Starbucks

I always enjoy walking through bookstores and on chilly mornings or evenings am easily swayed to stop at their local coffee shop after inhaling the wonderful wafting smell of fresh coffee inviting you into the store. It’s especially tempting during the Holidays with the additions of their holiday menu consisting of peppermint mochas, gingerbread, pumpkin spice and eggnog lattes available.
So once again I jumped into their lengthy line to get my friend and I a couple of warm Holiday drinks. She chose the Pumpkin Spice mocha and I selected the Gingerbread mocha. We both agreed that the end results on both of our drinks tasted like dirt even though they smelled wonderful. Didn’t realize that «dirt» was the new spice ingredient in their drinks.
Anyway, to make a long story short we both ended up tossing our «earthy» drinks and wrote this particular branch off in our book.

Summary: Best study place at ala moana
Review: This is a review of the café in Barnes & Noble at Ala Moana. Its basically a café that has Starbucks products but is not in the system. This means that they don’t have the same special deals that the regular starbucks chains have. Right off the back, you will notice that they don’t have huge selection of coffee. They usually only have a medium roast on drip, which, is disappointing. This café, however, has a huge selection of pastries and snacks at a premium. The only downfall to this café is that since its almost always busy, you’re going to be lucky if you can find a table to study or socialize on. I recommend finding a table first before getting your coffee if you plan on staying. I also didn’t notice any outlets for chargers so make sure you come fully charged. The wi-​fi is still free and you can stay there as long as you made a purchase. Another advantage of studying at this location is that it stays open till 11pm which makes it the best study spot at Ala Moana and I actually prefer studying here than Kissaten. Overall, if you come here to study, make sure you have a fully charged laptop and headphones since it can get pretty noisy.

I don’t know what I’d do if there wasn’t a Starbucks inside the B&N for me to grab a coffee after hours of tedious book browsing. :) I find it hard to not like a Starbucks in any location — order coffee. drink coffee. During this visit I added a slice of cheesecake to my order for my little girl. Couldn’t pass up Orange Dreamsicle Cheesecake Factory, could we?!
tips:
IF the line is a little long, don’t fret because there are like, 3 other Starbucks at the Ala Moana Center. Earn those extra calories and take a walk.
Seating is… wait there are seats? LOL I almost wouldn’t know because I hardly ever see them available. This is not the place to plan on having a nice tête-​à-​tête over a cup.
the B&N locations will allow you to use your Starbucks smartphone App but NOT Starbucks gift cards.

This is for the two folks working at the B&N Starbucks tonight, they need a customer service class. First, the cashier taking my order, when asked what types of sandwiches they have? Her reply was «whatever is on the top self there»…I’m thinking REALLY! Then the Coconut Macchiato I ordered tasted more like shots of espresso with no coconut syrup. So I let him know, there isn’t any flavor. His reply was «I put 5 squirts of coconut, it’s all on the bottom, you have to stir it»…again I’m thinking… REALLY? To no avail, stirred it and it tasted like maybe 2 drops of that coconut syrup was in there. I had the drop about a table spoon worth of mocha powder to give it any flavor! I don’t mean to sound like a jacka$$, but when I am dropping $ 5 bucks for a cup of java… it should be made to the customers expectation. If that means dropping the a couple more shots of coconut syrup or memorizing the menu or at least verbally telling the customer the choices of sandwiches, smalls things like that makes a big difference in repeat customers or getting a tip or not getting anything but a dirty look from the person that is paying your salary!!!

Unilocal 365: ⁰²⁸⁄₃₆₅
This cozy café in Barnes and Noble’s is anything but a bad place to go drink coffee. This place serves Starbucks coffee (not my favorite), but is open late at night to serve my caffeine needs when I study there. Service is great. I never had a problem with the service there, and if anything they are just too nice. Very clean and warm environment, curteous staff, and caffeine makes this an enjoyable place to go study. If you have a Barnes and Noble’s membership, you also get a discount!
I know this is not their fault, but their limited seating really irks me. I wish they would become bigger to serve more customers since I know there are plenty of people like me who are discouraged to head there only to leave because of the lack of seating space.
Keep on Unilocaling everyone!

Starbucks is the the epitome of all coffee places. So why not put them in bookstores?
I was never a fan of coffee but then I met starbucks and it changed my life! There are so many different ways to order coffee and oh it is so delicious and I don’t really know if it gives me energy or its just those things you believe into because its what everyone says. When I buy coffee it is usually because I am craving it not because I need it.
So my girlfriend and I decide to get a quick dessert with some coffee, I don’t usually go here but it was quite late at the mall and we wanted to go somewhere with indoor seating. I order my usual Iced Vanilla Mocha with a red velvet cupcake and when I got it, the mocha was a different color. Strange dark brownish that didn’t even taste anything like the drink, so I tossed it. But my red velvet was the norm, just like any red velvet cupcake should taste like nothing extraordinary. I know that they have cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory but they were all sold out when we got there, I’m sure that would have been the better choice.

Rating: ⁴⁄₅ (There’s always room for improvement)
Date (s) visited: 12/​04/​2010, a couple times before this.
Emiko T. commented on 12/​03/​2010:
«Since Starbucks’ are all the same (across the nation, around the globe) I suppose that, what makes one Starbucks superior to another comes down to ultimately the layout of the café. Do they have space? Lots of tables? Couches and outlets for all those who „study“ at cafes?»
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Drinks: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ⁴⁄₅
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅
Price: ³⁄₅
Parking: ³⁄₅
The only thing about this Starbucks is that they don’t accept the Starbucks card, so you can’t earn star’s towards a free beverage.
Drinks:
Always a pleasure having a cup of Starbucks coffee in my hands.
Service:
Depending on the time of day one would visit a Starbucks location, the delivery time from ordering to receiving your order, is either hit or miss.
Atmosphere:
Kind of small.
Price:
Pricey, but worth it. If it was any cheaper, I think the service and atmosphere would definitely go down.
Parking:
Mall parking. Hit or miss.