Forge Baking Co & Ice Cream Bar — Restaurant in Somerville

I went to Forge to enjoy the fine ingredients they cook with, but I will not be going back because of the terrible kitchen to customer delivery system. The staff to customer delivery system problem also rolls up into the greater problem of communication.

After putting your order through at the register at Forge, you have to wait to hear your name announced at one of three stations 1) Coffee 2) Baked goods 3) Prepared foods. Your food will not be marked with your name, so you have the really stick around and be attentive (This is not friendly to families with small children). So, the food is announced as it is ready individually, not bundled together then announced. A sad example of the outcome of this system is a women before me that made a large order and ended up halfway down the block before realizing she didn't have all her items.

Normal cook lines have food tickets and a staff member ensuring only complete orders go out to the customer. At Forge that responsibility lies with the customer. I interpret this to be hubris on the part of the company for focusing too intensely on the food side of the equation and not really finding value with trying provide a comfortable/predictable service experience. Food alone won't pay the bills, your customers will. So, Forge, please don't be too proud to adapt and overhaul your delivery method. Inability to adapt will lead your company the way of the Vikings and Mayans, meaning you'll end up going out of business and your building space will become just another vacant space.

Last thing, the menu is written in chalk on a board, which is cute, but didn't inform me that my quinoia bowl would contain half piping hot ingredients and the other half cold ingredients all in the same bowl. My mouth wasn't having that mess. So, I brought it to your staff to warm it up thru and thru. But, your staff didn't know how to handle my request. So, they didn't focus on my issue but more or less brushed me aside to continue focusing on making more food for others. That tunnel vision focus on making food and disregarding the need to provide a coherent customer service experience was disappointing.

In the end, I abandoned the fine food (quinoa bowl) that I was waiting to have heated up instead to go to a place that could be better relied upon for a dependable experience. I will always prefer to throw away $5-$10 of food than have to work so closely with your staff to get what I need...

I've been here several times and enjoyed it. Like most meals around, it's overpriced but usually tasty. I had an unpleasant meal just now and will skip it from now on. I can't stand it when places don't list All of the ingredients. In the age of allergies, make an effort even if it's all mixed in! Especially when something is suddenly a main component- how would I know that "Farro and Kale" is actually 1/3 black beans? I'd never guess that "mashed chickpea" is also artichoke, garlic, edamame and Spicy something, sweet potatoes maybe, I couldn't identify everything but that's a lot of random stuff and SPICY. At the end of my $21 meal (because I added chicken, the only unsalted boiled tastelessness to cool my mouth down), which I picked the beans out of, I took a picture. I was only going to send the bean pile to a friend when a fruit fly landed. I took a video because it was funny, but then Another landed in my drink. Time to gtfo, byyye 🤢 Too bad, it's nice to have a small free parking lot out front. Sad I never tried the ice cream because they close...

All I want is 3 plain bagels, not sliced or toasted and a large cream cheese and somehow they make this an unpleasant experience. I place the order at the kiosk, they refuse to take your order or accept cash (illegal). I order at the Kiosk . There are 2 people working and one standing in the front not taking peoples orders, otherwise the place is empty. When my order is complete the person at the front puts my cream cheese in a bag and then continues to just stand there doing nothing. When I inquire about my bagels I am told it will be a few minutes??! I inform them all I want is three uncut bagels put in a bag, I am told I will have to wait a few minutes, the bagels are 20 feet away and this person is just standing there. When I insist they walk 20 feet and put the bagels in a bag so I can be on my way they walk over and as they grab a bagel they are stopped by the person at the espresso machine and told to make me wait!!!! When I finally loose it the owner comes over and doesn't ask what the problem is and try to resolve it but tells...