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Watson’s Counter
Recommended by: Nobody. We saw it on the way to Biscuit and Bean a few blocks down the street and decided to try it.
Description on the Watson’s Counter website: We’re native Seattleites who want to provide a space for people to come together and build relationships over some damn good coffee and food. We have a full espresso bar as well as a kitchen focused on classic brunch foods and afternoon bites. We’ve drawn upon our Korean heritage and taste for nostalgic flavors to add a bit of our personality to the offerings.
Neighborhood/Type: Ballard
Address: 6201 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
What we ate/drank: Loco Moco, Chicken & Waffles, 1 + 1 = espresso and 4 oz latte, Anchorhead drip coffee. Update 7/19 below- KBBQ PORK PLATE-Roasted pork belly, rice, assorted kimchis, perilla leaves, tofu, lettuce wraps, Korean peppers, and sauce
A few weeks ago we noticed Watson’s Counter on our way to Biscuit and Bean down the street, so we decided to check it out. We found out they’ve only been open for a little over a month. When first walking in you really wouldn’t know they served food since the first thing you see as you enter is the espresso machine and the coffee/drink board hanging overhead.
Upon entering it reminded us of a mini Mr West Café & Bar -white marble table and counter tops, lots of plants, fancy pendulum lighting , dark wood bench and cabinets, lots of natural lighting, airy. There’s limited seating, a couple of 2 seat tables, a couple of 4 seat tables and a community table for 8. They also have a small counter that’s probably more conducive for standing than sitting. Even with its limited seating, it’s really family friendly. I counted 3 high chairs stacked and they have a changing table in the rest room.
We happen to be there for breakfast and it’s served all day. Watson’s Counter opens at 6:30am and closes at 4:00pm(7:00pm on Fri) on the weeknights, but opens from 8:00am to 7:00pm on Sat and Sun. To start, I ordered the 1 + 1, which is a solo espresso and a 4oz latter. My wife got a drip. Anchorhead is the coffee roaster they use. Can’t go wrong there.
They don’t have a lot of dish choices, but we prefer that a restaurant have fewer plates that they do well, than a restaurant that has a lot of options, but of mediocre quality. Although the menu is small, it’s still varied-Soba Noodles(Japan), Loco Moco(Hawaii), Poutine(Oh, Canada!), Chicken Wings(Korean). The menu definitely has a Korean slant to it.
I got the waffles and chicken. On the menu it’s listed with a honey butter, but the owner advised it comes with an in-house made gochujang option and recommended it, so that’s what I went with. The waffles came with two huge chicken wings and was prepared to perfection-crispy outside, juicy inside. It came with an organic maple syrup, but I thought the waffles tasted best eating it plain in combination with the savory gochujang flavored wings.
CHICKEN & WAFFLES
two of our honey-butter wings on top of our house rosemary Belgian waffle. Served with organic maple syrup and Louisiana hot sauce. gochujang. Score: (4.0/5.0)
My wife got the Loco Moco. I know it’s early in the year, but this dish is a contender to be on our Top Dishes of 2019. We’ve had our fair share of Loco Mocos in Hawaii and around town at Kona Kitchen, Maono, Cheeky Café. This is the best we’ve had. The patty is made with a blend of chuck, short-rib, and pork belly and you have the rice and egg, but the showstopper is the house-made gravy. It’s a thick peppery flavorful smack in the mouth. Mixed with the egg yolk, generous sized patty and topped with sesame seeds and green onions = Broke Da Mouth! As mentioned the dish selection is on the small side, but there are definitely a lot of other interesting dishes we’ll need to try in the future. The K-Poutine, soba noodles and a cereal French toast creation covered in Fruity Pebbles that the gentleman next to us ordered, all look really delicious.
Tips are included so the prices are rightfully a little higher and payment is made at your table-Canadian style. I think I saw a notice/application for a liquor license in their window, so alcohol is likely on the way. We asked about the logo since it’s hard to figure out what type of animal it is. The owner said that it’s his dog wearing a tiger outfit, whose name is Watson, the namesake of the restaurant. We also found out that the owner is the former Director of Education at Caffe Ladro. Quite the pedigree.
