Pavement Coffeehouse

Pavement is the perfect place for studying or picking up a morning coffee before work. They always seem to have really creative specials, and are amazing at catering towards vegan and other dietary restrictions. I absolutely love the jalapeño bagel with tofu veggie cream cheese because it is unlike other vegan bagel options in the area. I also appreciate the seating areas, but have only been able to use them once because they are almost always completely full.

Some better than average drinks but overall pretty overpriced-​there is also only limited free wifi.

Been here twice for hot chocolate — it’s delicious here! Very easily accessible location. Only downside is it seems to be very crowded every time I go with little seating space open. Definitely wouldn’t go during peak hours. Great study spot if you manage to snag a seat in the back area.

Having been to the location on Boylston last time I visited Boston, I was excited to see this location was close to the rental house. The atmosphere is really cool and the coffee drinks were good.
The small cold press was laughably small (maybe 8 oz. tops). They were kind enough to put it in a bigger cup so I could add milk. They said it’s small because it is very concentrated. It was not that strong. I’d probably warn people about how tiny it is, or put the size on the chalkboard.
The place smelled like burning crumbs anytime someone ordered a bagel. I’d clean the equipment as the smell wasn’t pleasant and was persistent. The staff was friendly, but generally seemed to be more interested in talking amongst themselves or their friends that kept stopping by.
If you don’t like cursing, I’d probably avoid the place as the radio and staff were dropping f-​bombs. Doesn’t bother me, but just a warning.
I’d probably look for alternative coffee options nearby before selecting this location again.

Just ordered a soy cappuccino. Didn’t look appealing at all nor did it taste like it had soy milk in it.
When we returned the drink politely letting them know that we didn’t like it, they took it back and that’s it. We were offered to order another drink once we pay for it. This is not good business. I even paid good amount of tip.

Shout out to the head cashier with a beanie — super sweet on a Monday morning! You’re such a doll! Had to run and pick up breakfast after a night of graduation celebrations and festivities and so i had my phone out to order a bunch of things and she was so UNDERSTANDING & super sweet about my mind being all over the place!
* * * F O O D /​/​/​B A G E L S * * *
+ VEGAN SUNRISE on a MULTIGRAIN BAGEL (⁵⁄₅) — i was full from eating less than ½ of a half of the bagel because it is so filling & delicious! For all you health nuts, this bagel is a must get! 100% to die for… you get the sweetness from the tofu, the spiciness from the jalapeño, the savory/​saltiness from the pickle veggies & the perfect amount of crunch from the bagel!
+MULTIGRAIN EVERYTHING BAGEL w/​GARLIC & CHIVE cream cheese spread (⁵⁄₅): it’s all about the SAUCE~ literally the cream cheese spread does it all = deliciousness — finger licking good. You cannot go wrong with the garlic & chive spread… therefore, it is safe to assume that their salmon & lox bagel is pretty tastey as well. If you’re in a pickle — any bagel with their garlic & chive cream cheese spread is a SAFE bet.
* * * D R I N K S /​/​/​C O F F E E * * *
+ LEMONADE — unfortunately does not meet Beyonce’s standards, tasted a bit too watered down for me personally… I would suggest to asking for little ice… or not get their lemonade at all…
FYI:
* with the college students now all gone for the summer except it to be less crowded, more seats avaliable!!!

The good:
Evergreen latte, yum! I also sampled my friend’s Spain latte and it was pretty good. The interior has this cool hipster-​vintage reading room vibe to it, which is also nice for the sight.
The bad:
The what’s-her-face girl with the green hair who processed my order in the cashier can learn a basic customer service lesson, which is to not misspell a customer’s name (i.e. mine) and to keep your attitude in check. I get that this kind of mistakes sometimes happen, but this is not Starbucks and we were the only people in the line, on a slow Friday afternoon. I was even smiling throughout the check-​out.
I don’t get why she cannot just ask me to repeat or spell my name if I hadn’t pronounced it clearly. And I’m a little pissed about it because that was the name that they insist on calling me with to get me to pick up my latte. I didn’t realize my latte was ready until my friend told me that Matilda’s order may be mine. Of course when I came up to the cashier (her) to ask if my order was ready, she just pointed me towards the end of the barista area and immediately turned her back on me. Being a little hyper at that time, I made a remark that my real name is NOT Matilda, with a slightly louder voice because the green hair were walking away with her attitude. I was fully intending to keep it low and friendly but she can’t even look at my face for more than two seconds, what can I say?
Thankfully there was a nice Asian staff lady who apologized for the error and made an effort to know my real name. She’s cool.
But as long as that green hair is working there, I’m out. You know… there are other Pavement Coffeehouses out there that have treated me better. Green hair shoved her attitude down the wrong person’s throat.

