Starbucks Greeting you with a Cup of Java on the Rideau

On the way downtown today I stopped off at Starbucks (50 Rideau Street, Ottawa) for a coffee.    I trekked through the Rideau Centre mall to the Rideau Street & Colonel Bye Drive entrance to get the Starbucks location.

When I arrived, I was third in line.  The first customer was inquiring about change for her large dollar bill.  She was willing to buy a drink but didn't have a bill smaller than $100.   The Barrista opened the cash, but didn't have enough change.  The other Barrista was making the drink and was almost finished.  In the end the customer received a free drink on the house as it was already made.  The customer insisted she would pay, but the employees would not have anything do with the cash.  This service truly made the customers day.  

The next customer easily placed his order and moved over to the drink station to have it made to order.  I was next, and was greeted by the friendly Barrista who cheerily, but not obnoxiously,  inquired how my day was.  I gave the usual smile and said it was going fine so far and placed my order.

The Order: 1 Tall Medium Blend Black Coffee.

A quick exchange of the cash for a drink and I'm good to go. 

Normally Starbucks is known for their strong coffee that borders on motor oil.   However, I thought I would attempt to order a "Medium blend" which is what I normally target at places like Second Cup.  

The coffee was pretty good at this Starbucks and actually is ten cents cheaper than at Second Cup ($1.95 vs $2.05).  The only downfall is there is no flavours aloud at Starbucks without an upcharge unlike Second Cup.  So I'm torn, for flavoured coffee Second Cup price wise is there but for regular coffee Starbucks wins between the two. 

Overall, this Starbucks location provides excellent customer service and great regular coffee at a high traffic location.  This is hard to do due the high volumes of customers going through.  But this Starbucks location pulls it off with friendly experienced staff who listen to what the customer wishes and tries to fulfill it as best as possible.