Common Ground Cafe Cooperative — Restaurant in Baltimore

I would really like to give this place 5 stars but unfortunately I can't. I like their pastries and iced masala chai tea, but I don't think I'll be able to frequent this place as its just not convenient time-wise. Today, I ordered a GF chocolate muffin. That's it! No drink, no specialized food order. I ordered online and the app said the wait time would be around 40 minutes. Ok. I arrived. It was rather busy, but it didn't look they were short staffed. They had 3 people making foood orders (2 of which were standing around and talking), 2 on drinks, and 1 on register. There was also 1 person in the back. When I arrived there was already a woman waiting for an online order. I saw people come in, order, and get their order fulfilled before myself or the other woman that was waiting. This happened several times. I couldn't wait any longer because I had to be across town for an appointment. I didn't realize it would take close to an hour for a muffin to be placed in a bag and handed to me. I asked for a refund which took another 10 minutes because no one knew how to issue a refund (hopefully my money goes back on my card). This isn't the first time I've had to wait an additional 20-30 minutes after the specified pick up time for an online order. It's pretty ridiculous to expect customers to wait that long for such a simple order, especially when they ordered in advance and especially when customers who are walking in and ordering are getting their orders first. I thought the point of online ordering was for it to be more convenient and to avoid in-store waiting? I'm writing this so there can be better management of online orders. Btw, the lady the was waiting for her online order when I first arrived was still waiting when...

Common Ground has quickly become a part of my weekly routine. I started coming regularly because they have the best Iced Mocha of any nearby coffee spot IMO and I kept coming because of the atmosphere and all of the lovely baristas. It has a cool, indie, co-op type of vibe without coming off too pretentious or overdone. They have started recognizing me when I come in, usually I have a lot of social anxiety in "transactionary" places like shops or coffee shops, but they are super sweet so it helps. I don't know what their wages are or anything, so I hope they're being well compensated & they absolutely deserve it, my coffee is always great and correct even when they are serving a line out the door, and they are very attentive when they see you come in, they approach you instead of having you approach them (see: social anxiety above, I don't want to bother in the middle of a task or seem arrogant/pushy so it can be hard for me to reach out to service workers when they appear busy) Anyway, that's a long ramble, but I adore Common Ground and its baristas, if you're local you won't regret it and if you're visiting Baltimore it's a MUST hit, way better than anything at the...

The new location is so much bigger, and even includes outside seating! (Only one toilet, just heads up.) Prices are now listed on screens (except for pastries in the cases, from what I could see?), and everything is very sleek.

For me, I did find myself missing the feel of the old location, and not even the one just before they moved, because even that was cleaned up. Years and years ago, it used to feel much more "artsy" and laid-back, with stickers and pictures taped up near the register, and a cozy feeling. That had already been changed before the move, and the new location is very clean feeling (bright lights with lots of straight lines, and raised letters for an indoor sign).

It does get a lot of sunlight, which was really nice, candles for sale, and a community board absolutely covered in flyers and business cards. There were a lot of people working on their laptops on a Wednesday mid-morning. There's art, hung gallery style, and the opportunity to have yours shown.

It was good to stop by after so long, and i understand why they needed to move to a bigger building, but I miss the cozy, less "clean" feeling of...