Aroma Espresso Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

Updated and revised to 5 stars (previous review below): After my initial review, the owner reached out to me - I was surprised and appreciative. I have been back several times since and have had only good experiences.

I'll start off by saying I love Aroma and their healthy food offerings, I visit various location frequently - usually for breakfast. But I came in here on Saturday night with a friend. First, a large group of people had taken ALL the freestanding tables available in the restaurant and rearranged them in a large conference room set up, cutting off access to half the restaurant. I just personally think staff shouldn't allow this. We came in just before 8:40 and waited in line until it was turn to order, the cashier was busy, and at 8:50 we were told that the kitchen closes at 9 so we couldn't order food. Had we not had to wait, I'm sure 20 minutes is sufficient time to make a sandwich. Also, they are open until 10 so I'm not sure what the purpose of closing the kitchen at 9 is. For me, this is just an issue with the current staff than the chain itself. Will stick to...

Lovely atmosphere run by lovely staff. While I find all Aroma chains to be pricey, that is the cost of doing business and its how they are able to have such nice menu items, good service, and a great treat-yourself, almost luxurious experience. This feels like a local spot with regulars, staff and other customers seemed to know each other. The store was spotless and beautiful. It has a large array of seating at the front and back of the store, as well as patio seating when the weather is warm. The staff member was nice enough to indulge my indecisiveness and was able to recommend a latter flavour for me and made an extra effort to ask what type of flavours I like. That is above and beyond service. As a retail worker myself, I know how annoying that can be. Thank you again to that person! There is no parking lot, but I was lucky enough to grab a 1hr spot on the residential side street right there. I'm not sure how or where morning commuters would park for a quick pick up in the morning. This seems like a lovely place. Did I say it seems lovely yet?...

The service at this location has gone downhill. Just had the worst experience. The cashier was busy cuddling with her boyfriend instead of working. Thankfully she took my order but clearly something did not get sent to the kitchen properly. After 15 minutes of waiting and checking in with other staff they seemed to be confused about my simple salad order. They could not find a record of it. They checked with the kitchen and I could tell they started scrambling to make it. The cashier overheard me ask why it was taking so long. She rushes over to say because there were roasted veggies it would take longer. I get that but I get this salad all the time and it never takes this long. Plus, I was the only customer. If it was busy I could understand. No apologies, just excuses. Of course as soon as they checked my salad suddenly appeared. When I got home I noticed after waiting all that time there were things missing from the salad. The owner needs to take a look at how they handle customer service. A simple apology would have been enough and...