Starbucks

Nice location abutting whole foods. Easy parking.
But when I want no room for milk that means fill ‘er up with the good stuff.
Period.
Done.
Don’t leave room for milk — otherwise don’t ask me at all.

Best Starbucks I’ve known. I have been going to starbucks for 15 years on a regular basis wherever I have lived. This is the most friendly, most efficient one I have been to. I actually look forward to seeing the barristas in the morning and they will make any ridiculous order you request without complaining. Mike and Gabby always go out of their way to say good morning and ask how Im doing.
Love this place!

The employees here are extremely hard working. It amazes me they can be SO busy and still try to put a smile on your face. I love coming to this Starbucks. The only thing I don’t like is the size/​setup. I would not come here to meet with friends or catch up on some work. Too cramped.

My favorite Location Between Arlington Medford West Somerville and North Cambridge. I’m also a huge fan a Davis Square Elm Street Starbucks, but this is closer for me for Medford area. It’s nice to get a place where people drop in off their commute or picking up some groceries. Perhaps it’s on the small side, but there’s 6 bar stools 4 small tables and a 4 armchair quad. It’s warm and cosy in the Winter months, and I enjoy the peppermint mocha, and skinny lattes. It’s nice to find a Starbucks that’s not surrounded by so many other things and places. This is a nice mix between quiet and busy and convenient. The Arlington Center store stays until 10 this until 9, but I’d rather walk down here at 6 o’clock after a busy day and it’s a nice quiet and relaxing place.
Kind and attentive servers and cashiers. They usually have 3 people on duty making for faster service than just 2. This is my new favorite place :)

I pass three other Starbucks getting to this one from my house and the reason is the staff. Starting with Mike, the manager, i get a heartfelt greeting every time i come in (almost daily) and many times i get one of his sayings, «Happy (insert whatever the day is). Always makes me smile. Since Starbucks drinks are always made a standard way, its not the drinks… its the people. Barista Gabi is often at the bar and is always a bright spot in my day. It should be evident by now but I will just say, I’m a fan!
«Venti Soy Latte» Dave

I like this Starbucks because it’s inside the whole foods. I’ve only gotten coffee and espresso drinks here. Service has always been good, orders have never been messed up.

It can get very busy there, and the food is absolutely horrible, what happened to the bagels lately?! in the past week i had an everything bagel at Starbucks and it was the most tasteless thing to grace my taste-​buds, very plain, blend, plastic like, chewing on the bag it came in would have probably had more flavor.

Horrified with the customer service of this place. Ordered my non fat latte with sugar free syrup and it came out wrong, while I was waiting for the barista to make a new one a customer asked him what was the syrup he was using, he replied «yeah different flavors, cancer, cancer and cancer, 10 years later people will come back with lawsuits». He probably didn’t like the fact he had to remake my drink but there’s no need to say such I thing. I’m never coming back to this store again. I came in on 9÷1÷15 at 5:55 pm. There was just a girl and a guy working at the time. Hope management can figure out who he is and show this review to him. Very very rude!

I love everyone here, lots of great personalities. It can get busy but it’s really hard to mind it when you have great baristas. Only downside is the small size of this location and the accompanying yuppies that shop at whole foods.

I go here a lot as it’s right near where I work. The staff is always great, very sweet and friendly, and have never messed up one of my drinks. Nice atmosphere for a smaller shop. Also convenient that it’s attached to Whole Foods, and has a large parking lot.

Service and drinks were fine but someone DEFINITELY PEED ON THE CHAIR that i then sat on. The place REEKED of pee and I thought it was just the bathrooms. I’ve been walking around the entire rest of the day smelling like pee and it won’t go away. Finally I figured out that the smell is ALL OVER the back of my pants! I SAT IN SOMEONE’S URINE.

I don’t even know what to say. The fact that this store exists actually makes me feel embarrassed for Starbucks.
It took 15 mins to make me the WRONG drink and another 10 to fix it (after serving other customers).
The customer service was horrible and not worth $ 4 for an iced tea.

Pretty average Starbucks. It is located right in the Whole Foods on Rt 16.
The reason I flag it as «average» is that it is… neither impressive nor room for much to improve. They are efficient, as they are fairly high volume with all the Whole Foods shoppers grabbing a coffee to sip whilst browsing organic kale and quinoa. (myself included). But it also is a regular stop for the folks commuting during the morning rush via Rt 16.
My only «complaint» is that the line area is really crowded. They are working with limited space, but it just seems congested, and their fridge section is tiny. (literally only 3 bottles of water? What?). They have a small seating area, but this isn’t a starbucks you camp at for more than a couple of minutes. High volume. High turnover. High traffic.
I stop here regularly when going to Whole Foods, but it is not my «regular» Sbux.

Read the bad reviews carefully. These people have strange expectations of coffee shops. At best they just don’t really get the Starbucks «system.» I’m sad to see such poor reviews. The morning staff here is nice, knowledgeable, efficient — and easy on the eyes to boot! Moreover, they are very generous with free drink coupons if you would only SPEAK UP about your perceived slight instead of going straight to Unilocal to whine about it. Grow up, really.