For only being open for a short time, it felt like they’d been open for years-attentive service, good suggestions, organized, efficient, spotless.
Prediction Time: Right now this small Watson’s Counter is new and at the moment largely unknown, but trust us this place will soon go the way of other popular Seattle small spots like Fat Hen, Wandering Goose(RIP 2020), Il Corvo(RIP 2020) and have crowds waiting and lines forming when word gets out, so get your ass over there soon!
Update 7/19: Went back for breakfast and got the Loco Moco again and it was as good as we remembered. We also tried a new dish, the KBBQ. You can eat it as just as you see below or you can use the provided lettuce leaves to create a lettuce wrap. As you can see below, there area a ton of ingredients that you can mix and match and come up with your own favorite. One ingredient I’d never seen before was kim chi apples.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.80
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers Locals recommendations to visit in the future: Back in the spring, a friend of ours mentioned a new Mexican restaurant that opened on 15th Ave NW that served breakfast everyday. He couldn’t recall the name of the place, but on the way to one of our Watson’s Counter visits, we saw Sazon Kitchen and tried it.
Related Articles:
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 2
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 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.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Big Groups – El Diablo Coffee, Espresso Vivace-SLU, La Marzocco Cafe
These places are huge by Seattle Coffee Shop standards, but they not only have a lot of space, but also have areas for bigger groups to gather. Large coffee shops are a rarity in Seattle, so keep this list handy.
l Diablo Coffee(RIP) -Queen Anne- Espresso Vivace-Alley 24 -South Lake Union
- La Marzocco Café -Seattle Center
- Kaladi Brothers Coffee -Capitol Hill
- Caffe Umbria-Pioneer Square
El Diablo Coffee not only has big front patio, a living room area and a kids room, but it also has an entire second floor that is big and another huge patio. You will have no problem for a group meet up here. Espresso Vivace also has areas conducive to group gatherings, but also has a separate room for groups. La Marzocco Café has a radio station and a rotating group of roasters that take over the café, but it’s a wide open space and although it can get crowded, we think it’s good place for big groups. Kaladi Brothers Coffee is another unusually large place and it’s in normally-cramped Capitol Hill to boot. They not only have a massive community table, but also a second floor perch that is also quite spacious. This particular Caffe Umbria location in Pioneer Square has a section for ordering and preparation with standing only counters/tables, but a whole separate section with tons of seating.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops For When You Want To Be Left Alone – Pegasus Coffee
This is the opposite of the above category. Sometimes you just want to be alone while enjoying your coffee. You might want to read a book or listen to a podcast or get some studying or work done. There’s a good possibility that you might bump into a colleague or a friend at some of the more popular coffee places. Whatever the reason or circumstances, here are some suggestions for coffee shops if you want to be left alone:
Pegasus Coffee is small standing room only coffee shop that used to be an old cigar shop. It has a counter with a seat for one person only on either side of the front door. So if you bump into somebody you know here, they’ll have to sit in the other seat across the door, so you can continue to enjoy your coffee solo. Tempesta Coffee (RIP)has one standing table for just one person. That’s it. Again, even if you bumped into somebody you know there, they can’t join you. Plus as mentioned before they have a damn good Americano and even better doughnuts. Convoy Coffee is another small place, although it has a big seating area up the stairs. I don’t think many people know about Convoy, so they go to the many more-established coffee shops in Pioneer Square, which is the reason you won’t bump into anybody hear. As mentioned in our previous post, it’s a very underrated cafe. Caffe Ladro – The “Jetson’s” location. It’s near the Convention Center and some hotels, so it seems like it’s mostly tourists and taxi drivers who come here. It’s also in that weird spot between downtown and Capitol Hill, so I don’t think it has many regulars. This place is two blocks from my office and I have never seen another co-worker come here.
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 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.
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards-Part 1
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.
