• 3
• not impressed

We went here recently, initially just to get a coffee, but on reading the menu and noticing a reasonable number of veg options, we decided to have a snack too. The decor was warm and earthy, and we chose comfy (deep!) seats near the large windows. We ordered soy mocha lattes. These were fine, but came out with grated Milk chocolate on top - something to be aware of if you are vegan and order a mocha. We scooped that off before it melted. I would have thought that if someone asks for soy, it's probably safe for staff to assume they don't want anything dairy on their coffee, but we weren't too fussed as we prob should have checked if it was vegan before ordering. However, the food was unfortunately a different story. The menu had v and Ve options noted, along with Gf. Obviously gf is gluten free, but as there was no key on the menu, it was hard to tell which was veg and which vegan. We asked about this, and the girl said the menu was a new version and that Ve , I think, was the vegan options. We ordered the bazaar plate and Rosemary potatoes, requesting vegan for both (both these options were listed as vegan available). All fine. Until the food came.. The potatoes had creamy looking sauce on the plate so I asked the waiter if it was vegan. He said it was aioli so I asked if there was egg in it. He wasn't sure (?) but went to check, came back and apologised before replacing it with a different plate ( no aioli but no replacement either). Ok, mistakes happen sometimes we thought. Meanwhile, the platter had arrived.. Waiter apologised again as they were out of one of the dips, so it was replaced with tzatziki. He immediately clicked that that was not vegan, so he apologised again and went to the chef to find a replacement... Came back and told us the falafel (main part of the platter) contained egg. Things were not going well. We had clearly specified vegan on ordering, and were assured that was fine etc. waiter suggested we choose another option, but our choice was not available (none of whatever it was left). So we went with the safest looking option, faux chicken wraps. I don't want to sound harsh, but these were honestly not worth it. The fake chicken was watery and tasteless, the lettuce and tomato were boring, the wrap part seemed like a storebought burrito wrap, and there was an overpowering coconut taste but no satay sauce. Not worth it. We also had taro chips which were fine, but seemed a bit pricy. Overall, the service was ok. The younger girl could have smiled a bit more/been more welcoming, but she was busy and looked stressed so I felt bad for her. The guy, David? Tried hard and stayed calm/was apologetic with the food issues. We appreciated he was honest in letting us know about the egg etc but it wasn't his fault. We ended up paying over $50 and weren't impressed with the food. If I was the management, I would have apologised and waived the bill, but that's just me. Having said all that, we were impressed with the principles of The Common - local organic produce, enviro friendly practices and cleaning products, recycling, who gives a crap toilet paper. Nice clean bathrooms too. In summary, they are trying, but the vegan side of things needs work.