The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

The service was not good, and nor were the drinks. Ambience was not good either. The person who got my order was… well I guess he was tired? He definately does not know what a customer service is… when I go to a coffee house, I do not want to have hysteric mood on my drinks as an extra. All in all just another typical uncomfortable experience.

This Coffee Bean is on Universal City Walk inside Universal Studios. Therefore, not surprisingly, this is a bit of an odd coffee bean. Half of the space it is in is coffee bean while the other half is a gift shop on city walk. No outdoor seating specifically for this Bean but there is a lot of seating on the city walk in general. Best of all, it’s 5 minutes walking to the Hilton which means I get my coffee bean fix in the morning. Try the Moroccan mint latte– it’s heavenly. For reals.

First time coming to this coffee bean and it was the worst experience. Me and my sister order our drinks the male barrister Markus was very friendly but his coworkers weren’t. Two ladies behind us got their drinks before us. My sister told one of the female barrister that we were before them her response was she didn’t see our order. Not only was she rude she was also the manager. She didn’t even apologize for her actions and instead of starting our order she started talking to her other female coworker. I believe this person shouldn’t be a manager because she doesn’t know how to manage anything nor does she know how to differentiate when she should be working and when she should be socializing with her friends. If you need coffee go to the Starbuck that’s further down city walk they have excellent service and they don’t mess up your order.

Not my favorite CBTL but its still way better than Starbucks. Although I do prefer Starbucks coffee.
Service is ok, its usually crowded. The reason why i say that service is just ok is for the following reason, my daughter works at a CBTL, she gets emoloyee discounts on all her oyrchases for whatever reason this place only gives her a discount on one drink. Too bad we didnt notice until after we left.

This coffee place is inside the tourist trap store. Seating is limited. However crowds are limited compared to the Starbucks one at the end of the citywalk near the theatre. Nothing special about this place though.

Let me tell you, I’m an avid CBTL fan, so having to give this place a 2 star review was extremely disappointing; but not after the awful service that I had.
First off, I ordered a favorite — blood orange iced tea. My friend ordered a vanilla iced latte and the other got a ice blended.
We paid and waited and waited. Ok, I understand that there is a big crowd to satisfy and drink orders come in rapidly, but it seemed unnecessarily long. After waiting, the latte and tea were called out. I immediately knew something was wrong when I saw a dark red tea instead of the golden tea that normally is the base for this drink. I sipped it and immediately realized there was not enough orange syrup and the pear berry tea that they used instead had an overwhelming flavor. Absolutely disappointing that they messed up this drink.
Then my friend realized his latte was the wrong size and had poor flavor. Then we had to wait even more time for the ice blended after several orders were called out after we initially put in our order. Did they just forget? After I reminded them, they took a slow time to make the forgotten drink.
Overall I was not a happy customer. I hope that if I were to ever come back to this location, things would be better and all of my orders would be right.

It’s funny to read some reviews criticizing its location. You’re at an amusement park!!! Plus these guys are great. My drink is ready before I pay. Love it.

I am addicted to coffee. I try to hit this place up whenever I pass by. But if there is a long line I keep walking and cry in the inside. My current drink is a blended white chocolate with whip. The guy there makes it all fancy with normal chocolate sauce criss crossed on the top of my whipped cream. The days they don’t do it, I feel like they must be mad at me…
This location is attached to a souvenir store on Citywalk. The employees have been there for awhile. Sometimes there’s a new guy and he will take forever. Sometimes they will get super busy and accidentally skip you and when they do, they give you a free cookie.

Usual quality of CBTL drinks (I had the Iced Hazelnut Latter), but the service is lacking, to say the least. I skipped the busy Starbucks and was glad I did because I walked further and found this CBTL. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the baristas were pretty «green» as they were taking longer than usual to make their drinks. I thought it would get better when Blanca, the manager came in to help with the orders. Nope. I waited even longer until I realized the people ordering AFTER me were receiving their orders. They had forgotten about my order!

I like the location because it’s located inside a souvenir shop so you can look around while you’re waiting for your coffee. I ordered a drink when no one was in line, but had to wait a good 10 – 15 minutes before my drink was made. Turns out that people who ordered before me were shopping in the shop too while waiting so the baristas here are just kinda slow.

