Starbucks

I'll start with the old reliable, the one that millions of people around the world depend on for their morning cup o' joe. Starbucks. As the largest coffee chain across the country and world, Starbucks has a reputation of quality, service, and great prices. The Columbia Starbucks on 9th Street has a prime location for people working downtown and university students and staff. The seating is comfortable but crowded and tables are hard to find during the prime hours on the morning to early afternoon, when the students are monopolizing most of the tables feeding their caffeine addictions. Relaxing music is played at a comfortable level over the nice speakers in the ceiling occasionally interrupted by the baristas calling out the orders. The service is friendly and prompt and the prices are reasonable for the amount you get in the cup. Now the important part: the coffee. With a wide variety of regular coffee and some good decaf options as well, the black coffee is the some of the best around. Also with a wide variety of other specialty drinks, lattes, mochas, espresso, machiatos, and others, anything you can dream up they can make for you. The rotation of the daily blend of coffee is good and the variety is shown off when they switch up the coffee's of the day. The cool drinks are also a staple, with the frappacino available at grocery stores around the country. They have blended drinks and chai drinks as well. The food is very plain. A few pastries and bagels and things but nothing overwhelming. They don't really offer anything other then breakfast food so if you're looking for a sandwich or soup for lunch you're SOL.
Overall Starbucks offers a very competitive coffee shop experience. They do a very good job at rejecting the cookie-cutter look that many national chains end up having. It doesn't have the local feel that many mom and pop stores have but overall it's a great place to go and grab a quick cup of coffee to go, meet a friend for a latte, or study for an important exam. They offer good coffee for reasonable prices and are readily available for everyone around the country.