Starbucks
$$ Coffee & Tea
2138 Hillhurst Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
These Starbucks with the new ‘Starbucks Reserve’ bars are supposed to bring an experiential quality of a high-end brewery. I came here believing that they’re meant to attract people who want coffee that’s actually good – like say Demitasse or Stumptown or Ritual. Based on my ‘Starbucks Reserve’ cold brew in this zombie craftsman house with the midcentury decor of a store, they fail.
It tastes no different than their regular cold brew but delivered in a plastic sippy cup with the Reserve®®®®® logo. The price difference – I believe – is reflected in that you can take your sippy cup home with you and make the toddlers in your hood green with envy.
I came here with hopes that it would taste as good as a cold brew like say Maru down the hill or H Cafe further down the hill. But no. No! It offers the same bitter powdered coffee bean aftertaste that its regular cold brew offers. I gave them back the plastic adult sippy cup preferring that it would take up the space in their recycling bin (I hope they recycle or reuse) instead of mine.
There’s creepy 1940s music playing nonstop at this location. To go with the music, there are furniture pieces and architecture of the era. The furniture, except for the couches, is very uncomfortable. I’ve recently come to become acquainted with the term ‘hostile architecture’, which includes those armrests at LAX that don’t let you lay down or benches at parks or subways that are too small or sloped that don’t let you do anything but lean. Here, there’s ‘passive-aggressive architecture’. There ARE tables and there ARE chairs. But they are disproportionate in size and actually don’t work together for laptops or drinks really. There are no outlets. And the chairs are pretty uncomfortable.
Useful: 5 Funny: 2 Cool: 3
4/3/2018