Commonwealth on Queen. 301 N. Queen St., Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Yeah, so they closed at 2. We should probably have noticed (I (Carolyn) noticed and was hungry, so I did not care) It can change what service looks like at a lot of places. It fortunately didn't here. Honestly, I (Art) didn't know they were closing till we were ready to leave, and chairs started going up on tables. Ah Ha! That's why the sign said Brunch! I can be so clueless at times.... sigh. (It is honestly part of his charm.)
Anyway, we wandered into Commonwealth on Queen because the doughnut shop across the street sucked us out of our car with a flashing 'Open' sign, just to betray our trust by really being closed. That left us bereft, needing to drown our damaged souls with something.... tasty. (He leaves out that we thought about breaking into said Doughnut Shop to turn off the on sign. It would have been a courtesy to other hungry travellers!) Across the street, Commonwealth not only had an Open sign, but actual customers visible inside. Promising!
His First Impressions: Bright. Loud. Lively. Clean. Modern. Too many skinny people. One could suspect an alternative name for the restaurant might have been 'The Uppity Yuppie'. It's a place that tries to be hip, and pretty much nails it. Is that a good or bad thing? Well.... consider it to be flavor for the eyes and other senses. It's part of setting the stage.
Her First Impressions: Loud. Cheerful. Clean. It smelled like toast and coffee. The chairs are not very comfortable. It is a small place so maybe they don't want you to get too comfortable so they have quick turnover? The young lady seated us politely. I am immediately excited because they are advertising a lot of locally sourced ingredients (at one point the lady walked through with fresh bread from a local bakery, they had macaroons from Rice and Noodle, and were advertising local fresh juices and ice cream). It is an eclectic crowd.
Our waitress, Sam (She of the purple hair.... (it was lavender babe not purple!), brought us a chilled bottle of water and two glasses. A cute bottle. The kind with the old fashioned snap on cap and wire bail, like grandma used for home made Root Beer sixty years ago. Plus-one for putting lots of chilled water right where we could reach it. Minus-10 for it being city tap water, tasting of Chlorine or whatever else they put in city water (Devils! They put devils in the city water, and poo).
Yeah... we are water snobs. We live in the sticks and drink wonderful water from a deep well. Usually 'City Water' gets sent away, since it only clutters the table with disappointment. This time, we were thirsty enough to just deal with it.... and it was nicely chilled, and in such a cool bottle.
The menu is varied, interesting, and descriptive enough to generate some salivation. This day, it was 'Brunch, Lunch, and Sweets'. A menu with really good and creative descriptions of the food helps to build a picture in the mind of the diner. This is a good thing, as it makes choosing the meal easier. It also builds anticipation, which has a flavor all it's own in this process. On the other hand.... the meal on the plate better meet the imagined one in the diners mind (or be better), lest anticipation turn into disappointment. In our case, the delivered dishes were pretty much spot on the descriptions on the menu. An aside on the menu from my perspective, they had a few items that said things like, "Ask about fillings" This day the Stuffed Brioche French Toast was filled with Cookie Dough... yes I said COOKIE DOUGH! It really is unfortunate I did not want something sweet. 
Herself ordered the Fruit and Goat Cheese Salad, while crabby old Meself ordered an Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese.
For liquids, she ordered Apricot Iced Tea, and I had a Red Eye..... a cup of plain coffee with a shot of espresso.
The apricot tea was bright and clean tasting, with a slightly floral note. I loved that they offered packets of Truvia! They also had Raw Sugar, Splenda, and the Pink and Blue packets of artificial sweetness.
The coffee was... coffee. Yeah, we are coffee snobs too. At home we grind high quality roasted beans, right before putting them in a percolator with filtered well water. The Red Eye from Commonwealth was... coffee. Frankly, nothing impressive in flavor, bouquet, or richness. It was just plain workmanlike coffee.
Herself's salad: My salad came in at $9.99. It was a mixed greens salad with goat cheese, fresh strawberries, dried cranberries, and candied pecans. It was served with a champagne vinaigrette. I wanted to love it because of the friendly amazing staff, and charm of the restaurant. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. The dressing was nice. It had a tart, clean flavor. It went well with the creaminess of the goat cheese and the bright fresh flavor of the strawberries. It is summer though and in Lancaster County there are a huge amount of other fresh fruits you can use, so I did not understand the dried cranberries. The biggest disappointment for me were the brown wilty greens. I am very picky about my greens, especially if they are serving a fairly simple salad. The greens need to stand up to the task. These did not.
Herself's salad wilty lettuce remains:
Meself's bagel:
Yup.... that thar is a warmed up everything bagel, spread with soft cream cheese. Pretty much exactly as described on the menu. The two thin slices of watermelon as edible garnish were... nice?
Look, I'll be honest. It was underwhelming. It was only $2.95, and that's not bad by any means. Still... it was a $2.95 bagel with cream cheese. I'd order it again, as it was tasty even if very, very plain and simple. (Mr. Grumblepants you could have had the lox as well!) On the other hand, if some thought, soul, and artistry went into it I'd happily pay twice as much. Maybe a better or bigger bagel. Maybe a house-made soft cheese with herbs. Something besides an ordinary blah bagel with ordinary blah cream cheese. Not that blah bagel and blah cream cheese is necessarily bad, but it certainly fails to create a memory. I'll not fade off into sleep tonight thinking about how spectacular that bagel with cream cheese was.... but it could have been that way.... it could have.
Overall impressions: We'll go back some day when we are walking past and have the nibbles. It's clean, has a neat atmosphere, and the service was perfect. The menu is promising, and worth another shot.
A last note: Paying the check, I was asked how it was. I replied... "Okay.... just okay". The young man questioned what could have been better, and I mentioned the sadness of the salad greens on Herself's dish. He immediately took that dish off the check, even as we told him he didn't have to. What he said was interesting; "You don't have to come eat here. We need to make you happy so you'll come back!". I take that as a very customer-satisfaction oriented attitude, and that in itself would make Commonwealth on Queen worth another visit.
I agree the atmosphere and the staff make this worth another try. My ice tea was lovely. My salad wasn't bad, just not exciting. The lady at the table next to us has an amazing looking Poached Egg Dish (most likely Eggs Benedict Florentine without the Hollandaise sauce?) and then there is that stuffed french toast..... Look out Commonwealth on Queen we will descend on you again!
Overall I give this restaurant:
3 out of 5 forks for flavor
4 out of 5 forks for atmosphere
3 out of 5 forks for location (city = poopy parking)
5 out of 5 forks for service
3.75 forks overall
