Location
4554 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP
Hours
Mon-Fri: 6:30am-6:30pm
Sat: 7am-5pm
Sun: 8am-5pm
Subject to change.
Ratings
| Location: | ★★★ |
| Atmosphere: | ★★★ |
| Coffee: | ★★★★ |
| Food: | ★★★ |
| Service: | ★★ |
| Vibe: | ★★★ |
| Overall: | ★★★ |
Pros
Nice location and ambience; good food; excellent coffee; palindrome address; free WiFi.
Cons
No comfy chairs; service occasionally a bit weak; proximity to light rail is marred by having to walk across Hiawatha Ave.; the WiFi has been flaky in the past (but is working fine today).
Review
And so it begins. It’s difficult for me to approach a review of Minnehaha Coffee without tainting it with my past experiences. I’ve had both good and bad experiences in the maybe 15-20 times I’ve been here before. Mostly good, I think, yet for some reason I rarely come here despite the fact that it’s the closest coffee (independent or otherwise) to my house.
It’s a cool space — a converted gas station. And not a lame SuperAmerica; it dates to the era when gas stations made bold architectural statements, with a large, asymmetrical triangular awning protruding from its façade. Presumably that’s where the gas pumps once stood, but today it’s a great outdoor seating space. Well, not today, as nature has decided to pull an April Fools prank on us with a steady shower of big fluffy wet snowflakes.
The snowfall is picturesque, especially given that nearly the entire south and east walls of the building are glass. I’ve always liked the open, airy feel at Minnehaha Coffee. It’s large, for a coffee house, with seating for nearly 40 patrons. The decor is nice, if fairly non-descript. Typical late ’90s coffee house. There are no comfy chairs or couches. In keeping with the place’s biggest failing — that it closes before most people are done with work — the seating is all business. Well, except for the church pew that lines the north wall (and which I am sitting on as I type this).
The place is very clean, with well-maintained restrooms (at least, as I recall; haven’t been in there yet today). Temperature is good. Some coffee houses are kept unbearably hot year round (as will likely be discussed in my next review, so stay tuned), but it’s nice and comfortable here.
Drink selection is the standard assortment of coffees and teas, soft drinks, Naked juice, etc. Breakfast food options are basic pastries (presumably not baked on premises, but I didn’t ask), but they offer an interesting selection of made-to-order sandwiches at lunchtime. I might stick around for that, since it’s already after 10.
Speaking of which, there are a lot of people here for 10 AM on a Wednesday. By my count there are 11 customers at the moment; a couple of pairs of people carrying on conversations and a bunch of solos like me reading newspapers or staring at laptop screens. The conversations are a bit loud, amplified by the acoustical properties of the space. Music is The Current. I’ll probably put my headphones on when I finish writing this and get down to doing some “real” work.
Ah, The Decemberists. Thanks, The Current!
Now where was I? Earlier I mentioned my history with this place. It’s hard to come here without thinking about my past experiences. I am sitting at the same table where, in the late summer of 2004 SLP and I met with our realtor to make an offer on the house we now live in. We came here a lot that summer, with our 1-year-old son, much to the delight of one particular barista. She went off to college that fall though (all the way to St. Kate’s, as I recall), and since then my experience here has more often than not been one of slight frustration with a string of stoner-slacker baristas who never quite got things right. Their WiFi has also been sketchy in the past but it is working great today.
The barista today looks like he might fit that category — early 20s, black beanie, bushy beard, Minimoog silkscreen t-shirt, chatting with a buddy standing at the edge of the counter. (I just overheard someone say to him, “You got that Joaquin look goin’ on!”) But mine is not to judge these traits; I myself am wearing a hooded sweatshirt over a “clever” t-shirt, Chuck Taylors, etc. The barista was fast and delivered my order of a large cappuccino and banana nut muffin promptly.
Today, I would highly recommend Minnehaha Coffee as a great place to get your caffeine fix, a carbohydrate-rich food treat, and to get some work done. It’s a great place to fight your Seasonal Affective Disorder. Even when it’s snowing on April 1. No foolin’.
Wow. You gave this place a high rating. Maybe I will have to start going there again. It has been a while. You mentioned all of the windows–if you had gone on a sunny day, your experience and rating might have been completely different. It is really hard to see your computer screen when it is bright.
Good point regarding the windows. I was sitting with my back to a solid wall, which helps, and the new MacBook screens are brighter than most, so those may both be factors as well.
Yes… it is very bright in there, even on an overcast day. Plan accordingly.
I agree with Sara- I really should go there more often. I remember when we used to meet there to discuss class sometimes. Great first review, I’m looking forward to many more!
I think the only thing holding me back is the fact that in my mind I don’t think they serve breakfast food (other than pastries) and I usually only go to the coffeeshops in the morning. But I don’t like how they close way too early! Fun fact though, those pastries are from the Baker’s Wife Bakery located on 42nd Street and 28th Ave S (just up the ways from our place) which I love! I also enjoy the local businesses supporting each other. (At least the Baker’s Wife used to provide their pastries, probably still do.)
Upon reflection, I realized my numerical rating system wasn’t really a 1-to-10 scale; it was more like a 6-to-10 scale. I couldn’t have imagined anything being so bad as to warrant a 5 or less. So I decided to go with a more useful scale: 1 to 5 stars. I’ve also written up a brief summary of what each star rating means to me.