Tim Hortons - The Good - The Bad & The Missed

[bridges]

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.

Hmm... on my way to work I don't think there ARE any local (or non-chain) coffee outlets, except for a couple of gas stations (which are also chains) and a mom-&-pop convenience store which is usually not open yet, at that time of the morning.  But it's a good reminder to patronize local businesses too.  :nod: 

 

[navymich]

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.

I agree.  I am not a coffee or tea drinker, so Apple Cider is my fav during the cooler months.  In Ontario, I had no issue getting it anytime.  Got to Winnipeg last year and it was only available for a month during their "apple specials" and even that wasn't guaranteed.

I also miss the cherry sticks.  They were sometimes still a bit raw inside, but easy enough to eat around that area.  And when I asked about them not being available anymore, that was the reason given, that they couldn't always get them to cook all the way through.


Years ago (mid 90s), I worked in a Tim's in Halifax while I was in between Class B contracts.  I decorated the cakes (remember when they sold those?) and the donuts.  Tons of fun, even when I exploded timbits.  Was filling them with fruit filling and had forgotten to change the setting from the amount for filled-donuts down to timbit size.  My goal after that was to figure out how much filling I could get inside a timbit.  To this day, I won't eat filled timbits....just not enough filling in them!    Of course, that was also when all of the donuts were made right in the store and actually tasted decent too instead of coming pre-made and them just frying them up.

 

[Robert0288]

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.

It doesn't help when buddy in front of you order's an entire course's worth of coffee and donuts.  And there's always that one guy who wants something strange or special.

 

[Cdnleaf]

Need a pic of the drive through line at the CFB Pet Canex parking lot. Both Pet loations are great IMO. Thing I miss the most...umm, the smoking bubble.

 

[medicineman]

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.

The drive through there is a little wacked for the amount of traffic they get...the McD's across the road is a little more organized that way.

Tee worst place for service used to be the one at CFB Borden...slow as molasses in the winter...and when I used to drink decaf, they never had any made in the am, since apparently people only drink that at night  :.  When I was in Kingston about 10 years ago, we used to fax an order there for coffee break and send someone over about 20 minutes later - done.  Guess their hiring practices have changed. 

MM

Edited for my personal grammar Nazi peeve  :.

 

[Good2Golf]

McD's waaaaaay before Tim's.  :nod:

Other than the fact that Tim's smells like a skunk run over by a logging truck, their plastic tops are the worst...ever.  Take a lesson from McD's and stop being so cheap...  :rage:

 

[SprCForr]

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.

It was built in the wrong spot. It was supposed to be across the Walmart access road in that field between it and the Best Western. Town Development didn't actually check until the building was well on to completion. The contractor mistook hwy 14 for the Walmart access road and the Walmart access road for the little access road into Canadian Tire and the entrance to the Best Western.

 

[Foxhound]

The good:  The Tim's Club sandwich.
The bad:  The coffee and doughnuts.
The missed:  Apple fritters.  Not the mass-produced, anemic, blobs of doughfat with apple-simulated flavouring goo like you get today.  I mean the ones they used to sell that had chunks of apple and lots of cinnamon.

 

[medicineman]

The missed:  Apple fritters.  Not the mass-produced, anemic, blobs of doughfat with apple-simulated flavouring goo like you get today.  I mean the ones they used to sell that had chunks of apple and lots of cinnamon.

Thinking back to Kingston, there used to be a coffee shop/bakery down the 15 from the BASe towards the 401 called Happy Doughnut...they had the HUGEST apple fritters known to mankind at a buck a piece.  Was a tad upset when that dude went under because the Tim's on Base opened - the guy always gave you a baker's dozen when you ordered 12.  Coffee wasn't bad either.

Back to regular scheduled programming...

MM

 

[armyvern]

I drink my coffee black. Like Timmies and McDos coffee - depends what kind of mood I'm in. Both different, both good (trying to compare them is akin to comparing an Orange Pekoe to a green tea).

