Vic's

Several reports here about a rude owner dealing with the homeless and deadbeats. They have great coffee and the cleanest and best stocked restrooms of any coffee house in town so perhaps we can thank the owner for that. I tried Amante up the street and found smelly street people and restrooms hard to get into with combo locks. They don't pay baristas enough to make them warm and sociable!

I was disappointed this place didn't have more edible options, only a few scones. Also no website or menu connected with Google Maps so I could not preview their menu prior to visiting. Bathroom had no workable soap dispenser. This place could use some improvements. A few positive notes, the hot apple cider was pretty good & the guy at counter was friendly.

This place is large but has 3 outlets in the entire shop, one of which does not work and another is in a corner, which makes it accessible to one table. The internet also did not work for 90% of the time I was there, which was for over 3 hours. When I asked the barista to restart it, she insisted it must be my device, as hers was working fine (other patrons also told me they couldn't connect or it kept kicking them off). Not a fan.

I ordered a shot in the dark with my our cup, which is 1.89 for coffee refill and .89 for the shot of expresso but they charged me for a single latte which was 3.42 I explained to them that no I didn't order a latte but a coffee refill with a shot. They informed me that's how they ring it up. Love this place until today, they just gave me my money back so I can go to the next vics coffee shop. Beware on what they changed you.

Like it or not, a big part of the reason for Starbucks success is their incredible comprehension of line management. A Vic's this is the last thing on their mind. In some ways, a busy morning at Vic's reminds me of a European ski lift line, just a big jumble of people who are confused about whether they're in the line to order a coffee, or the line to order espresso drinks, or the line for the people who've already ordered. If that weren't bad enough, the concept of writing customers' names on the drinks in order to more easily keep track of whose drinks are up completely escapes these guys. I think it would be fair to say that 4 out of 5 times I go in there to buy a plain old latte, and I end up waiting a couple lattes beyond the one that I actually ordered as other customers, some of whom didn't necessarily even order a plain old latte, grab my latte and head out the door. More mystifying than the fact that people are so blithely unaware that they've just grabbed the full fat latte that they did not order is that the baristas clearly do not care whatsoever about getting you your drink. Why does this matter? It matters because regardless of what you think of Starbuck's coffee, these sorts of problems occur far less frequently. And when they do, someone actual cares. They might even offer you a coupon for a free drink as an apology. Starbucks even goes so far as to announce when a drink at the bar comes up as "out of order." If I had to sum up the Vic's experience in one word: apathy. Now, as for the espresso, its just alright. Its still an improvement over Starbucks, but your-little-espresso-shop-down-the-street will still taste better. While Vic's coffee may not leave a bitter taste in your mouth, their baristas will.

I thought that Starbucks was Boulder’s worse coffee shop, but Vic’s really surprised me and took the slot handily. On the off chance that the owner will read this review, here are the two big things that make me never want to go back to this horrible coffee shop: 1.) No wifi until 11am. Seriously—they have wifi, but they don’t turn it on until almost the afternoon. Want to check or send an email in the morning before you go to work while you enjoy a chai? Too bad—go to Starbucks or literally every other single coffee shop in existence. 2.) Surprisingly bad cappuccinos. First, they make single shot cappuccinos instead of double—but that’s not the problem. The big problem is that they don’t know how to make them. Moe’s bagels sells regular coffee, and Breadworks does both capp’s and coffee… as the dedicated coffee shop competing with two other establishments that also sell coffee on the same block, I sort of expect that Vic’s should know how to make a good capp. Trident, the Laughing Goat, and Cafe Sole know how to make a cappuccino; Vic’s does not. To summarize, Vic’s offer’s soulless cappuccinos of the same substandard quality of Starbucks, but without the benefit of wifi.