Java Garden Coffee Company

This bussiness has had terrible reviews under its previous owners. I would never go back knowing how bad the food and service were consistently. This is a much better run establishment today. I enjoyed a very nice Americano and it was served right and in a reasonable amount of time. The barista was pleasant and seemed to know what she was doing. (not the case with the previous owner) They are now using a local coffeee yeah! And although I did not indulge in any of the baked goods the appeared fresh and well stocked. This visit was a win I hope this keeps up and the new owner should maybe contact Unilocal about the old posts. Yikes they are so bad Over all 4 stars for a recovering bussiness

This shop has made major staff improvements and now has friendly staff. Ignore previous reviews about service being rude and exceedingly slow. It’s still not fast, but no espresso bar is fast. It’s cleaner and food is fresh. Their snacks are decent and the seating area is comfortable. The prices are now more in line with other stores. I’m not saying it’s the best in town, or I’d give them 4 or 5 stars, but they are no longer the worst, or undeserving of a visit. They are adequate, and could improve a bit, but good for a coffee fix when you need it.

Wow. I simply cannot believe that, in a town with so many coffee shops (many of which are good or excellent) this place manages to stay in business. It’s not as if Nelson residents aren’t familiar with good coffee and don’t know any better. I just don’t get it. The coffee is HORRIBLE (almost as bad as the coffee at A&W). The service is terrible. And the ambiance is non-​existent (it is in a ragtag old mall populated daily with the dregs of the Kootenays. Although I must admit that this side of the mall seems downright classy compared to the food court, where the number of people milling about between the Wal-​Mart and the KFC on any given afternoon far exceeds the number of teeth.

Consistently, hopelessly appalling. I have been abused by this snack bar so many times, in so many ways, that I need to warn the unwary.
Don’t get sucked in by the fact that this is the only coffee dispensary in the lakeside shopping centre — wait until you reach the Downtown… What is most impressive about this… facility…is that they can get it wrong so consistently, and on a different level each time. The coffee is poor — everyone in Nelson agrees on that one. It survives because it is the only coffee outlet in our lovely Lakeside mall, and it is friendly to seniors, who often need somewhere to sit down.
Concern 1: never the same server twice. Doesn’t matter if you visit every week, the server has changed. What does that infer about management?
2. abysmal service, from those serving their time. When I last succumbed (October 2010), I asked for two coffees: one a regular drip, and the other an espresso. I was told that that was only one coffee, as «espresso isn’t a coffee, it’s espresso». I then received the sort of blank stare I had hiherto thought was only reserved for Parking Attendants. Was I made to feel stupid.
Previously, I have also experienced: cold coffee/​cardiac-​inducing over-​sweet coffee/​incorrect coffee and coffee being left on the serving counter without the order being called out (see ‘cold coffee’)
3. wait times. A line up of any more than one person in front of you spells a 5 – 10 minute (or longer) delay
4. quality of the comestibles. Don’t touch the food — it seems to have been there for eons, and that’s exactly how it tastes. They have cut down on their prepared food ‘offer’ recently… maybe because people are finally realising that there is better food in the supermarket across the way?
5. Prices — talk about exploiting a monopoly! Nelson is full of coffee shops, but the mall is not. Spend far less and get far more just 1 mile away in the town centre.
The point is that in a small town which is wonderfully supplied with fabulous coffee shops, you would do well to avoid the Java Garden, as it is only there because it pays the rent, not because it provides a good cup of coffee.