El Diablo Coffee

**********9/20-Unfortunately, EL Diablo Coffee Has Closed Down**********

El Diablo Coffee

Description on  El Diable Coffee’s website :  El Diablo Coffee Co. has been a fixture in the Queen Anne neighborhood for 15+ years, providing a gathering place for locals and more. We’ve partnered with Tony’s Coffee out of Bellingham, Washington, to serve El Diablo Coffee Co. customers unique, artisan coffee roasts, including carefully composed blends and single-origin offerings.

Neighborhood:  Queen Anne

Address: 1825 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109

What we ate/drank:  Cortado, Strawberry/Banana smoothie, Cuban Toast, Breakfast Burrito with bacon.

Comments:   We had never been to El Diablo Coffee prior to them moving into their new digs earlier this year. We were very familiar with Cloud City Coffee, which shares the same owner.  I can’t imagine that the old location was nicer than this one.

To give some history behind El Diablos Coffee’s almost soap opera-ish move to a new location we only need to go back to this spring. Although we’d never been to El Diablo Coffee before, we did hear about the impending closing due to the landlord kicking them out within a short time period and the uproar it caused in the Queen Anne neighborhood.  At the time it had been open for close to 20 years, so it had been a staple in the community for quite some time.  They were given less than a month to vacate and find a new spot. Of course El Diablo Coffee wanted to stay in the neighborhood that made them successful, but also wanted to keep their employees. They tried to work with the landlord to no avail.  Luckily there was a space a few doors down that had been vacated by a restaurant and that’s where they’re located now.

One of the reasons we had never been to El Diablo Coffee is that it’s on Queen Anne Hill and we don’t venture out that way too often.  On this particular morning, we were meeting somebody who lived there, so we came here for breakfast. It’s basically a café inside of a house. This place is spacious both on the outside and inside. I counted 8 tables just on the front patio which is elevated so you don’t feel your right on the sidewalk/street.  The patio also has tons of greenery and huge umbrellas for shade/protection from the rain.  As you enter on the left there’s a living room with a group table that can seat 6 and a love chair. Right next to that is the counter/cashier where you order.

In the back is a bar counter and few individual tables, but one thing that may interest parents is a separate room with loads of toys for kids. It was nice enjoying our breakfast and drinks in peace while our daughter was occupied with all the books and toys. We’d pay extra for this amenity alone.  What sets El Diablo Coffee apart from other cafes is that the first floor is already spacious for a Seattle café, but they also have a huge area upstairs that includes another patio.  I believe the second floor is not yet complete, but it already has various tables, a couch with coffee table and a fireplace.  The second floor is also really bright due to the skylights. I can see this being a perfect work area. They also have signage that the space is available to be rented out for things like baby showers, work get togethers, birthdays and even weddings. I believe they said that max occupancy is 100 people, so that tells you how big the area is.

If I’m comparing to Cloud City Coffee, they don’t have nearly the variety of food options. I had the breakfast burrito with bacon which was your standard egg, potato, bacon, cheese. I do appreciate that they toasted the outside. Couple of issues though.  We ordered a Cuban Toast, which is tomato, cheese and ham, but they forgot the ham.  We returned it and they apologized and fixed it right away.  We also ordered a strawberry/banana smoothie, which they forgot to make. At the drink handoff area, they saw me standing there waiting and they asked what I was waiting for and realized they hadn’t made the smoothie yet.

The prices are slightly higher than Cloud City, which I understand, because the space is way nicer than Cloud City. Both places use Tony’s Coffee.  One of the main differences is that El Diablo Coffee serves beer while I don’t think Cloud City does. They had locally breweries, Georgetown, Fremont and Figurehead brews on tap. They also had Two Beers and Georgetown Lucille IPA in cans along with, cider and wines.

I love the quirky blue peacock wall paper throughout along with the home touches like French doors, chandeliers and wall sconces for light.

In summary, this is a great place if you have a big group to meet up for coffee. It’s also an ideal location if you have kids since they can be separated in the kids room and you don’t have to worry about them bothering the other patrons. I always appreciate when coffee shops(and breweries for that matter) have dedicated spaces for kids, but El Diablo Coffee goes a step further with an actual room.

Ratings(1-5)

Favorite Thing:  Tons of space both on the front patio, inside the “house” and out on the back patio.

Atmosphere:   5

Service:  4.25

Food Options:   4.50

Overall:   4.65

Eavedropping  Convo:  Guy was sitting by himself and a guy with an Australian accent came over.

Guy from Australia(GFA) – How have you been?

Guy from here(GFH) – I’ve been good, how about you? It’s been a while.

GFA-I like this place you picked to meet up.

GFH-Yeah, I like it a lot. It’s very decorative and I just work down the block, so I come here a lot.

GFA- Simplistic more so than decorative cafes are all the rage back home at the moment. I do notice all the cafes here have avocado toast like back home though. Comment:  El Diablo has a Guacamole toast that’s on Cuban toasted bread

GFH- You feel right at home then, huh?

GFA/GFH- laughs

Related:

• Our Favorite Cozy Coffee Shop – Cloud City Coffee
• Our Seattle Coffee Shop Thoughts
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