Great cappuccinos. I’m not even a big cappuccino person but I always get them at this place. The service is friendly and efficient. Because it is so close to Boston university, there are lots of students on their computers here, which is fine, but it also means that the turnover for seats is quite slow. Hence, it’s often very crowded and getting seats could be a challenge. Fortunately, the patrons are quite accommodating so if you’re willing to share a table this is less of an issue. They have a good selection of bagels and breakfast items. The bagels themselves are okay. Not bad not great. A place that’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the neighborhood!

I just wish they would clean out their toaster so it doesn’t constantly smell like burning everything bagels in here.
Seriously.
Clean that ish up.

Nice place but gets extremely crowded and can get uncomfortable. I like the vegan morning muffin

Their iced coffee and evergreen latte are amazing. However, the sandwiches aren’t very flavorful and sometimes the bread tastes a little stale. Great atmosphere though. I come here every day between class to get something to drink and work. It’s the best of its kind in the area. Very crowded most of the time. Expect to wait for your drink!

The only reason I keep coming back is because they are the closest place to my job that has breakfast sandwiches, but even those are mediocre. The veggie sunrise consistently has cold eggs and the last two times, rotten spinach. And fairly recently, a hair. I mean, why serve cold eggs that have been sitting out for god knows how long? And the spinach? I’m trying to start my day with a sunrise, not with trips to the bathroom. While this may not be my last trip, I’ll likely be getting a bagel with cream cheese or peanut butter, something that is impossible (or at least very difficult) to mess up. This place really isn’t worth how much they are charging for their sandwiches and iced tea (I will not review coffee because I do not drink it). The ice tea is nothing more than lightly flavored water.

Great food! Great Service. Great Atomosphere. Although I’m not a huge fan of their coffee, I have a lot of friends who are. They always serve it to your table. The only problem is finding a table! They usually are full during the day due to BU students coming in, getting food and studying. But I think this is a great place to grab coffee with friends if you can find a table.
I highly recommend the yogurt here. I also really like that you can customize any bagel/​sandwich order. You can also pay by card even for really cheap items like coffee.

I try not to give 1-​star reviews, but this place has disappointed me time after time. I go because of the convenient location with respect to BU, but it’s not worth it any more. It takes them 10 minutes to make a bagel with cream cheese, and half the time they mess up the order (yes, wrong bagel or wrong cream cheese. it is a thing). The lattes are fine but tiny and way overpriced ($ 5 for a latte that is smaller than a tall size at Starbucks). Also, never any seats. Not that that’s abnormal per se.

First time in here today, just stopped in for hot cocoa. Super friendly and helpful staff, hot cocoa was made nice and quickly, and the cocoa was served hot but not scalding so I could drink it immediately instead of in an hour, which scored them major points with me. Will definitely return.

[+]
— Great space inside, good vibe and plenty of seating area
— Friendly staff
[-]
— They claim to have homemade fresh bagels, BUT their bagels are one of the hardest and flavorless ones I ever had. AVOID THE BAGELS.
— Coffee is decent.

Absolutely delicious! Want a wonderful to relax, do your work or just start your morning! Make sure to get a yummy coffee. I suggest the Spanish latte.

Once upon a time, Pavement was known as Espresso Royale Café. Before they revamped the small chain, I loved ERC. The staff was friendly and welcoming, plus the tea and bagel sandwiches were addictive. With quirky tables featuring the Beatles, Danny Zuko and William Shatner, not to mention free wifi, it was easy to spend your whole day there.
Unfortunately, Pavement is less than impressive. The ambiance is a little too sceney, the wifi is now expensive and some of the precious bagel sandwiches have been replaced with trendy alternatives.
Please bring Espresso Royale back.

Best coffee shop in Back Bay. Love the kale salad. Table setup could be improved (no one wants to sit at the giant wood table unless there is nothing left) but that’s no biggee.

This review is just for the food. I had the Grange sandwich, which had turkey and chutney (among other ingredients) if I remember correctly. It was ok, but not really worth the $ 8. Whyyy must college café food always be overpriced and mediocre. I will probably be back to study but will eat elsewhere beforehand.

Nice coffee. Free 1hr of wifi use. Great study environment in my opinion since there’s the nice coffee smell and decent lighting.