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.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop Neighborhood – Pioneer Square
There are only really two choices. Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square. South Lake Union has ton of satellite branches of local Seattle cafes, but they’re mainly in the lobby of Amazon buildings and don’t have the atmosphere that most cafes have. I also don’t consider Downtown Seattle a neighborhood. We’re giving the nod to Pioneer Square. You’ve got Convoy Coffee, Slate Coffee Roasters, Elm Coffee Roasters, Zeitgeist Coffee. In our opinion you have the best Caffé Vita, Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House locations in Pioneer Square. You also have a wide variation of styles. You’ve got the old cafes with tons of character in Caffé Vita and Zeitgeist Coffee. You’ve got the more modern cafes with great views in Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House. You’ve got the bright little start up spot of Convoy Coffee. You’ve got the hardcore roasters of Slate Coffee Roasters and Elm Coffee Roasters.
Most Mentioned/Most Popular Seattle Coffee Shops – Espresso Vivace and “The Caffes”
When talking favorite coffee shops with local friends, there four names continuously pop up. These are the granddaddies of the Seattle Coffee Shop scene.
This actually makes sense because they all have an empire of multiple locations and all have been around for a longggggg time. And of course they have great coffee and roast their own beans. In no particular order……
- Espresso Vivace– 3 Seattle locations. Established 1988.
- Caffé Vita– 6 Seattle locations. Established 1995.
- Caffe Ladro– 15 locations in the greater Seattle area(incl Bellvue, Kirkland, Edmonds, etc). Established 1994.
- Caffe Umbria– 3 Seattle locations. Established 2002 , but family behind Umbria has been involved in Seattle cafes since 1986.
Caffe Umbria
Most Underrated Seattle Coffee Shops – Tempsta Coffee, Convoy Coffee, Ghost Note Coffee
These are the exact opposite of the popular coffee shops. We never hear anybody mention these coffee shops.
Tempesta Coffee(RIP)- Convoy Coffee
- Ghost Note Coffee
- Realfine Coffee
- Seven Coffee Roasters
- Anchorhead Coffee Co
- Analog Coffee
We believe these places are never mentioned, because they have never been visited by most people. There are a lot of reasons why. Here are our theories. In the case of Tempesta Coffee (RIP), they’re in a super small unassuming space in the middle of Belltown. It’s so small there’s not even a single seat, but damn, do they have good Americanos. Convoy Coffee is also a small place and might be drowned out in a sea of great more established coffee places in Pioneer Square(see above). Most people know them as the bicycle coffee bar at the University and Ballard Farmers Markets. Ghost Note Coffee is off the main streets of Pine and Pike in Capitol Hill and is relatively new. And although Realfine Coffee is not new to West Seattle, it’s very new to Capitol Hill and perhaps just gaining it’s footing. Seven Coffee Roasters is roaster in the middle of the Ravenna neighborhood and is disguised as a general store. Most people pass it and don’t even know it’s a roaster. Anchorhead Coffee Co is probably the most Instagrammable of the bunch, but it’s also relatively new being open for only two years. Lastly, I think Analog Coffee has actually gotten a lot of accolades and publicity, but nobody ever seems to mention it. Perhaps because it’s also in the middle of a neighborhood and not on a main avenue. We’re totally fine with these places being underrated and undiscovered, so we have them all to ourselves.
Next: Stay tuned for our next installment of The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
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.
Roxy’s Diner
Recommended by: Mark at Uneeda Burger
Description on their web: Real Eastcoast on the Westcoast. We mean it. Owner Peter Glick, a native New Yorker, brings classic Jewish deli staples to Seattle.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont / Breakfast
Address: 462 N. 36th Street, Seattle, WA 98103
Music playing: Someday Soon by Harlem
What we ate/drank: Pastrami hash- Pastrami and home fries cooked crisp and topped with 2 poached eggs and a toasted bagel. Chicken Fried Steak- country fried steak w/gravy served with 2 eggs, home fries and a toasted bagel or toast. Caffé Ladro coffee. Roxy’s Deli Scramble w/Tots and pastrami.
