The Wild Goose Meeting House

Reviews 6

KA

Karen Peace

Hi, I visited the W.G. for the first time the other day in the eventing, around 6:30 and stayed about an hour. To be specific, I had only a cup of coffee, so I cant comment on the food or wine or beer. The energy in the place was buzzing with an artistic, intellectual, creative kind of vibe. I would characterize the place as what I call "upscale bohemian". I liked this kind of energy and ambience. If however you are looking for personal, gracious and attentive service, this is not the place. I didnt experience any rudeness, but rather a matter-of-fact utilitarian service, which is not bad, but it is not the Broadmoor (or even the very friendly and attentive wait-staff at our local Denny.) One likely reason for this is that the place was very busy -- packed even at 6:30 pm on a Tuesday night -- obviously there is a great appeal, if you are of a certain temperament. One great aspect of the place is the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on one wall, stocked with interesting reading materials that visitors can read while they are there (I picked up a book on Symphonies for example). However, to get to a book, involved a couple of "excuse me"s as I awkwardly try to navigate the ocean of humanity that inundated the place, They do have a nice outdoor patio area as well -- similarly packed. Being there alone, was a bit of a lonely experience -- I suggest you bring a laptop or smartphone or pick a good book to keep you company. The space is resonant and very loud with conversations, which undoubtably are interesting, but it is too difficult to actually hear them unless you have a ear to a mouth. In that regard, it rivals the decibel level of most busy bars. Overall, three stars is not really accurate -- but it is the average of two separate ratings for two very different clientele: If you like noisy, vibrant, curious, youngish, intellectual kind of place -- 5 stars. If you value an intimate place where you can actually have a conversation in a normal talking voice, or deeply concentrate on writing your music, you next poem or novel, or philosophical treatise, 1 star -- go there to absorb some of the high energy and then go somewhere else where the service is better and the ambience is quieter (the Penrose room at the Broadmoor, or your local Dennys) :-)

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AA

Aaron Matkin

Dont get me wrong, the coffee is great, but the customer service is lacking. Unfortunately Google does not have different categories to rate, so three stars it is. The people working there are more than nice enough, but the whole staff seems mismanaged. Two people making food, which Ive never seen anyone order, yet only two people taking orders, making coffee, pouring beer, and running orders. Only one person in front of me when I enter so Im happy, then once it was my turn to order I had to wait for another five minutes to actually place my order. Then another girl comes up from running coffee and takes my order, which took awhile to make, though it wasnt anything complex. Just an americano. Then there wasnt any cream out for coffee, even though Id heard them discussing how another employee hadnt finished cleaning it out before leaving, as well as asking for room for cream in my Americano. So I waited...and waited...and waited. During this long wait I observed the girls behind the counter take turns making drinks, cleaning up, attending to other customers and visiting with/serving the two off-duty employees at the bar. Normal stuff, but I also watched them completely ignore the mailperson that stood at the counter trying to hand them their mail. That person finally(after a good 5 minutes) got frustrated and just placed the letter on the counter. Once I was the asked what I needed the girl just poured some half and half into my americano and went back to visiting with the off-duty employees, so good luck to the next person who needs cream in their coffee. This place is popular and busy. Especially in the afternoon/early evening. Hire and/or schedule more staff. I ordered an Americano and it took right around fifteen minutes to actually get. I frequent coffee shops in Colorado Springs and thats about five times longer than usual.

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MA

Matt Houser

Nice, cozy but pricey venue. I dont understand how these hipster places stay in business, but there were plenty of people having a good time reading and playing games when we were there last night. Its fun, but the attitude of a couple staff members will stop me from going back. We watched some very tasty-looking nachos being delivered to another customer. We attempted to order some, but apparently between when those nachos were ordered and when they were delivered (about 8:55 pm), they switched to the late night menu. Oh, when do you switch to that menu? "It depends." Well, could you please make us some nachos anyways? No. Perhaps their nachos are artisan nachos that take more time and specialized ingredients than we realized. Later when attempting to order off the late night menu, we learned that the ice cream listed as coming with the brownie cake doesnt actually come with it unless you fork over an extra $2. Perhaps again we underestimate the effort and cost of printing correct single-page menus (which, to be fair, were hard-stock single pages that had undergone some kind of weathering process to enhance authenticity), but the staff didnt seem very apologetic or interested in serving us. We will not be troubling them again.

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MI

Michael Hodgdon

Overall not a big fan. Has the makings of a good little spot but service I had both times I went there was "poor". Last time I met friends and colleagues there for a beer, which they had a good selection of beers I wasnt familiar with. Generally by asking a few questions I can figure out something that Im happy to try but the gentleman who served me had such a bad attitude about answering my questions I finally just picked one off the menu to avoid his clear annoyance with doing his job. I noticed there are multiple reviews here that have a common thread of bad service but star ratings are not lower because food and spirits seem good. Because in a service based business I feel "customer service" is paramount I really could have gone one star, but the beer I arbitrarily picked ended up being good, so I opted for 2 stars. Hope management starts to address the issues with staff and gets it right for the next person, I wont be back.

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CH

Christina Seel

I went here for the first time (after living in the Springs for 2 years, embarrassing!) last week for a lunch meeting. This place does get packed and it is definitely a spot where you will run into everyone you know so if you want to avoid that, dont come during the lunch rush! With that being said, it was still very easy for us to conduct our meeting and we didnt need a quiet space. Anyway, they have lavender coffee. Enough said. It might sound weird but its a comforting coffee game-changer. I also had one of their veggie wraps filled with beans and other delicious things. At first, I avoided the jelly-looking sauce served on the side but it MUST be put onto your wrap. Whatever it was, its delicious. Maybe its their gooseberry relish? Friendly and helpful staff too! Ill be back! (arnold voice)

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RE

Rebecca Urbine

I give this place 4 stars for atmosphere as far as the appearance and vibe of the coffee shop go, but having visited a LOT of coffee shops, your place ranks low on attitude. Most coffee shops have amazingly friendly and welcoming staff. We were from out of town and felt so out of place at this shop! Staff seemed very pretentious and stuck-up; they didnt even acknowledge that we existed until about 10 minutes later, standing right at the counter. Was definitely not my favorite place to enjoy my coffee, which is essentially one of the joys of life!

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