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Victrola Coffee Roasters – The Most Heavily Guarded Cafe in Seattle
Description on Victrola Coffee Roasters’s website : Victrola Coffee has been sourcing, roasting and serving premium coffee since 2000. Shop our coffee online or visit one of our Seattle coffee shops.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 300 Pine Street, Seattle, WA 98101
Music Playing: Challengers by The New Pornographers
What we ate/drank: Macchiato
Comments:
Like most Seattlites, I try to avoid 3rd and Pine (aka 3rd and Crime), which for as long as I can remember has been the de facto crime spot in all of Seattle. I actually had some visitors from France who witnessed a stabbing here. If I ever want to scare straight my daughters, this is where I’d bring them and say, “If you don’t listen to your parents and study hard in school, this is where you’ll end up” and then I’d point to the plethora of shady characters who hang out here. I had an appointment and was walking to my office and took a path that took me by 3rd and Crime. What is this I see? Lo and behold, what is this new place in the Macys building? A Victrola Coffee Roaster? I had to rub my eyes to make sure it wasn’t a mirage.
It’s actually not that unexpected since Amazon just leased the floors on top of the Macys store and you know Amazonians love them some good coffee. So this Victrola Coffee Roasters is located in the lobby of the entrance to Amazon offices, but it really is on the corner of 3rd and Crime. This is where you can witness the ultimate Seattle worlds clashing and why I’ve named this coffee shop, “The Most Heavily Guarded in Seattle”. After seeing this Victrola Coffee Roasters, I decided to visit it a few weeks later.
UPDATED 9/14/19- If you still don’t believe me about 3rd & Pine & here.
UPDATED 2/23/20 –Another shooting and fatality. The Seattle Times article even talks to a Victrola employee. More here.
The first thing you notice are the security guards everywhere. When I went, there were two guards stationed outside of the doors. Inside there was a desk with another security guard sitting and one guard standing. Near the elevator to the offices there was another security guard and a another guard sitting having a coffee in Victrola. That’s six security guards total! In the café sat four patrons, including myself. If these security guards were not there, I’d guarantee you this place would be teeming with a cast of 3rd and Pine characters.
If you’ve been to the flagship Victrola Coffee Roasters in Capitol Hill you would never have guessed this is another Victrola Café. It is the exact opposite. The Capitol Hill Victrola is cozy, with worn wooden furniture, exposed brick and feeling of yesteryear. The 3rd & Crime Victrola is sleek, modern, new and I don’t want to say sterile, but it’s not as inviting as the Capitol Hill Victrola. It has pendant lighting and modern straight line furniture.
Take a look at the picture below of the long table with a purple neon light running down the center. Is this really Victrola? I understand that the feel of this café probably has a lot to do with matching the aesthetics of the company that inhabits the offices upstairs. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice café, but I wasn’t expecting the huge difference in atmosphere and décor.
Another difference is they have no Mighty-O Donuts! What? But they do have Soco Tacos, La Parisienne pastries. They also have drinks such as Izze, San Pellegrino and Naked Juice.
The definite highlight of the café is the corner facing out on 3rd & Crime is completely all glass and quite impressive. It makes that part of the cafe bright and airy. You can sip your coffee and watch the drug deals going down right in front of you across the street at McDonalds.
Although this Victrola is closer to my work, I’d still prefer to walk a little further and go to the one in Capitol Hill. I’d most likely come here if I were shopping at Macys or Westlake Center and needed a coffee break or if I needed to scare my daughters straight.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The huge all window corner of the cafe looking out on 3rd & Pine
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.00
Food Options: 5.00
Overall: 4.35
Eavedropping Convo: None
Related:
Victrola Coffee Roasters
Description on Victrola Coffee Roaster website: In our popular imagination the roaring 20’s represent excess, prohibition, flappers, and speakeasies. The era’s fingerprints mark much of what we do, from our passion for live vintage jazz to our cafes unique architectural charm.
