Chelsea, oh Chelsea.
I look at Chelsea and I see it as a neighborhood of perfectionists. Art studios, dance studios, designer boutiques, corporate offices, beautiful architecture, distinctive restaurants, and upscale lounges — all filled with perfect looking people. Yes, this is New York and looks are always deceiving, but if you were willing to judge a book by its cover — Chelsea gives you a beautiful cover to look at.
This particular Starbucks on 15th St and 9th Ave sits directly across from the Chelsea Market. Once a Nabisco factory, now a concourse of foods, drinks, retail shops, and art studios, the market attracts quite the crowd. The Starbucks is also nestled into Google’s NYC outpost. And in case you haven’t heard, Google just made news for providing free WiFi to the Chelsea neighborhood. Yay for fiber-optics!
But despite Google’s generosity, I sit using Starbucks WiFi staring out onto 9th Ave watching the beautiful Chelsea-ians walk by. It’s hard to say if this Starbucks is truly representative of Chelsea, because the market scene seems to dominate the room — people coming and going. In fact, if I had to make flash-judgement, I’d say this is a Starbucks of Lines.
You walk in and are immediately confronted with the bathroom line — which a friend and I actually stood in and chatted for 3-5 minutes until we realized where it led. Then you sneak around the corner to the drink line. A high bar lines the window, and there is a line of tables on the far wall. After lining up to order, patrons seem to line up to wait for a seat. Oh the lines, lines, lines!
Okay — once you manage to work your way through the lines and manage to find a seat, you may want to put on a sweater, because it seems to run a bit cold in here. In my experience, this can actually be said about most Starbucks I go to. Several times when doing work at Starbucks, I’ve found myself rubbing my hands together for warmth. Am I alone in this one?
The Good:
The Patrons… Good for people watching — if you’re into that kinda stuff.
The Bad:
The Temperature… It’s cold outside, does it really need to be cold in here too?
The Restroom… Only one for both Men and Women, and seems to attract a longer line than most. Thank the Chelsea Market.
Barista Friendliness:
Nothing to complain about, and they definitely worked out the line as fast as they could.
Drink of Choice:
Iced-Grande-Skinny-Caramel-Macchiato — I figured why not an expensive drink in an expensive neighborhood.
Overall Starbucks Rating:
Good for a drive-by cup, but I’d have a sit-down elsewhere.
Starbucks and the City 
The bathroom line at the front of the store really turns me off to an otherwise nice store. And the constant need for crowd control of that line by a Starbucks barista reminds me of a theme park.