Comments: We had a early Saturday errand to run near Fremont and looked for some breakfast places that would be open at 7:30am. We remembered Mark from Uneeda Burger suggested this place. There’s a parking lot next to Roxy’s which is rare for Fremont. Once you are seated at Roxy’s ask for a parking ticket, they’ll give you the ticket to put in the pay box in the parking lot.
The menu is extensive with 6 pages of choices. Their specialties are definitely brunch and corned beef / pastrami sandwiches. As you can see from the pictures their portions are huge. We turned the pastrami hash into one meal at the restaurant and 3 meals from the left over portions.
This is the type of place we’d bring our parents when their in town-a very straight forward hearty breakfast. Kind of in the same vain as Voula’s or Vera’s. The coffee they serve is Caffé Ladro.
Up for a once-in-a-lifetime drink? Order the Restraining Order if you dare!
The Restraining Order is a shot of Jim Beam(I think it used to be tequila) and a slap in the face by a server of your choosing. I asked if a lot of people ordered it and found out that it’s very common for both men and women and was advised to go to Youtube to check it out. So here you go…..
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.5
Service: 5
Food/Drinks: 4
Bang for the Buck: 4.5
Overall: 4.25
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Eavesdropping Convos: None
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server, Carmela(?) suggested Square Knot Diner as another family friendly and early opening breakfast place to visit.
Related:
Elm Coffee Roasters -South Lake Union (SLU)
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Description on Elm Coffee Roaster’s website : The world is full of incredible coffee. And we love that it’s our job to roast and share our favorites with you. Working with amazing producers and importers, we bring you vibrant coffees from all around the world.
Neighborhood: South Lake Union
Address: 230 9th Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
Music Playing: Cath by Death Cab For Cutie
What we ate/drank: Cortado
Comments: I’ve enjoyed the coffee at Elm Coffee Roasters in Pioneer Square, so when I found out that they opened a branch nearer to my work, I had to check it out. Little did I know that it was in the lobby of an Amazon.com building, so it’s actually more of a coffee stand then an actual cafe.
There is some seating dedicated to for Elm Coffee Roasters to the left of the coffee stands that has individual tables and a high counter, but because it’s located in the lobby of the building you can make use of the comfy chairs and sofas to enjoy your drinks. Just a bit of a warning for the seats located near the stand, I saw only one outlet in case you are thinking of working there.
I was planning on ordering one of their combos- The One & One, which is a macchiato and an espresso, but it didn’t appear to be an option here. At least it wasn’t listed.
While I was sitting there enjoying my Cortado, it dawned on me. I don’t know if this is common knowledge amongst locals and I’m just behind the times, but it appears Amazon picks local coffee purveyors to inhabit their new buildings, which explains why these places exist – Caffe Ladro (1800 9th Building)-Mystery Solved!, Cascade Coffee Works, Victrola Coffee Roasters-The Most Heavily Guarded Cafe in Seattle. I also know there’s Fonte, Zoka, Caffe Vita and Rise(Farestart) in Amazon buildings. I definitely applaud Amazon for getting local companies in their branches and not the typical Starbucks that’s in my building lobby.
Going forward, I’ll keep these coffee shop reviews within a building lobby to a minimum unless they really are stand alone cafe such as the Cascade Coffee Works and the Victrola Coffee Roaster on 3rd and Pine. It’s not really fair to grade against stand alone cafe. I mean it’s a lobby so you can’t expect a whole lot in terms of atmosphere, but in this particular case, it’s Elm Coffee Roasters, so I’m sure I’ll be coming here regularly since it’s way more convenient for me than the Pioneer Square location.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Having the option of enjoying a coffee while sitting in some luxurious chairs/sofa.
Atmosphere: 3.50
Service: 4.50
Food Options: 2.50
Overall: 3.75
Eavedropping Convo: Two guys sitting have a coffee inside when a guy passes the window rolling down the sidewalk on a Solowheel.
Guy 1(G1)- Dude, that same asshole almost ran my ass over last week.
