Clear Conscience Cafe

I remember visiting this place for the first time in 2010 and being treated rudely by the person taking my order. I was so livid, I posted a complaint on their website, which prompted a call by the manager within an hour. Even though he (barely) apologized and invited me back, I was still turned off by the encounter and vowed never to return. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I discovered this afternoon that Clear Conscience is now closed. Never underestimate the power of Karma.

The closing of this café is a deeply sad event for our neighborhood. It was *the* coffeeshop right in the middle of everything, and on many days it could seem like the social hub of Central Square. It will be missed by many, many people here.
Book clubs, business meetings, first dates, inventors from MIT, a *lot* of yoga fanatics and aspiring artists/​producers/​musicians/​novelists, some friendly eccentrics of the classic Central Square sort, young families, and a whole lot of people who live right down the street for whom this café was a daily stop for a minute to relax– a vibrant mix was here. The atmosphere was fun and unpretentious, which can’t be said of many independent coffee shops (something about making coffee seems to encourage a vaguely Scandinavian severeness among Americans).
The rumor is that the adjoining grocery had to close due to rising rents in Central. Rising rents would seem to explain the numerous closings on our main-​street over the last two years, but none of the businesses which have closed have been replaced: half the street is sitting empty now, just paper in the windows or just empty rooms… It’s hard to make sense of it: *growing* wealth has made our main-​street look like a slum… isn’t it supposed to be the opposite?
In winter, when the whole of Mass Ave would be frozen over and people rushing around outside dark-​ish drugstores, there would be one single glowing light in the neighborhood. It was this warm café, the only refuge where you could come in and stay a while… we will all miss it profoundly.

Oh, Clear Conscience Café, I wanted to like you! Unfortunately, it was a major flop. I really love to eat healthfully and the name hooked me in. The menu was small, I felt rushed into my order, though, and got the sweet potato panini. It was very bland, my side salad was so small I would have considered it a garnish instead. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to drink, so I went back up for an Aztec hot cocoa. It took forever to come, they forgot to make it! I was very disapppointed when I finally got it. It tasted like warm milk with a small sprinkling of cinnamon (i’m 99% positive he forgot to put the chocolate in my hot chocolate).
The reason for the two star review over just one star was because my friend’s turkey sandwich was good. I typically try to give places one more chance, but I don’t think C3 and I will ever meet again.

This is a fairly large sized coffee shop in Central Square. Like other reviewers have noted. it is very close to Central Square T-​Stop. Should have no problem finding this spot.
They let us sit in here to do our conversation exchange session with 20+ people. Parking isnt’ too bad in this part of Cambridge so I don’t mind coming here…
The chai latte wasn’t that great unfortunately. Very chai like. so better than Starbucks. but not sweet enough. so not as good as Panera.
They were nice to let us stay for 2 hours. I am not overly wowed by this place. but it seemed like the people who worked here were nice.

Overpriced items, slow service, mixed-​up orders, and for God’s sake just once could you consider actually melting the damn cheese on my grilled cheese sandwich?
I gave this place so many chances because of the inviting menu and the chill atmosphere, but… no.

Ordered a decent café au lait which was piping hot and had a nice, strong flavor. I was surprised to find a few open tables here, since every other mediocre (read: crappy) coffeeshop on Mass Ave seemed to be jam-​packed and noisy on this Sunday afternoon. Sat for about a half-​hour sipping my coffee while taking advantage of the free WiFi. The music that was playing in the background made me giggle… I have no idea WHAT it was, but it was entertaining, nonetheless. So I wouldn’t necessarily call this my new favorite coffee spot, But I WILL be back since it’s conveniently connected to the Harvest Co-​Op Market (where my boyfriend loves to shop).
P. S. I was impressed with their vegan/​vegetarian offerings (even though I am neither). I just think it’s a nice touch when a coffeeshop has rice milk, soy milk, etc. on hand.

hmmm when is it ok when a café doesn’t make their own lemonade… pouring it off a bottle and putting ice in… hmmmmm but their grilled cheese didn’t disappoint. you should try it.
the supermarket is in the back so the traffic at the door was quite distracting for most purposes. but i managed to sit down and get some stuff done.
and… i went home with a phone number from a guy across the room. :) which was a nice touch if it was set by the café. i doubt it though lol.

