The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf - Bugis Junction

The food, as expected from a CBTL chain, was consistent and couldn’t be faulted. I’ve always been a fan of CBTL, which made it all the more disappointing to encounter such poor cleanliness at this particular outlet. The chairs were sticky, sugar was scattered on the floor and chair , and the tables were wet and covered in crumbs—we had to move three times before settling at a table we cleaned ourselves (and yes we cleaned ALL 3 of their tables for them). What was even more surprising was the strict enforcement of a policy allowing only two people per table, even though the café was at least 60% empty. While I understand the rule, a bit of flexibility would have made the experience more pleasant, especially when space clearly wasn’t an issue. To be fair, the staff were polite and helpful during ordering and when requesting for us to remove a table. This suggests the issue lies more with management policies than with the staff themselves. Still, it’s ironic that there was so much focus on enforcing seating rules, yet such little attention given to maintaining basic cleanliness.

Wanted to visit coffee bean @ Bugis Junction for coffee after lunch. I was carrying a large cup of Koi and staff stopped me from entering, saying that no outside drink allowed. I promised not to drink my own drink, but was still denied entry. The restaurant was almost empty at that time. I told her that she is losing business but still deny my entry saying that my drink may contaminate their food.

Had a really bad service experience on Good Friday. It was peak hour and there were many students studying, and exceeding the “very strict” dine in time limit of 60 mins. I had to wait for a table for quite awhile. As the students slowly left for dinner, there were many more visible seats available. A female staff came and asked for our receipt to check the time I ordered, reminding us of the 60mins dine in and implying us to leave. This was despite a student who was beside our table the entire time with his materials who was there since I sat. This 60mins dine in rule is enforced selectively and only at your staff’s convenience.

Nice renovation since don’t know how long ago since I last visit Bugis Junction. The open concept and different style seating are very creative. Good place for coffee and chill out. However, the waiting time for your order on a Monday 4pm with little crowd, takes more than 10 mins of wait. This is something I find it very ridiculous. Service is too slow for that sense. They should greatly improve on this aspect. Not just me who find them slow, The customers who ordered before me, also feels the same way.

Ordered vanilla cold brew and the chocolate cake. I am not sure if it is the outlet's issue or they changed the recipe but it did not taste of coffee at all. I feedback the team their vanilla cold brew coffee was bland even before I mixed it up. They remade it three times and supposedly the last batch was "a new brew". The barista pre mixed it for us and instead of tasting coffee, there was NO coffee taste at all, instead it was just diabetic sweet. I might as well be drinking syrup straight out of a bottle. The barista we spoke to was okay, the male manager we initially ordered from was rude and irritated because their app had issues and we needed to reload to log our points. Chocolate cake was very dry and crumbly, it felt like it was out for hours or even a few days. So far only this outlet had such poor quality of coffee and cake. It's a coffee establishment, so how did they even screw up the coffee.

I had an absolutely terrible experience at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Bugis. On Sunday at 3 pm, a male staff member approached me in the most rude and unprofessional manner. I was simply packing my bags and had an unopened outside drink in front of me — which I wasn’t even planning to open, but he aggressively told me to stop drinking outside drinks. I wasn’t drinking it at all! This is completely unjustified. His attitude was completely unacceptable, and he needs better training on how to interact with customers. To make matters worse, the store itself was in a disgusting state. The tables were filthy, uncleaned, and the overall environment was messy and uninviting. It’s beyond me how a place that calls itself a café can operate in such a dirty and disorganized manner. I will never return to this location, and I highly recommend others to avoid this place until management addresses both the appalling customer service and the terrible cleanliness.

The food, as expected from a CBTL chain, was consistent and couldn’t be faulted. I’ve always been a fan of CBTL, which made it all the more disappointing to encounter such poor cleanliness at this particular outlet. The chairs were sticky, sugar was scattered on the floor and chair, and the tables were wet and covered in crumbs—we had to move three times before settling at a table we cleaned ourselves (and yes, we cleaned all three of their tables for them). What was even more surprising was the strict enforcement of a policy allowing only two people per table, even though the café was at least 60% empty. While I understand the rule, a bit of flexibility would have made the experience more pleasant, especially when space clearly wasn’t an issue. To be fair, the staff were polite and helpful during ordering and when we requested to move tables. This suggests the issue lies more with management policies than with the staff themselves. Still, it’s ironic that there was so much focus on enforcing seating rules, yet such little attention given to maintaining basic cleanliness.

I had an absolutely terrible experience at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Bugis. On Sunday at 3 pm, a male staff member approached me in the most rude and unprofessional manner. I was simply packing my bags and had an unopened outside drink in front of me — which I wasn't even planning to open — but he aggressively told me to stop drinking outside drinks. I wasn't drinking it at all! This is completely unjustified. His attitude was completely unacceptable, and he needs better training on how to interact with customers. To make matters worse, the store itself was in a disgusting state. The tables were filthy, uncleaned, and the overall environment was messy and uninviting. It's beyond me how a place that calls itself a café can operate in such a dirty and disorganized manner. I will never return to this location, and I highly recommend others avoid this place until management addresses both the appalling customer service and the terrible cleanliness.

Ordered vanilla cold brew and the chocolate cake. I'm not sure if it's an issue with this specific outlet or if they changed the recipe, but the vanilla cold brew didn't taste of coffee at all. I gave feedback to the team that their vanilla cold brew coffee was bland, even before I mixed it up. They remade it three times, and supposedly the last batch was "a new brew." The barista pre-mixed it for us, and instead of tasting coffee, there was NO coffee taste at all; instead, it was just diabetic sweet. I might as well be drinking syrup straight out of a bottle. While the barista we spoke to was okay, the male manager we initially ordered from was rude and irritated because their app had issues and we needed to reload to log our points. The chocolate cake was very dry and crumbly; it felt like it had been out for hours or even a few days. So far, only this outlet has had such poor quality coffee and cake. It's a coffee establishment, so how did they even screw up the coffee?

Nice renovation. It's been a long time since I last visited Bugis Junction. The open concept and different style seating are very creative. A good place for coffee and chilling out. However, the waiting time for my order on a Monday at 4 pm, with a small crowd, took more than 10 minutes. This is something I find very ridiculous. Service is too slow in that regard. They should greatly improve on this aspect. I'm not the only one who finds them slow; the customers who ordered before me also felt the same way.

Had a really bad service experience on Good Friday. It was peak hour, and many students were studying and exceeding the "very strict" 60-minute dine-in time limit. I had to wait for a table for quite a while. As the students slowly left for dinner, many more visible seats became available. A female staff member came and asked for our receipt to check the time I ordered, reminding us of the 60-minute dine-in limit and implying we should leave. This was despite a student who had been beside our table the entire time with his materials, and who had been there since I sat. This 60-minute dine-in rule is enforced selectively and only at your staff’s convenience.

Wanted to visit Coffee Bean at Bugis Junction for coffee after lunch. I was carrying a large cup of Koi, and staff stopped me from entering, saying that no outside drinks are allowed. I promised not to drink my own drink, but was still denied entry. The restaurant was almost empty at that time. I told her that she was losing business, but she still denied my entry, saying that my drink might contaminate their food.