Aroma - York

Just needed a coffee and respond to some emails. Dropped in to a fabulous bustling community coffee shop, a member of the team greeted me and asked me to take a seat by the door whilst a table became available.. 10 mins later and they had me seated at a table. Really friendly team, great coffee and toasted tea cake, just what I needed and so great to see a community shop thriving.

Staff were helpful and welcoming. The cafe is clean and airy. When i became tearful the staff were quick and compassionate, i felt cared for and comfortable. They took lovely care of me. And the coffee was delicious!

I always assume an establishment is 5 star and only mark it down for poor service. If this place advertised itself as a throwback for an 80’s/90’s time travel experience then I’d rate it as 5 but as it didn’t….. Visited whilst visiting elderly mother who had previously found the place great. This is how the place lost stars. Firstly, five of us were squashed round a small table instead of pushing two tables together. Clearly it was more important to squash as many customers in as possible. First star gone. Went to order. Long queue several staff working so it would have made sense for table service. Queue hardly moved due to a member of staff handwriting the order slowly and then adding each item to a till equally slowly. This is why the queue was hardly moving. Service wasn’t friendly and felt like you were an inconvenience. Whilst waiting in the queue I had to move out of the way on several occasions whilst another member of staff carried drinks past with a passive aggressive ‘excuse me’ every time. Seriously where should I go? Maybe you could walk an extra foot round the side of the other tables or take orders quicker and you wouldn’t have a queue. When I returned to my seat I was told by my family members that I was given a dirty look every time she had to walk past me! I spotted this myself as another table left and saw a look of anger on this same member of staff’s face. (I have no idea what these other customers had done wrong! Second star gone. I’ve worked in hospitality if customers annoy you don’t show it! Drinks arrive first staff member sighed when we pointed out the drinks were for the other side of the table! I would have happily passed the drinks along but weren’t given the option! Food eventually arrives ordered a Wensleydale, carrot and chutney sandwich. Maybe there is a National chutney shortage as this sandwich was really dry and mostly carrot. Then one of the other sandwiches arrives and is the wrong order. This was sorted but literally had grated cheese just added to the side. Another star gone! Finally we found a grey hair in the middle of a cake (we don’t have grey hair so it wasn’t us! Response was an apology but it’s not our fault ‘we buy the cakes in’. I don’t really care we were offered something else but declined this and was given money back. Another star gone though for lack of responsibility taken! So food not great, service hardly 2022 style and ambience spoilt by being made to feel in the way. Maybe this could be rebranded as a themed 80’s cafe with grumpy staff who don’t seem to want to be there. Maybe we just caught the place on a bad day and if so then this review will be an outlier. Don’t think I’ll return!

We enjoyed a lovely lunch sat outside this well run place in the sunshine. Lots to choose from on the menu and a great variety of sweet treats on offer too. Staff were very pleasant and prices very reasonable.

Myself, my friend and our 1 and 3 year olds visited for the first time this week for lunch. You know how it is with little ones. Always worried they will be bored and loud so I tool my 3 year old with me to order and pay and the lady serving was so lovely and really involved him in it all. When the food was due the server said would wait a while to serve the children's food so it wasn't too hot for them. She said she knew what it was like when they see food and want it instantly. She also said she would leave my 3 year olds chocolate tiffin aside until he was ready. Sounds small things but it was massive to us. As well as that the food was just beautiful, great portion sizes and good value for money. We loved it