Old City Coffee — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I don't like writing negative reviews, especially of independent businesses trying to compete against corporate giants. That said, a negative experience at Old City Coffee in the Reading Terminal Market has compelled me to write such a review.

I've been a heavy consumer of coffee for decades, and in all my experiences, I've never even close been treated as rudely as I was by and Old City Coffee barista. I have hearing loss. It was crowded in the market and I was having trouble hearing what the barista was asking of me. After the second time of asking him to repeat himself, his answer was in a tone implying that I was the world's least intelligent person who was wasting his time, and said this at a volume that was too loud for even my compromised hearing. All this said in front of my family; not only was this embarrassing, but it reminded me too of something that's been quite worrisome, since my livelihood depends upon hearing what people say.

I wrote an email to their website, and received a very nice response from someone who I later found out was the founder of the company. I greatly appreciate this, however it's simply not enough to repair the extremely bad feelings I have consequent to this experience.

In the same position, I would've offered to send someone a bag of complimentary coffee, or a mug, or something. Perhaps this is beyond their capabilities due to the expense, but if this is the case, then OCC certainly can't afford to employ such rude baristas.

And in all honesty, $16.00 for a pound of coffee is even more steep than what the corporate behemoth Starbucks charges for an equivalent bag of beans. If you're more expensive than Starbucks, you'd better provide an A+ cup of coffee and experience of the servers. Both were quite below this.

It's really too bad, because I used to look forward to Old City Coffee, and their caffeine molecule t-shirts is one of my favorites. Now, all I can think of is that barista talking to me as if I were mentally challenged - he sounded more like a middle school bully rather than someone there to provide a good experience.

So, while I appreciate at least the email of apologize, I'm still done with Old...

Horrible service. Bad attitude all around. Do not expect a smile. I was here at 2:45PM on August 3. Male and a female were working.

Coffee was not very good, but they were nice enough to switch my order. It still tasted like heavy robusto budget blends.

To clarify, this has nothing to do with them making sure we were being safe about covid guidelines. I appreciated their safety measures and candidness about restrictions. (You must wear a mask, cannot use the restroom, and only three are allowed in the store at a time.) My group was observing these and were completely comfortable with them.

I should also expand upon my harsh review. The iced coffee tastes like it is made from old batches of hot coffee which are just refrigerated. I ordered a cold brew to receive some of the aforementioned without a warning that it’s “iced coffee.”

To qualify, because I sound like a major “Karen,” I’ll admit the baristas were probably tired and sick of arguing with people all day about their new restrictions, but I felt the “get the heck out” vibe as soon as we entered, and that isn’t...

If you're visiting Philly and you're looking for a nice place to get a drink and a croissant, COME HERE. Whenever I see people going to a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts in Center City, I can never understand why. Why go somewhere you could have gone to at home when there are places like this? I've come here multiple times. The first time I saw this place, I was by myself and I was curious about the area. They have the most amazing iced coffee and earl gray. The most recent time I came here was for a meeting. It's the perfect place for any cafe need. The meeting went amazingly. There's not enough room for other people's chatter to overtake your conversation, but it doesn't really get quiet enough for your conversation to carry throughout the place. I absolutely...