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill
Address: 310 E. Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98122
Music playing: Starboy by The Weeknd
What we ate/drank: Americano, Macchiato, Iced latte, Apple Fritter, Maple Syrup Doughnut and Sugar Doughnut from Mighty O,
Comments: The Victrola Coffee Roaster is located in one of the old auto row buildings on Pike, which in the oldin days is where the car dealerships were centralized in Seattle. You can read more about the historic auto row here. The other thing about this particular location is that it’s a few yards away from the Starbucks Reserve, which is always teeming with out of town visitors. I’ll admit the “Willy Wonka” factor is pretty cool and I understand why visitors would want to go there, but I’d suggest you also visit Victrola Coffee Roasters. Or maybe you can just check out Starbucks Reserve, take your pictures and get a coffee here.
In addition to this location, Victrola also has another Capitol Hil location and one in Beacon Hill.
And like Caffe Umbria’s website, Victrola also has some really good educational videos on how to brew using Chemex, French Press, Conventional Drip, Pour-Over and even creating Latte Art. They also have videos on the difference between single-origin and blends, where coffee comes from and a video on how to convince habitual coffee drinkers to up their coffee game. That’s hardcore.
Their pastries are from Mighty-O Donuts and their sandwiches are from Bread & Bone.
The café is bright, especially in the morning with the huge south facing windows. There’s lots of space including a huge community table in the middle w/ten seats. There are more seats and tables along the exposed brick walls and front window with wood furniture throughout-tables, chairs, counter. The graffiti art on the walls give the space a nice splash of color. This location has a nice relaxing feel to it. One of those places you’d like to do a cross word puzzle on a lazy Sunday morning.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The huge south facing windows which brighten the entire café.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 4.5
Food Options: 4.5
Overall: 4.75
Eavesdropping Convos: Two guys leaving….
G1-See you later.
G2-Yeah, see you at JJ’s.
G1-What’s going on at JJ’s?
G2-C’mon, March Madness, dude. Didn’t he tell you?
G1-Nah.
G2-Well………just come by, man.
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Herkimer Coffee – Phinney Ridge
Description on Herkimer Coffee website : At Herkimer Coffee our purpose is to create a coffee experience of the highest possible quality. Whether it’s your double espresso, latte to go, or the bag of beans you brew at home, we want your experience to be the best it can be.
Neighborhood: Greenwood
What we ate/drank: Macchiato
Comments:We previously reviewed the Herkimer location in Ravenna. If you want to learn about the origin of Herkimer’s name, their relationship with their pastry supplier, Café Besalu, and the reason for their odd pricing, you can read about it here.
Herkimer Coffee is a well regarded roaster in Seattle as evidenced by their coffee being served at Brother Joe, Analog Coffee, Porchlight Coffee & Records, and Revolutions Coffee to name a few.
The Herkimer – Phinney Ridge location is their flagship and where their roasting takes place. They have a nice seating section that allows you to look directly into the roastery. The only two other roasters I can think of that do their roasting on premises and allows you to watch are Lighthouse Roasters in Fremont and Elm Coffee Roasters in Pioneer Square. I think Victrola Coffee Roasters in Capitol Hill has one too. But at the Herkimer – Phinney Ridge location you’re encouraged to watch the roasting process with seating set up facing the roaster. The other locations have the roasting process going on, but mainly going on in the background.
This space has an “L” shaped configuration with the balance of the space being used for the roastery. Apart from the sitting area where you can watch the roasting process, there’s a few chairs on the outside store front, lots of window seating, a large community table a separate smaller tables throughout.
One of the quirky items they have is a pencil sharpener on the wall for those doing their crosswords or sodoku. One thing to note, during the roasting process it can get quite loud if you intend to have a conversation or bring in a sleeping infant.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: There’s a pencil sharper on the wall! So bring your pencils when doing your NY Times crossword puzzles. Also the seating looking in on the roastery.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 5
Food Options: 3.75
Overall: 4.25
Eavedropping Convo: Two guys having coffee on a counter near the window
Guy 1(G1) – Awe, hell no!
Guy 2(G2) – Stands up really quick from spilled coffee. What happened?!
G1 – I wasn’t paying attention and spilled my drink. Damn, all over my phone too. Can you grab some napkins?
G2 – Rushes to get napkins and brings back.
G1 – Well might be time for a new phone. Attempts to power up his phone. Oh good, it’s still working. Phew. Honestly, there’s a part of me that wishes it was busted, so I could get a new phone.
Related:
It’s been about two years since we published our original “Seattle Coffee Shop Thoughts” post. Things change a lot in two years. New coffee shops open, we revisit shops and gain new perspectives, our own tastes change, so we’d thought we’d update this post.
