Milk adds a fair bit of sweetness and hides a lot of sins in the coffee process.
If it’s been slightly burned or the machine/grinder aren’t really clean then milk will cover that. Black…it’s all out there.
If you can ask them for 3 or 4 seconds of hot water from the group and then float the espresso shot on top and stir. Makes for a great cafe option.
You don’t want water from the steam wand/hot water spout as it’s from a different boiler and will be much hotter. Normally around 130degress celcius vs around 90 for the espresso.
If you are concerned it’s pretty easy to setup your own controller.
Only needs to be running for management. Make a local vm