Incline Coffee Co — Restaurant in Hamilton

I’ve lived in the area for 4 years and come to Incline a number of times. Usually I find it to be a sub par customer service experience, and the coffee and treats are just fine. It’s kind of all we have up on the east mountain as far as an independently(ish) owned cafe and the hours are pretty good! I’ve waited to make a review to see if these poor experiences were just one-offs or a trend. Today was the worst by far. On a walk with my teething baby and approached the counter to be basically barked at. No attempt at friendliness, it was like I was inconveniencing them by being there. I gather a lot of businesses are struggling to keep up with online and in person orders, and perhaps as a result the staff are overworked and at a lower capacity. This is something for owners to consider. The barista didn’t even acknowledge me when passing me my order. It was pretty shocking. I’m someone who normally only takes the time to make positive reviews, but this is absolutely a trend at Incline so I thought I should share.

*Edit: Addressing the response by Owner below

A friend recently shared with me that when businesses have poor reviews, they always read the owner’s response because how a business handles reviews says a lot about them. I couldn’t agree more. This is a super surprising and fairly extreme response by Incline. In what world is it considered inappropriate to attempt to give feedback directly to the owner of an establishment? To clear things up, yes I phoned and asked for the owner or manager to speak to regarding my poor experience (whose name I thought I remembered from meeting them in passing years ago when Town Hall was first being set up) rather than leaving a poor review, because I know that this is often appreciated, and I know how impactful the Google reviews can be. The exchange I had on the phone with whomever answered was cordial and respectful. They informed me there was no one with that name but that I was welcome to use the general email for feedback. To insinuate that I have posed or will pose some kind of threat to your staff’s safety by placing a phone call to have an exchange about this is preposterous. People are not stupid, and can clearly see without too much scrolling how many others have had experiences closely resembling mine, so, I don’t believe my feedback will be “confusing” to anyone. In terms of making it up to me, I don’t make reviews to get free stuff, I do so to assist fellow community members, so all good there. And finally to address your suggestion that I not return to Incline, I thought my review would have made it clear I’ve decided not to! Take care and good luck with your business. Hopefully you will choose to use reviews like mine to improve the...

I can't stress enough, how great everything is here. We ordered back-to-back days from here, for good reason. First day, my fiance got one of their breakfast bowls and it was insane how good it was, so much so that she (who is very picky for breakfast) said she'd eat that every day. The next day, I ordered a breakfast bowl and a breakfast sandwich and was blown away with how delicious the food is.

The service is impeccable as well. I ordered a chai tea latte (hot) for the first order and they sent an iced, I wasn't upset, it was still good, just would've preferred hot. The second day when I ordered, I just added a note to please ensure it was a hot one as i got an iced one in place the day before, again I wasn't mad, just wanted to make sure I got a hot one this time. They sent a cookie with my order to apologize for the mix-up. I was blown away as I wasn't expecting it, and felt bad that they sent it but after I ate the cookie and saw how delicious that was too, I didn't feel as bad lol but anyways, this place is our new go to for coffee and great food. The prices on the food are fantastic for the quality as well. New hidden gem in Hamilton. Would give more than 5 stars across the...

*Bumped up my rating due to owner's response re: us likely getting the wrong menu item. Makes sense!

Original review: Decided to check this place out to get out of our coffee rut. The coffees were great. However, my bf opted for the "traditional breakfast," listed on the menu as what you'd expect: bacon, eggs, hashbrowns. What he got: tater tots, eggs, and bacon pieces -- mixed together!? -- with cheddar cheese and swimming in ranch dressing. Not at all what the menu describes. It really bummed me out because he's really grossed out by any dairy and so was only able to eat a bite or 2. Also wouldn't let me take a picture because he was so mortified. I hope the owners change the menu so it says "A take on the traditional breakfast" and actually say what's in it. Also the only item listed as vegan wasn't actually...