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| - Last weekend I happened to be in the Little Italy area, and I decided to try this place out because of the great Yelp reviews I'd seen. It was a hot day and I was definitely craving an iced espresso drink... so I ordered the house latte to go. The poorly maintained espresso machine should've been my first warning sign. There weren't many people in there for a Sunday afternoon--just a pair of folks that placed a food order before me. So naturally, after ten minutes went by, I couldn't really understand why I was still waiting. I looked over and saw that no one was even working at the espresso bar. They were just making food and hadn't even started my drink. So I asked them if my drink would be ready anytime soon, and they said a few minutes. Then I overheard the barista saying to the other that they didn't have enough ice. I was thinking to myself..."wonderful." But I was still hanging onto the fact that once I got my latte it was going to be so refreshing and delicious...I had to wait! In retrospect, I wish I had just walked out then--since apparently you pay after your order comes out. When my drink was finally ready, I left quickly. Unfortunately, what I thought was going to be an iced latte turned out to be an iced coffee. I'm not super particular and usually this wouldn't be a big problem for me, but this coffee wasn't even good. And since they made the mistake of serving me regular iced coffee, couldn't they have just given it to me right away instead of making me wait? It's not like it was freshly brewed... Plus, it only had a few ice cubes in it so it wasn't cold enough (could've seen that once coming...) I threw it away after a few sips. Since I'm not a local here, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that apparently Algebra Tea House was having an off day. The staff were pleasant and friendly, for sure, but I'm not giving them any points for efficiency. I wouldn't come back here.
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