Guy 2(G2) -Really?
G1) Yeah, by Whole Foods. There’s like a million fucking people on the sidewalk during lunch and this asshole is going full speed weaving in and out of people. Stupid fuck.
G2) This guy who used to work in my office had one. One day he came in on crutches because he munched it trying to avoid a dog.
Related:
Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe
Description on Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe’s website :Our story begins in 1992 in the Pacific Northwest coffee capital of the world — Seattle, WA. It was here that founder and owner Paul Odom followed his passion and started Fonté Coffee Roaster. Our name is Italian for source. We help coffee lovers brew the freshest cup of coffee.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 1321 1st Ave, Seattle WA 98101
Music Playing: Always Forever by Cults
What we ate/drank: Macchiato
Comments: Fonte Coffee Roasters Café is connected to the same building as the Four Seasons(I actually used their wifi while at Fonte), right across the street from the Seattle Art Museum(SAM) and two block aways from Pike Place Market, so similar to Seattle Coffee Works there are a lot of tourists as opposed to locals that come here. It’s always crowded because of it’s proximity to the aforementioned places, but also because it’s right on First Ave. Anybody walking along this main avenue going to Pike Place Market to Pioneer Square or vice versa will pass Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe. It’s also one of the few places open at 6am in the area, so you see a lot of business people or a lot of people with suitcases getting ready to head to the airport having breakfast here.
The morning is not so bad but by mid-morning on, it’s normally crowded. Caffe Ladro , which is right around the corner doesn’t have this problem, because it’s not directly on 1st Ave and also doesn’t have the food options or drink options or space that Fonte Coffee Roasters Café has.
For Seattle standards the cafe is rather large. It has a modern-romantic vibe due to the warm lighting and use of dark materials-dark woods, dark leathers, and a dark ceiling. One really cool feature is the dark wood two by four lighting running the length of the cafe. For contrast most of the upholstered seating are a light tan.
As you enter Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe you’ll notice they have two small elevated patio areas on either side of the door. Once you enter, on the left are upholstered seats that run along the store front and and individual chairs and tables that probably seat around 15 people.
On the right the high upholstered seats with a foot rest continue along the store front and then forms an “L” along the north wall. There’s a group table in the middle and then booth seats that round out the area. This area probably seats about 30 people.
Kudos for making a concerted effort for wheelchairs/stroller access both having ramps inside and out on the patio. One qualm I had was the cleanliness. As you can see from my pictures on this particular day and time, it was not busy in the cafe, yet many of the tables were not clean and there were newspapers all over the floor near the ordering counter.
There is a huge variety of food-For morning options they have pastries, but also savory dishes for breakfast -breakfast burrito, vegetables hash, scambles, french toast, omelettes, frittata. For lunch options there’s Italian sandwich, baguettes, salads, grilled cheese, chicken club. fried chicken Caesar wraps. Food is brought to table after ordering, but drinks are called out at the counter for pick up, which can be confusing. Nice touch of self serve water in recappable bottles that you can take back to your table. They also have beer, wine and mixed drink option.
As you can tell by their name they roast their own coffee. Actually, the person in charge of roasting at Fonte Coffee Roasters was one of the first roasters trained under the original owners of Starbucks and earned the title of Master Roaster before coming to Fonte.
I don’t mean this to be a slam, but Fonte’s not a place I’d hang out at for relaxation, but it is a place I’d bring my parents or non coffee drinking out-of-town friends. It’s not because the coffee is bad. It’s really good and they do have some coffee drinks you can’t find anywhere else such as Desert Rose Latte, Aztec Mocha Latte, Turkish Latte. It’s just that usually it’s too packed/busy with tourists to relax or meet up for a nice conversation. To prove a point, just go to their Yelp reviews. Look at the last 10 reviews. You could look today or a year from now I’d bet the majority of the reviews are from out-of towners. The reason i’d bring my parents/non coffee drinking out of town friends is due to the fact that it’s a very nice place and has a lot of drink options besides coffee. It also has a lot of snack options and is in close proximity to places I’d take out of town guests-Pike Place Maket, SAM, Pioneer Sq.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: High upholstered seats with foot rest. This might seem like a weird favorite thing, but it makes a huge difference to have the foot rest.
