Japanese customer service turns a disappointing experience into a heartwarming memory.
When people hear the words “Starbucks breakfast” in Japan, they usually think of the chain’s “Good Start Morning” offer, which gives you a 40-yen (US$0.25) discount on the in-store price when you buy a qualifying drink and food item together. You can take advantage of the deal until 11 in the morning at most stores, but diehard fans of the chain know there’s a better deal hiding out at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward.
Here, you’ll find a luxurious breakfast that’s been described by diners as “hotel-quality”, but the only problem is it’s so popular it often sells out. That’s what happened when we stopped by to try it, but rather than leave disappointed, we ended up leaving with a full stomach and a warm heart, thanks to the help of staff who went above and beyond with their customer service to make our experience a great one.
▼ Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo
The official name of the popular breakfast is “Roastery Breakfast Mattina“, and it’s sold by Princi, the Italian bakery on the first floor. While it’s said to be incredibly delicious, it’s also slightly pricey, at 2,250 yen per set, and can only be ordered dine-in until 11:00 a.m. each day.
▼ Drinks are sold separately, so if you want to add coffee to your breakfast, you should be prepared to spend at least 3,000 yen.
Despite the price, the breakfast is incredibly popular – so much so that when we visited at 10:30am, staff told us that they’d just sold out, and when we returned the next day just after 9 a.m. staff told us they sold out at 8 a.m.
Fearing we may never get to eat breakfast, we asked staff if there was any type of workaround they might recommend. We told them we’d be happy to purchase the bread and ham from the breakfast set on their own if it were possible, and to our surprise, the staff member we spoke to said, “You can buy the bread individually. We also offer ham in sandwiches and such, but…please wait a moment.” They then started communicating with someone on their intercom system.
Eagerly waiting to find out what was about to happen, the employee then said, “Well, how about this? We have a menu item that we’d like to recommend, but please wait a moment while we check if it’s still available.”
Crossing our fingers for the best result, we waited with bated breath until the staff member turned and said, “It seems it’s still available, so I’ll guide you to the place where it’s being served.”
▼ They then led us to the Princi bakery, where they introduced us to a store-exclusive menu item called “Customize Bread”.
As the name suggests, this customisable bread menu allows for a wide range of customisation. You can choose your favourite bread, cheese, ham, and, if desired, olive oil, salt, and black pepper, to create your own unique set.
The price varies depending on what you add – cheese add-ons cost an extra 280 yen, while the butter, dip and cream options are less expensive.
You get to choose your bread yourself, but if you’re unsure about anything, you can simply tell staff your preferences for hard or soft textures and they’ll choose something that suits your taste. Staff were incredibly helpful, and when we asked if it might be okay to order pretty much all the toppings, they told us not to worry as customers often add all of them.
▼ So we ended up ordering the lot, except for the Hazelnut Cream, which we worried might be too sweet for our liking.
It was a veritable feast, and so good looking it resembled a breakfast you’d get at a fancy hotel.
▼ Olive oil, Maldon sea salt, and black pepper are free with every order.
We had no idea a breakfast like this was possible at Starbucks, and we were particularly impressed with the range of hams.
▼ We chose prosciutto crudo, prosciutto cotto, pistachio mortadella, and speck.
Sure, it may not be as colourful as the original breakfast set, but in every other respect it seemed overwhelmingly superior. Not only did it look like a high-class hotel breakfast, we also enjoyed being able to mix and match the bread with toppings to our liking.
As previously mentioned, the price of the set varies depending on what you add, and because we went all out with the add-ons, our total came to 2,934 yen, which was more than the sold-out breakfast.
Still, it was an experience we were happy to pay for, because not only did we get to discover a new way to eat breakfast at Starbucks, we got to experience the warmth of Japanese customer service as well. In fact, it was the customer service that left a lasting impression on us, as staff went out of their way to ensure we left happy, and never applied any pressure during our order, so we were able to make our choices calmly and with ease.
It added the pep in our step we needed to start the day, and now we know Starbucks is just as good a place to go for breakfast as it is for afternoon tea.
Cafe information
Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo / スターバックス リザーブ ロースタリー東京
Address: Tokyo-to, Meguro-ku, Aobadai 2-19-23
東京都目黒区青葉台2丁目19-23
Open 7 a.m.-11 p.m.
Website
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