Location
53 Cleveland Ave. S., St. Paul
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE
Hours
Mon-Thu: 5:30am-10pm
Fri: 5:30am-11pm
Sat: 7am-9pm
Sun: 7am-10pm
Summer Hours:
Mon-Thu: 5:30am-9pm
Fri: 5:30am-11pm
Sat: 7am-8pm
Sun: 7am-8pm
Ratings
| Location: | ★★★ |
| Atmosphere: | ★★★★ |
| Coffee: | ★★★★ |
| Food: | ★★ |
| Service: | ★★★★ |
| Vibe: | ★★★ |
| Overall: | ★★★½ |
Pros
Convenient location (especially for St. Thomas students and Davanni’s Pizza addicts); nice interior décor; good coffee; alert, quick service; lots of space.
Cons
Microwaved hot breakfast options leave a lot to be desired; restricted WiFi.
Review
Obviously the primary draw for Coffee Bené is the St. Thomas community. It’s attached to (and, as I confirmed through an odd set of circumstances, owned by) Davanni’s Pizza. The main benefits of those two facts are that its business hours extend late into the evening, and it’s pretty well-run. This is the Davanni’s company’s first venture into coffeehouses, as far as I know, but they know how to run a food service-type establishment, and the execution here is on par with the major national chains (Starbucks, Caribou), while still managing to feel like a local establishment.
The downside of the location is that parking is at a premium, but I was able to get a spot in their small parking lot. There’s also limited (and usually full) on-street parking on Cleveland and Grand. I was greeted by a pair of alert baristas who promptly prepared my order of a large cappuccino and a sausage, egg and cheese English muffin.
The cappuccino is excellent. Unfortunately the muffin was microwaved, leaving it mushy, and the cheese is all over the place, requiring ample use of napkins between bites and typing this.
As I noted before, I usually wear headphones when I’m at a coffeehouse, especially a busy one like this. I need to control the aural conditions of my environment to work, and that is especially important in a place as busy as Coffee Bené. But for now I am accepting the ambient aural assault for the purpose of providing an accurate review of the overall experience. I’ve also drifted, in the time I’ve been here so far, from severe annoyance to increasing interest and amusement at listening to the pompous douchebag business professor from St. Thomas who’s meeting with pairs of students to discuss their projects. If you’re coming to Coffee Bené, plan accordingly. iPods required.
There’s a lot of seating here: cushy leather chairs and sofas with ample daylight by the front windows; a more work-focused section in the middle, separated from the front by a small fireplace, with about a dozen high and low tables, both 2-tops and 4-tops and a fair (but perhaps, at times, inadequate) number of outlets for plugging in laptops; and another, more secluded seating area near the back entrance.
WiFi is available, but it’s restricted: full Internet access requires you to create an account. It only takes a few seconds, and is free, but you’re limited to 2 hours per day and a maximum of 50 MB transferred. (It was during this process that my theory that Coffee Bené is owned by Davanni’s was confirmed, as the account support email address displayed with the terms of use had a Davanni’s domain name.)
Overall, I like being here, and can see coming back often. I like their late hours and their great coffee. The baked items looked appealing, and I think in the future I would probably choose one of them over the microwaved egg sandwich options.
One final note: so far with these reviews I am 2 for 2 with sitting on a church pew. Is God trying to tell me something?
