Moka House at Admiral's Walk

Periodically I go into the Moka House for a coffee/latte and sometimes a sit down.  I go infrequently enough that I tend to forget the reason I don't like going.

The space itself is fine, not huge, not fancy, but fine.  What kills me everytime is the service.  It is slow, so slow.    There is never more than two people in line yet it can take 10 minutes to get a drip coffee - WTF!  How is this possible?  Very simple, rather than take several orders and then fill them they take one, fill it, ignore everyone else waiting (and I am talking not even a greeting to new people in the line or eye contact - hardcore ignore) and get everything ready.  This is not how customer service works!

Take yesterday, I got in line behind a Mom (who was sitting down with her child, another Mom and that Mom's child) and a man.  Having taken (I am assuming here) both Mom's orders all progress of the line ceased as she got their drinks and began their sandwich orders.  She then took the order of the man in front of me - drip coffee - and then back to the sandwiches.  Ignoring me, okay, she may have muttered an excuse me or something but she didn't greet me and she certainly didn't take my order!  Oh, and ignoring the man behind me too who she hadn't in anyway acknowledged up to that point.

She methodically finished the sandwiches for the Mom's who were very happily ensconced at their table not impatient at all.  Finally she took my order - drip coffee....which I could have brewed myself by then.  ARRGH.

During my wait for my coffee I was reminded that this is always the way.  Regardless of how many are waiting, or come in, they take an order and prepare and call it before moving on to the next.  No acknowledgement, no taking multiple orders and multi-tasking to prepare several at once, not for this staff.  It drives me crazy.  A simple, "I'll be right with you", or even a "hi" would smooth the burn substantially.  But seriously, why are you not taking multiple orders?!?!?!  You could have taken the Mom's, the man's and my orders.  Filled the drip coffee orders and not lost more than two minutes, total, in presenting the sandwiches.  And seriously made happier two people.  A bit of a "hi" might have also prevented the man behind me from snorting softly like a little bull and looking seriously like leaving.

A final note - this is not just one staff member though, this has happened to me with a variety of staff members, this is a store policy gone horribly awry.  Oh, and did I mention another staff member came out of the back, saw two people in line and the front counter staff making sandwiches - and they walked on by, I think to the bathroom, with no urgency.  That is it for me, I am done, I will make my own, or go serve myself at Thrifty's, even if the coffee is worse, the aggravation is so much less!