One thing has not changed. Per our earlier post, according to Bustle, Seattle was ranked #1 for The Best City for Coffee Fanatics. And just earlier this year Wallet Hub ranked Seattle the #1 Coffee City in America.
So we can once again confirm that Seattlites having the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. We can also confirm as before, if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers.
When it comes to price there’s not much differentiation between cafes. We would also say that the places we’ve decided to review all have quality coffee. Although we did visit some cafes where the coffee was subpar(and we choose not to review for that reason), we don’t think a coffee shop can survive for very long in Seattle with the abundance of quality choices.
In our previous post we pointed out there were two types of coffee shops, the cozy and the modern minimalist, but we’ve refined it to 3 types of coffee shops:
1. The Neighborhood /Community Coffee Shop – We’re not saying the quality of the coffee is not a priority in these shops, but there really is an effort to make you feel comfortable(warm lighting and colors, comfy seating) and creating an environment that makes you want to stay awhile and come back. There’s a steady stream of regulars and interacting/small talk with the baristas who know your name and drink before you even walk in the door is common. Locals meet up here to talk and catch up, read a paper or book or just relax.
Examples: Analog Coffee, Lighthouse Roasters, Seven Coffee Roasters , El Diablo Coffee(RIP), Preserve and Gather, Cloud City Coffee, Café Allegro, Zeitgeist Coffee, Anchored Ship Coffee, Bauhaus, Venture Coffee, Mabel Coffee, Eastern Cafe, Fuel, Kaladi Brothers Coffee, Realfine Coffee, Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt, Santo Coffee, Ada’s Technical Books Cafe, Vif Wine | Coffee
Our Favorite: Analog Coffee
2.The Coffee-Centric Shops – It’s all about the coffee first and foremost. Sparse walls, minimal and simple décor and knowledegable baristas are the norm. The baristas want to engage with the customer about the beans and it’s origin. They’ve got options-Chemex, Moka Pot, French Press, Aeropress, Hario V60, Pour Over. They’ll have their own theories on perfect espresso extraction. This is a craft, a way of life and they are serious. You’ll be assured of a very nuanced espresso tasting.
Examples: Slate Coffee Roasters, Elm Coffee Roasters , Broadcast Coffee, Milstead & Co., Ghost Note Coffee
Our Favorite: Broadcast Coffee,
3. The Seattle-Based Roasters – They all have multiple locations around Seattle and no matter what neighborhood you’re in, you’re likely to find one of their branches. When searching for coffee, there’s a sense of relief when spotting one of these roasters due to our familiarity with them. We know we’re getting fresh batch beans and it’s nice to support our local roasters.
Examples: Espresso Vivace , Caffé Vita, Caffe Ladro, Caffe Umbria, Herkimer Coffee, Storyville Coffee Co , Victrola Coffee Roasters, Coffee Works(Seattle Coffee Works, Capitol Coffee Works, Cascade Coffee Works, Ballard Coffee Works), Zoka Coffee Roasters , Cherry Street Coffee.
Our Favorite: Caffe Ladro
The Outliers – They don’t fit in any of the categories, but are still quality coffee shops. Most are not in neighborhood areas and located in places like downtown/Belltown/Pioneer Square.
Examples: Mr West Café Bar, Pegasus Coffee, Caffe Senso Unico, Tempesta Coffee (RIP),Street Bean Coffee Roasters – Belltown, Evoke Coffee, La Marzocco Café & Showroom, Convoy Coffee.
Our Favorite: Mr West Café Bar
Our favorite coffee shops by neighborhood:
Ballard-Anchored Ship Coffee, Bauhaus, Venture Coffee, Mabel Coffee
Belltown-Tempesta Coffee.
