Tim Hortons - The Good - The Bad & The Missed

[X Royal]

Knowing many on this forum will use Tim Hortons at least from time to time & some far more often I have a few questions.
Having a very poor experience yesterday has prompted this post. Yes I have went to the corporate web-site to express my displeasure.
Based on service, quality of product & cleanliness of store if applicable please answer these three questions. Please include why.
1. Worst store/stores.
2. Best store/stores.
3. Favorite discontinued products.

Here's my answers.

1. Worst - Seaforth & Clinton, Ont. (same owner) Very slow service on numerous occasions. Never fast service.
2. Best - Stratford, Ontario (Erie St.) Fast & very friendly service.
3. Missed product. - From years past long john donuts. More recently sesame seed bagels.

 

[Redeye]

Knowing many on this forum will use Tim Hortons at least from time to time & some far more often I have a few questions.
Having a very poor experience yesterday has prompted this post. Yes I have went to the corporate web-site to express my displeasure.
Based on service, quality of product & cleanliness of store if applicable please answer these three questions. Please include why.
1. Worst store/stores.
2. Best store/stores.
3. Favorite discontinued products.

Here's my answers.

1. Worst - Seaforth & Clinton, Ont. (same owner) Very slow service on numerous occasions. Never fast service.
2. Best - Stratford, Ontario (Erie St.) Fast & very friendly service.
3. Missed product. - From years past long john donuts. More recently sesame seed bagels.

Well, for worst, pretty much any one on a base - CFB Kingston being the worst I know for slow service. You can be the only one there and still wait seven minutes for coffee and a bagel.

 

[ttlbmg]

One of the quickest Tim Horton's I have ever been to was the one at the base in Edmonton, they are super fast there, if you go on a weekday. The product I missed, from years ago, is the chocolate snowflake. It was out during a doughnut of the month time- it was awesome. (kind of having a fat moment right now...mmmm)

 

[RAGINCANADIAN]

I can definitely vouch for the one on Base Edmonton. I'm a regular there every morning 0530 just before I start my dispatch duty. Worst one I've seen is on 82nd Street just before the Yellowhead. They barely understand/speak english, (I understand it's the best available job to them, just try to learn the language a little better before committing to a job that requires constant use of the language you're not familiar with) and forget your change all the time. The waits are well past the 7 minute mark.

:yellow:

 

[Journeyman]

McDonalds' large, black coffee. It's like Timmies, except much better tasting.
Mind you, if you're going to obscure the taste with "double double" or "triple triple," you'd never know.


(Tim's is bitter; I guess McDs' leave the bitterness to the customer  ;D )

 

[bridges]

1.  Worst:  the new franchise at Findlay Creek, in south Ottawa.  Their cookies tend to be hard, and burnt around the edges.  (Such problems...  : )

2.  Best:  most of them are fine.  I like the people at the one in Winchester Ont., but the lineups are often 10-15 min.

3.  Favourite discontinued product:  I have a hard time getting a mint-chocolate Iced Capp anymore.  Even when it's still showing on the menu, they often say they don't make it.  Generally the conversation goes like this:

Me:  I'll have a mint-chocolate Iced Capp, please.
TH:  We don't make that anymore.
Me:  Oh...okay.  Hmm.  Do you still have the mint flavour shots?
TH:  Yes.
Me:  Do you have the chocolate syrup?
TH:  Yes.
Me:  Could you make a regular Iced Capp and put both of those in?
TH:  (surprised expression)  Oh - yeah, we could do that.
Me:  Ok, I'll take a medium one of those please - thanks.       

 

[Redeye]

McDonalds' large, black coffee. It's like Timmies, except much better tasting.
Mind you, if you're going to obscure the taste with "double double" or "triple triple," you'd never know.


(Tim's is bitter; I guess McDs' leave the bitterness to the customer  ;D )

I actually started finding they have a better product - more consistent - and that's normally where I wind up given the choice. I'll give the food a miss, but coffee, they definitely have a handle on.

 

[2 Cdo]

I actually started finding they have a better product - more consistent - and that's normally where I wind up given the choice. I'll give the food a miss, but coffee, they definitely have a handle on.

McDonalds has an advantage over Tim Hortons. McDonalds makes coffee, Tim Hortons makes colored water.

 

[ModlrMike]

I find most Tims to be reasonably OK at service etc. That being said, I have three peeves that seem to be constant throughout the chain:

1. Leaking cups - most store have the cups in holders below the counter. They lever them out which puts a large dent in the rim. They then put a round lid over what has become a partially square rim... cup leaks.

