I’m a new student here, and during one of the orientation events, I received a free coffee coupon. Today, I went to their cafe to redeem it, expecting my “free” coffee. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a scam. They told me the coupon was expired even though there was no expiration date printed on it. On top of that, the staff spoke to me rudely, so I did not buy anything. This was my first experience with them and will be my last :)
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Eunice Yun
This was one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had. The staff at this illy location were openly rude, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. I ordered a simple iced Americano and waited more than 10 minutes with no explanation. During that time, customers who ordered after me received their drinks first. When I asked about this, I was told that my order had been forgotten. When I finally asked about my order, a female barista said she would make it “quickly,” yet continued chatting with her coworker instead of working. Even after the drink was made, they kept talking and took more minutes just to put the lid on the cup. splashed saliva onto my drink while talking with her coworker — absolutely disgustine. I was standing right in front of them, being clearly ignored, and I have never felt this disrespected as a customer. The way I was treated did not feel like normal poor service — it felt discriminatory. No customer should feel ignored, mocked, or treated as less important because of who they are. This behavior is unacceptable for an international brand like illy. Management needs to seriously educate and retrain all staff on basic professionalism, respect, and equal treatment of customers. I will not be returning.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Vaishnavi Jadhav
Staff screams at you.
Service: 1
Poet On Standby (Michael Robinson)
Just way too expensive. Almost $15 just for a sandwich.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 4
Emmanouil Symiakakis
Super expensive. Mediocre quality
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Charis Hayward
Don't take cash, won't tell you until you've spent 15 minutes in line.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Plum
I had a terrible experience here; the staffs working at illy are really rude. Although I am international student from Korea, I do not have a hard time pronouncing english words; honestly, receipt and vanilla latte are very easy words to pronounce even for foreigners. But the staff working there did not understand my pronunciation. When I said vanilla latte and receipt, he struggled to understand and double checked.. and I was very offended by that. No one had any troubles understanding my pronunciation until now, and he was the first one who struggled to understand my pronunciation. I think it is a part of racial discrimination. He seemed to be an Indian American, but my assumption could be wrong though. Please educate all staffs working there.
Franco Rodriguez
Horrible lid design, literally spills everywhere. Would give 0 stars if possible
Rithvik Vasishta
They brew such bad coffee here I miss the old Starbucks
Martin Figueroa
Trojans Grounds was a Starbucks last semester, Fall 2024. Unfortunately, It is much more expensive than Starbucks and offers fewer choices. A peanut butter sandwich costs $14.00 at Trojan Grounds. The Starbucks on campus was popular and affordable. I am unsure why USC Food Services would make such a poor business decision.
Horrible customer service they’re very rude. Every single person that works there didn’t want to sell us the coffee because they said that they were making any at the time while we waited in a long ass line. Highly recommend this location.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Metreo973
Always packed and didnt even get my order right. said i couldnt do anything about it
Metreo973 Wow
Always packed and didnt even get my order right. said i couldnt do anything about it
I’m a new student here, and during one of the orientation events, I received a free coffee coupon. Today, I went to their cafe to redeem it, expecting my “free” coffee. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a scam. They told me the coupon was expired even though there was no expiration date printed on it. On top of that, the staff spoke to me rudely, so I did not buy anything. This was my first experience with them and will be my last :)
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
This was one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had.
The staff at this illy location were openly rude, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. I ordered a simple iced Americano and waited more than 10 minutes with no explanation. During that time, customers who ordered after me received their drinks first. When I asked about this, I was told that my order had been forgotten.
When I finally asked about my order, a female barista said she would make it “quickly,” yet continued chatting with her coworker instead of working.
Even after the drink was made, they kept talking and took more minutes just to put the lid on the cup. splashed saliva onto my drink while talking with her coworker — absolutely disgustine. I was standing right in front of them, being clearly ignored, and I have never felt this disrespected as a customer. The way I was treated did not feel like normal poor service — it felt discriminatory. No customer should feel ignored, mocked, or treated as less important because of who they are.
This behavior is unacceptable for an international brand like illy. Management needs to seriously educate and retrain all staff on basic professionalism, respect, and equal treatment of customers. I will not be returning.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Staff screams at you.
Service: 1
Just way too expensive. Almost $15 just for a sandwich.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 4
Super expensive. Mediocre quality
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Don't take cash, won't tell you until you've spent 15 minutes in line.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
I had a terrible experience here; the staffs working at illy are really rude. Although I am international student from Korea, I do not have a hard time pronouncing english words; honestly, receipt and vanilla latte are very easy words to pronounce even for foreigners. But the staff working there did not understand my pronunciation. When I said vanilla latte and receipt, he struggled to understand and double checked.. and I was very offended by that. No one had any troubles understanding my pronunciation until now, and he was the first one who struggled to understand my pronunciation. I think it is a part of racial discrimination. He seemed to be an Indian American, but my assumption could be wrong though. Please educate all staffs working there.
Horrible lid design, literally spills everywhere. Would give 0 stars if possible
They brew such bad coffee here
I miss the old Starbucks
Trojans Grounds was a Starbucks last semester, Fall 2024. Unfortunately, It is much more expensive than Starbucks and offers fewer choices. A peanut butter sandwich costs $14.00 at Trojan Grounds. The Starbucks on campus was popular and affordable. I am unsure why USC Food Services would make such a poor business decision.
Restaurantji Recommends
It's a coffee shop what more can I say !
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Horrible customer service they’re very rude. Every single person that works there didn’t want to sell us the coffee because they said that they were making any at the time while we waited in a long ass line. Highly recommend this location.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Always packed and didnt even get my order right. said i couldnt do anything about it
Always packed and didnt even get my order right. said i couldnt do anything about it
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Super busy ...always busy
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