Capitol Hill-Victrola Coffee, Ghost Note Coffee, Analog Coffee, Capitol Coffee Works, Kaladi Brothers Coffee, Realfine Coffee, Ada’s Technical Books Cafe
Downtown-Mr West Café Bar, Anchorhead Coffee Co, Pegasus Coffee, Caffe Senso Unico, Café Magliore, Cafe Hitchcock, Victrola Coffee Roasters – Downtown , Seattle Coffee Works **New Location**
Pike Place-Storyville Coffee Co
Eastlake- Armistice Coffee
Fremont-Milstead & Co., Lighthouse Roasters
Georgetown – Brother Joe
Green Lake-Kitanda Espresso, Revolutions Coffee
Greenwood-Preserve and Gather
International District – Eastern Cafe
Maple Leaf-Cloud City Coffee
Pioneer Square-Convoy Coffee, Cherry Street Public House, Caffé Vita, Slate Coffee Roasters, Elm Coffee Roasters, Zeitgeist Coffee , Caffe Umbria
Queen Anne- La Marzocco Café & Showroom, El Diablo Coffee
Ravenna- Seven Coffee Roasters
Roosevelt-Broadcast Coffee, Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt, Santo Coffee, Caffe Ladro – Roosevelt
South Lake Union-Espresso Vivace , Evoke Coffee, Cascade Coffee Works
Tangletown-Zoka Coffee Roasters
University-Café Allegro(Seattle’s oldest coffee shop), Herkimer Coffee
Wallingford-Fuel
Westlake-Caffe Umbria
Related:
- Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
- Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
- Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
- Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt
Description on Armistice Coffee’s website:Her dream was big but the journey was long, pulling hundreds of thousands of shots and waking up earlier than the rooster for years, she pushed on and overcame. Now in the role of head roaster, manager, and basically everything else Rebecca Smith has been running Armistice Coffee for 1 year and has two locations in Seattle.
Neighborhood:Roosevelt
Address: 6717 Roosevelt Way NE UNIT A, Seattle, WA 98115
Music Playing: Poison by Brent Faiyaz
What we ate/drank: Cortado, 12 oz Americano, blueberry scone, ham & Swiss croissant, mocha, mighty o sprinkle doughnut
Comments: This is the 2ndlocation for Armistice Coffee in addition to their other location in Eastlake. Some of the observations we made in our review of the Eastlake locations was that we felt it wasn’t really conducive to working on a laptop due to the limited work style seating. The Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt has no such restrictions.
It has a multitude of seating areas and types of seating areas. It has counter seating near the serving area, counter seating looking out on Roosevelt, individual tables, a community table with two separate outdoor seating area, one that includes a fire pit.
Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt is located on the ground floor of the brand new Lucille on Roosevelt apartments, so they probably had complete control of the design, which we really like. We’ve already mentioned the variety of seating, but take a look at our photos and you can see the details. Chic modern lighting, outdoor lighting that from a distance look like fireflies, being surrounded on all four sides by windows, the coffee roasting equipment on display.
My understanding is that as of now, the roaster is not being used. The cashier mentioned that an alteration may need to be made for exhaust purposes but she wasn’t really sure. I think it’s a real treat when you get to witness the roasting process at places like Herkimer Coffee, Elm Coffee Roasters, Lighthouse Coffee Roasters and Victrola Coffee Roasters. I think it’s really a great “Seattle”experience for visitors who come form areas that don’t have local coffee roasters like we do in coffee-centric Seattle.
Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt also sells alcoholic drinks- wine, beer, sipping tequilla, whiskeys(Basil Hayden, Jameson, Glenlivet 12 yr) and a few simple mixed drinks such as gin and tonic, vodka and soda and Irish coffee.
They also have croissants, muffins, scones, quiches, and a few pre-made sandwiches and salads from White Knuckle. Sign say Mon-Fri 6-10 and Sat and Sun 7-10, so open pretty late.
The music they’ve played during our visits are pretty soothing music. Examples – Escape by Kehlani,Tainted by Alina Baraz, Apple Juice by Jessie Reyez.
On a few of my visits the wifi has been a little inconsistent, so take note if you intend to work there and need to Facetime/Skype.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The various seating areas both inside and out.
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 4.75
Eavedropping Convo: Two guys sitting next to each other on separate tables with their laptops. Seems like they might be acquaintances who see each other at Armistice Coffee – Roosevelt a lot and might recognize each other and make small talk. Both made business calls while we were there, so this might be one of their working spaces.
Guy 1(G1) – Check out this thing I just got on Amazon.
Guy2(G2) – Looks over. Whoa, that’s pretty cool! And wow, it’s a pretty reasonable price.
G1 – Oh, man. It’s not reasonable. This is cheap!
