I feel like I always bad mouth, well not necessarily bad mouth just kinda like mehhhh whenever Intelly is brought up. I remember going through pounds and pounds of BC after seeing all the people that raved about it and thought it was one of the worst and oddest coffees I've ever had, just this really weird off putting tangy flavor which seems others that didn't like it mentioned as well. Had been to locations in LA and Chitown and even wife didn't like their coffee. So was just in Chitown again last week, figured I'd give them another shot after seeing positive reviews on BC again on here recently. Had a shot and a latte, man I still did not like it at all, and the latte was so bland like not even a hint of sweetness from the milk. Wife thought hers was ok, she had soy so maybe hers was a little sweeter, friend didn't care as he was freezing and just wanted hot coffee lol. But wife agreed with me that Gaslight, Metropolis, Bow Truss etc in that area are just far better.

Feel bad, gave them another shot but don't know why their coffee doesn't jive with me. They had an EK43 doing pour over duty that smelled great when brewing right where I was sitting (that grinder is massive). The people there are very nice and service is great, just their coffee does nothing for me?!? Only thing I had from them I ever liked was Analog, but still not as good as others.

Which location? The only one I take seriously is the flagship in Lakeview as the others are catered to tourists (however, lakeview is home to dark matter and the bow truss flagship so I haven't been to the intelly location in probably 3 years). I'm surprised you like Metropolis as I personally think they are terrible (worse than Intelly. well the coffee shop at least). To each his own.

Of course the small guys are better. It seems like whenever one grows, they have to sacrifice quality, sadly.

I'm not sure why Intelli gets so many bad reviews here. I've had nothing but flawless experiences with their locations in Venice, Pasadena, and Silver Lake. Espresso has been very good to excellent, caps some of the best I've had (but I'm not a cap expert), and pourovers perfectly extracted and delicate. And they also have great tea.

I've also pulled plenty of Black Cat Classic plus their seasonals at home and love them.

I've visited Intelli shops in Chicago and California. They build handsome shops and the programming is first-rate. (They also employ the 2015 US Brewer's Cup champion.) But the long lines I've experienced at the Venice location, as an example, don't seem to be conducive to the best possible espresso.

Maybe this is not a side effect of high volume per se, but rather a staff training issue or an isolated bad day. But it also seems to me that quality control is increasingly difficult for any company to manage in a high-volume shop or as the businesses scales, adding new employees and locations.

brianl wrote:Which location? The only one I take seriously is the flagship in Lakeview as the others are catered to tourists (however, lakeview is home to dark matter and the bow truss flagship so I haven't been to the intelly location in probably 3 years). I'm surprised you like Metropolis as I personally think they are terrible (worse than Intelly. well the coffee shop at least). To each his own.

Of course the small guys are better. It seems like whenever one grows, they have to sacrifice quality, sadly.

Been to the Lakeview one, this was the one on East Randolph as we stayed in the HD at Mart Plaza so kinda hung around the loop etc. I've only had Redline and some S.O. from Metropolis, but maybe I have good luck there lol, even when shipped to the house I had people go nutz and ask me what coffee this was (redline). Dark Matter I haven't been to.

Yeah I've been to the ones in Venice and LA, don't even bother now b/c when flying in and heading to SD found this little hole in the wall called Green Roast that I've had some great shots and coffee from. For that matter the Klatch in LAX sucks, I'd even take Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (and do) over the LAX Klatch. I don't know about an off day at Intelly, as I've hit them up so many times in various locations over the years and did nothing for me, nor coffee shipped to house.

Jan - I shoulda tried the pour over with EK43 this time, was a S.O. but forgetting which. They also were doing some tea that smelled good.

I'm with Chris on this one. I've never had anything from Intelly I've ever really liked much. Most of my experience was pulling my own shots, and I've not been to any of their LA locations, but I've had a couple/few drinks from the downtown Chicago location (on Ontario?). Also, like Chris, I've given up on the Klatch LAX location. It's horrible and I too just head over to CB&TL in the next terminal when I'm there. (and im a huge Klatch supporter!) Honestly, I think they should sell or close it, as it's doing nothing good for their reputation.

Yeah they seriously need to close Klatch LAX, it does nothing but harm their reputation, especially when Coffee Bean and Tea leaf at LAX is better lol. Be like if some awesome gourmet burger place opened a spot in the airport but what you got there was more akin to McDs lol. My wife got a mocha or something there once, and left and literally dumped it out, and made a quick stop at Coffee Bean lol. Ron depending on where you go try Green Roast, really small roaster heading into Redondo, but I've had great coffee there and even came home with some of of their beans before.

There was a post on this board about how great the LAX Klatch was so I tried it out. Was pretty terrible. My nonespresso drinking SO even went to give me rave complements on how mine are so much better .

I went to Intelly for the first time the other day and had a generally good experience.
I know these boards aren't the place to admit this but as far as I can tell there are three types of coffee places:

The corporates- Starbucks, Peets etc.
The Independents (vary by location)
And these new coffee snobatoriums that are gaining popularity- Blue Bottle, Intelly, etc.

For me, I'll take the gritty little independent coffee joint with the shabby sofa that I've been going to for 20 years over all the others.

I don't go to coffee shops to sit on a sofa with my laptop or a book (that's what the home setup is for ). I strictly go for the espresso.