The Bold Roost is a flawed coffee shop - and I'll get to that - but first, it must be known that the coffee is good and the service is polite. If you're just looking for a Starbucks replacement to pick up a drink for your morning commute, you could probably argue for a four-star review. As someone said earlier, they use Cartel beans ... and that's a good thing.
But what if you're looking to sit down and enjoy a coffee-shop vibe? Bad choice. Why? It's hard to tell.
Maybe it's the sterile interior that doesn't really give off any sort of culture other than "pretty cool basement." Grey-blue walls, too many oversized leather chairs, not enough art. Not to get hippy on this, but The Bold Roost desperately needs a vibe.
Maybe it's the John Mayer that's been playing four out of the five times I've visited. John Mayer is always a bad choice.
Here's the real problem. When you enter the Bold Roost, nothing strikes you quite like the stale quiet. I'm not an acoustic architect so I don't really have a solution (art to cover noise-reflecting walls? rugs? louder music (not John Mayer)? something tall to break up the room?), but I do know that it's a bit uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough, in fact, that sitting down and ordering a panini (the entirety of their food offering) seems like something I'd rather not do.