Common Sense Coffee House & Bar — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

Arrived on a Saturday afternoon at 1pm for Lunch sat at an empty table right outside the door. Went inside to order food and drink was told to go away for 15 minutes as too busy dealing with existing orders. That could deal with taking any more orders at that point. As directed I sat down to wait and then became aware after the 15 minutes were other people who had just arrived were entering and being served drinks as they were coming back out with them. Went in to place order. Manager had an iPad he was taking drinks order for the staff to make up even though the staff were pointing out it that it would be quicker to just serve customers directly and customers could take them to their tables themselves allowing staff to concentrate on other parts of service. Then as I was paying for the drinks I was asked if I wanted to tip for service but as the service was practically non existent I said no, because after all I could do that later after I had had food order in. I asked for a menu at this point and went and sat back down without my drinks (which were just bottles of ginger beer not coffee). I also suggested that I should be prompted to place an order at the counter as there was no table service. At 2pm manager came out and said they were now ready to take a food order but not everything on the menu was available as they had limited it. During that hour period I only saw two tables getting food served to them. The rest were all just getting drinks. So I said no thanks we have decided to go and try elsewhere. Quite obviously manager had too many tables on the terrace and was encouraging people who couldn’t find seats to sit on the public benches. He was not able to cope or manage his staff effectively enough to serve anything but drinks at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon with three members of staff and that was not including him. I won’t...

I ordered a tostie and a Macha Latte, and the food arrived so late. Macha was more like a hot cup of milk, and the tostie was so dry that I felt like I was having big croutons. I initially sat outside with my newborn baby in the buggy, and I was asked to go inside and place my order. When I was inside, the staff pointed out a table and said they offer table service. I tried to sit down on the table she pointed out, but it was already taken by another customer. I finally managed to find a seat and enough space to leave the buggy, and I waited almost 10 minutes before I could get someone's attention to ask for a menu. No one came to take my order, and 15 minutes later, I decided to walk up to the bar and ask if they actually offer table service. Without any apology, they said, Order at the bar. By this time, at least 10 customers were served who came after me. I received the food after 25 minutes, and it was terrible. Staff were so unorganised and unapologetic. I noticed that they also added a 10% service charge for the horrible service I received.

Order date and time :...

A delightful little cafe in the heart of the city. I’ve been twice now and I have no doubt I’ll be back again. A friend and I were enjoying the sun at Union Terrace Gardens when we both fancied a coffee. We went to Common Sense, but just they had closed. Very kindly, they still served us coffees to takeaway, which we very much appreciated and enjoyed. I went back on my lunch break a couple of weeks later and got a double espresso, curried vegetable soup and cheese scone to takeaway. The food was delicious and after having worked as a barista for a few years, I consider myself to be a little bit of a coffee snob. I was far from disappointed with the espresso. Perfectly balanced and brewed. £10.25 in total and of course more expensive than a now almost £4 meal deal in the supermarkets, but a wonderful treat. Although small, there is still a good amount of seating considering and I’ve found the service to be second to none. An absolute gem to have here...