I love spending time in Berkeley. There's always a new place to discover, and this trip wasn't any different. I discovered Bench almost by accident, and it turned out to be a great discovery. It's a quaint, super tiny coffee shop, that absolutely should be on your list of places to try. I stopped in fairly early in the morning, and all of their savory pastries were already gone. I don't know if they just don't carry a lot because of the small space, or if there's some mad rush at the crack dawn of the morning. I wanted to try their banana cream iced coffee, but got hung up on ordering a mocha instead. I really wish that I ordered the banana cream and absolutely will be going back to try it. Since all of the savory items were already gone, I opted for a chive and cheese scone. Seating is incredibly limited as in this is a place you go to get things to go, more so than sitting and enjoying. I absolutely would not consider this to be a work friendly place. Since the vibe was to go, I still had to hang around so to speak and wait. The coffee space is fairly quiet, with their people that are working upstairs. I don't know if it's an owner's/manager or what but they were super loud which overshadowed the quiet atmosphere of the shop. You order at the counter and then you pretty much hang out. It appears that some people knew to order ahead because they seemed to come and go fairly quickly. When my coffee was done, no one called out my name, no one said anything. I guess I was just supposed to know that it was sitting at the counter, waiting for me. They absolutely get credit for using really good coffee. This is exponentially better than my usual place. The mocha was pretty to look at, but definitely needed some added sugar. I was able to grab one of the few empty seats. Once my coffee was ready, which I'm glad I did so that way I added the sugar and my scone. As I took a bite into my scone, I realized it was the wrong scone that was given to me. This was not chive and cheddar. It was I think ham and I don't know what. Normally, I would've said something, but at this point I needed to get going, and I've already taken a bite out of the scone. It's just disappointing when you pay for one thing with the expectations of trying it, and then find out it's something completely different. There's a little to no parking outside because it's Berkeley, so keep that in mind. Price point is equivalent to if not higher than the green mermaid store, but much better! Even with the mixup, I will be back! read more