Pavement Coffeehouse - Fenway — Restaurant in Boston

Yesterday, I told a friend how the #TheFix breakfast sandwich at #PavementCoffeehouse #Fenway is my favorite sandwich. I order it all the time.

This morning, I decided to take a detour in my commute and brave the extremely frigid winter weather to pavementcoffeehouse.com to purchase 2 #TheFix breakfast sandwiches.

My mouth was salivating as I remembered how delicious the smoked gouda with the pepper jam were together!

As I stood at the cash register, waiting to place my orders, two male staff were chatting for a while before one male came and took my order.

The fact that the two guys were more interested in each other than in assisting me was the first signal to me that I should not order anything and leave pavement.

However, I ordered 2 The Fix because I was excited to share one sandwich for my friend to enjoy.

Moments passed while I was waiting for my order to get fulfilled.

A woman who acted like the manager in charge shouted to customers in the coffeehouse, "Sam! Sam!"

She looked around the coffeehouse and at me, shrugged her shoulders, crinkled her face, and walked away.

Unbeknownst to me, this was the second signal to me that I should not order anything and leave #pavementcoffeehouse.

The woman who acted like the manager in charge returned to the counter a few minutes later and called out, "Sam! Sam!"

At this point, I am getting restless because now this is taking a longer time than expected, and I did not want to be late to work.

This was the third signal to me that I should cancel my order and leave #pavementcoffeehouse.

The woman looked at me and asked, Did you order The Fixes?"

I responded that I did, but my name is not Sam.

The woman who acted like she was the manager in charge informed me that a staff member forgot to order smoked gouda; therefore, pavement does not have smoked gouda for my sandwiches and if I would want cheddar or American cheese instead.

'Definitely NOT!' was my initial response; however, I really wanted my friend to try The Fix so reluctantly I chose cheddar cheese.

I expressed to the woman who was acting like the manager in charge about my hesitation to have any other cheese on The Fix besides smoked gouda.

She reassured me that other patrons substitute cheddar cheese on their Fix sandwich.

I was not interested because cheddar cheese on The Fix did not seem as delicious as smoked gouda.

This was the fourth signal to me that I should cancel my order and leave #pavementcoffeehouse.

But I really wanted my friend to experience #TheFix; therefore, I agreed to the cheddar cheese.

I asked the woman who acted like the manager in charge if she would compensate me for pavement staff failing to have smoked gouda.

Instantaneously, she replied, "That’s all my manager will allow me to do." Oh, now the woman who acted like she was the manager in charge all this time suddenly is not?!

#PavementCoffeehouse has #atrocious customer service.

This was the fifth signal to me that I should cancel my order and leave #pavementcoffeehouse.

It was unwise of me not to cancel my order and leave pavement because #TheFix with cheddar cheese on it was #vomit -worthy!

Perhaps #rats would enjoy it.

Be...

ORDER THE MACHIATTO IT'S A MUST. The "Sweetest" experience I ever had. Read on to see why.

I politely asked if I could order a Macchiato (I didn't see it on the menu board). The girl at the counter didn't know, so she checked with the Barista. The Barista confirmed it's not on the menu, but they could do it for me. Great. In the checkout screen, I saw that the girl posted it as "espresso macchiato," so they must have had it in their system. I thanked them after I gave a 20% tip on the order.

While waiting, both baristas were looking at me, like I did something wrong and discussed something. Later, they called my name; I got my coffee and walked out to drink it. It turned out that they deliberately added a ton of cinnamon syrup in it, just for revenge (?) I don't know. The funny thing is -- I LOVED IT! I don't have my coffee with sugar, but I love sweets with cinnamon.

What I didn't really like was the deliberate and conscious bad customer service from the two baristas. I was in Hospitality for many years, both in F&B and Front Office. I understand that customer service in bars/restaurants is challenging at times. However, I always felt rewarded when -even in tough situations- I provided exemplary customer service to the customers. If you aren't doing it for this, don't do it. Do something else.

Pavement is a good coffeehouse; most of the time, they prepare a decent cup of coffee. Today was a sweet coffee but a bitter customer service experience. I am glad the Baristas had a good laugh with me; that may brighten their hard day at work. I don't usually write reviews, but If I were the owner, I'd be interested in getting that feedback - even if it's not (who knows?) a common theme but an one-time situation. (this happened 12/8/23...

Not my first time, here - but this experience (11/19/24) was very offputting, embarrassed me, and left my friends questioning my judgment. I came in with two of my friends off the commuter rail, with whom I had been extolling the quality of Pavement's bagels. We placed our order together (I paid), and 12 minutes later, we left with our food on our separate ways.

By the time they followed up with me about their experience with the food, I really regretted it.

We were never asked if we would like our bagels toasted, and indeed they were not.

We had asked for veggie cream cheese on our bagels, only one was given veggie cream cheese. We were not informed of a lack of product. So, where do I go from here?

Do I treat your staff like untrustworthy children, and second guess them by inspecting my order before I leave, because they can't be trusted? Or, do I never come here again? What other options remain?

I had meant to bring some kindness and pleasure into my dear friends' day, and you let me down, causing me to let them down. I won't forget that.

You've lost my trust.

To the prospective customer who has not been here, let my experience be a lesson - when this location performs, it does good yeoman service, but when it doesn't, let's hope it is only you and not your friends who are disappointed. To the staff and management, this is not a public school cafeteria. Act like it.

I hope in the future to strike this review down, replacing it with a more positive one, but I won't perjure myself the way you did my friends' orders. You'll have to earn it, and that won't be forthcoming...