Starbucks

After leaving the Medical Center Area this Starbucks location seemed to be the no-​brainer choice for an afternoon snack. The drive thru was backed up so I decided to go inside to order. There were just a couple of people there studying and what seemed to be 4 or 5 employees behind the counter. While there I was the only customer in the interior ordering (no one before or after me), and it still took 10+ minutes to get my drink and pastry. I noticed the tables and floors were dirty plus the parking lot is challengingly small. Sadly the next time I’m in the area I will most likely think twice before returning. :/

Ok, so every time I’ve been back (though I said I never would, it has been proven once again that convenience is king), I’ve had great service from friendly people who were prompt and made perfectly satisfactory beverages. Go figure.
Don’t judge an establishment by one lazy and disgruntled employee, I guess.

Updated review: Still the worst Starbucks ever. (2016)
This is the worst Starbucks location in the area. They’re are slowest and I’ve never been greeted pleasantly nor served with a smile. Please, let’s get some new management here. (2015).

Not sure why it took me 20 minutes to get a green tea through the drive the thru. Slowest service ever! Please work towards improving this.

DON’T EVER GO TO THIS LOCATION! After waiting in the drive-​thru for 12 minutes and with only 1 car in front of me, I finally arrived to the window to pay only for the cashier to tell me they don’t accept anything over a twenty! What??? My bill was over $ 20 and he still wouldn’t take it. I’m POSITIVE Starbucks makes enough in a day to make change for a $ 50. Needless to say, I didn’t get my order and drove-​off as one SUPER annoyed customer. I WILL NOT BE BACK.

Worse Starbucks ever. Don’t go to this location.
–Bad service
–slow service
–Rude employees
That’s all you need to ruin your DELISHH Starbucks trip!

The service in the early am really sucks… it is usually the same person working the register and making the drinks. Can they get some help?
You can’t be running late and stop here, you will be late.

Ive been coming to this Starbucks for a long time, less so in the last few years. The original group that was here was awesome and knew peoples names. Since they left, the service has been incredibly inconsistent. Recently its been bordering on aweful. Yeah I dont care for overly bouncy cheery in the am before my first cup of coffee but I take that over someone taking my order who doesn’t seem to give a damn. Again the person taking my order (drive through) sure sounded like she did not want to be there! Didn’t repeat my order to confirm either. Then when I got to the window my coffee wasnt even ready.
I’m not sure whats going on at this location but its not good.
Parking has always been a problem, but as more townhomes etc have gone in it has gotten worse. If I had a dollar for every time I have driven by and said forget it because of the congestion!!!
Mostly It would be nice to see consistency, competency and mostly joy come back to the service at this Starbucks.

We just spent 20 minutes in the drive through for a soy vanilla latte and a peppermint mocha. Are you serious! It took 15 minutes to even get to the window, then they said our order was split into two separate orders (in which was wrong anyway), why? Nobody knows. Then, you’d have thought they had all the drinks made already and ready to go. Ha yeah right, we had wait for another 5 minutes for them to make the drink. As a former Starbucks partner, you’re supposed to have people in and out in 3 minutes from the time of order, therefore, there is no reason it should have taken 5 minutes to make a peppermint mocha. SKIP this location if you value your time!!!

Clean and well stocked. They’ve never gotten my order wrong and no bad visit. My complaint would be with the other customers and the parking lot /​drive thru. It’s crazy so beware. Some folks park on the side of the street and walk over just to avoid that hot mess parking lot.

I give Starbucks a lot of my money when it comes to traveling on the road. I prefer the brand over many others due to its consistency with a quality product, service, and locale. I’ve been to a lot of Starbucks across the country, and I can honestly say that this is probably the worst one that I’ve ever been to, by far.
First off, let’s start with the parking lot. Two words: good luck. I say good luck because the parking area is so tiny that you’ll be lucky to either get a space, or get out of one. This location was built strictly for drive-​thru service. Even with the drive-​thru service (as slow as molasses), don’t be surprised to see traffic backed up into the road. I know that this is a busy location, but seriously? This is Houston. Get a move on with consistent service, and keep it going, okay?
Second, the employee attitudes. Really, folks? If you don’t want to be here, don’t show up for work. I jokingly mentioned to one barista that he looked out of it, to which he just said that he was «just tired». Meanwhile, the manager is a few feet away doing whatever paperwork she is doing, not attempting to help out her employees during a semi-​rush on a Thursday afternoon. I guess the bad apples don’t fall too far from the tree, huh?
The place is so-​so clean. I expected the bathroom to be trashed (it was), so I had to sidestep away from the many folks that peed on the floor, just because. Oh yeah, I love the fact that it takes about 10 minutes to make an expresso. I mean, you hit a button on the machine and put a cup under it!!! I guess that its a bit hard here.
One advantage that this Starbucks has is that its just down the street from Reliant-​NRG stadium where the NFL’s Houston Texans play. So if you need a quick pick me up before going home, this place is a good stop. I will give it that much. Just expect a non-​Starbucks type of experience here.
Terrible. Just terrible.

One of the worse Starbucks I have ever been to. I live literally a u-​turn away from this location, but I will always drive the extra 2 miles to the one off of Bellaire and Stella Link. That’s how bad they are.
The problem starts at the top, so get your crap together!

