Starbucks

I placed a mobile order to pick up and, admittedly, I went to the wrong location to pick it up. The last few times I have gone, I went to the One Shell Plaza location in downtown. The app defaulted to the 711 Louisiana location. After waiting about 5 – 6 minutes at the One Shell Plaza location, I asked one of the two female baristas what the physical address actually was, but she didn’t know. A male barista jumps in and says «One Shell Plaza!» I replied, I know, but there are two listed here, 910 Louisiana and 711 Louisiana, which is it? To which the guy again replied, «One Shell Plaza» and followed it up with «Does your phone say 1100 Louisiana?» WTF. Seriously? A second female barista then asks me the same question, «Does your phone say 1100 Louisiana?» I replied, no. I know where 1100 Louisiana is. These are the options. Which is it? After a couple of minutes of getting no where, the second female barista snarkily says «Look, if we had your order we would have one of these stickers,» as she waved one of those stickers in the air. LOOK. Do not give me an attitude when YOU don’t even know where you are. Three of them. No idea where they are. And they work there. Not going back to that location.
By the way, the baristas at the 711 Louisiana location were great.

This is, by and large, one of the absolute worst Starbucks location I’ve ever patronized. They are in a prime downtown Houston location, situated in the tunnel of One Shell Plaza, and they get a staggeringly large clientele on a daily basis. When this location first opened, they were great. Their staff was helpful, efficient, and very professional. The service has declined steadily and, today, is just plain awful. I realize that any service oriented business can have an off day. But, their off days are now their normal days. I admit that I am particular when it comes to purchasing food and drink, and even more particular when it comes to service. The people working in this location look as though they would rather be anywhere than where they are at that moment. And, quite frankly, the majority of them act as though they have absolutely no clue as to what they are doing. Or, perhaps they don’t care. I’m thinking it’s the latter. Time after time, they seem to be unable to fill my order in the way that I request it. I do not speak in a rapid fire pace. I certainly do not mumble, I speak clearly, loud enough for them to hear me, and I enunciate very well. Add to that, I am specific in my in ordering so that there is no confusion. It always comes out wrong. I’m done with them. I am all about second, third, fourth chances, but, I don’t need to spend the money on their overpriced drinks and snack items. And, I’m sure this location will not be reeling from my not being there, nor do I think they will care.

Fast but impersonal.
Besides the fact that they gave my sandwich to someone else and I had to wait a few extra minutes to get my order today, this location is not too terrible.
Good: It’s clean, fast, and they always have what I want at 7am.
Bad: they don’t take the time to ask your name. Other locations are very good about this, especially downtown. I think if they took the time to do this, they would get more tips and more happy customers.

Updated: This location went through a recent remodel, and also appears to have upped their game. I have been back several times, after the renovation, and have had good experiences.
The location is under a building in the tunnel system that meanders around downtown Houston. I’m still getting used to that, being new to the Houston area. unlike some other places I’ve been to in the tunnels, this Starbucks was clean, modern, well kept, and the windows were so clear I felt I could walk through them. I would not suggest walking through plate glass windows, however.
The seating and arrangement is typical of a small Starbucks, and they had all the normal drinks (unlike some small Starbucks locations inside buildings where they don’t make Frappuccinos, for instance). The staff was friendly, attentive, and took my order right away despite being a little behind on making drinks. I got my order quicker than expected.
The free Google Wifi was working great, and I also had 4 bars of AT&T service, which is quite a change from other tunnel locations where I have «No Service». This gives me a spot where I can update Unilocal about other places I’ve tried in underground Houston.

In all, I like what they’ve done to the place, and I hope they keep it up, because this is the closest Starbucks to my office :-)

One of my favorite place during 8−5…
TBC…

I’ve been here countless of times and the staff is wonderful. They’re friendly, helpful, funny and when the lines get super long they do an excellent job of pumping out drinks.
It is a small place with little sitting, but it’s cozy.

The line can be quite long at times, but usually moves pretty quickly. The staff are really friendly and even recognize their regulars and know their drinks.
Biggest complaint about this location is the lack of chairs – seems like the renovation took away seating area, which made it a nice place to take a break from work or have an informal meeting with a small group.