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4
Food Options: 5
Overall: 4.35
Eavedropping Convo:
Guy 1(G1) – I’ve been going to Barnes & Noble a lot lately and reading a bunch of investments books. I’m addicted. It’s the only type of books I buy now.
Guy 2(G2) – No fiction or any other non-fiction? Only investment books?
G1- No, just investment books. I thought it would be mundane, but it’s really interesting. It’s all I read now
G2- Why are you into it?
G1- I never really was interested in finance, but I’m working now, saving some money finally and I want to put it to work. You know? I want to get to a point where I can buy a house too.
G2- Good luck with that(sarcastically)
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Third Culture Coffee
Description on Third Culture Coffee website : It is our attempt to transcend borders, bring together the tradition and history of cultures with the allure and mystique of coffee, tea and wine.
Neighborhood: Bellevue (Gasp!)
Address:80 102nd Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004
Music playing: Quiet by EXES
What we ate/drank: Atalia – A set of espresso, americano and macchiato. Vanilla cronut
Comments: We don’t go to the “Eastside” very often. For you out-of-towners, Seattle is on west side of Lake Washington. The east side of Lake Washington includes Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, Sammamish. There’s a saying here locally that you live in Seattle when you’re young and move to the Eastside when you start a family. It’s much more suburban, has quality schools and is much safer. It’s newer, cleaner, brand name hungrier than Seattle. In reality, Bellevue is less than 10 miles away, but the Eastside seems so far in proximity(and lifestyle) when we have everything we need here in old, grimey Seattle. I even disqualified any ramen places on the Eastside for being too far to travel to in our Battle of Seattle Ramen post. Anyways, we’re taking our chances and choosing to raise our two daughters here in Seattle.
Anyways, that’s a primer for our review of Third Culture Coffee in Bellevue. It’s probably been a good 4 years since we’ve been to Bellevue, but we had a visitor staying at Hyatt House that we met up with for brunch. We had some time to kill prior to our breakfast, so we went to Bellevue Downtown Park. This is a beautiful park and if you want to see the difference between Eastside and Seattle, take a look at the playground at Bellevue Downtown Park. Our jaws dropped when seeing the various play areas and fun things for kids to do, especially the water area. And here we thought that the wading pool at Greenlake where they put two inches of stagnant water in a sloped concrete area was Da Bomb! Anyways, back on topic. We noticed Third Culture Coffee across the street so popped in.
In Bellevue the buildings are newer, so there’s not the space restrictions that you might have in some of the Seattle areas like Pioneer Square, downtown or Capitol Hill. Third Culture Coffee can seat at least 40+. Plenty of counter seating, lots of individual tables for four, a few tables for two, a community table for at least 8, sidewalk seating and a seating area with leather chairs and a coffee table. There are a couple features that indicates how big this place is-a dedicated kids area and a huge swing. Can you imagine a swing being in Victrola Coffee Roasters, Caffe Ladro or Herkimer Coffee? It would take up the entire cafe. Huge windows make it bright and tall ceilings make it feel expansive. We were able to find street parking near by, but they do offer parking validation in the building parking for 1 hour before 4:00pm and 2 hours after 4:00pm.
They also serve wine, beers, ports, sherry and cocktails and have occasional events in the evening such as live music, wine tasting and wine/chocolate pairings. They also have a big tea selection. Food selections when we went were pastries, desserts and toasts including the Seattle millennial staple, avocado toast.
We ended up getting the Alitalia, which is very similar to Elm Coffee Roaster’s One of Everything. The Alitalia is a an espresso, americano and a macchiato. We also got a vanilla cronut, which is like a churo donut with vanilla filing. I know they source from Macrina Bakery, but I don’t think it was from there. The cronut was damn good with coffee.
