Pavement Coffeehouse - BU — Restaurant in Brookline

Where did it all go wrong?

Before Pavement, there was Expresso Royal; it was the beacon of hipsterness near BU, but they served the best egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich this side of the Mississippi. I went back this week to find a newly renovated cafe now called Pavement. Its not just the interior that has changed.

The service is terrible. I ordered two egg sandwiches to find that 'Sausage' is now banned from the coffee shop...even though its on the menu. Its took us 45 minutes to get our sandwiches. When we got them they had bacon in them even though we ordered ham...when we talked to the staff we got a nasty look and even got attitude. It took another 10 minutes to get sandwiches..When we got them back they took the bacon off and replaced it with ham...I could still see chunks of bacon on the sandwiches. Isn't this a health code violation, aren't they supposed to make new sandwiches?

Terrible experience, terrible food, and...

I love the iced mocha and iced matcha latte in this place. I used to love their almond croissant pre-covid but haven’t seen it recently. The vibe for sitting is really great if the cafe is not fully packed. The bagels are very delicious while on the pricy end. I like to have avocado and sprout with cream cheese everything bagel. I also like their lox bagel. It is my favorite for takeout since it is usually very packed though. The cafe used to have a point system that used to get connected to your phone number. Unfortunately that is gone now. It would be great if the owner could bring back the point system just like JAHO coffee shop does. GRS school often also gives graduate students coupon for getting free coffee from this...

The menu said 5.25 for a latte, they only have one size and I think it’s a 12oz. I added maple syrup and was surprised to find it rang up to $7 with tax and the added flavor, which is far more for the same flavored latte I get at Saxbys or Tatte for a small. For that price, the coffee better either be really good, or a small local buisness with people who are at least passionate about quality of the coffee. Neither was true and my latte did have foam (which is more than you can say for Starbucks), but the actual espresso tasted stale and bland with not much maple flavor. Service was typical, nothing crazy there. The place also smelled kinda funny - probably because of the construction but still...