"Had a really horrible experience with Strange Brew after several years of going there occasionally for coffee and a dessert or a breakfast sandwich alone or with my husband and son. Ordered a Chef Special Salad. Description is “arugula, roasted beets, goat cheese, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, roasted pulled chicken, mustard tarragon dressing “ for $12 (an entree salad per the manager). There was a ton of arugula but very, very little of everything else — see photos. I was shocked when I saw this and immediately called them. I had already used my lunch break to pick up the salad so couldn’t go back to return it. The manager had me take photos and email them twice, talked twice on the phone, and then said the other ingredients only looked sparse because I had mixed up the salad. The side photo clearly shows little mixed below the surface. Why make me go to this effort and then insult me by suggesting I was hiding the ingredients. Manager offered to bring me a new salad but if he thinks the original is acceptable, then we’re back where we started. Plus it’s getting late and I don’t have any more time. I did the right thing by calling immediately and sending photos. That should have been the end of it with the charge being reversed on the unacceptable item, apology made, and asking me to come back to try them again sometime, or some normal response like that. Instead, he starts being subtly insulting and trying to negotiate half off since it’s like a side salad — but I didn’t order a side salad, it’s supposed to be an entree salad! I didn’t get what I paid for, end of story. This is 100% unsatisfactory. Beware of buying food there if this is how it can be, a rip-off. And you will be treated badly by the management to boot. Just read a few other reviews that were negative and the manager or owner gives a long defensive response, citing industry standards and supporting small businesses for why the complaint isn’t legit, even insulting another reviewer. The bottom line here is that a customer found their experience to be unsatisfactory, was asked to prove it by providing photos, was still not believed, a lot of time was wasted along the way, and the customer service experience was very negative. This is not the way it should go."
