Fans of the former Pacific Coffee outlet in The Place, regular contributors 8 Songs and Ba Songs visited its successor, Esquires Coffee, and left less than impressed. Writes 8 Songs [my highlights]:
Esquires Coffee has opened this morning [Sunday], where Pacific Coffee used to be, at The Place.
But the man in charge is no gentleman.
We came in about 10 a.m. for a spot of breakfast. The place is laid out a little differently to Pacific, and decorated much like any other coffee shop. The New Zealand woman training the staff told me that Esquires is a Canadian company, now franchising into several countries.
As usual for new Chinese shops, the place was festooned with flowers out front, while inside, the florists were still arranging more displays.
We went to order food and drink. A staff member joined us at the counter, and took half our order. She then went off to start collecting the items, oblivious to me trying to get her attention to take the rest of our order.
The other five or six staff members behind the counter were too busy doing nothing to take any notice of me. Finally the young NZ lady noticed my distress and had the coffee added to the order.
Meantime, Ba Songs was admiring the floral display inside the shop. She pulled out her camera to take a snap, whereupon the manager rushed over and in gruff Chinese ordered her to put the camera away. Ba Songs explained she was only taking photos of the flowers, but that wasn’t good enough for this man. He yelled at her that she was not allowed to take photos. She asked what was the big deal, but this guy upped the volume and lowered the tone, using Chinese expletives to make sure she understood she wasn’t allowed to take photos.
By this time, a small crowd was gathering. But the manager didn’t care and kept repeating his directive, while Ba Songs was demanding a tiny bit of customer focus.
With nine coffee shops in the immediate vicinity, plus more opening in the Prosper Centre, this guy has no shortage of competition. We will be voting with our feet.
Please warn your readers, if they go to Esquires at The Place, don’t take their cameras – or expect reasonable customer service.
Just before posting this, I received a second opinion of Esquires Coffee, this one from p3wong. She writes [my highlights]:
I went to Esquires today and had to wait 15 to 20 minutes to get a coffee. There were three or four people behind the counter, and I saw a blond woman heat up some milk for them, but there was only one guy making coffee – and he was slow. They ran out of large cup covers. Yesterday they had soy milk, today they did not. Today they put chocolate syrup on my mocha, yesterday they did not. Obviously, the staff are not trained well enough.
True, it is early days and the place might simply be going through growing pains, but first impressions can be lasting ones, and this is a chain and thus should have a system for getting service quickly up to speed. And there is no place, at any time, for rudeness from management. I will soon check out Esquires Coffee myself and report back here. (Note: According to this story, it looks like Esquires Coffee is a New Zealand chain, though 8 Songs says he was told it is Canadian. Update: According to this site – click “Canada”, then “about”, then “history” – the company started in 1993 in Vancouver.)
See also:
Grab a java II: Pacific Coffee
It does look like it’s Canadian: http://www.esquirescoffee.com/, which is such a shame…. I hate when the local staff/partners are incompetent, and makes us (Canadians) look bad!
… and people wonder why I left China…
Too bad, because the staff at Pacific Coffee were constantly pleasant and efficient. The place was cozy and welcoming. The food was terrible but the coffees were good. And they didn’t pester you about exact change like at Starbucks.
To add a bit of balance I had a beautiful coffee yesterday morning and wonderful service. They seemed so proud of the shop and came round twice to check on me. I think these guys may just be learning. Ill be back for sure.
Hmmm the coffee had a real nice flavor and the store was nice. Wifi signal was good and staff quick and friendly. Cut them some slack 8 songs…. You don’t work for Pacific still do you?
@ Mikalboy,
8 Songs has been a contributor to this blog for a long time and I can assure you he doesn’t work for Pacific Coffee. You should be careful with such assertions — after all, someone could also accuse you of bias given your message came just 4 minutes after that from jondeenz, and from the same IP address.