My experience here just kept getting worse and worse. Ordered a simple drink, and after waiting for 10 min, they finally informed me that they are out of berries. Not a problem. I ordered something else, but I did not even get a sorry for the inconvenience. Then, while sitting around drinking, one of the workers comes out with a overflowing garbage can. She gets distracted by another worker, and leaves the trash right next to our table. Couldn’t they have at least taken it out using the back door? I thought it was common practice not to let the customers see your trash? Maybe I was wrong. But at least, don’t leave it in front of us like its something we enjoy while having our drinks… I will ever come back to this starbucks.

Man I really hate to to hate on Starbucks! I don’t go to a Starbucks everyday but when I do I expect great customer service! As I feel like I’m paying a premium for their coffee. Normally when I’m VT I just go to a gas station and get Green Mountain Coffee! After this trip this weekend I now understand why I do. It cost less over all and the gas stations back home have a lot better customer service than this place…
So we walk in on a Sunday morning pretty early. Before the crazy rush of all the late morning people! And all I have to say is that I was WOWed by their customer service in a bad way to be honest. For one I asked what flavor coffees they offer and I get «Well we have the Blondie, regular and dark.». Then I ask «What flavors are they? Do you have flavor shots?» and the reply with a «Do you want a lighter or darker coffee?» At this point I just gave up. We also ordered 2 scones and they didn’t even offer to heat them up. They just pushed us out the door. So get this… I left with 2 cold scones and 2 ICE WATERS from STARBUCKS. Doesn’t that seem sorta dumb to you? I know many people don’t like coffee but to leave with ice water when you clearly wanted one would spark an issue in my mind.
So needless to say we will not be returning to this location again. They leave a lot to be desired for a Starbucks shop. They need a much better team of people and maybe train them in the customer service basics. Hell I would ever supply them with the drawing board!

Expectations from a Starbucks:
Quick service
Good, dependable coffee
Ample seating
Casual coffeeshop atmosphere
Wow, was this one busy! New Years Eve and the Whole Foods next door was cranking out business. This starbucks completely kept up with the rush. Service was quick, servers were friendly and the atmosphere was cozy. I enjoyed my coffee, sat back and watched the world rush by me.

I usually go to other coffee chains but this was connected to the Whole Foods Market and I really wanted to try their special buy one get one free coffee special (good deal). It was packed. And tiny. I was beginning to feel claustrophobic even before I had to stand randomly near to the counter and other guests after ordering. I was interested in one of the Christmas themed drinks and then I wanted another random one but I was told you can only order out of the three advertised Christmas themed coffees if you want to take advantage of that promotion I had heard about and saw advertised in the store. Hrm. I think that’s sort of false advertising. I went ahead and got some gross Brule Caramel drink. It was not a hit with me or my friend for sure. The wait was pretty long; my friend even abandoned ship to check on our dog because it was taking so long. Very busy place. I probably wouldn’t go back to this location again as the wait and service (and really the second free coffee flavor was horrendous) were not up to par with other locations.

Has gone downhill. These knuckleheads renovated and replaced a local artists’ display area with pictures of other Starbucks. Were there too many local art spaces in West Medford to compete with? (No.)
They stopped giving out coffee grounds to customers for use as garden compost/​mulch. No one seems to know why.
They also replaced the merchandise shelving on the wall with one in the middle of the floor in an already tiny space, making it even harder to get through, and very difficult to see what’s in the display case if there’s any line. This freed up wall space for — you guessed it – an enormous picture of coffee.
In a world full of reasons to patronize the many local coffee shops over Starbucks, why oh why does Starbucks seem so intent on adding to the list?

You wouldn’t think there would be enough variation between Starbucks locations (all of which carry the same products and menu offerings) to warrant a review. But there is.
With my comprehensive sampling methods, I have found that Starbucks at its best is some of the best coffee you can find, in beautiful and comfortable settings; why penalize them for being a big corporation when they are so good at what they do?
But at its worst, Starbucks leaves me yearning for a mom-​and-​pop shop where the owner takes personal responsibility for all details.
This location (as I like to think of it, the Whole Foods Starbucks – it is next door) is somewhere in between. The staff are nice and smart. (Sorry to discriminate; I know these jobs don’t pay well and it can be hard to understand that I want to reload my Starbucks card AND THEN pay with the card, not reload the card and then pay extra on top of the reload amount in cash… OK, is it REALLY that hard to understand?) The staff at the Whole Foods Starbucks get it right.
However, I find that the coffee is just not as good. Over the years I’ve realized that the majority of places that serve espresso in the US are serving burned espresso, and/​or need to clean their machines more often. It’s not supposed to taste like an ashtray. Think smooth and mellow, with subtle (not aggressive and sharp) bitterness. So, this Starbucks is not alone… but the espresso in my latte is always a bit burned. And the milk is not as frothy. Don’t know if they steam it longer at other locations or what.
Tip: if you get there early in the morning (prime Starbucks time) and the seating is full, you can go next door to Whole Foods and use their tables. And vice versa, later in the day on weekends when the Whole Foods seating area is full, grab your lunch at the deli and then go next door to Starbucks, grab a seat and a beverage to go with your lunch.