Uncommon Grounds — Restaurant in Watertown

I enjoyed my food but I wouldn't come here just for their coffee. Despite being called Uncommon Grounds, I was surprised to what appears to be more of a breakfast and lunch place rather than a cafe.

Ordering: Some specials are displayed on the walls, but most of the food and drinks are on two double-sided menus you can take at the front. You order in line and pay before you get your food. Tips are accepted in cash only. If you're dining in, using indoor or outdoor seating, you get a number to put in your table so they can bring you your food.

Service: With the place at about half capacity, I got my coffee in a couple of minutes and the food arrived within a few minutes after. Water and glasses for water are self-serve by the front counter.

When done with your meal, you bus your own table by throwing away trash and putting away plates, silverware, cups, etc into bins for dirty dishes. This also meant the table I sat down at wasn't as clean as it could have been. There was still some trash and crumbs left behind.

Food: The salmon eggs benedict was good. The smoked salmon was tasty and I got a fair amount. The poached eggs were cooked perfectly and runny once broken.  One of the English muffins was a bit overcooked on the bottom, making it very hard to cut a portion of it.

Coffee: The hot mocha latte with whole milk was good too. It was definitely a sweet coffee, not too much, but the chocolate did seem to overpower it a bit too much or maybe the coffee itself wasn't very flavorful. It wasn't my favorite mocha latte, but it wasn't bad. They do offer many different uncommon flavor options, which may be interesting to try.

Parking: The restaurant has its own private parking lot for customers right outside. There was also ample street parking within the area within a couple of blocks.

Seating: It is pretty tight for some seats inside. There are 4 extremely tight 2 person tables with less than a foot to squeeze by to get to the bench seats. There are also some 4-6 people tables inside. There is also a lot more spacious outdoor seating with umbrellas to provide some shade from the sun.

Restroom: There is one single-occupancy...

Owner will ask you - CAN YOU READ?! If he thinks you’re using the parking lot without dining at this restaurant. It’s not “simply ask” but implying an Asian face just “cannot read”. He would not apologize unless by his saying “whatever, I have plenty of customers” means an apology in his world.

It’s a neighborhood breakfast joint - standard breakfast sandwich, pancakes, etc. Definitely very popular in the summer with a huge outdoor seating area. It’s unfortunate that the owner is very rude - yelling towards customers who parked in the parking lot and went off to get a bread at the next door store after dining in his store. There’re many ways to let your customers know that you don’t want them to still park there after dining, he chose the most aggressive and the rudest way - Can you read? This sign said this parking is only for my customers. Even after explaining that we were dining there 10 mins ago with a full family of 3 breakfast of $60. He kept yelling and said you can only park here if you get a coffee or dine, but if you’re not a customer, you cannot park here. It’s shocking to see this is how a weekly patron would be treated at a neighborhood place. And the way he talked back to us is that we are just freeloaders and we are lying to him. Over years of eating out in all sorts of restaurants, it’s unbelievable how I was treated by an owner. I have to take back my 5 stars and recommendation I used to post on Google Reviews for this place. This interaction definitely ruined our morning and we are not going back. I suggest you don’t go if you care about food and also about being treated fairly - I also don’t think the owner would really care about it (after all, it’s a very busy breakfast joint). They don’t need...

One of the most disrespectful, humiliating experiences I’ve ever had at a business. I’ve been to this restaurant multiple times in the past, and while the food was okay, nothing could make up for the absolutely disgusting behavior I witnessed from the owner during my most recent visit.

I had parked in the lot and noticed an elderly man down the street struggling with his car. I went to help him—something any decent human being would do. Out of nowhere, someone sitting outside decided to get the owner, who stormed out and immediately started screaming at me and my family. His tone was aggressive, his language was rude, and his behavior was completely unhinged. He shouted discriminatory remarks without even trying to understand the situation.

Then came the threats—he said he would chain off the exit of the parking lot to trap us in and have our car towed. Let me be clear: I was doing absolutely nothing wrong. I wasn’t blocking anything, causing a problem, or even interacting with anyone other than the man I was trying to help. But the owner didn’t care. He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t try to talk like an adult. He just came out swinging, looking for a fight.

I left feeling shocked, disrespected, and disgusted. No one deserves to be treated this way—especially not by a business that claims to care about its customers. I will never step foot in this place again, and I strongly urge others to think twice before supporting this kind of toxic, abusive behavior....