This is a reminder that the food can be excellent, but service is king. I came here with my mother…read morefor Mother's Day brunch this past Sunday at 11am. It was literally the only place I could find on short notice with reservation slots available, which maybe should have been a sign (and certainly a reminder to me to be much more proactive about this sort of thing in the future). This was sort of a meet in the middle for us; she's in Redding, CT, and I'm in North Jersey. Common Grounds is located at the end of a strip mall, though arguably a higher-end one. The parking lot was VERY busy and while spots were relatively easy to find, I had to settle for one further away close to the bowling alley next door. All good though in that regard.
The first hint that this was going to go downhill happened almost immediately. Despite having made the reservation for 11, our designated table wasn't available for seating because the prior party was "lingering." There wasn't a time limit on the dining parties so it seemed like Common Grounds just made assumptions on when people would leave, which is probably not an exact science on the best of days, and certainly not on a day where you might have a family reunion element. We were offered a large high-top table to sit at instead, which my mother isn't comfortable with, and after a few minutes of sitting there, were instructed to take a "normal" table by the window. I will give props for the hostess reading the room in that regard and doing what she could to give us an optimal seating situation - the wait and miscalculation wasn't her fault. She was also very nice to my mother, which for sure counts for something.
It took probably 15 minutes for our waitress to come by and ask for drink/food orders, which isn't great. I'd decided on the Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes from the Specials menu, only to be told by the waitress that they were no longer available. I then had to quickly pivot to the French Toast from the regular menu, but lack of availability is something that should have been mentioned when we received the menus, not while we're ordering. And it wasn't even noon - a little concerning.
I don't know if it was just a bad day behind the scenes, but it took over 45 minutes to get two pretty simple brunch entrees to us, and almost as much time to get our beverages. That would at least be understandable if the place was packed and everyone was busy, but that wasn't the case - a lot of tables emptied up within 20 minutes of our arrival, and in a pretty troubling optic, most of the front-end waitstaff was literally just standing around by the coffee station not doing anything. That's bad management, and could have helped alleviate whatever was happening in the kitchen. You have five minutes to kill? Okay, stop by your tables and apologize for the delay. Help bus and turn over the recently vacated tables. Maybe refill my water glass, which was empty for most of my meal. There's just no excuse for that.
And it's a shame because my Cardamon Rose Latte was excellent, and the French Toast was very good as well. French Toast isn't one of my go-to's, but when I have it I prefer it to be softer and not as cumbersome, and this fit the bill. But because the wait time and overall service was mediocre at best, I didn't even want to go near a dessert menu or consider having a second latte - that probably would have tacked on another hour. So by virtue of not being attentive and efficient, Common Grounds left money on the table. A real shame; and frankly, surprising to me given that this has to be a very notable day on the calendar for brunch places. I'd ensure everything was well-oiled and ready to go, and it's clear it just wasn't.
I overheard quite a few people outside singing the praises of this place, and I saw enough to probably understand why. But we weren't the beneficiary of most of those qualities.