The concept I found most intriguing that I’ve not seen anywhere else is the coffee preparation from various different cultures. There’s an Indian Filter Coffee and a Tumeric Latte(Haldi Doodh), Vietnamese prepared via phin, a Spanish Bombon, a Japanese iced pour over and a New Orleans Iced Coffee that include chicory. They even have a kids drink called the Babychino. I like trying various types of coffee drinks from around world, so it’s nice to be able to try them in one spot. Normally if you want a Vietnamese style coffee drink, you have to go to a Vietnamese restaurant. If you want a Turkish coffee, you have to go to a Turkish restaurant. There’s the other side of the coin though that if you’re a jack of all trades, you’re a master of none. So will the drinks really be a true representation of each culture if each process has to be mastered by each worker? I admire the attempt though and would love if a Seattle café would try this concept. Cheers.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The different cultural variations of coffee preparations
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.65
Eavedropping Convo: No convos to report, but I noticed something peculiar. When we were at the park and decided to look for a coffee place in the near vicinity, I looked on yelp. Third Culture Coffee came up and I decided to read a couple of the reviews before going there. I noticed a couple of comments that I was surprised about. They were complaining about having to bus their own dishes/cups. This is standard practice for coffee places in Seattle. You order, get your drink/food, when done you bus your dishes/cups to a bin. This is supposed to keep costs down because it’s one less task that a worker has to do and so less workers need to be hired. Is this not a thing in Bellevue? Bussing your own dishes/cups?
Related:
Anchorhead Coffee Co
Description on their web: We are believers in doing what you love and loving what you do. And we make coffee for people who love coffee.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 1600 7th Ave, Seattle WA 98101
Music playing: It Is Not Meant To Be-Tame Imapla
What we ate/drank: Americano
Comments: In our post, Seattle Bars For Each Stage of Dating, we talked about Suite 410 as being the bar where you’d take a date to impress. It had to be quiet, chill and have dark lighting to set the mood for romance. Anchorhead Coffee Co is the coffee shop equivalent of Suite 410. First of all, Anchorhead is located on the bottom floor of an office building so it would normally be hard to spot from the street, but you can’t miss it because of the word, “COFFEE”(see below) in huge letters in the window. First thing I noticed is how dark it is there, which makes it more conducive to a relaxed, winding down from a hard day at work feel. It’s the perfect place to grab a coffee before seeing an evening movie or a show down the street at the Paramount. It does get busy in the morning with all the Nordstrom employees in the building getting their caffiene intake.
There are leather industrial stools along the front glass window facing the street. The same stools are also placed at the opposite end of the space along two long tables. In the middle of the space are two turquoise leather chairs and leather sofa with a narrow wood coffee table between them. Along the side are more traditional tables but with leather rolling office chairs. There’s also some limited outdoor seating when the weather is warmer.
The food choices are above average. They had berry banana oat muffins, banana loaves, bacon cheddar chive scones and croissant breakfast sandwiches with bacon, egg and cheese. All were huge. They have your normal espresso drinks as well as a pretty extensive pour over menu and nitro cold brew. In the winter they also have seasonal drinks like pumpkin latte, mulled apple ciders and mochas with mint. They have a few beers on tap. Bale Breaker, one of my favorites, among them.
There’s definitely a lot of competition in the area. Anchorhead Coffee Co is surrounded by Caffe Senso Unico, Mr West Cafe, Caffe Ladro, Made Coffee and of course, Starbucks, but they more than hold their own.
Note: When I first saw a sign saying Anchorhead Coffee Co was opening, I thought that Anchored Ship Coffee, a place in Ballard was opening another branch. The similar name and very similar logo really tripped me up.
Ratings(Scale 1-5)
Favorite Thing: Our choice for a nice relaxing romantic atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 4.5
Service: 5
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 4.75
Eavesdropping Convos:
Gal 1(G1)- Have you ever been to Baltic Room?
Gal 2(G2) – Yeah
G1-I was there the other night with friends and there was this guy there. Super cute. This girl goes right up to him and starts flirting with him. I aspire to be that girl someday. You know, just doesn’t care and just goes after what she wants.
