Scarborough Grounds Cafe — Restaurant in Scarborough

I’ve been to this coffee shop more times than I can count, and every time I end up leaving thinking ”why did I give this place another chance?”. First, the bagels are clearly plane-jane Hannaford bagels. Maybe it’s just me, but when I get breakfast out, I expect homemade, quality bagels/bread… otherwise, I could easily make this same breakfast at home for a fraction of the price. But honestly, that isn’t even my biggest qualm with this place. It’s the baristas. The customer service is just downright bad. Every time, without fail, I stand there at the counter waiting for the baristas to finish their personal conversations… which sometimes lasts literal minutes while a line of customers form waiting to place their order. I get it, you should have fun at work. But at the very least ACKNOWLEDGE the customer. If you’re busy, it’s as easy as saying “hey there, I’ll be with you in just a moment”. Instead, customer stand there feeling invisible while the baristas talk about the latest gossip. I have literally stood in front of the counter for so long that I’ve turned around and left because it wasn’t worth my time to wait. Have fun at work… but it shouldn’t have to be said that you’re there to work, which means the customer comes before your personal work relationships. I sincerely hope you take this feedback and improve, because I know I’m not the only one who notices this, considering every time I come here I exchange eye rolls with other customers as we all impatiently wait...

A great place to come for:

1. Well-priced coffee.
2. Relaxed vibes.
3. A seemingly overstaffed — yet consistently overwhelmed — crew of five or six young baristas outfitted in curiously oversized headsets.
4. A series of surly responses from the lead barista to the, apparently, obnoxious queries: "Do you have decaf today?" and "Can I please order a medium decaf?"
5. The nagging feeling that the only explanation for points 1, 3 and 4 (above) is that the headsets are possibly being used for multitasking/side-hustling as an outsourced call center support team and/or multi-level marketing cold call boiler room.
6. A suddenly manifested case of decaf-specific ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).
7. A lovely retro style map of Maine on the back wall.

UPDATE: Came back a little later to see if I could get some more context on what curious machinations were driving points 3-5 (above) and enjoy looking at the lovely map again. As it was a quieter moment inside, I was able to enjoy an extended session of "hot tea" served by the lead barista about all of the day's most annoying customers, as well as a genuinely Gossip Girl worthy tirade about why a certain boy would not be getting a call anytime soon from someone because they were not living up to certain expectations? Not sure exactly as I was getting a little uncomfortable listening (from the other side of the room with...

EDIT- The owner, Pamela addressed the situation quickly and respectfully. She immediately spoke to the team members and gave me more insight on the situation. If you have an unusual bad experience, I recommend talking to Pamela. She will make it right.

I used to love this place. I would get a dark hot chocolate almost everyday at lunch time with a sandwich. Today, I came before work and ordered a dark hot chocolate and red storm sandwich. I tried a sip while they were finishing up my sandwich and I barely tasted chocolate. I’m not sure if it wasn’t mixed completely or what but I mentioned to the window lady that my hot chocolate wasn’t really chocolatey at all so she took the drink and handed it off to a different girl. This different girl starts pumping away at the chocolate giving me a dirty look, then walks to the window and hands me my drink saying “it has SIX pumps of chocolate in it” 😬. A very fake smile and clearly didn’t care about customer satisfaction. I would have been fine with one extra pump but instead she clearly wanted to ruin the drink. It’s now too sweet to drink. Terrible customer service. She worked barista at 8:30am today and has thick lash extensions. Hope she finds a...