I've never written a review before, but I have a personal reason to support this establishment. I've been here about 4-5 times and overall my experiences have been good. The reviews about lack of attentiveness on the brunch side (like water refills) are true, but that's tolerable. I don't blame minimum-wage workers; it's hard to be hyper-attentive when your hourly wage barely covers a shawarma sandwich.
With that being said, I had an encounter today that motivated me to write this review.
Today I ordered the caramel macchiato. Originally, I wanted to try the pistachio drink and asked whether they use a paste or something else. The cashier/barista didn't know and asked another worker, and they told me it was a syrup and basically suggested I choose something else. I was then recommended to "get the caramel macchiato based on purchase quantity."
I was asked iced or hot. I said iced, and added "low ice." He looked at me and said, "Are you sure?" which confused me, because why do I need to be "sure" about how much ice I want? I said, "Yes, low ice." He must've heard no ice, which is an understandable mistake--people usually say "light ice"--but I was intentionally specific. I already know most coffee shops play a "concentration game" with ice: the espresso and syrup stay fixed, and the rest of the volume is milk and ice. "Light" is vague; I wanted a low concentration of ice, not a low concentration of actual drink.
He then asked if I wanted a 17oz or 20oz cup. I chose 17oz, and he let me know there was a longer wait time than usual (about 15 minutes). It was crowded; I appreciated that communication.
When my name was called, I came up to find a half-filled cup--or at best 2/3 filled. I said, laughingly, "Half the drink is missing." He told me I had asked for no ice. I pointed to the empty third of the cup and asked, "How much does this cost?" $8.18 should justify an "extra" 4-6 oz. Regardless, I did not invent their size options; when a business asks what size cup I want, it is understood that I am paying for the drink, not plastic and theoretical ice. He said it is supposed to have ice and would be filled with ice. I said, "Go ahead and fill it." I did not want anyone seeing that they had just given me a 2/3 filled cup.
I also told him, "I wish you would've told me," and he replied that he did. Obviously, the question "Are you sure?" does not indicate the cup is going to be half full. This didn't feel like his personal failing as much as a system problem.
I asked who the manager was, and he pointed to the lady next to him. He explained the situation to her, and she proceeded to tell me about milk-to-espresso concentration and that the machine is set to a certain amount, and that if she added more milk it would ruin the taste. In other words, the coffee and syrup are fixed, and the "size" mostly assumes the rest is ice.
I'm not sure why I, as a paying customer, should care how the machine is programmed if I am not working there. The problem is simple: if choosing "low ice" (or what was heard as "no ice") means a visibly half-empty cup while I'm paying full price, that should be clearly explained before I pay--not justified afterward with technical language about concentration and settings.
The individual elements of this story are small. Mishearing "low ice" as "no ice" happens. What actually matters--and what pushed me to write this--is the principle behind how these moments are handled. When money changes hands, there is a trust that the description of what I'm buying matches what I receive. Breaking that, even in small ways, chips away at that trust and tilts the situation toward a kind of quiet injustice, where the business always wins the "game" and the customer walks away feeling wronged.
At some point, it stops being about 4-6 ounces of milk and becomes about honesty, clarity, and avoiding even small forms of oppression in how we deal with each other. In our tradition this is the same principle as cheating the scale: maybe the amount taken is small, but the moral problem is the same. Whatever little is gained by hiding behind technicalities, recipe jargon, or vague questions like "Are you sure?" is never worth what is lost in integrity and reputation. Instead of people quietly leaving and going somewhere else, there should be room in our community to call these things out respectfully--especially when we know the owners are from our community and likely have good intentions.
I'm writing this because I want to support them, not because I want them to fail. But support has to be built on truthfulness: if you charge a premium price, be transparent about what the customer is actually receiving, and when an honest misunderstanding happens, choose to fix it in a way that restores trust rather than shifting blame. That is better for the customer, better for the workers, and ultimately better for the soul of any business that wants to serve its community in a sincere way. read more