Cashier had me wait while she flirted with security guard. When he said something to her that she had customer, she didn’t care. I had to leave before ordering because she took so long with him. Hope she at least got his number. I’m a season pass holder to the park and will never go back to such blatant rudeness. Friday 345pm

Went in on a Wednesday morning, male cashier was really rude. After my complicated order, he turned and laughed at me with his co worker… Slow service and rude employee.

Not my favorite location and i really do love Coffee Bean drinks i just felt this was too crowded and i wouldn’t be making another stop here for a while. The line was long and the customer service was fair.

Coffee Bean is 1 of my favorite drink, ice-​blended & pastry stores, but this location is HORRIBLE! Hence, I am NOT coming back again, ever!
The girl running the cash register wasn’t friendly to me, but was kind to the man who ordered right before me. Stores with good customer service strive to treat everyone equally & fairly & she definitely wasn’t friendly or fair.
After I ordered a hot tea latte, I saw Darlene — one of the workers, pick her nose before she stuck her dirty, discusting, repulsive hands into the ginseng peppermint tea bag jar! The guy making the drinks was unaware & completed my order… I spoke to him privately about what I just saw & he happily made me a new one. I didn’t get his name, but he was the only good worker…
If you value: friendly workers, a business that values your business, health, sanitation & cleanliness, the Coffee Bean on Universal City Walk doesn’t offer it. Go elsewhere!!!

Located inside a souvenir shop so you can bet this place can get packed considering its in a tourist location. Service is quick. Prices are reasonable. Coffee is good. Hazelnut Latte is my favorite.
Overall, great coffee shop to get your caffeine fix.

I always grab an Original Ice blended Mocha when I’m in California. This fit the bill, and the service was quick and friendly. This location is at Universal City Walk, so it’s also located inside a gift shop. It wasn’t crowded the day we were there, but I could see how it could get crowded during the summer or on a weekend afternoon.

The vanilla and iced coffee thing was really good, better than a sort of equivalent «Coffee coolatta» at home at DDs. It was pricey at $ 5.50, but very tasty, way better than Starbucks, as we do not like dark roast coffee.
Service is part of this experience, and for us it was good.

STARBUCKS DOESNT HAVE INDOOR SEATING!
although its attached to another store they have indoor seating and a good amount of it. I love the Iced Teas here!!! Chai Roobios nom nom with a chocolate croissant… yes I pig out here.
It’s a good place to relax since city walk has a ton of tourists.
they’re 2 outlets by the seating so you can take your laptop like I do.

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is that kid in high school who wants to fit in with the popular crowd so he wears the «right» clothes, walks and talks the game, and has that cocky, condescending «I’m cooler than you» attitude towards the nice folks he’s deemed «losers.» He thinks that the clothes, the hair, and the pretentious swagger make him «cool» so he’s legitimized in all of his behaviors and attitudes.
It doesn’t work for the wannabe and it definitely doesn’t work for a coffee shop. The coffee here is smoother than Starbucks but they nickel and dime the customer every step of the way. The place looks fine from the outside but upon closer look it’s unclean and comes apart like the metallic glaze from cheap earrings. I am lactose intolerant and asked for half a teaspoon of soy for my coffee as creamer but was told that it would be $.55 extra which is understandable if this was a latte but for half a teaspoon, seems like a cheap move especially considering that their coffee is $.25 more than Starbucks who is more than happy to let me soften the acidity of their coffee with a dash of soy.
The barista directed me to the «non-​dairy» creamer on the side counter. I looked at the ingredients … corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil. Seriously? *look around. See the crumbs. See tacky posted signs. Where am I? In a diner?
Unlike Peets and Starbucks, the cool kids of coffee, and the up and coming Caribou, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is the wannabe cool kid who may fool some people with its outward material symbols, but is every bit the pretentious, trying too hard wannabe. Some people may accept Coffee Bean despite its insecurities and assinine behavior, but others like me are ready to write it off.
P. S. the service is awful. I was the only person in line and in the coffee area and the barista acted like I was bothering her and interrupting her day when she came over to take my order.

Standard coffee bean except inside a souvenir shop.
Quick service
Always busy especially during summer bc it’s near universal studios and concert halls
Jasmine dragon tea ice latte was good
Overall, standard