Worst coffee in boston. For $ 3.25 you should serve a good cup of coffee. The watery coffee was awful tasting. If you need a spacious place to work and don’t mind a constant distraction from pesky fruit flies then this is the place to be.

My second office in Boston. Good coffee, good healthy food, good internet if you’re willing to pay $ 5 for the day. (I’m grateful for the fee because it keeps out college kids who want to camp on the wifi.) Some people are turned off by the crowds, but it turns over pretty fast and it’s that hard to get a seat if you wait a few minutes (I keep moving until I get the one I want). Definitely more on the bustling/​talky side, so not ideal if you need quiet to concentrate. Have to agree with others here that the bagels aren’t great — the Sunrise bagel sandwich is always too hard to chew. But plenty of other options.

The inside of Pavement is fun and spacious, which makes it a great spot to hang out with friends. I wasn’t exactly dazzled by my Americano (given how expensive it was), but I would be willing to come back and try a Spanish Latte or Macchiato because of the good reviews they get. Overall, it’s too expensive for me to be a regular.

You honestly CANNOT go wrong with Pavement Coffeehouse. This is definitely my go-​to place whenever I want to sit down with a friend to catch up over a latte — or two. I especially love this location because it is super spacious — there are a lot of tables in the back for studying, a lot of small tables parallel to the cashier, and more tables up front! They also have outdoor seating, which is perfect for nice weather. It’s also really accessible by T.
I think this is the only coffee shop that has Spanish lattes (correct me if I’m wrong). I am head over heels in love with Spanish lattes now that I’ve tried it here. Their vanilla soy lattes are also really good. I also really enjoy their scones, especially the mixed berry scone. They have cranberry ginger scones as well! I can’t wait to try it on my next visit. I highly recommend the sandwiches. Sandwiches are on the greasy side so bring a lot of napkins with you if you decide to get it to-​go. Bagels are nothing special, but better than your $ 1.95 Dunkin Donuts burnt bagels.
The staff are super cool. They honestly look like such cool interesting people and I really want to chit chat with them, but they are always so busy making lattes that I feel bad starting a conversation: S Maybe next time! Expect to see me here at least 3 times a week.

I’m not a huge fan of the coffee here, but the environment of Pavement gives me a feel-​good vibe. Even though it’s in the middle of the BU campus, it feels like I’m not at BU at all, which is good when I need to escape from the hustle and bustle of campus life. The only thing is that during the busy hours, it’s next to impossible to find a seat. But that’s what happens when you’re in a coffee shop on a campus filled with caffeine-​dependent students!
I like that there’s a line for only coffee and tea. It definitely speeds up the process, especially when a good amount of people in line start ordering a bunch of different kinds of sandwiches or ordering complicated drinks. For me, at least, it seems kind of silly sometimes waiting in line for a long time when all I want is a black coffee. Props to Pavement to starting this line!
Also, the Turkey Avocado bagel sandwich is pretty awesome. I definitely recommend it if you want to splurge on some really nice bagels. If not, there’s Rhett’s across the street in the GSU that serves some pretty good and cheaper bagels.
When you order your food to eat in, they give you this cute metal number and bring the food to your table. Solid customer service. If it were cheaper, I would be coming here every single day!

I never frequented this particular location when it was in the Bagel Rising family (RIP), so I can’t fairly compare it to what it once was. The bagel with lox is still decent, but I haven’t tried any other pastries.
What I have done is enjoyed the coffee-​only line. I rarely get food here; I want my large coffee with room and hopefully quickly, so I can get out the door. Thankfully, Pavement, knowing how tediously long it can feel to wait behind 8 bagel-​and-​latte orders when all you want is a cup of Joe, has established a line for those of us who want a quick in-​and-​out. They brew Counter Culture coffee, which is far superior to Dunks and Starbucks (sorry not sorry). I can add my half-​skim-​half-​soy milk concoction and be on my merry way in five minutes.
Be careful putting the tops on the coffee, though, folks. I somehow managed to pop the top off of my cup the other day and it spilled all over the floor and my hand.