Hi All,
Why won’t Unilocal allow me to rate 0 stars? This place was the absolute worst place. The service was awful, compounded by a plentiful staff of pure incompetence. My only hope is that the staff was just too stoned… though that is still no excuse. Three of us ordered — 3 bagels, 1 coffee, and a tea. And got — 1 disgusting sandwich, 3 coffees… 1 bagel showed up… we waited 10 minutes for other 2 bagels… and then when they got finished… they gave them to people that ordered well after us. Then they have the nerve to say… we are out of bagels… sorry…here is your refund. They should have given us the last two bagels which belonged to us in the first place. They actually refused to give us those last two bagels. And the other patrons, didnt offer those to the rightful owners.
Again… incompetence. and rude clientele… this I would consider the worst review yet of my nearly 100 reviews. Please do us all a favor and close down. In fact, i will cross the street to avoid this even walking past this sad excuse for a food establishment. If i were the owner… clean house — Sunday staff should not work in the restaurant business again.
— amazing…
— MSZ

First, a warning — this place seems to be in a dead GPS zone, so if you were hoping to use their free wi-​fi to access an online coupon that needs to locate you before being activated, forget about it. Or at least come with a back-​up.
Despite my frustrated mood, I still enjoyed my sweet potato panini $ 7.29 and pear coffee cake $ 2.25 which was ready and waiting for me by the time I finished my visit to the single person restroom, enabled by the key chained to a rather large block of wood.
The panini was made with a nice crusty bread and stuffed with a variety of flavors and textures. The nuts in the coffee cake were lacking in that they were not crunchy, but the cake was a large square, moist enough and tasted pretty good.
There were a good number of tables and chairs, but the ones by the front window were placed so close to one another that I felt like a mouse easing my way through a tight maze.
This spot is located right outside the Central Square outbound exit closest to MIT, and is basically situated in the lobby area of the Harvest Co-​op Market.

Vegan scones! Yummy cranberry scones with icing. Yum! Also other vegan baked goods — cookies, muffins, etc.
I really appreciate how vegan friendly it is — from their offering of soy milk in the café, to their vegan sandwiches, soups, and even vegan cream cheese/​peanut butter options for bagels.
They are also open till 10pm which is great. I stop by there sometimes in and out going to Harvest Coop.
I like the atmosphere and the café and wifi. I don’t live in Central so I never «hang out» there but if i lived nearby I probably would.
Occasionally the baristas can get a little snooty, especially if it’s late but usually they are pretty friendly, and last Monday one even let me still purchase a scone even though they were about closed.
I love how eco friendly they are –LEED certified, and recyclable materials. I was sad to see when they opened C3 they stopped carrying Equal Exchange coffee, but hopefully they will go back to them once again. =)

They are conveniently located for a quick bite and they have free wifi which is nice. But the food is not very good. I’ve had their breakfast sandwiches and pastries; not impressed with any.
The only thing that I’ve liked is their strawberry mint smoothie (that might only be available seasonally… not sure).

I stopped in here for a quick dinner before church one day because they claim to have a decent vegan selection. They do have many items on their menu that are vegetarian or vegan. All of their products are certified organic, which is great for people who are really conscience (no pun intended) about what they eat. But for the near $ 10 I shelled out for a panini sandwich that didn’t exactly fill me up, I was a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the sweet potato panini was delicious (!), but I left wanting more. The sandwich doesn’t come with anything but a few really thin pieces of apple… Because I was still hungry I splurged on a vegan cookie, and had to shell out another $ 3… The cookie was hard and was far too sweet.
At least the service was great! Overall, my experience could have been better, but the place seemed to be packed with people enjoying drinks…
Positives: Convenient location, nice drink selection, friendly service, organic (if that makes you happy), tasty food.
Negatives: Small portion sizes, pricey!

Central Square is a land too coffee-​shop abundant to warrant ever going here (walk half a block to somewhere better, ya know?). Anyway, I only buy caffeine at C3 for two reasons. One, the espresso is both delicious, and – as advertised – guilt free. And two, sometimes I grocery shop at the coop behind the café, and want a coffee on my way home.
This is where the problems happen.
I got scolded by a very elitist hippie man (I realize elitist-​hippie seems counterintuitive but I am confident that I mean what I say, despite the oxymoron) for eating an apple on the premises. AN APPLE. My friends, I am a reasonable person. I didn’t whip out a checkered table cloth and some pb&js, okay? This wasn’t a picnic. It was an apple. An apple which I purchased ast the coop market that is ATTACHED to this coffee shop. And yet, I was snootily informed that eating things from «outside establishments» is very upsetting to these people, even if you buy their coffee – which btw, I had.
I was sort of hoping it was just me, but a few weeks later I saw the same thing happened to the couple in front of me. Except they were eating carrots and hummus while they waited for their lattes.
If you don’t want people eating groceries in your coffee shop you should probably stop being attached to a grocery store.
Also, just hug a tree or something. Sheesh. What a bunch of grumpos.
p.s.
Helpful things:
–Wifi is only available for one hour.
–There is in fact a lot of seating including some pretty comfy chairs.
–On Thursdays there is music. It is almost always terrible (free).

I like to stop in here when I’m in Central Sq. They make a damn good latte, the grilled cheese is terrific, and the peach coffee cake amazing. The staff is super friendly and looks happy to be there. This café is in front of the harvest coop, so there’s a lot of people passing through, it’s not a quiet place, but i can usually get a seat and the seats are comfy and spaced out nicely. It’s a great place to people watch and maybe write. And the art is from local artists.

