Lit Espresso Bar

August 10th, 2014 - Third cafe visited was Lit Espresso Bar

810 College St.

M-F: 7a - 6p

Sa-Su: 8a - 6p

When visiting random cafes around a city, you need to keep in mind that there are a few factors that may alter your experience there:

• Day of the week and time of the day (is it a busy day, or is it near the end of the day when the coffee house staff are just waiting for everyone to leave so they can clean up shop and go home?)
• Staff working (is it the owner[s] working who are passionate about their business, or is it a member of the staff who is just there because it's a job close by with typical day-time hours? When they take your order, do they make you feel welcomed, or do they make you feel as though you are inconveniencing them by being there?)
• Location of the cafe (is it in a part of town where people are generally friendly, or is it a part of town where people keep to themselves and are "elitists". Are the customers cafe jockeys who simply come in to drink the cheapest item on the menu while using up some wifi for their contract business? Do you feel comfortable in this location of the city?)
• Quality of your beverage (if your drink order is simple, is it delicious or does the staff find a way to mess it up? Everyone makes mistakes - how does the staff treat you if you bring this to their attention?)

I keep these elements in mind as I'm immersing myself in a cafe experience. I would imaging that anyone who opens a cafe is relatively passionate about their business being top quality to the best of their ability. So when I have a bad (or, well, not so great...) experience, I feel at a loss for words. That is why this review has taken me so long to put together, when I should have finished it last week. 

Entering the cafe, it was quiet and there weren't many people there. I'm guessing this is because it was an hour or so before closing. 

Walking up to the counter, I wasn't greeted with a friendly "hello", or even the slightest of acknowledgement of an "oh, there's someone here..." 

I stood there and waited a minute or so as he wiped off the counter and then picked up his phone. (???) Eventually he put his phone down, and stood there waiting for me to order. He didn't ask "how can I help you?", "what can I get for you?", or anything. He just. Stood. There. Blankly. Staring. 

This is a huge downer for me when the staff is anti-social like this. There are so many jobs that a person can work where they don't have to deal face-to-face with customers. A cafe is NOT one of them. If you re-arrange the letters in the word "cafe", you get "face" - and that's what you have to do: FACE customers. So be friendly. Or, at least be somewhat welcoming of people who are there to purchase things. 

I ordered my drink, and the mr. ordered his. I went with my typical vanilla almond milk latte, and the mr. ordered a soy latte. We also ordered some treats; I got a chocolate chunk cookie (Bunners Bake Shop), and he got a chocolate banana bread. Both of these were delicious... 

My latte looked pretty enough, I always love latte art... However, the taste was up there in the top 3 worst lattes I've ever had. It tasted burnt (steaming almond milk is a sensitive art form...), and there was absolutely no vanilla flavour - which leads me to believe that he forgot to put any vanilla in my drink... 

The soy latte was delicious - smooth, creamy, frothy; but with no latte art. What a bizarre mix: one latte that looks pretty but tastes like a coffee-filled ash tray, and another latte that looks plain and boring but tastes amazing. Too bad they couldn't put the two elements together... 

Luckily, the mr. switched lattes with me so that I wouldn't feel so down about my drink (sweetheart!). 

I was considering going up to the counter to take my drink back, which is something I wouldn't usually do... But when I looked up there, he went from being on his phone to quickly walking to the back room - and then was nowhere to be seen for almost 10 minutes. I gave up, and just wrote off the experience. 

I enjoyed the general decor of the place, but to be very honest - none of this matters to me if the coffee I purchase makes me feel like I wasted $5. 

Needless to say, I will never be back to this place. There are so many more good cafe experiences in Toronto...
To keep with the format of other entries, here are some pictures:

random clock - but it doesn't work

view of the front of the cafe - I actually really like the look of this place

The mr's drink - tasted good

My latte - too bad it didn't taste as good as it looked!

Some product... 

Some baked goods

My favourite part - but the cafe doesn't bake this in-house - it's from Bunner's Bake Shop!

You can buy their mugs. How cute...

Seating area at the back and a projector screen

menu

more baked goods at the counter

Our treats together. Deliciousness. :)

They have Pig Iron coffee here - 

Bunner's :)