G2 – The next time my mom orders something on Amazon, I’ll ask her to add one to her cart for me. I don’t have an account, so I just use hers and pay her back.
G1- Dude, you gotta get on that! Prime is so cheap and they deliver to your doorstep in one day! Don’t put your poor mom through that – ordering, paying and handing the packages. C’mon.
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Mabel Coffee – Ballard
Description on Mabel’s website : The coffee shop is named after founder Brooke McCurdy’s Great Aunt Mabel; a remarkable woman who blazed her own storied trail her whole life. The tiny coffee shop celebrates Mabel’s spirit of adventure with tasty local fare ready to go for its customers, and delicious coffee drinks for their road less traveled, whether off to work, or a stroll around the surrounding quiet residential streets.
Address: 7001 24th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117
Music Playing: One Love by Bob Marley on a record player
What we ate/drank: Macchiato
Comments: We’ve passed by Mabel Coffee a few times and always thought it was a small little cafe with only a few seats due to their small store front. Little did we know that it’s actually a very big place and probably one of the better coffee shops for large groups to gather. It probably has a chance of cracking our list of Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Groups.
When entering Mabel Coffee, you’ll notice a travel theme with map covered tables, postcards lining the counter, a community travel journal, the menu appearing on an Interstate symbol and the Mabel Coffee logo that includes a traveling RV. This area is rather small with seating for maybe 10 people max. They have some pastries from Macrina and Flying Apron and your normal coffee drinks.
The one thing that sets Mabel Coffee apart from the rest of the Seattle coffee shops is that they serve Bulletproof Coffee with Brain Octane and Grass Fed Butter. The only other places I know of that serve Bulletproof is of course Bulletproof Coffee in South Lake Union and the cafes in Whole Food Markets. If you’ve not heard of Bulletproof you can read more about it here. In short, it’s supposed to suppress hunger, provide mental clarity and provide a more steady lasting energy than regular coffee. I first heard about it from Tim Ferriss about 4 years ago and it always intrigued me. I do get a Bulletproof Coffee every once in awhile and there’s some controversy on whether or not it’s just a placebo, but I’ve got to admit, I do feel my mind is more clear whenever I drink it. Mabel Coffee provides another option if I ever want Bulletproof Coffee.
You can add Mabel Coffee to the long list of Seattle coffee shops that spin records on an old fashioned turntable. I know Convoy Coffee, Slate Coffee Roasters, Porchlight Coffee and Analog Coffee have record players and you also have Victrola Coffee Roasters that has the phonograph as its logo.
Once you’ve obtained your drink, you can go through the door way and it opens up into a massive room full of a mish mosh of tables and chairs. The space reminds me of my old class rooms from grammar school. There’s a small kids area and the biggest community board I’ve ever seen. There’s also another separate room that can be reserved.
Mabel Coffee definitely has a community feel to it – the community travel journal, the large community board, the unpretentious nature of their mish mosh of tables and seatings, the availability to rent a room, doggy treats, dedicated kids area. It’s definitely been added to our list of coffee places we intend to frequent.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: They serve Bulletproof Coffee, space is great for large groups and you can rent a small room in the back
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.65
Eavesdropping Convo: A guy(G1) was showing another guy(G2) the separate room available for reserving in the back.
G1 – This is the room I was telling you about. I think it’s reserved for a church group on Wednesdays, but we can reserve and go over our business plan.
G2 – G2 looks inside. Oh, wow. This is great. It’s bright and we can have some privacy and good coffee to boot.
G1- No doubt. I don’t think anybody knows about this place.
G2 – How did you find out about it?
G1 – Remember my buddy, Greg? He said he and his boys used it to play Catan here for a few hours last weekend.
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
- Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
- See what a 25 year old from Finland thought of Seattle
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 5
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers. These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes. In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop For Food Options
This speaks for itself. These are the best coffee shops with regard to food options. Menu links are attached for each place. All places have a good variety of not only your normal cafe pastries, but also savory hearty dishes which provides more options to people especially if the people in your group want different choices.