The tea I had here was kind of tasty but since I came later into the evening, they ran out of most pastries and the lady at the counter was really rude about it!
Good place to sit and read though.

I really want to give this place 3.5 stars, but I’m going to bump it up to 4 because of it’s vegetarian and vegan options. They even mark on their menu board what is vegetarian or vegan, for easy ordering.
I’ve come here a few times since I moved back to Boston. I *love* their dairy-​free smoothies. You definitely cannot go wrong with them, and they are great when I’m craving a smoothie and trying to avoid dairy. They are also the only café I’ve found nearby that serves Tofutti cream cheese– a staple in my diet since I used to love cream cheese before I stopped eating dairy day-​to-​day. Also, they have vegan pastries and cookies, which makes me happy.
The last time I got coffee there, it was so-​so. They have rice milk and soy milk, so that was pretty fabulous for my latte (I’m used to having to default to soy milk with no choice). The actual final coffee product was so-​so, though.
The service can be really slow, and often the people who work there are kinda obnoxious in a hipster way. I’ve been there a few mornings where there was about 12 – 14 people in line and the waitstaff didn’t really seem to care at all. Every time I’ve been there, they’ve had one or two waitstaff who had no idea what they were doing and kinda just meandered about, asking questions or staring into space.
They have plenty of tables and couches for people to sit on and study, but I never would– there are much better places to sit and study in Central. I pretty much only come here to grocery shop at Harvest and then take my Clear Conscience Café food home with me.

After months of walking through C-​cubed to get to the co-​op, I think I finally realized why people come here. Three reasons: 1. Dairy-​free smoothies 2. Strange soylent green-​colored liquid shots and 3. Iggy’s bread.
The dairy free smoothie made with strawberries, bananas, and mint was okay but lacked in mintiness. It was, however, the perfect post-​Prana yoga pick-​me-​up ever.
The strange soylent green-​colored liquid shot was in fact made from wheatgrass, which you know isn’t actually soylent green, because you watch them pull a mat of grass out of the fridge and onto the counter. Then, blades of the sweet grass are plucked from the dirt and blended to liquid form. The shot at $ 2.25 is very small, but since they put so much effort into making the shot and warn that the flavor can be a personal preference, small is good. But I actually liked it. I’d do it again. What does it do for you? No clue.
Iggy’s bread. The best around. Bagels, bread… head to Central Bottle Wine + Provisions for more of the good stuff.
So why the fair rating? I just can’t get over the juxtaposition of the cool organic sustainable feature-​filled café dotted with dirty seat covers often occupied by Central Square «local flavor.» I’m happy to order a drink or a snack, but once that transaction’s complete, get me the hell out of there!

4.5 stars and why… $$$
Everybody in this place is cool and a great fit… and it’s been like this since day 1, which is big, so big respects on that front.
This is one of my favorite café’s to go to for several reasons.
1. Location
2. There light roast coffee is liquid crack that makes you smarter, so I get it on Monday’s & Wednesday’s when is my toughest days at work.
3. Good atmosphere
4. Of course, the menu
Trust this place and it’ll gaurantee non disappointment.

I definitely feel that when a business is doing customer service the right way, they should get some props. I come here about every other week for a coffee and a bagel (which is much, MUCH more tasty than the Dunkin Donuts cardborad alternative).
I came in this morning having trudged through some gross snow and things were kind of in chaos at the register. Their computers were down, the register wasn’t working, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria! I placed my normal order and was given my coffee straight away and then stood to the side waiting for my bagel to emerge. Waiting, waiting… still waiting… seeing people behind me get tasty breakfast foods… three Raconteurs songs later… ok, I’m going to ask.
The computer foul up was definitely the root cause which is totally understandable. Not only did the manager apologize really graciously, he started digging into the register to refund my money and give me the bagel for free. I refused the refund, but REALLY appreciated the gesture. What a great example of customer service!
This place is pretty cool and I love supporting the locally owned places around here that clearly give a crap about treating people right. Way to go CCC!

I ordered a bagel with cream cheese — where the bagel was great! The cream cheese was miserly. I like that they call your name for each order — but that said — the counter was crowded with people and I had to wait (and hear my name called again) before I could even get to my food.
It’s supposed to be wheel chair accessible — but the tables are very close together and I had to help out a gent in a wheel chair who after finally getting through the small space — heard his name called and I think it would have been a small thing for the staff to perhaps come out and bring his order to him (OR for there to be more space between tables!).
I like the free wifi — but I don’t understand why it’s just for an hour when there’s enough cafes offering unlimited service. I like also that there are plugs near the tables.
I also like the promise and commitment that they stand for — but I also think the café could be revamped to give a more warmer organic feel.