K T "Bradford" B.'s Profile

I spend a lot of time at Society these days and I want to give it a lot of stars.  But they always do something to dampen my day, and it usually involves the food.  This place is a bit of a cross between a restaurant cafe and a coffee spot.  On the one hand, you do have pastry and cookies and coffee and tea and such.  On the other, you have paninis, pasta, Belgian waffles, and salads (when they're not out of stuff).  The food is too expensive, in my opinion.  Both for this area and for quality.  As a place to come sit and do work and surf the 'net, it's great.  As a cafe and restaurant, it's crap.

Each time I come here it's a game of Russian Roulette concerning whether the food I want is available or any good.  The first time I had the spaghetti bolognese it was fabulous, but the last three times I've had it I wasn't impressed.  The very last time the chef had made a tomato-based sauce with canned tomatoes (which is perfectly fine) but left the canned tomatoes WHOLE in my sauce.  Now, I enjoy some tomato and I enjoy some sauce, but is it too much to ask that you break the tomato up a little?  Really now.

They've switched chefs twice, I think, since I started coming here, so stuff I've ordered before may not taste the same nor come in the same quantity it did when I first fell in love with it.  That is: So. Annoying. I've gotten to the point where I won't eat anything but the sweet stuff.  At least that remains the same.

The wait staff is very friendly and it's really not their fault that the kitchen is ALWAYS out of something.  I try not to take it out on them.  Still, it's very frustrating.  Each time I come it's a different thing, too.  We have no beef, we have no pesto, we're out of pasta, our water isn't running.  Sheesh.

They are friendly to laptops and sitting for a long time.  Free wifi is always a plus.  And they have fun events plus an art gallery.

This place isn't big, but it's not tiny.  I particularly like that they have several kinds of seating arrangements.  In the center there are two big, square tables that can serve as communal/group tables or you can sit next to a stranger and smile a lot.  I like the big tables.

They also have seating along the wall - puffy booth-style seats across from regular chairs.  And there are a few chair/chair table combos.  So, something for everyone.

As I said, the place is laptop friendly but they do have a sign up that says:

No Laptops Sat & Sun 11a - 4p

This is reasonable, I think.  I just have to remember that rule when I'm deciding what to do on a weekend.

For laptop lovers, there are outlets and they have no problem with you using them.

The drinks are good, at least.  I love their snagria and I'll drink a chai tea latte every five minutes if my wallet lets me.  

I really enjoy this little place.  I just wish I could count on it for food.

I really like Saurin Parke.  The atmosphere is wonderful, the staff friendly, the food good, the prices not ridiculous.  I just wish they would let me plug in my laptop!

I often spend a few hours here (3.5 to be exact) trying to get some work done and eating grilled cheese sandwiches.  It's a great place to hang out.  It also makes a nice place to meet for group writing.  provided everyone has a long-life battery or writes longhand.  Oh, and there's free wifi, yay!

I've asked the manager guy about this and he wants to increase turnover, which is understandable from his point of view.  But from my point of view, any place that isn't looking to keep me for more than a few hours isn't looking to keep me as a customer for long.

Still, I can't fault them, and the place is lovely.  It's hard to be a freelancer in the city.