Sherman Cafe - Somerville, MA

Sherman Cafe - 6.2


The Sherman Cafe is a small coffee shop and restaurant in the Union Square neighborhood of Somerville. It's a popular spot for laptop users to camp out, with an array of small tables and a nook with a well-worn couch for a more relaxed visit. The cafe's menu focuses on coffee drinks, tea, and also sells some locally made bottled sodas to drink and popular food items
include sandwiches, bagels, salads and pastries. The Pissing Bandit recommends the bacon, cheddar and green apple sandwich on sourdough. The food here is pretty great, but should it go right through you, or should last night's PBR overindulgence catch up to, head to the restroom. The Sherman Cafe is located at 257 Washington St in Somerville.


Location: The restroom is where you would probably expect it to be, in the rear to the left. This isn't a very big cafe so there aren't many places in which to hide a bathroom.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Accessibility: The cafe is mostly self-service, so there's no nosy hostesses to sneak past. There is one obstacle for the mobility-challenged; the bathroom is a step up from the floor level.
Grade: 7 out of 10

Number of Stalls: There's only one restroom here, so if it's in use you may have to wait a few minutes. Because there's only one, if you're a female who gets uppity about seats being left up, the unisex status of this bathroom may not be up to your standards.
Grade: 3 out of 10

Stall Quality: It's small, which can be a minus, but its size clearly implies that this restroom is meant for one person only; nobody is going to come in and wait for you to finish your business. The throne itself is also small and appears to be a low-flush model.
Grade: 5 out of 10





Toiler Paper: The paper here is actually fairly soft. It's not ultra-quilted high end paper but it's not that rough, thin stuff you all too often find. One roll is on a free-standing spool that provides easy access. I've never seen one of these before and I think it's a nice touch. Another back-up roll was on top of the tank.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Cleanliness: Considering they only had one small restroom, you'd think it would be pretty easy to keep it clean. But when The Pissing Bandit paid a visit the throne was in need of a little cleaning. Other than the toilet the place was in pretty decent shape, and all paper products were well stocked and not on the floor.
Grade: 6 out of 10

Scent: Although the toilet didn't look like something you could see your reflection in, and also considering the sole restroom's heavy use, it had no foul odors at all. It also didn't smell like lilacs either - pretty neutral here.
Grade: 6 out of 10

Flush: This little shitter has seen better days. I would not want to taking any mega-dumps in this toilet. Not only is the flush weak but you have to hold down the handle for about 10 seconds just to get the flush going. Something tells me this toilet could be easily put out of order, and you'll quickly be outed as the culprit if that's the case.
Grade: 3 out of 10

Aesthetics: It's in this category that Sherman's restroom really shines. Rare is a bathroom that provides any reading material beyond "Employees Must Wash Hands..." or "For a good time call..." But in the Sherman's WC the walls are adorned with pages of Boston's beloved late 90's redundant news source The Weekly Week, which was published for several years as a Boston-centric version of the Onion. This is that rare restroom where you actually might spend more time than necessary in.
Grade: 10 out of 10



The Bottom Line: While this isn't a bathroom you'd want to retire to, newspaper in hand, after a chili eating contest, it's certainly worth a visit to check out the Weekly Week walls even if it's just to wash your hands.

Contributed by: The Pissin' Bandit