Cheers, boyce
Esquires at the place in beijing has become one of my regular spots. Seems like it must have been the first day they opened, which any reqsonable person could understand. My daughter has the pleasure of playing with thier toys and was given a colouring in page the other day by them . I love the flat white coffee. I will be back and so will my friends …..well done esquires.
hmmmm sounds lke sunday was bad however my first time today and i loved the fact we got a free drink. They gave us a 2 for 1 deal. I agree lots of staff on but i think they still learning so seems fair. Coffee very tasty.Sorry to hear you had a bad time. unlucky
@ coffeegeek and jarblass,
what an incredible coincidence – you have the same IP address!
great to hear it has become a “regular” spot when it, uh, has been open six days…
cheers, boyce
Well we must be in the cafe now. Try not to be to negitive ;]
I went to pacific a lot and have been coping – bearly – with SPR coffee in SOHO until last Monday when I stopped by Esquires. It is a regular coffee shop and very similar to Pacific Coffee. Food is much better than at the pacific. Coffee is fresher (beans are recently imported and I guess Pacific had to keep up with some old bags in the end). Two people from the staff seem a lot more experienced than the rest. Only thing I miss is “extra espresso shot” on the menu. It’s difficult to explain for the less English speaking waitresses. But then again, I should learn more Mandarin, shouldn’t I.
@boyce: Give ‘em Hell. The least they could do is be clever with their lies. Appears they can’t even do that. Maybe if they spent as much time on training their staff and refraining from yelling at their customers as they did on the computer they would be running a tight ship.
No desires for Esquires. But I am sure I won’t help but stop by since it’s so bloody close to the office. At least give it a try before I could actually say “No Desires for Esquires!”
actually.. i forgot to mention… that morning i had to wait FOREVER for my coffee -they totally forgot about my apple danish.
also tried a grilled vegetable panini the day before.. it wasn’t bad, but not particularly great either.. the staff ensured me it was 5 star hotel quality though.. which i totally disagree.. I will give them another shot though.. hopefully service really is better now…
@ Charles,
Maybe it is a coincidence but the first four “positive” posters have left their messages in the last hour, they come from a total of two IP addresses and, as far as I can tell, they are all first-time posters. Hmm. Well, I guess we can leave it up to the community out there to decide. After all, this post should get decent traffic given what comes up when someone types “esquires” and “coffee” into Google…
Cheers, boyce
I can’t stop laughing… A friend just left a note on my facebook like this.
“let me tell you one thing, my collegue ask for a breakfast tea and a muffin…and the girl behinf the counter….put a tea bag into the paper bag with the muffin instead….with hot water and in the carry away cup….DUHHHHH”
Shouldn’t it be the staff’s job to put the bag into the hot water and recommend the drinker how long should let the bag steep?
When my father opened this store 30 years ago, he cared about only one thing: making a great cup of coffee. Sure, we may take a little longer to brew a cup, and we may not call it fancy names, but I guess we just care a little more. And that’s why Tweek Coffee is still home-brewed from the finest beans we can muster. Yes, Tweek Coffee is a simpler cup, for a simpler America.
And look I know how you guys feel. Sometimes a hot cup of French Roast Amaretto is just what a man needs to get him through the day. That smooth aroma and mild taste is what make Tweek coffee very special. Special, like an Arizona sunrise or a juniper wet with dew. A light rain in the middle of a dusty afternoon or a hug from your dear old aunt.Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm
I understand first day snafus, but rudeness to my wife isn’t acceptable any day. I didn’t complain about the fact that they forgot my coffee order, but I draw the line at anybody swearing at her.
And instead of crapping on about what a good place it is behind bogus comments on here, why doesn’t the management do the right thing, and offer her an apology. Cowards.
Visited the Esquires in question yesterday, nice shop nice layout and pleasant staff! I cant understand why you grumblers cant give both staff and a new business time to settle down and get over their opening hiccups, from your complaining I would sumise that you have never been thru a startup and its inherent glitches, if you had then you would be far less vocal.
I also understand that Bar Songs did not ask to take photos – just started shooting-how arrogant and rude is that!! I hope that both Boys and Bar Songs make an effort to return to Esquires and apologise and give the poor buggers another chance!!