Please Pour a Second Cup at this Second Cup

When exploring downtown Ottawa near the Main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, I enjoy stopping by Second Cup (99 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa) for a warm drink to take with me to the library or after a library trip with reading material in hand.

Today I stopped by at 10 A.M. to find the place moderatly busy with a few tables taken by the usual federal government workers having a midmorning coffee break. 

I walked up to the counter and placed my order. 

The Order: 1 Medium Butter Pecan and 1 Cinnamon Roll.

The Barista assembled my order while I rifled through my wallet for the Second Cup gift card I received for Christmas.  After going through my cards twice, I came up empty.    I paid with cash, collected my items and headed for a table. 

I, of course, rifled through my wallet again checking each card again.  Yup, found the gift card ARGH!

The coffee was interesting flavour.  I had never had the flavour before.  I could pick out the pecan taste with a butter taste to compliment it.  It wasn't my favourite flavour, but it wasn't the worst either. 

The Cinnamon Roll was a little off.  The sad part about Second Cup is the baked goods sometimes don't live up to a traditional coffee shop because they are shipped in baked form instead of baked onsight.   Thus, the Cinnamon Roll was baked correctly and would have tasted perfect except it had been shipped in causing the roll to be dried out instead of moist as it should be.  Yes, Ikea has better Cinnamon rolls as they are warm and moist like a Cinnamon Roll should.  Can't blame the Second Cup store location though, it is a head office decision to ship items in instead of making them fresh at store level. 

The store location itself is located right on the corner at Slater & Metcalfe streets on the ground floor of an office building.  During the summer along the Slater Street side of the store, they open the patio to allow customers to sit and enjoy their coffee.  Quite the place to have a conversation or people watch those passing along Slater headed to the nearby Metcalfe Station on the OC Transpo Transitway.

Overall, this Second Cup location provides friendly customer service with excellent regular and flavoured coffee choices.  The only downfall, like other Secon Cups, are the baked goods are shipped which results in the loss of the fresh baked goodness feature enjoyed by many coffee shop customers.  The location is great as it is convenient to many government office works and tourists visiting the Nation's Capital as it is mere blocks away from Parliament Hill.