Location
1662 Grand Ave., St. Paul
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Ratings
| Location: | ★★★★ |
| Atmosphere: | ★★★★ |
| Coffee: | ★★ |
| Food: | N/A |
| Service: | ★★ |
| Vibe: | ★★★ |
| Overall: | ★★★ |
Pros
Great Grand Ave. location in the heart of Macalester-Groveland, lots of seating, funky interior.
Cons
Somewhat slow service, coffee is sub-par.
Review
I’ve driven and/or walked by Coffee News Cafe many times, despite not exactly being a “regular” in the Macalester area. I’m usually in this vicinity to eat at one of my favorite Thai restaurants, Pad Thai, which is just across the street and down the block. This stretch of Grand Ave. is bustling, with a slightly bohemian vibe (it is adjacent to Macalester College, after all), especially compared to the more “uptown” character Grand takes on a couple miles farther east, towards downtown St. Paul.
The interior of Coffee News Cafe is cool — there’s definitely a lot of history at this place. It apparently used to be a diner, and remnants of the old lunch counter remain. There’s a typical indie coffeehouse vibe on top of that, but it’s definitely skewed towards the eclectic and organic, and the usual coffeehouse art-for-sale on the walls would fit in much better at the Walker than at MIA… to the extent that coffeehouse art could be museum-worthy.
I’m focusing a lot of attention on the interior for two reasons: today’s review was somewhat unexpected, and I already partook of my morning ritual of a cappuccino and Clif Bar at Nokomis Beach Coffee — so I’m not eating here, yet — and because the coffee, on its own, is not that impressive. It may be that my Nokomis Beach experience a mere three hours ago has set the bar artificially high, but I suspect that the main draw of Coffee News Cafe is its extensive food menu — and the beer and wine it will be serving later — and not the coffee itself.
To be continued… maybe.
P.S. SLP and I elected to go across the street to Pad Thai for lunch instead of staying at Coffee News Cafe. This was our first trip to Pad Thai at lunchtime, and I highly recommend it. The lunch menu is fast, cheap, and delicious.
It would be a much more useful review if you spent more time talking about the actual coffee and what it was you did or did not like about it than what you didn’t do or might do at a later time. Was the coffee hot? Was it cold? Was it a latte was it a brew? What other things did you base your review on…service got two stars here…”somewhat slow service” needs expounding. What time of day did you go there? How many people were working? More “review” about actual happenings and less opinion about aesthetics would be much more useful to your readers. Thanks!
Good comments! Yes, this review is a bit lacking, and I apologize. I was a bit rushed as I was anticipating a couple of business calls and also I was initially expecting to each lunch there (and add to the review afterward), but didn’t.
About the coffee: I generally always order a cappuccino at every place I review. Picking a drink and sticking with it seems the best way to compare places, and cappuccino is pretty standard fare. I’ve mentioned the cappuccino so many times in the earlier reviews that I’m afraid I’ve started to neglect it lately. The temperature was fine — hot, but not too hot. The problem was the taste… just bitter, without a lot of character.
As for the service: there was no one in line when we got there. We placed our order, and it took several minutes for the barista to prepare two drinks; meanwhile, another patron who came in a couple of minutes after we did and also ordered a bar drink was helped by another barista and got his drink and was out the door before we got ours.
Time of day: this is another thing that has been consistent throughout the reviews, to the point that I’ve started to neglect to mention it. I generally visit these coffeehouses in mid-morning, between 9 and 10 AM. This time it was a bit later, around 10:30.