full of beans Coffee House & Roastery — Restaurant in Toronto

I never leave negative Google Reviews. I've worked in service my whole life and I'd never think of punishing a business or its employees because I like to give people benefit of the doubt. My boyfriend and I's experience here was terrible, and judging by some of the other reviews, we're not the only ones. I do not recommend this cafe, especially if you're a person of colour.

First, the place was completely empty. My boyfriend and I got two drinks and a pastry. We switched from the couch to a table an hour later because I wanted to study. The man who works there asked us to buy more food if we wanted to stay. I found that really weird because the place was completely empty, but we didn't protest at all and bought two more pastries and sat down to work. The establishment has "please be mindful of your time" signs above the tables. I did not think this applied when the cafe is completely empty and we're the only ones giving any business at all. The signs were extremely vague - nowhere does it say, please don't study here, or stay here longer than 30 minutes if we're busy, or anything like that.

Instead of politely explaining any outrageous policy they had, the guy who works there gave us extremely aggressive behaviour and made us really uncomfortable to try to get us to leave. When my boyfriend went to ask for water, the guy asked him "are you guys planning to stay all night?" I don't expect service staff to always be kind to me. I have worked in service. People have bad days.

But with an empty cafe, this comment was completely unwarranted, especially as we continued to order items while we stayed. The guy said they're trying to create a "homey atmosphere" - the only atmosphere I experienced was one where he tried to push us out.

I honestly think he's racist because the only other people who entered this cafe were older white people, who he treated extremely well. My boyfriend and I were the only people of colour in the entire establishment for 3 hours.

If you're a person of colour, avoid this place. If you're looking for a nice spacious cafe to spend some time in reading or catching up on emails, definitely avoid this place. The teas were overpriced ($5) and it makes sense - they hardly get any business because of their terrible attitude! They have to...

If you’re wondering why this is the only cafe in the neighbourhood where there is still room to sit down in, it is because it is unpleasant! And because the owner doesn’t really want you to be there?

I am a freelancer and I have done work on my laptop a handful of times over the past year without incident, and visited other times outside of that with friends or to get a coffee to go. This time, after a few hours of working quietly in the cafe, my friend and I were very rudely confronted about staying too long and not buying enough. We frequently patronize local coffee shops to co-work and make it a point to never overstay our welcome by monopolizing seats and preventing table turnover, however the cafe was almost entirely empty all morning. I had mentioned when I got my coffee I would get a muffin in a bit but I wasn’t hungry yet. If I had known I needed to order that muffin sooner or that there was a minimum spend I needed to meet to avoid being yelled at, I would have - because again, it was very unpleasant! She was also mad because my friend had a chocolate bar in her bag and we split it. Outside food, mea culpa. I was still gonna eat one of those dry-a** savoury muffins (I’ve had them before), too bad I didn’t get a chance today.

Now that I have seen in other reviews that this bad practice is standard for the owner, it’s unclear to me why she wouldn’t just make her expectations about what length of time she feels is appropriate to spend in her (empty) cafe clear from the get go, perhaps with a posted sign / communicating them directly upon ordering, or why she hasn’t by now considered it might make better business sense to start the conversation with “We ask our patrons to make a purchase after hour #X to support us” rather than approaching out of nowhere with a very confrontational “okay it’s time for you to buy something now or leave.” It was extremely jarring! Also, the coffee is...not...

I never leave reviews like this, but I had a rude and awkward experience with the guy working here. I sat at a four top that had a sign saying to be mindful of "time". I didn't want to take up space, so I asked if it was still okay to sit there, and if I should get up a certain point (I'd be happy to). He told me "no you're good" and shrugged it off like it was nothing. Not even 30 minutes later he approaches me rudely and says I need to get up because I'm taking up space at a four top. He looked annoyed and his tone was snarky. I was super confused because no one had come in and needed sit there, and he literally told me right before that I was fine. The sign also says to be mindful of TIME, not volume of customers. If he had told me to move when I asked, I would have. Felt like he was blaming me for sitting there…There’s a way to ask without making your customers feel horrible. Two other customers even asked me if I was okay after he stomped away, cause he was so snarky about it for no reason. I specifically commuted to this coffee shop to work there because I liked the ambiance and coffee. Not anymore. Not cool. Do better!

**edit -- I also told him I was going to get another coffee and keep the service going. Nope - he...