Not that E & I don’t love Starbucks (after all, we are both stockholders – and no comments from those in the audience who view *$ as the corporate enemy!), but we like to try to find local establishments to frequent whenever possible. So over the past six weeks, we’ve embarked on a quest during our weekly Sunday morning laundry ritual to find a good local coffeehouse. Up to this point, we’ve concentrated on places in Midtown (no further East than 16th street) that are preferably close to our laundromat, City Suds, on the corner of 19th & L.
[In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that many of my ideas about what makes a good coffeehouse are inspired by my stints as a Barista at Starbucks in Las Vegas and Starbucks Café in the West Towne Barnes & Noble in Madison. I’ve also worked retail in other contexts, so I have very little patience for poor customer service, especially when the employees are slow and/or rude and/or seemingly incapable of taking any initiative.]
The criteria are as follows:
1. Excellent customer service – efficient, friendly, accurate, prompt (this is by far the MOST important criteria for me!)
2. Consistency
3. Broad variety of baked goods (savory & sweet, healthy & indulgent, crunchy & chewy)
4. Fair Trade/Organic options
5. Expansive hours of operation (open early, close late)
The results, in order of best to worst:
Java City, 18th & Capitol
This local chain has excellent coffee, including some Free Trade options, fabulous lemon poppy-seed and coffee cake and low-fat blueberry muffins, tasty egg & cheese bagel sandwiches, and a great staff who are always friendly and usually quite prompt, even on busy Sunday mornings when only two people are working. In addition, the “personal cup” discount here is $.21 and is rung up as “save the trees.” This one easily tops all the rest and also has several other locations around the city.
N Street Café, 21st & N
To be honest, we tried this place on a Saturday morning after our workout, and the café isn’t open on Sundays. But it still deserves to be highly ranked, with great coffee, yummy bagel sandwiches, extremely friendly staff, and excellent service. The variety of baked goods leaves a bit to be desired, but the overall atmosphere compensates for this lack. A solid choice.
Open Book, Ltd., 21st & I
Again, not a place we’ve tried together on a Sunday. In addition, it’s primarily a bookstore rather than a café. But I’ve gone there several times to do work on the iBook, and the staff is extremely friendly, the coffee is nice and strong, the biscotti are excellent, and the back courtyard is shaded and pleasant. And the focus on supporting the
GLBTQ community makes this a strong contender in my book (pun intended – sorry!!).
Cup a Joe, 16th & P
OK, not really that close to City Suds, but worth a mention. Across the street from a Starbucks, this establishment makes a decent latte and provides a satisfactory selection of baked items (muffins, scones). Directly across from Fremont Park, the café also offers a local favorite chilled drink – Gunther’s freeze. We haven’t yet partaken of this delicacy, but as the weather heats up, it becomes more and more tempting. Another plus for this café is that it’s part of a mixed-use complex of small retail and condos (as a recent Madisonian, this type of urban development and smart growth are extremely appealing to me).
Those are the only cafes that could even be considered anything approaching “best.” All of the others fall far short:
Infusion, 17th & K
Funky décor (think 60s style handing pod chairs and stylized plastic tables), but we haven’t actually tried any of the fare at this particular café because it’s not open on Sundays – despite the 9am-1pm posted hours… Such misleading advertising is one of my pet peeves, as a lack of professionalism that I find completely unacceptable. The one time I stopped by during the week, the staff failed to even acknowledge my presence and the bakery case was poorly stocked, so I didn’t feel terribly strongly about returning to actually taste the offerings. Which is, in fact, rather unfortunate, since I heard from a local resident that this coffeehouse offer exclusively Fair Trade coffees, something I prefer to support and encourage. Dommage…
The Bread Store, 18th & J
OK, so if you want interesting bread, this is your spot. But if you want a breakfast sandwich or a decent latte or acceptable customer service, you need to search elsewhere. The muffins, pecan rolls, and cinnamon twists are great, but the wait for a sandwich is waaaaaaay too long. Not to mention the use of “old” espresso shots and a milk-steaming wand that is certainly not cleaned as often as necessary. Yuck. We gave this place two chances to overcome its shortfalls, but its surly and slow employees doomed it to failure. If we need fresh crusty bread, we may return. But not for Sunday morning and coffee and treats.
Weatherstone, 21st & H
Again, we gave this café two chances to impress us. We’d heard great things about this café – diverse clientele, welcoming atmosphere. But we were sorely disappointed on both occasions. The service bordered on rude the first time and crossed the line to negligent the second time when the person who was supposed to be making E’s breakfast sandwich continued to chat with a friend who had come in and completely ignored her responsibilities. Surly servers and excessive waiting do not make a good combination. One or the other alone may be excusable, but after enduring this negative experience twice, I firmly declared that my patronage would be withheld for the foreseeable future.