The worst place! Waited about 20 min drive through for a cup of coffee and a sandwich! No parking space.

Just got some sweetened black iced tea at this location and it was extremely watery and not flavorful. The staff here is quick to make drinks but unfortunately their drinks reflect that.
This location has awful parking if you go in the morning during the rush but it’s not bad after 11am.
The staff here isn’t very friendly.

Why I’m not a fan:
*Service takes forever. I’ve waited almost 20 minutes for a coffee (and there was only one person ordering in front of me).
*They run out of sugar free syrups all of the time, particularly during the holidays.
*Parkings is a mess.
*The drive thru isn’t always open.
Need an alternative? If you’re headed closer to TMC, hit up Glazed. Service is much faster. You won’t get a drive thru, but sometimes it’s worth taking a few steps out of the car to get your caffeine fix done right.

The previous reviews are so, so true. The SLOWEST Starbucks ever. The only reason they have 2 stars is because the people who work here have always been nice and helpful to me.
I am a frequent Starbucks customer but this one isn’t even worth the visit. Which is a damn shame since it’s less than a mile from my house. I pulled into the drive through lane with only 2 cars ahead of me. 15 minutes later I’m still in line. Yes, I have time to write all this waiting for a tall latte.
The parking lot is small, really can’t even get out if you park of the drive-​thru line is long. I believe this will be my last time at this location. I was giving them one more shot, not worth it. I’ll be visiting other locations from now on.

It took me 30 minutes from the time I pulled into the parking lot of the South Main Starbucks until I finally got back out on the street. I had one drink order, a venti (what should’ve been iced, but wasn’t, the order wasn’t read back to me or else I would have caught it there) vanilla latte due to poor staffing (NOT poor staff — the three people there at the time were moving as fast as they could), poor parking and poor placement of this Starbucks. Every now and then, I’ll go to this Starbucks and get the wrong drink or have a wait, but never both at the same time.
I haven’t seen it this bad anywhere else — I’ve been to my share of Starbucks and have been a gold member since 2010. Since this location is still this bad, I doubt anyone has taken the time to notice the Unilocal reviews or the Google reviews on this location, let alone even attempt to fix it by hiring more staff, or just buying the empty lot next door to increase parking. It’s extremely disappointing that this Starbucks seems to be raking in the money, but not really doing much to improve the hit and miss service.
I happily drive 5 miles out of my way now to go to other Starbucks with better service and consistency, just to avoid the stress of this one.

I’m not sure where to start?! The small parking lot or the slow customer service? Literally 7 parking spots and a tiny drive thru. 4 employees working and it took 10 minutes for an iced coffee?! I’ve seen my share of busy Starbucks and I’ve never had to wait this long.
If you’re needing some caffeine or a place to hang with friends to study or work, go somewhere else!

It was crazy how slow this Starbucks was. At first it seemed like the drive thru was moving pretty steadily, and then as I got closer to the window, it literally took forever. I waited at the window for my drink for what seems like forever. I then saw my drink from a distance and I can instantly tell that my drink was gonna be messed up. The drink probably had less than a centimeter width of coffee and the rest of it being milk. I didn’t want to hold up the line any longer so I quickly took a sip as I pulled out of the drive thru and quickly parked my car. I went in and told them that my drink tasted watered down and just not enough coffee. The cash register made a huge of breath because I guess this happens often enough where he felt exhausted because of this. When they got ready to correct my order, the barista insisted me that nothing was wrong and showed me how much of an expresso shot would be added. Then he added an extra shot to my drink as an attempt to make it better. I then told him it still didn’t taste right and he said maybe because he added too much ice. Then he corrected it and it still looked exactly the same. A giant cup of milk basically. I didn’t want to make a fuss anymore so I just left in disgust. I can’t believe I paid this much for a cup of coffee to get disappointment. And let me reassure you, this is not the first time I had a caramel machiatto… I won’t be returning to this location unless its out of desperation.
ONE star for effort in remaking my drink without spit!

Starbucks is so standardized these days it is the gold standard for the effete enthusiasm attached to conspicuous consumption of the upper middle class and instagram accounts everywhere. That is to say, I had $ 6 burning a hole in my pocket and it was cold out. You can’t buy a sweater for $ 6 so that was coffee money now. Done and done.
The Starbucks website lets you filter out search results for drive-​thrus and other things. Apparently this was closer than the one on Shepherd, and the one on Kirby is just not dealing with since it takes longer to get out of the drive-​thru queue and back onto a traffic jam on Kirby than it does to drink a venti half-​heartedly. The last time I did Kirby I got two drinks because the first one was finished before I got onto Kirby; and the second finished before I got back to my office. Then I just ran around the tower in circles the rest of the afternoon. I could not do a repeat of that day on this day.
This Starbucks had a small and entirely filled parking lot so minor panic. But then pulling into the drive-​thru only one car in front of me so no panic. The guy on the intercom corrected me about what they have and do not have — different than in other cities but okay, looks like Starbucks is not that standardized? Anyway order finalized. Drive around to the window. Paid. Coffee handed over. Transaction complete and back to work.
It’s just off 610 so it’s a bit further in that direction than I am happy with, but anywhere that doesn’t make me wait too terribly long is acceptable by me.