I miss: Bowties, Chocolate Eclairs and now ... Old Fashioned Sugar dounuts. I can still get the latter on the east coast at most Timmies.

 

[cupper]

I just miss Timmies. Can't wait to hit one on my trips back to Canada. Either hit the one in Houlton Maine before we cross the border, or Salisbury NB when we make a gas / doggie rest stop.

But I really miss when they used to make all their goods in store rather than have some factory in Ontario make them, flash freeze and ship them out.

 

[smale436]

        Vern's mention of Old Sugar made me think what happened to the Sugar Twist and the Bismarcks filled with either fudge or cream-filled, then I remembered they were at Robins. I recall as a kid in the early 90s how Robins was a much bigger deal than Tims at that time. More locations, etc. I go to one quite a bit in Winnipeg as it's literally across from my father's house. They still make fresh donuts every day (albeit at a central facility that has them transported to each store), have free newspapers to take with you on the bus that stops out front, and no retarded lines. The objects that pass as their brekky sandwiches are horrible though. I think their ultimate downfall was some of them stayed as smoking establishments prior to the city wide ban, just as Tims was expanding and completely non-smoking.

        Ditto on McDonalds. Never tried their coffee until their free promotion and prefer it, but sometimes you get in a "Tim mood". Every McDonalds coffee in the US I've tried is nothing like what you get up here. I couldn't even drink the stuff with cream and sugar. Can't imagine having it black.

 

[my72jeep]

I was working in Berlin for a year back in 07 first stop after Custom's was a Timm's. The German's can make one hell of a tank but cant brew coffee to save their lives, and thought I was a dumb American when I asked for a to go cup. I ended up having my mom send me my old red and white Supper Tim mug. I had a few intersting conversations with people explaining what it was and no it wasn't a carafe, to keep my coffee warm till lunch, yes I drink that much coffee at a time.

 

[blacktriangle]

Timmies doesn't have old fashioned sugar donuts any more????

 

[GAP]

Timmies doesn't have old fashioned sugar donuts any more????

Almost most have gone out of cake type donuts of any type.....

Even Safeway....they are all raised donuts....

 

[MeatheadMick]

Good: Going to once again vouch for CFB Edmonton's Timmies... super nice servers, and even when the line-up is backed out on to RR 244 the line usually moves quite quick..

Bad: Borden...

Missed: I miss when Edmonton's Timmies was open 24/7... nothing like coffee with the Mounties at 3am lol

 

[Ignatius J. Reilly]

I certainly don't miss having to wait in line for fairly mediocre offerings.
That said, the very nature of this thread clearly illustrates than in the franchise industry, certain locations actually manage to pull it off.

A year ago I was living well within stumbling distance of the South Amherstburg Tim Horton's.  Those folks were superb, the late night and early morning crews even more so. 12 hours shifts they well lightened.
A ten minute walk led one to the central Amherstburg outlet, where service was shoddy, but it was always crowded.
Not sure how anyone can line up for more than a couple of minutes for a cup of coffee. Coffee is large, it yields multiple fruit. Might even be close to a human right, and as such one should not have to wait too long for some sustenance.

 

[Popurhedoff]

Where I least expected a Tim Horton's:

Dubai Mall in the UAE... I actually saw 3 Tim Hortons on the way to the mall... then as I was walking around the mall I saw this:

I then had to find it...

It was like back home... large DD and an Apple Fritter.

Cheers
Pop

 

[aesop081]

It was like back home... large DD and an Apple Fritter.

So here when i make a run to Tim's, guys as for "NATO standard". What is it in the UAE ? "Jihad standard" ?

 

[Journeyman]

..... and no retarded lines.

Wouldn't it be sweet if most stores had a line excluding retards? Of course, like grocery stores where you see the numpty with a full cart in the "1-6 items" line, it would have to be enforced.  ;D