Empire Coffee - Normandy Park

First time visiting, will be back! Clean airy and bright and quiet chatter of customers. Baristas were friendly, fast and attentive, latte was good, tasty pastry and nice to support a local business.

Pretty good cold bre, and a tasty breakfast sandwich from Alki Bakery.

The interior is minimalist at clean. Lots of natural light in here. They have a decent offering of pastries and merchandise for those who really need a t-shirt. Staff is friendly.

I've overseen this place go through it's wave of employees but THANK GOD the original manager came back from her maternity leave! As a customer before and after working there I'd usually steered clear from ordering anything with espresso when newer and inexperienced baristas were there, so I would only get iced matchas. I have also seen a few of the original baristas come back since Becca's return, and I'm glad to see their bright and kind presence again. The previous group of gals seemed very clique like .. highkey have had better customer service at McDonalds but I digress. They were okay but definitely lacked in personality. I finally returned over the weekend and saw new faces as well as familar ones, and everyone was so kind and had actual COFFEE EXPERIENCE not Keurig Experience. Looking forward to detouring to Normandy Park after work again! :

Bummer to even leave this review but I think that the owners really need to make some changes. I’ve been a loyal customer to Empire for a little bit over a year, I was really excited to see a stand doing so well as there have been a few that have not been as successful in the same location, and this is the perfect location for many of the Normandy Park locals. This stand was my ‘go to’ when it came to Spritzers, Americano’s, and good pastries to start my day. Unfortunately they’ve lost my business, and I won’t be going back anytime soon with their new management and team members. A few months ago, one of my favorite gals there, Paiton, was replaced with a very rude and condescending barista. I’m unsure of how to put this nicely but she is running this local coffee shop to the GROUND!!! I was seriously shocked when one of the sweet younger girls told me that she was the new person in charge , as she was seriously the WORST on the team and had TERRIBLE customer service skills, seeming bothered to even have to take an order. I have since seen all of the trained, very sweet, young ladies be replaced with an entirely new airheaded crew that does NOT know how to make a drink correctly; you’re either getting a clumpy drink, a watered down drink, half a cup of ice, or someone is dumping burnt, black, cold shots into my drink..how RIDICULOUS? And when you complain they act like you are just another Karen when their drinks are an arm and a leg to get. Not that their manager could teach them differently, she does the exact same thing. The owners definitely need to put more than two minute into hiring their next manager but soon before you lose all of your business. I 'll be going back to Des Moines for my morning coffee, even out of the way is better than ruining my day.