Lin at Lunch: Boston Common Coffee Company 

Don’t let the name fool you. Boston Common Coffee Company does more than coffee. With a fairly extensive panini menu that includes a sandwich and soup of the day specials, you can get your caffeine and lunch fix here.

Location: Boston Common Coffee Company on 515 Washington Street, blocks from both Boylston and Chinatown stations. Although convenient to the financial district and downtown crossing, the solicitors on Washington Street leave a little to be desired, as does the sign inside the coffee house reminding patrons to mind their bags.

Timeline
12:43 Ordered panini with a side, paid when ordering ($4 minimum to use a debit card)
12:47 Order ready

If you are not getting coffee, be sure to pick your beverage from the coolers before getting in line. Being across the space and far away from the registers, it’s too inconvenient to order, and THEN pick out a bottled beverage. Save yourself the time by grabbing one first.

The ‘Sal’ Panini: Parma prosciutto, fontina cheese and roasted red peppers with fig spread and side of Three Bean Salad ($7.25)

At first impression, this sandwich looks small and overpriced. However, all of the ingredients were very well-proportioned both in amount and in distribution over the entire sandwich. Each bite had a nice blend of flavoring, one no more powerful than the other. The well-pressed bread held the sandwich ingredients making small bites easy and neat.

Even though the panini was ready in a quick four minutes, there are ready-made options to grab-and-go, including salads, wraps and quiche.

There are many seating options at Boston Common Coffee Co.  A counter lines the windowed walls that look out to Washington Street, which may not be the best view, but does have convenient plugs for laptops if you need to have a working lunch.  If dining with others, there are numerous tables throughout the space that seemed to provide ample seating even during the lunch rush hour.

Lunch, coffee, pastry.  Open from 6 am to 9 pm on the weekdays, Boston Common Coffee Co. is a solid options to satisfy your work-week needs.

Boston Common Coffee Co. has two other locations in the Financial District and North End. 

Do you have a favorite panini shop?

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