albany does not have an «actual Starbucks» just the two really crappy licensed hospital locations.
Things you will miss out on if you are used to real Starbucks:
1. You will get a local/​guest WIFI network that is extremely slow instead of the standard high-​speed AT&T hot-​spot service (I had trouble loading Google search results and opening text-​only gmails). If you come here to do homework or telecommuting, you will experience long periods of waiting for things to load or fail to load.
2. You will not be able to pay by scanning the Starbucks App. Depending on the location, they will ask to hold your phone to key it into the machine manually, or they will ask you to read the 16-​digit number outloud while they key it in, and generally making mistakes which takes longer because they have to start over. They actually have the scanner device, but it is not programmed to scan the iPhone App.
3. They do not have a «sparkling /​carbonation» machine. Meaning you cannot order Starbucks Refreshers or Teas which are carbonated/​sparkling. This is a huge blow for me, because I love ordering the Sparkling Cool Lime Refresher (very low in calories and refreshing). They will make you the drink, but without sparkling it, it will taste very flat. I guess if you are from Albany and have never been to a real Starbucks, you will think that’s what it is supposed to taste like. The «Starbucks employees» at this location do not even know what the machine is or that they are one of the only locations that does not have one.
4. They do not offer paninis or salads, so that means if you ever to get your 12 stars and want a reward that costs more than $ 5 (get your reward’s worth) you will need to travel for 30 – 60 mins to find an actual Starbucks that carries the food products.
5. Their hours of operation are extremely limited. If you have never heard of a coffeeshop closing at 9pm, you will at this location. All I can say about that is WTF.
With that said, the employees are somewhat friendly but are very slow and lackadaisical in my experiences. They do not know how to make the drinks correctly either. Do not be surprised if your espresso shots go bad before they are poured into the beverage because they decided to work start making a frappuccino while waiting for your shots to pour and forgot about it. If this happens, and it will, you will have an upset stomach most likely. Also do not be surprised when your milk tastes funny, gets colds much quicker than you are accustomed to, or your iced beverage tastes weirdly warm because they milk has been sitting on the counter during the entire rush of customers you were waiting with instead of being placed back into the fridge between pours.
The facility is very clean and large and the location is very upscale. Unfortunately there is only one electrical outlet in the area with the tables so you will find many folks with laptops competing for the two tables closest to the outlet or racing over to them as soon as someone leaves. I do not feel that the areas upscale location and large guest lounge area make up for all its many flaws, so I was originally going to rate this 2-​stars, but now after typing it, I think it really deserves only one.
I will improve this rating if they improve their wifi network, program their scanner to accept their own app, improve their barista skills, get a carbonation machine, or extend their hours of operations to a that of a standard coffeeshop.

Used to be a decent store years ago. But, this last experience has sworn me off of this place. The particular worker who made my drink, THOUGHT about attempting to make my latte between comments to her coworkers about what kind of food she ate that day. Her speed was that of a lethargic snail, which is odd, because she works in a friggin’ COFFEE shop. They were not busy. I was in a hurry. She only had to make my coffee drink… When she finally decided to get started… She steamed the milk, stopped, turned around to talk some more, added more milk, steamed it again, talked some more, etc. By the time I got out to the car and got to taste it, it was burnt and tasted horrible. I wanted to go back in there and throw it in her face. I only went here because i was on this side of town. Go to Elements. The employees, at least, know how to make coffee, and have better personality.

Average store. Employees are less than impressive.

Great wake up brew for the afternoons. Always grap a Venti Pike or Sumatra to get me thru the afternoon.

Hard to locate if you don’t know where to look for it, but once you find it you will be happy. Great coffee, fast internet, interesting people.

By mid afternoon, I had driven over 300 miles and still had close to 200 more to go. This location was a welcome sight directly adjacent to one of my customer’s buildings. A pick-​me-​up was in order!
The Iced Cherry Mocha was advertised, and highly recommended, according to the friendly male barrista. Thought I’d give it a whirl, and while my beverage was being prepared, I noticed the shaved dark chocolate bits that were sprinkled on my drink came in a nice prepacked container. When I inquired if the shaved chocolate was sold in the store, the female barrista came around the counter to double check the shelves, although she didn’t believe they did. While they did not, I thought it was nice of her to make the effort to take a personal look with me!
While I enjoyed my afternoon indulgence, I will try and stay away from this luscious beverage for fear of how many calories are hidden in the mounds of whipped cream and shaved chocolate!