Beanster’s Expresso

In the past I’ve gone to Beanster’s on my way to work purely out of convenience due to the location and drive up window. They offer standard breakfast foods such as bagels and croissants, and also offer breakfast sandwiches which are yummy but also a bit pricy in my opinion.
The coffee, however, has been subpar as of late. Two times ago I ordered a plain coffee and was disappointed in how weak it was. The last time I went, I ordered a Chai latte, which was extremely sweet, but I chalked it up to a new employee that was probably still learning the ropes.
Today I ordered another Chai that tasted like a gas station cappuccino — sickeningly sweet and syrupy. I had to throw it out after only a couple of drinks. Next time I think I’ll just stick with Starbucks.

Like the convenient parking and layout of this place, and it’s really cute inside with a cozy seating area around a fireplace across the hall.
Customer service is excellent with most employees, but I’ve had some unpleasant past experiences with two particular women (one younger, one older, maybe they’re related?) who will consistently give poor customer service (no smile, no small talk, seem moderately annoyed and quietly judgey the whole time). Aside from them, all the other employees are cheerful and polite, making just enough small talk to ensure a pleasant transaction without holding up the line.
The coffee is good, but lattes I’ve ordered have been consistently weak. They have a good variety of bagels, all from Costco so they’re not bad. Food items from their lunch menu have never been worth it in my experience. Love their iced green tea, though. It’s unsweetened and has a slight tropical note. Really yummy!

The cashier was just rude and filled my cup up with ice to the point where she couldn’t even poor the whole drink from the blender in the cup. You could just tell she was miserable. I just feel cheated for $ 6 you should get more than ice

So disappointed– I always come here and usually have the BEST food/​drinks and customer service. Today however was such a disappointment. 1) My drink was way too sweet even after I order half chocolate in my mocha. 2) orders bagel, toasted with cream cheese and ham. I neither gotten the cream cheese (in the bag or on the bagel). 3) I called to let them know that my order was wrong. The girl starts with an S clearly told me I needed to request the cream cheese on the bagel (I assumed I did) and when I told her I didn’t have the cream cheese at all, she said, «well It was in the bag.» That was it.
I paid $ 9 to be disappointed and have someone speak very rude to me. I called to allow them to know their mistake and felt very upset when she didn’t even acknowledge that something went wrong on her part. Very disappointed in this one staff member.
I come here all the time and I honestly tip pretty well. Ruined my morning.

(First time customer) Came in for a blended monkey mocha, after someone talk about it when I was at the market. So, I set out to find this place. Was ok– a little too watery but heavy on the chocolate flavor. I love chocolate, so it wasn’t too bad. They have a lot of variety of drinks. I’ll come back again to try a tea next time.

I would have to say their drinks are not the best in town, however the sandwiches are. They have a nice seating area both inside and outside. The service is quite slow and they often only have two people working at a time. If you’re looking for a quiet place to go, this is it.
Don’t go when you’re in a hurry!

Very pleasant place to relax and have a drink– not as crowded or loud as Starbucks. I enjoy having the drive thru as well. Kids working there are always very nice and helpful. Love the Milky Way blended drinks!

Very plesant staff with strong coffee and great breakfast burrittos.
I had Turkey and avocado on and mine.
Nice lounge area with a fire, nice art and comfy seating.

This is by far my favorite coffee I’ve ever had. I live out of town but will make special trips to Ridgecrest just for a blended Monkey Mocha (chocolate, peanut butter and banana). They have everything from lattes to unique combinations (Snickers, Milky Way, Almond Joy, etc). I also enjoy their breakfast sandwiches. Thank you Beanster’s for making coffee that I crave so badly I will drive over 5 hours for!

Great place to grab a quick breakfast in the morning. Located inside the Pizza Factory, they have a drive-​thru or you can walk inside. They also have a heavily air conditioned indoor seating area, as well as some outdoor tables you can sit at if you want to enjoy the sun.
I’m not a coffee drinker, but they made a good breakfast sandwich and an excellent hot cocoa.

A 4 shot large. This is a keeper in my book! Although the taste was so-​so.

Overnighted in Ridgecrest last night — not bad at all! Unilocaled for a non-​Starbucks, and this one came up, along with a couple of others. I opted for this one because of the review that said it had good coffee.
They were right! I had a great latte … a great DECAF latte, which is pretty much not going to happen 9 times out of 10. The place has sit-​in and drive-​up service, convenient access to Hwy 178, reasonable prices, and they were fast. The inside looked nice, and somewhere you may want to sit for a bit and hang out.
If I’m passing through again, I’ll definitely make a point to grab another cup or three.

I turned to Unilocal to find myself a bagel in this incredibly small and inconvenient town… and sadly, I was led to Beanster’s Expresso. I thought it was convenient that they have a drive up window, but my fiancé opted to go inside so he could take his time ordering.
We ordered three asiago cheese bagels with EXTRA EXTRA cream cheese (I like a LOT of cream cheese and am always willing to pay for it), so imagine my surprise when we got back home to discover there was barely any on each bagel. Confused, I asked my fiancé if he ordered them with extra, and he said he told them, «extra extra… ridiculous amounts of cream cheese».
So, I looked at my receipt, and discovered that they charge $.60 extra for each bagel for extra cream cheese (which would have been a total non-​issue had they GIVEN IT TO US) so I called the store to inquire what happened, and the girl who answered said, «Well, I put two on each bagel but if it’s not enough, you can bring them back and I will add more». Two? Two what?
Tubs. They use individually packaged tubs on their bagels, so not only are they overcharging because their costs are higher than they need to be but to get an adequate amount of cream cheese on a bagel you would have to use FOUR of those little tubs meaning an additional $ 1.80 per bagel. Again, not a cheapskate, but at least give me what I pay for!

What they have going for them is that they are the closest coffee shop to the Naval laboratory at China Lake, and they have a drive-​thru. What they do not have going for them is good coffee or snacks. I really found their coffee to be unremarkable and the worst of the three non-​Starbucks coffee houses in the town of Ridgecrest. Their chocolate chip cookies are strangely salty too. If you do go here, be sure to use that drive-​thru. I made the mistake of parking my car and ordering inside. It was a lonely experience walking the halls of the Pizza Factory by myself, poking around, trying to find out where they sell the coffee. They have a nook where you can hang out and enjoy your coffee, but it looked more for show with no evidence of recent use. Pass.