- Cherry Street Public House (menu)
- Zeitgeist Coffee (menu)
- Cloud City Coffee (menu)
- Cafe Hitchcock (menu)
- Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe (menu)
- Mr West Café Bar (menu)
- Anchorhead Coffee Co (menu)
Best Seattle Coffee Shop With Friendliest Service
I find the stereotype of the surly, snobby Seattle barista to be just that, a stereotype. For the most part all employees at the coffee places we’ve been to have been cordial, efficient and plain decent human beings. On the particular days we visited these establishments, the service happened to be extra special. This might be the first, last or only time we ever visit these places, but on the day we went, it left a lasting impression on us. So much so that they made it on to our Best Seattle Coffee Shop With Friendliest Service list.
- Cafe Vita – Pioneer Square
- Realfine Coffee
- Slate Coffee Roasters
- Pegasus Coffee
- Storyville – 1st Ave
I find it amusing that out of 60+ Seattle Coffee Shop reviews from our website that the most viewed coffee shop review of all time Caffé Vita’s in Pioneer Square. It’s popular because I made a fool of myself there. Here’s the backstory. I like to find out about the origin of the logos and/or names of the establishments. I went into this particular Caffe Vita one morning and forgot where I was and asked the barista about Caffe Ladro’s logo like an idiot. The cashier at Caffe Vita(bless her little heart) didn’t correct me or look at me like a moron and tried her darndest to come up with an answer about Caffe Ladro’s logo. It wasn’t until I had ordered and gotten my coffee that a realized my faux pas. I actually did finally get my answer from Caffe Ladro about their logo. She was so nice in trying to answer my question. There was a co-worker standing right next to her who just listened. She must have also thought I was crazy.
I deemed the owner/cashier/barista at Realfine Coffee, The Master of Small Talk. She really engaged each customer with small talk and she was one of the best I’ve ever heard. It didn’t matter if you were a regular or a new customer or if you were in a good mood or bad mood, she really knew how to interact with people.
When I ordered the Deconstructed Espresso at Slate Coffee Roasters the cashier/barista asked if I had ever had it before. I thought it was strange at first, but I understood why, when he brought the three cordial glasses of espresso, milk , macchiato to my table. He went into great detail explaining each ingredient-where it came from, what type of notes I would taste, suggestions on how to drink each ingredient and in what order. I could tell he really took pride in the ingredients, it’s presentation and felt like he really wanted me to have a great experience trying it. And because of him, I did.
Pegasus Coffee in the Seattle Tower on 3rd could well be one of the smallest coffee shops in Seattle. For this reason, if you stay there to drink your coffee, you will undoubtedly strike up a conversation with the cashier and barista. It would be too awkward to be is such small quarters in close proximity to each other and not make small talk. Both gals I spoke to that day were really friendly and I could tell they were really into coffee. When I asked what cafes they hang out at when not working at Pegasus, their eyes lit up and they seemed so excited to tell me where they like to go. They had some good ones too-Zeitgeist, Caffe Vita, Victrola Coffee Roasters, La Marzocco.
On the particular day going to Storyville on 1st Ave, the cashier had a standard question of asking where each person ordering was from to see if they were from out of town. This would then lead to more banter. You can read about a conversation she had with a Philadelphia coffee novice in my review. They also bring you a cup of water as soon as you sit down and bus your dishes and cups for you. This is unheard of in Seattle.
Realfine Coffee
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 3
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers. These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes. In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets – Slate Coffee Roasters’ Deconstructed Espresso + Milk
These are the Seattle Coffee Shop versions of the McDonalds Happy Meals. Why just get one drink when you can enjoy a variety of preparations or combinations?
- Slate Coffee Roasters ($7)
- Kaladi Brothers Coffee ($6)
- Elm Coffee Roasters ($5)
- Cherry Street Coffee House ($3.35)
- Third Culture Coffee ($8)
Slate Coffee Roasters’s Deconstructed Espresso + Milk was featured in our Seattle Coffee Places For Each Stage of Dating post. We thought it was a great way to share a tasting. What makes this number one in our book is the extensive explanation of all the ingredients by the barista. You can also taste the quality of the ingredients. It was very evident, especially the milk. I think it was fun to taste the ingredients separately and together.
Kaladi Brothers Coffee has the most unusual drink set with their Brew and Brew, which is a very strange combination of a macchiato and a Rainier Beer. I’m not sure if you get drunk and use the caffeine to sober up or get hyped off caffeine and use the alcohol to come back down.
