Good Earth Coffeehouse - Shawnessy — Restaurant in Calgary

Good Earth overall has a nice environment and is aesthetically pleasing to eat, work, and study in. Unfortunately, when it comes to the food and drinks, my experiences across multiple locations—including Shawnessy, Seton, hospitals, and even schools—have consistently fallen short.

The drinks are often under-flavored, tasting mostly like milk or water, and the food, while served fresh, tends to be very unseasoned. For example, the mac and cheese has great texture and presentation, which I appreciate, but it completely lacks seasoning and I always find myself needing to add salt.

Another disappointing experience has been the reluctance to provide basic utensils. Despite being a paying customer, I have been refused a spoon on multiple occasions—even after purchasing food and a drink. At most other cafés and fast food places, a simple request for an extra fork, spoon, or even a small cup of water is met with generosity, but Good Earth seems unusually strict about this. As a customer, it leaves me feeling as if this is less about hospitality and more about cutting corners, which is disheartening. Imagine it’s 7 a.m., you’ve purchased your breakfast and a drink, and you’re told no when you simply ask for a spoon. It makes the experience feel unnecessarily unwelcoming.

As someone who has been a loyal customer for years, I truly hope Good Earth addresses these concerns—especially the quality of the drinks. There is no reason for a brand that presents itself as welcoming and high-quality to fall so short in these simple but essential areas. This review is not targetted directly to this location only but several other locations I have visited around Calgary.

There is absolutely no reason my matcha frappe should look like a visual representation of climate change in...

This is my absolute favourite spot to hang out, whether I’m with friends or just chilling by myself to get some work done. It's super spacious and I love how it’s attached to Indigo so I get to browse for books from time to time. I’ve been consistently going to this café, and there has not been a single time when their service was bad. There’s this particular server, Maya, who always makes sure to give awesome service every time up until their closing time. She’s not only friendly to every single customer throughout her entire shift, but she also offers great recommendations and she’s extremely efficient at what she does. It definitely adds to the welcoming vibe of the place. Overall, it’s an extremely cozy and convenient spot since they offer free and fast wifi, as well as plenty of outlets, so it's perfect for those who are looking for study spots or for those who are looking to be productive for an extended period of time.

The quality of drinks and food that they offer are also amazing, and they’re consistent with it. They’re also consistent with keeping the place tidy. There’s tons of parking, and it's surrounded by a lot of cool spots for convenience like a boba shop, corn dog joint, and loads of restaurants and even a cinema just right beside it.

It’s honestly such a nice café. You guys just earned a regular! Absolutely...

The Americano was excellent but that's where the goodness ended. Also ordered a Lattice-covered Cherry Pie that looked good in the cooler cabinet. I asked for this $8 item to be heated. I was asked: to go? I asked to eat here. Then asked: warm or hot? I asked to have the pie nuked to take the chill from it from the food chiller. (Warmed up, in other words.) What I got was ice cold, water leaking out and generally the most awful bit of pastry in memory. Could not finish it. Also, when someone asks to eat in, you still serve the pastries in the tin foil? Look at the picture. Pie, in the tin, placed on top of my napkins, on your plate. Due to the greasy bottom of the pie's tin, the napkins are stained and useless.

Good Earth: your process for food is broken.

Stick to Good Earth's excellent coffee reputation and maybe avoid the pastries as they're poorly prepared by servers and taste like something off of a Sysco food service truck...which is...