Starbucks

I am one of those people who does not drink coffee, but if I were to drink coffee. I prefer not to drink it at Starbucks. I mean, I am not saying the employees are doing a bad job and all. I just do not like the company and how fast they are expanding and all.
From my experience, I remember seeing people going to Starbucks ordering their drinks and end up spelling the wrong name all the time. If you guys want to prevent misspelled names, you might as well give yourself a cool nickname to prevent problems like this.

It is what you expect. I saw the prices for the newly introduced mini frapps (they’re small and still $ 4!). They ran out of the sugar caramel syrup so I went for the sugar free that they suggested. The frapp didn’t turn out as good (I mean sweet…) but it was alright. I enjoyed the puffy whip cream cloud the barista put on my frappé.

my #1 Starbucks
I walk in, everyone knows my specific drink, how i like it made and my name
they are always happy, smiling and consistently hardworking as a team
(and my drink is a challenge for most. so consistency is important)
I know lots of people who will go out of their way to come to this location vs others in North Bby because of the great service, but they probably won’t write a Unilocal review… because then everyone will know how amazing it is. then us regulars have to wait in long lineup to scan our phones:(

I haven’t anything good nor bad to say about this place.

I come to this location for my lunch break almost every day. I would never come to this location ever if I didn’t work so close… because… well… it’s in Brentwood Town Centre.
With that said, this is probably one of the best Starbucks’ I’ve gone to on a regular basis. Starbucks gets a bad reputation because it is a huge (okay… ginormous) chain that is known internationally. The coffee is not THAT great but considering it is mass-​produced, it’s not THAT bad. I will always choose a Starbucks over Tim Hortons… and there’s a Starbucks on every corner, making them really reliable when it comes to getting a caffeine fix.
I never have to wait too long when I come here. Even if there is a lineup, I usually have a drink in my hand after only a few minutes. I’ve gone to some locations and waited a total of 35 minutes for my drink (see: University of Alberta– CAB Starbucks… WORST). And most importantly, my drink is always made correctly. There’s nothing I hate more than an inconsistant Starbucks… and when you order the same drink every time, you KNOW when something just isn’t right about it… (SO DON’T THINK YOU CAN TRICK ME WHEN YOU ACCIDENTALLY USE SUGAR FREE SYRUP).
The only down side is that it is definitely small. On warm, sunny days, you can usually find a good seat out on the patio… but on cool, rainy days (which is about 80% of the days here in Burnaby)… good luck finding a seat inside.

Average Starbucks, only need to point out is that there are NO GUYS that work here. Sexiest much manager? I found it very funny from the 60 times I come, almost every morning before I go to school, I see no men working here to satisfy my eye candy for the day.
Anyways, this one is located inside the mall and attached but they have their own enterance from the front. I don’t like the layout of the store as it is sooooo small and it barely has a place to sit. The couches and the seats look so old and worn out.
The good thing is that the service is good, friendly staff and they know me on a name basis. They make my drink properly and the foam is actually good foam, yes there are different types of foam style making.
Anyways, I like this branch but I know they have tons of things to change here, like ASAP!

I think this is the location I was in… but really it doesn’t matter because normally the whole Starbucks experience is pretty consistent.
EXCEPT… all I wanted was a couple of carb lumps in bags and enough caffeine to make people at a later work function seem more interesting.
When I ordered, there were two people waiting for coffees… 10 minutes later there were at least 12 of us waiting in a dirty crowded little bucks that nobody had mentioned had two espresso machines on the fritz. Good service dictates that one says “Our machine is down, so it might be a bit of a wait… is that OK with you or would you prefer a regular drip coffee“ Jeez… too simple…
I finally got hungry and tasted the baked goods… which I immediately requested a refund for. Blech. The reason I am doing this review though is not because of this one experience. My last three visits to Starbucks which involved baked goods I got stale hard gross stuff.
Starbucks cannot rest on their brand laurels… they have to make good coffee fast and have good fresh food on hand. Simple but so hard to do in 47 million locations.

Ode to the «pomegranate» bran muffin:
What art thou, o’ fiber-​filled one?
Thy name says pomegranate but my tongue say not!
As a morsel of you passes my tangerine lined lips (as per my Unilocal stick),
I bite down on fruit filled bits.
And oh what a folly!
It might as well be jelly!
For the fruit you have promised
To be pomegranate
Is not, but a raisin
and a berry that is blue!
What false advertisement!
You thought I’d be fooled!
But alas I am not, as I share with you.

Is it really messed up that I got coffee from no less than 3 different Starbucks while doing time in BC? Well, let’s see.
1. I didn’t have my Unilocal app because my phone is locked into a stifling contract with the Death Star (aka AT&T) and there’s no way for me to stick a local sim in it to get reasonably priced data or cell service.
2. I didn’t have any reliable wifi to use Unilocal to find a local coffee shop. Why? Because the wifi at Burnaby Cariboo RV park is a joke, and Starbucks CHARGES FOR WIFI (helloooo, 1999!) and I couldn’t find reliable wifi anywhere else, and
3. I’m from out of town, and I don’t have the time or will to drive an RV around in endless circles looking for a coffee shop when there’s a Starbucks on every goddamn corner and all I need is sweet, sweet caffeine.
So yeah, it’s messed up that me, a coffee snob, is drinking Burnt-​Biscuit (aka Pike Place roast) out of a Venti (seriously… just making words up now?) Starbucks cup when i could/​should be drinking better. But I justified it using rationale 1 – 3 above.
What can I add to this review that will help you decide whether to patronize this business?
It’s a Starbucks. If you don’t know what that’s all about by now, I’m going to guess that you’ve been living under a rock somewhere in the middle of nowhere (Surrey?) for a long, long time. They basically sell giant, thousand-​calorie milkshakes with flavors and chocolate and sweet sprinkles and whipped cream and skinny 3-​pump no-​whip vanilla lattes with a twist… whatever the hell that is.
And they have little hockey-​puck/​cardboard microwaved breakfast sandwiches. Gross.