Elm Coffee Roasters has a few combinations, but the One of Everything has the most variety of coffee drinks. You get a macchiato, espresso shot and a brewed coffee for only $5.
Cherry Street Coffee House has a smaller version called the One & One, which is a solo macchiato and a solo espresso. Short and sweet, but you still get a variety to test the palette.
You’ve got to go all the way to Bellevue’s Third Culture Coffee to enjoy their Atalia combo set, which is an espresso, americano and a macchiato.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop View – Milstead & Co.
- Milstead & Co. – Fremont
- Storyville Coffee in Pike Place Market
- Cherry Street Public House – Pioneer Square
- Caffe Umbria– Pioneer Square
- Victrola Coffee Roasters – 3rd &
Pine(Crime)
Milstead & Co is located on Troll Ave & N. 34th Ave a few blocks down from the famous Troll under the 99 Bridge. Because it’s on a corner with windows facing east and south, you get an unobstructed view of the 99 Bridge and Lake Union. They also have a pretty big patio, so you can enjoy your coffee outside and really get a the full effect of the view.
If you sit right next to the huge half circle windows at Storyville Coffee in Pike Place Market you can look down on the market and also see the Puget Sound. It’s a great place to take out of town visitors and the view is one of the main reasons.
Cherry Street Public House is located right in Occidental Park in Pioneer Square. As little as 7 years ago, this was a pretty shady park, but with new businesses hear and an upgrade to the park, it’s now a nice place to sit and enjoy the view.
Caffe Umbria is right down the block in Pioneer Square and located on the pedestrian only stretch on Occidental Ave. It’s a nice place to people watch during First Thursday in Pioneer Square or people going to the Mariners/Sounders/Seahawks game. This last one doesn’t have a nice view like the other four, but the view might provide a good bit of entertainment.
Victrola Coffee Roasters on 3rd and Pine, which we deemed, The Most Heavily Guarded Coffee Shop in Seattle. As mentioned in the post, this corner is notorious for it’s constant crime and hang out for shady characters. Sit back in the café and watch the drug deals go down.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Woodland Coffee
Description on Woodland Coffee’s website : Good Coffee Good People
Neighborhood:Frelard (Fremont/Ballard)
Address: 1417 NW 54th St #101, Seattle, WA 98107
Music Playing: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart by Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus
What we ate/drank: Cortado
Comments: Stumbled upon this place when going to the El Camion Taco Truck(which is not there anymore!) on 54th. Woodland Coffee is in a newer building(Studio Works) which houses a lot of small businesses.
Here’s the history of how Woodland Coffee came to be from their website:
Woodland Coffee began in 2016 out of our family’s love for coffee and a nonchalant place to get it. It all started with our mom and dad’s love for coffee in Seattle in the 80’s, 90’s. The coffee scene was small but growing, and we went to the places that got it right, like Allegro. Our weekend ritual was to grab the dogs, drive to the U-district for coffee and head to Woodland Park. The dogs would run, we would get muddy but at least we were caffeinated. Twenty or so years later, while we don’t spend every weekend together, the tradition of grabbing coffee and getting outside persists. Finally in 2016 our dad built StudioWorks in Ballard with a small allotted space for his dream coffee shop. The youngest (of us) runs the store and the rest of the family pitches in. At Woodland we want everyone to be able to have the feeling of the good old 90’s coffee shop, where we want no snobbery just good coffee.
I like it. It’s a mish mosh of styles and seating areas. You have the modern 4 leather chairs in the corner, the long high counter for single seating looking out on the patio. You have a oval community table that has 8 chairs in the middle and few bar type high tables for four and then the bench seating near the store front. As mentioned there’s also a patio area, which is rather large.
There are plants throughout which makes the space feel fresh and there’s a lot of decorative woodwork on the wall. It’s a dog friendly place, so that’s a plus. They use Olympic Coffee Roasters for their beans. There is a small case of pastries and a few sandwiches.