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Name: Storyville Coffee Company
Description on their web: A Simple Pleasure. A Desperate Need. A Beautiful Dream
Neighborhood: Downtown-Pike Place Market
Address: 94 Pike Street, #34, Seattle WA 98101
Music playing: Some type of new agey jazzy instrumental spa like music.
What we ate/drank: Doppio Espresso, Frosted Cinnamon Roll, Chocolate Cake, Mocha
Comments: As we mentioned in our Coffee Shop Thoughts, this is the coffee place that most impresses our visitors to Seattle. First of all you will normally end up near Storyville Coffee Company if you have visitors in town since it’s located in Pike Place Market. What seems to impress our visitors is that it’d hard to find, so unless you are looking for it, you won’t come across it unlike some of the other coffee places in Pike Place Market, such as the first Starbucks, Local Color or Ghost Alley Expresso, which you’ll stumble across if walking the market or going to the gum wall. Visitors feel like their in on a local secret spot. Storyville Coffee Company is in the building on the NW corner of Pike and 1st. You walk up the stairs and it’s on the top floor.
The other thing that impresses visitors is the place itself. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite coffee place, but you will not find a more gorgeous coffee shop in all of Seattle. First thing you notice is the huge semi-circle ordering bar with warm lighting. There are two stations for making the drinks and if you look right behind the cashier and baristas you can see all their pastries. The next thing you’ll notice are their huge semi-circle windows that look down on the market and it’s famous Public Market Center sign and if you look straight ahead, the view of Puget Sound. There’s a huge fireplace and lots of comfy leather seats and sofa. There are a pair of long repurposed wood tables with stools. The hardwoods look original like some of the other spots in the market. They also have another location down the street on 1st and Madison and a location in Queen Anne, but neither comes close to replicating the experience of the Pike Place Market location for your visitors. I’ll make the bold statement that when it comes to both the inside space and the views, there is no other place in Seattle like it.
Apart from the normal expresso and brewed coffee(including cold brew), there are tea options, hot chocolate and Italian sodas. The food options are a kale salad, homemade tomato soup, oatmeal and a breakfast sandwich, but the real goodness are their baked goods. I’m partial to the Frosted Cinnamon Roll. I have a tradition of visiting Storyville for an espresso and cinnamon roll after visiting my dentist, who is also located in the market. What, no cavities? Give me a sugary cinnamon roll then! You’ll pay Pike Place Market prices, but the beautiful space makes it worth it.
They have a subscription service that ships coffee beans the same day it’s roasted out of their Roasting Studio on Bainbridge Island. They claim that by subscribing the cost comes to 65 cent per cup. Not bad. They also have an admiral mission to stop human trafficking by donating a portion of every cup sold to organizations fighting human trafficking. One quirky thing is that they don’t open at 7:00 or 8:00, they open at 6:59 and 7:59. I’m also curious about their logo, a child playing with a toy airplane. The next time I’m there, I’ll ask and report back.
Ratings
Favorite Thing: The frosted cinnamon roll and gorgeous space.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 4.5
Food Options: 4
Overall: 4.5
Eavesdropping Convos:
Girl 1(G1)-So we visited a financial advisor last week and he says we’re way behind in saving for our retirement. All this time I thought that our company automatically puts money for our retirement in the 401k, but it looks like you have to sign up for it. I had no clue. How am I supposed to know? All these years I thought the company put money in this account for us. I wondered why I never got a statement. I told Gary(her husband?) that I had a 401k, but I guess I don’t. He was pretty pissed.
Girl 2(G2)-Yeah you have to opt in. I try to contribute at least the company match since they match it 100%. It can add up super quick.
G1-What!? What does that mean?!
G2-If you contribute 4% of your paycheck, the company puts in another 4%. It’s kinda like free money.
G1-Are you serious?! 8 years I could have been doing this? Why didn’t HR tell me!!!
Related Articles:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Storyville – 1st Ave
- Caffe Ladro -Jetsons
- Mr West Café Bar,