2. Parking. Tims has to have the worst parking I've ever seen. Here in Wpg there's only one store I frequent that has decent parking, and only because it's attached to a large mall. The best parking has to be the Tims in Portage, on the highway. Large lot, sectioned of for motorcycle parking.

3. Customers who don't know what they want. How can you spend 10 minutes in line and not have your order sorted? It's coffee, donuts, and sandwiches, not rocket surgery.

Best overall Tims for service: base Edmonton, the new one on the wing in Wpg is a close second.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

1.  Meaford, Arthur -  how can you not have English Breakfast tea??
2.  All that have English Breakfast tea.
3.  Fancies- various sorts.

 

[bridges]

1.  Meaford, Arthur -  how can you not have English Breakfast tea??
2.  All that have English Breakfast tea.
3.  Fancies- various sorts.

Tim's tea seems to be a hot-button issue... someone else was complaining about Timmies' indiscretion with the three varieties of orange pekoe, and I had ranted earlier about the scalding temperature & need for ice cubes - oh, there were complaints at the time, but I endured.  :duel:   

I mean, if you can barely hold the cup even when it's doubled, that probably means it's too hot to drink.  Either go with the ice cubes, or get two drinks - a tea for later, and a bottle of water for the intervening half-hour while you're thirsty & waiting for the tea to cool.   

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

That's why I love Tim's tea,.........scald my mouth, baby............

 

[Canadian.Trucker]

3. Customers who don't know what they want. How can you spend 10 minutes in line and not have your order sorted? It's coffee, donuts, and sandwiches, not rocket surgery.

This phenomenon is not only at Tim's.  The dreaded "so what's the ____ like?"  I have to restrain myself from saying Google it and move off to the side!

1- Meaford is terrible.  Not so much for the service, but they're coffee is always burnt no matter what time of the day you order it.  Collingwood Tim's on First St. is a close second because of their drive through that always pushes out onto the main street in the morning.

2- Madoc Timmies on Hwy 7.  Tons of parking, fast service (usually) and it's a little oasis on the highway of nothingness.

3- It's not discontinued, but I hate how not all the Timmies have Hot Apple Cider.  It's like playing roulette when I ask for it.

 

[sandyson]

Worst:  Magog Quebec.  Filthy and "can I help you" sounds like "get out of my store".
Best:    Farnham Quebec.  Prompt, efficient, and pleasant service.
Discontinued:  I agree with others--the coffee.  MacDonalds now has much better coffee.  Even the Timmie donuts taste processed these days.

I like a MacDonalds coffee and a local bake shop's plain donut on these cool crisp days. Ambrosia!

 

[dangerboy]

The Tim Hortons is Wainwright has one of the worst parkling lots I have been in, it is very poorly designed.  You are just waiting to get in an accident every time you drive in it.

 

[bridges]

That reminds me - the entrance to the drive-thru at Findlay Creek is the opposite of intuitive... at least 2 left turns and 2 right, in very tight quarters - and that's after the initial turn into their parking lot.  Maybe it's meant to get you disoriented so you'll buy more cookies.  :dunno:   

 

[aesop081]

Worst: the one on the main drag leading into CFB Greenwood. If I wanted that kind of attitude from the person who brings me my coffee, I would go have one with my ex-wife.

 

[mariomike]

If I wanted that kind of attitude from the person who brings me my coffee, I would go have one with my ex-wife.

Reminds me of the old joke...

"If you were my husband I'd poison your coffee."

"If you were my wife I'd drink it."

 

[my72jeep]

The Tim's in Wawa horrendous parking lot(tear drop shaped one way in or out, not enough room to spin a full sized truck around let alone a trailer,it is posted the no trailers in lot but it seems the average Tim's customer cant read or look at a picture of a trailer with a red line through it.
Fringlish staff makes for a wonderfull time ordering from the drive through.
Missed item the peanutbutter cookies the size of hubcaps.

 

[Scott]

Save for the odd coffee when I am in a very big hurry (which is not often) I do my best to avoid any Tim Horton's. I absolutely despise what they do to traffic in the areas around them and I also get more than a little upset at people desperate enough for a fat pill that they will block traffic to gain access to the drive thru lane or the lot.

I agree with JM. Since I discovered McCrack's coffee I have been a firm convert. But that's only on the way to the airport. Any other time I am in need I'll hit the local boys, pay the same price (pretty much) and walk out with a great coffee in the same amount of time.