I have a few qualms, but this is more personal preference, so others may love it. 1) The music is really loud. 2) The lighting is a bit on the bright side. It’s probably due to the fact that it’s north facing storefront, so not much natural light gets in. My preference is warm lighting when going to a cafe. The lighting here reminds me of being in school. 3) The other thing might be small issue, but may be important to others. The website menu is off by about 30% to what is being charged in the actual store. For example, a Cortado is listed as $2.50 on the website, but is actually $3.25. It’s only .75 cents, right? So why quibble? But……
This is an area(Frelard between Fremont and Ballard) rife with breweries(Reubens, Lucky Envelope, Stoup, NW Peaks, Lagunitas, Peddler, Popluxe) but it is a wasteland for coffee. I think it’s because it’s more of an industrial area moreso than a neighborhood. But if you want a good coffee and a cafe to relax in after visiting all the breweries, Woodland Coffee definitely fits the bill.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Really the only option in the area as far as we’re concerned and it’s a good option.
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.25
Food Options: 4.00
Overall: 4.25
Eavesdropping Convo: Couldn’t eavesdrop due to the music volume.
Related:
Lighthouse Roasters
Description on Lighthouse Roaster’s website : One of Seattle’s original roaster cafes, Lighthouse has spent more than twenty years creating a loyal following of coffee lovers by treating the coffee buying, roasting and drink-making as a noble calling.
Neighborhood: Fremont
Address: 400 N 43rd St, Seattle, WA 98103
Music Playing: Lady by D’Angelo
What we ate/drank: Espresso and Cinnamon Apple Roll
Comments: When I first moved to Seattle I lived exactly one block away from Lighthouse Roasters right on the same street, Phinney Ave.
There were many a time where I missed my bus(5 going into downtown), so I would walk to Lighthouse Roasters for a cup of coffee and wait for the next one. Who wants to wait outside in the cold winter when you can see the bus stop from Lighthouse Roasters window? This was back in the day where there was no app to monitor the buses arrival. I’d get my coffee and listen for the bus coming down the street and then run out the door to catch it.
The layout of Lighthouse Roasters has changed since then, but there is one thing that has not-the old time general store feel. You ever see the movie, Doc Hollywood, where a big time doctor gets stuck in a small town where everybody knows everybody. Go into Lighthouse Roasters on any given morning. Rarely do you see anybody drive up and get a cup of coffee. Most of the people who go there walk from the surrounding neighborhood and they come every single day like it’s a part of their daily routine. Just sit there and watch. People talk to the baristas like old friends. Patrons recognize other patrons and small talk.
The last time I was there, I counted. There were six separate people reading newspapers! Not there looking at their phone, but actually reading a newspaper. That’s what makes it feel like a small town general store where the locals gather and hang out. For me that’s the allure of real neighborhood style coffee shops like Seven Coffee Roasters and Analog Coffee. You’re going through a neighborhood and they are right in the middle of it, like it shouldn’t be there. There are no other businesses near Lighthouse Roasters, only houses. Preserve and Gather and El Diablo Coffee(RIP) also have that neighborhood feel, but those are on main thoroughfares.
It’s really hard to explain why I like it so much. It’s the hustle and bustle of patrons ordering and talking, neighbors constantly walking in coming and going, the sound of the roasting process going on in the background, even the music -Lady by D’Angelo fit in with the vibe of the coffee shop. You add in their smooth and rich espresso and an apple cinnamon muffin and it’s perfect.
It’s one of the few places that I can recall that regularly has the coffee roasting process going on and is a part of the environment. There are places that have the roasting process on site but in a separate room(Café Allegro, Victrola Coffee,), or the roasting process is done on premises in the coffee shop(Elm Coffee Roasters), or some places have small roasters, which don’t make much noise due to it’s size(Armistice). I think having the roasting process right there and having the noise in the background adds something to the atmosphere.
And even if you’ve never been to Lighthouse Roasters, chances are you’ve had their coffee. Off the top of my head I know Bauhaus, Eastern Café and Voxx uses their beans.
The space is not big, but there are probably about 25 normal seats, 6 stools at the counter(my favorite so you can watch the baristas) and the standing counter looking out on the street that has room for about 5 standing patrons. This was my spot when watching for the bus. And I’ve said in posts before, I’m partial to coffee shops on corners due to the light in brings in from two directions.
They have a small selection of pastries, but that’s about it.
Writing this really brought back some memories when I lived down the block. Those were the good ole days when I was younger and dumber.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The small town feel and hustle and bustle of making coffee, but also roasting beans.
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.75
Eavesdropping Convo: See above
Related: