Aroma Espresso Bar

Aroma is always so busy no matter the time of day, but it gets increasingly noisy the deeper we go into the night. Their drinks are on par with other locations, and service is efficient and cordial. The table arrangement could use a bit of work– a lot of tables are haphazardly placed within the middle of the room, and the lack of booths is regretful.
It’s hard to talk, study or work in Aroma because everyone is just so LOUD. The music is also earsplitting; it is very possible I went deaf in one ear. I probably would not stay inside of Aroma– if I wanted to sink into a lovely café atmosphere, I would head elsewhere. Besides that, their hot lattes are quite delicious (but the hot chocolate can definitely be improved upon– ugh).

I have been meaning to write a review for awhile now but always want to give businesses a break, not this time. This branch always has a slow service. The staff always seems to be lost and often messed up my order. It feels like a chaos every time i come here for that reason. Cashier sometimes take order then in the middle she decided not to and just makes the order, leaving a huge line up. I saw that happened twice. I often have to repeat my order because when I say I am allergic to raw tomatoes, it still appears in my take out order. I leave in the area for years now, even though this is the closest café to me, I rather take a 5 min walk to Yonge street just to get coffee because it is always a waste of time to come here. Oh by the way, I am still waiting for my americano while i write this review, I realized that the cashier forgot to take my name… so I have to check now.

I have worked in the area for three years but this morning was the first time I visited Aroma Espresso Bar. I think I am in love! This place is so nice and bright but also warm and cozy. I love that they have a patio! I ordered a café au lait, cheese raisin roll
and a greek yogurt cherry Danish. The cheese raisin roll was ok but I really like the greek yogurt cherry Danish and the café au lait. I will definitely be going back many more times. I used to be a regular at a major coffee shop franchise starting with S but I won’t be going there anymore. Aroma is a hundred times better when it comes to service, food and coffee.

I wish I could give this place a better rating, since their food is mostly great. However, their extremely slow and poor service bring down the rating considerably. The only reason that I frequent this establishment is because I work in the area, and there’s very few healthy food options for lunch. This place is always packed, and the lineup is usually quite long at lunchtime. I would recommend getting your meal to go, chances are pretty slim that you’ll get a seat.
The most frustrating part of the whole experience is that Aroma seems to be consistently under-​staffed and/​or poorly managed. The lineup can be quite long, yet there’s only one cashier taking orders, one person making beverages, and one person standing around at the counter. It’s not unusual to spend 20 minutes just lining up, ordering, and waiting for the order to finish. I would recommend always double-​checking your bagged order, since they regularly forget to add a spoon for soup.
All of this being said, their food is (for the most part) delicious! Many healthy options, including vegan and vegetarian choices. The red lentil soup is a personal favourite. In my opinion, the food is overpriced, particularly considering the battle one most go through to order. An average serving of soup should not cost $ 5.65.
I would recommend this place only during off-​hours, and/​or if you have a long lunch hour.

This location is always packed, weekdays, weekends, it doesn’t matter. It could use more seating but the real issue is the fact that entire tables are often occupied by a single student who may stay for any duration: it could be thirty minutes, it could be eight hours.
Like any Aroma however, the food and coffee is excellent. It’s just unfortunate: Aroma isn’t Starbucks. It serves actual meals – full breakfasts and lunches. And you have one student taking up a booth when they have the largest urban campus in a thousand kilometers. Zero consideration, but what more would you expect from a barely post-​pubescent minds with partially developed senses of self-​identity.
Also frustrating: compared to other Aroma’s this location is poorly bussed, there is only one trash receptacle and its opening is designed to fit items no larger than a coffee cup and the weekend staff is unfriendly. But the weekday staff is pretty helpful and efficient.
I’ve visited this location between 50 and 100 times since it opened two years ago and those have been my observations. It’s a little more manageable in the summer though, since they do have outdoor seating.

Looking to stay full for the balance of the day, try the Aroma Power Breakfast The Aroma Power Breakfast was created to fuel you all day! Breakfast includes two eggs any style, mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, carrot, olives, feta cheese, cream cheese, avocado spread, and a side of our freshly baked bread with butter. Add 1.50 for 12oz hot drink or soft drink.
The food was delectable and the huge cup of coffee was so good.

Pretty okay place. I come here during lunch. The salmon sandwich is very good. I’m not a coffee drinker, but they look good. The desserts are VERY good however. Personally like the nanaimo bar and their brownies. Only qualm, during lunch can be very slow sometimes.

My favourite place on campus for a quick lunch and coffee. I usually order the quinoa salad and a soy latte, and have never experienced any issues here!
The restaurant is always clean, the food is always fresh, and the service has always been stellar. Will probably be frequenting Aroma on Bay for the next few years.

Food is great but the service from some of the staff is absolutely abhorrent.
This is specific to two cashiers:
I had a cashier reply to my order: «sorry can you repeat the whole order I was zoning out» really?! My order wasn’t long and I wasn’t speaking fast. Even after an excruciatingly slowed down reiteration of my order, he asked me to repeat it again. This time his reason was that he zoned out… again. I get that it might have been 5pm in the day but do your job…
Another cashier a week later misquoted the price of my order and charged me 3 dollars more than what the bill had said. When I asked her about it she threw a fit and said I was charged correctly. I showed her my bill and she just grabbed a pile of change and threw it on my tray.

Great café! In a really convenient location and has a great atmosphere and terrace. The outdoor seating is great for hanging out.
The service is pretty friendly, but the lineup can get pretty long and the food can take a while.
Their steak sandwich was reallyyy good; beats any Tims or Subway sandwich, and really full of flavour. Might want to stay away from the real fruit smoothie though.
Overall, would definitely recommend this hangout spot, especially if you live nearby.

Great coffee shop but it’s usually too packed due to the location. It’s ideal for people who work in the area, UofT students, friends catching up, etc. Hence, the line can often be 10 – 20 people deep during the daytime!
They’ve got signs on the booths to prevent loitering (max 1 hour visit during peak hours) but most patrons don’t heed these instructions.
As the summer heats up, they’ve opened up the back patio. Great place to have lunch, coffee, study — when there’s an empty seat!

A problem with the Bay Street neighborhood is that a lot of people do not recognize it as a true neighborhood and it has a hard time acting like one. Currently blighted by construction, with high rent for retail businesses, the only sort of operation that appears to be able to survive here are the franchises, many of which are ageing concepts and not very warm and inviting.
I like a good cup of coffee, but I am tired of Timmys and Starbucks and the Second Cup.
One bright spot in the local landscape is the recently opened Aroma Expresso bar, at 1110 Bay St. (at Charles). This is a franchise, but it also has the positive, lively atmosphere of family owned mom and pop operation. It is also attracting a desirable demographic: students and sensible young urban professionals (does such a thing exist ?)
Service is quick and efficient, the servers are polite, the owner friendly. The coffee is strong and of really good quality. The pastries are really good. The space is rather angular, but clean and bright. This place is a welcome addition to the area.
Now I must get back to the The Save-​A-​Soul Mission…