What In The World is Wrong with the One World Café?

The One World Café first came to the corner of Canterbury and West University Parkway in the late 90s, or perhaps as late as 2000. Before that, it had a more southern city locale, and was touted by most as an innovative organic option amidst a sea of other coffee houses in Baltimore. I was doubtful, being a carnivore’s carnivore. However, I figured that as long as they offered half & half for the coffee, I could deal.

Before an ill-thought move away from Charm City in May of 1999, I had only been to the One World in Fells point (I believe that was the original location, but I wouldn’t swear by it), but one weekend in 2000 I was visiting a friend who’d just moved to the fringe Roland Park neighborhood in which the One World now resided. She was delighted to have this treasure within walking distance of her new apartment.

The food was good, the coffee was brewed to perfection, and I’d never had a mixed berry smoothie so delicious.

Fast forward to the summer of 2004. In an interesting twist of fate, I now reside in this same fringe Roland Park neighborhood, and can spit at the One World from my apartment.

But these days, you enter the front door, sit down, and your table may or may not have been wiped. The cream will separate in your coffee if you don’t drink it inside of 2 minutes (because it’s so tepid), or, it tastes as though it has been brewed with cigarette ashes. The thick white mugs (which should be excellent at retaining heat but aren’t) are scuffed and scraped, and feel dirty in your hands, even though you assume they’ve been washed.

Which leads me to the hot pink lipstick my friend found on his water glass the other night… he only saw this after he’d had a few sips. I ordered French fries and a grilled cheese sandwich. The fries were cold when they came out. Cold and stale. So cold and so stale that the ketchup I used congealed on them in mere minutes. Between my friend and I, we ate a total of about 7 of them. When the waitress, who, like so many of the servers there, had a sanctimonious and superior air, finally troubled herself to return to our table, there sat the enormous plate of papas fritas, bearing more resemblance to little tomb stones than anything else.

It was a personal test for me to see if she would remove them from the check, or even ask if there had been a problem with the uneaten food. No dice. I guess after cornering the market, literally, on coffee shops that neighborhood residents can walk to, the folks at the One World don’t really have anything to reach for anymore.

And I guess this is working for them for now…since they’re always busy enough, but as for me, I’m willing to walk a little farther for cleanliness and hot food.