A lot of changes since it was rebranded as Pavement. The place has been remodeled and the menu changed. But one thing that still hasn’t changed is the awful service.
The service is downright appalling. At any given moment there are several staff members standing around working very hard at ignoring customers. They’re all college kids, and most of them seem stoned all the time. Just like when this place was Espresso Royale, they’ve all got that «we’re just too hip to care about working hard or even getting your order right» attitude. If they mess up your order, they roll their eyes and huff at you as if it was YOUR fault that they have to do extra work to fix it.
And the bagels… jeez. They’re not too bad, still better than Brugger’s. But the selection is a joke, besides plain it seems all they have is weird «bagels aren’t supposed to come in that flavor» varieties like rye or multigrain. No egg bagels, no onion bagels, no garlic bagels, no poppy… just the weird hipster flavors. And forget getting a classic cream cheese flavor like chive, they’ve added a mess of garlic to it. I like the taste of garlic, but I’ve never heard of adding it to chive cream cheese and I don’t know why this place insists on being different than everybody else and making such a major change to a classic menu item. And at $ 3.21 for a bagel with cream cheese, it’s certainly no bargain.
And for the love of God, people, STOP TOASTING BAGELS WHEN THE CUSTOMER HASN’T ASKED YOU TO TOAST IT. I have no idea why some of your customers want to ruin a fresh bagel by toasting it, but you should never do things to peoples’ food that they didn’t ask you to do. If I ordered coffee, would you put milk and sugar in it if I didn’t ask you to? Of course not, because not everybody wants it like that. You would only add that to my coffee IF I ASKED YOU TO. So why are you toasting my bagel without being told to? They don’t even bother to tell you on the menu that they do that, nor do the people taking your order say anything about it. They just go ahead and do it and then act surprised when someone complains.
And of course, if you make them prepare you a new one, you get the nasty attitude.
I don’t need this. I’m not a college kid, I’m not going to put up with college kids giving me an attitude just to get a bite to eat in the morning. They sell bagels across the street at the BU GSU, and the service is polite there. I got fed up with ERC and stopped patronizing it, when they changed it to Pavement I thought I’d give them a clean slate and try them again. But they’re losing my business again, I’m going back across the street for my bagels where I get courtesy and good service.

Pavement hosts a comedy show every month! Next one’s January 22 with headliner Bethany van Delft (Comedy Central, TV Guide Channel, The Moth, opened for Maria Bamford). Details here:
Pavement Commonwealth is my favorite coffeehouse in the Boston area. I love to find a cozy spot here and work on my laptop, chat with friends over coffee or tea, or grab a quick bite solo. This location recently revamped its menu and I adored the quinoa and kale salad I tried recently. I would also recommend its breakfast sandwiches and herbal teas. This spot is definitely vegetarian– and vegan-​friendly (note that it stops serving breakfast offerings at 11 AM). I have also enjoyed its music selections a lot.
Pavement’s downsides should be obvious: sometimes it is crowded, rather noisy, and/​or difficult to find a seat. If you want to work here for a long time, you may have to jockey for space near an outlet. I cannot speak to the coffee selection, as I am far from a coffee connoisseur. Pavement is hip without being pretentious and the staff is consistently warm and accommodating. Just beware of rush hour (s) and potentially obnoxious undergraduates.

COFFEE
As a coffee snob, pavement is not the best option. I tend to go with a plain black coffee but for some reason it always seems burnt, or too watery. However, most of my friends opt for lattes or cappuccinos and never have a problem.
FOOD
I will say the food here is good. Its well priced and is served pretty quickly. Ive gone with the tequila sunrise bagel a couple times and i have yet to be disappointed. The tequila sunrise consisted of jalapeño cream cheese, an egg and some vegetables. It was completely satisfying and continues to be my go to order.
ATMOSPHERE
the main downside to pavement is that the internet is only free for 2 hours. Usually when I go to a coffee shop I don’t like to feel rushed or on a time limit. The one time I did sit down to do work, I was stressed out about starting any big projects in fear that my time limit would run out.
For those willing to pay the extra price for internet, pavement is a great place to study. The music is always low, and if it ever gets too loud the employees are happy to turn it down. The majority of people who go are usually there to work as well so that atmosphere is very study friendly.

This Pavement has one of the cutest interiors of any coffee shop in Boston. It also has a pretty good amount of seating. Counter culture coffee is great. Two downsides– only one hour of free wifi and it’s so hard to get to from Cambridge!

Maybe it’s because I’m from NY and have experienced better bagels for less than $ 1, but the bagels/​bagel sandwiches here are not great. It’s tiny, hard and not soft, chewy, or fluffy on the inside. Yes, they have healthy options like whole wheat and low-​carb, but these are even worse.
The sandwiches are pretty good because they have some great condiments and toppings but I don’t really recommend anything else. Even their coffee is just alright. It looks pretty, but I would MUCH RATHER go to dunkin for cheaper and just as great tasting coffee.
The atmosphere is pretty hipster and chill though. I would like to sit here and study without ordering anything