Location

1441 Cleveland Ave. N, St. Paul
GOOGLE MAP • YELP

Ratings

Pros

Good coffee, inexpensive, close to U of M St. Paul campus.

Cons

Bare-bones and somewhat dingy interior, no credit cards, limited parking.

Review

I typically avoid reading any other reviews online before I visit a coffeehouse, because I don’t want my opinion to be tainted. Today, however, I kind of stumbled on a scathingly negative review of Lori’s Coffee House while I was in the process of simply finding a place to go. Now, whenever I’m reading any… erm… “user-generated content” online, I turn my skepticism up to the max. It’s usually easy to read between the lines of a harsh screed to determine whether the writer’s arguments really reflect more upon the subject or themselves. In this case, I was on the fence. But since I needed to be in St. Anthony Park (specifically, at Luther Seminary) this afternoon, and this was the closest indie coffeehouse I could find, it was a fairly easy choice. Perhaps I would deliver my first sub-★★★ review!

My first impression upon arriving at the corner of Cleveland and Buford, on the edge of the St. Paul U of M campus and the border between St. Paul and Falcon Heights (since, interestingly — if you’re interested in boring details like I am — the St. Paul campus is actually in Falcon Heights), was that this area doesn’t really feel like the Twin Cities to me. It does feel more “St. Paul” than “Minneapolis,” and I’m not sure how much it’s my lack of familiarity with the area, combined with today’s unusual air quality — it’s a sunny summer day, but it’s about the smoggiest I’ve ever seen here — but the hilly residential streets to the west of Lori’s feel more like some of the upper-middle-class neighborhoods in western Los Angeles or northern Atlanta than anyplace else I’ve seen around here.

And why did I bother driving around those residential streets, you ask? Parking. Parking is extremely limited in this area. Proximity to both the U of M campus and the state fairgrounds, along with St. Paul’s generally stingy approach to parking, made just finding an open spot a challenge. And the 1-hour parking limit means I probably won’t be able to stay here long (especially based on my past experience that St. Paul does enforce those kinds of restrictions).

As long as I spoiled my first impression of Lori’s by reading a review online, I decided to go one step further and scope it out in advance with Google Maps Street View. Lori’s is on the corner of a commercial block, but strangely, one with a large grassy yard in front. In the Street View photo the grass was dead and patchy, but in person, today, it’s lush and green. Overall, my impression of Lori’s from the exterior, when I saw it in person, surpassed my expectations.

Inside, not so much. It’s cleaner than I was led to believe by the scathing (and almost inherently untrustworthy) review, but the linoleum tile floor is ancient and crumbling, with a bunch of tiles missing. The walls are dingy and nearly devoid of artwork. There are six four-top tables inside, along with a couple of additional tables out front (in the “yard”). There may be a restroom for customers’ use, but I don’t intend to confirm that.

There are food options, but not many — a display case half full of pastries and a small cooler with premade sandwiches. I opted to forgo food, recognizing that omitting that item would further skew my already somewhat biased review. But so be it.

I rarely carry cash, but I was lucky today that I happened to have two singles in my wallet and a dollar in quarters in my pocket, because Lori’s doesn’t take plastic. The barista defended that decision in terms I couldn’t disagree with: Lori’s cash-only policy keeps prices low. My large cappuccino was only $2.50, considerably cheaper than anyplace else I’ve visited. Credit cards are obviously an issue though; I’ve heard two other customers (or, well, would-be customers) ask about it since I came in.

The cappuccino is quite good, too, albeit not on the artistic level of Kopplin’s, Angry Catfish or Overflow. But it’s not quite good enough to offset the other negatives of the experience.

Clearly Lori’s appeals primarily to students at the St. Paul U of M campus, along with neighborhood residents. A number of students are here working and chatting. I’m pleased to see that Lori’s attracts a steady stream of customers. The good coffee (and the essential free WiFi) and its proximity to the campus make it an obvious destination. But I suspect its greatest strength is that there simply are no other similar options in the area. I’m almost never in this part of town, so Lori’s is unlikely to be a destination for me again in the future.