Solo Cafe is a wonderful little one-off coffee shop. The staff is always friendly and ready to make you whatever your heart desires. In addition to brewing a great cuppa, they have a great selection of loose leaf tea that includes delicious options like Masala Chai, Relaxing Mint, Spicy Pear, and Tropical Green Tea. They also have a selection of tasty pastries like cinnamon strudels and raspberry danish. They also carry a line of breakfast burritos made by a local chef. There's a good amount of seating in the small cafe with a couch and a couple of arm chairs infront of a book case stacked with books and board games you can take advantage of while sipping your cappuccino.
This place is part bar, part pho restaurant. It's open until 2am so you can staunch that Pho craving even when it's late at night! When you enter, to the right is a bar with tables in the middle and the booths along the left hand wall. They have a pretty decent selection of beer on tap including Heineken, which isn't commonly found on tap. There is a good list of different meat options for their Pho, along with a smattering of bar food included on the appetizer menu. Along with the Pho and other entrees they have a couple of out of the ordinary items such as fried fish balls, and salted fish fried rice.
The Pho broth has good flavor, although it's not the *best* Pho I've ever had. This would definitely be a good second choice, especially on a Sunday or late at night!
This place is one of those hole-in-the wall places that are a little intimidating to enter. But, it's completely worth it! I come here regularly for their Pho #3! That's the soup with the thinly sliced rare beef. For someone who's never had Pho before, it's a richly flavored beef broth with rice noodles, onion, and scallions in the soup. It's served with bean sprouts, lime, basil, and jalapeño for garnish. As far as the meat content there are many options, some of which include things that are unpalatable to the average American palate (things like tendon and other parts we generally consider unappetizing). Don't let that scare you off! The the Pho that is my favorite comes with thinly sliced raw beef that cooks in the steaming broth on the way to the table. This meal is filling and wholesome, and you will want to drink every drop of the deeply flavored broth when you're finished. We also enjoy the shrimp spring rolls (rolled in rice paper with rice noodles and herbs) with the sweet peanut dipping sauce as an appetizer, although it's difficult to eat all of the Pho when you've had an appetizer!
I would give this place a 5 star rating just for the Pho, but I know that Pho isn't for everyone. They also have some more common American-Chinese dishes like Lo-Mein and Orange Chicken. I haven't had any of that myself but friends have tried it and said it was tasty. You may not get the best Chinese type food here, but it is the absolutely worth a visit just for the Pho.
We were going down to San Tan Hyundai this morning and wanted to stop at a place in the area. This one had some good reviews so we decided to check it out. I'm glad we did! The atmosphere was nice, typical one-off coffee shop with just a little funk. It was busy, which is always a good sign.
The food was good, I got the Imperial omelette which had bacon, spinach, and swiss in it. My companion got the Santa Fe open faced omelette which had bacon, potatoes, cheddar, feta, sour cream, and green onions. He was also quite pleased with his entree. It was served with mixed greens which were tossed in a nice vinaigrette. The name "The Coffee Shop" implies that they would specialize in coffee, but the real star here are the baked goods. The coffee was definitely good, but nothing to write home about. The cupcake we shared, however, was amazing! We got the coconut cupcake and were rewarded with a flavorful and slightly dense cake, which I loved. It tasted like it had a little bit of almond extract in it which only added to the depth of flavor. The icing was sweet but not overpoweringly so, and it was decorated adorably with shredded coconut and edible glitter. We got two whoopie pies to go, one lemon, and one coconut. Both of these were delicious as well. I would go back if only for the cupcakes!
Funky, popular spot that features local art on the walls and a healthful, vegetarian-friendly menu. Enjoy vittles like the thick baba... More
The folks behind the successful Essence Catering have branched out with this laid-back Tempe cafe, which they remodeled with... More
I ventured to Cupz 'n' Crepes in the hopes of A) finding a good crepe place and B) eating some place different. I more or less found it here.
The place is small and cozy, but when I walked in I saw a "Please seat yourself" sign which I don't consider a good omen, you can get overlooked by the staff. This is certainly what happened to me. I wasn't greeted when I entered ,in fact it was about 10 minutes before anyone came to speak with me. I ordered my food and proceeded to wait about 45 minutes for a bacon, egg, and cheese crepe.
They did bring out the coffee right away. I was expecting a nice bold coffee since the "Cupz" part of the name implies a coffee house. The coffee was weak and closer to a Folger's roast than something that should be served at a one-off place like this. I didn't drink much of it.
The crepe was pretty good, if a little thick. All of the ingredients were of good quality, but I found it odd that the bacon was put in the crepe in strips instead of being chopped or crumbled. It made eating a little difficult. The ingredients were also not very evenly distributed. The majority of the first half of my crepe experience was crepe and egg and the bacon that I pulled out and layered with it. I noted that there wasn't too much cheese in it, however I found that it was all in a pile at the back of the crepe. I had ordered feta in the crepe which, while delicious, I did not want to eat all of in one big mouthful at the end of my meal.
I'm giving this place 3 stars instead of 2 because I would give it a second go. I think that that sweet crepes would be very good, and probably the lunch crepes as well. Next time I'll be ordering a little something sweet and an espresso drink instead of the lack lustre coffee I had on this visit.
I go to Essence fairly regularly, and lament often at the fact that it's a breakfast/lunch place and I can only go there on Saturdays!
Essence is a cozy little cafe hanging out across the parking lot from a Starbucks. Step inside and there's usually a line at the register, most of the tables are usually full. Both signs of a good eatery. It smells like pastry right when you walk in, the buttery scent of croissants makes your mouth water. All of the pastries I've had have been wonderful. Most especially their macarons. Classic French sandwich style cookies with creamy filling are a must-have whenever I stop in. They have a wide range of flavors that tend to change seasonally and also week to week, some of the regulars include Caramel, Hazelnut, French Chocolate, Espresso, and Chocolate Mint. Seasonally they have Strawberries and Cream and Pumpkin. Their croissants are absolutely delicious and a great little breakfast on their own.
Grab a vanilla bean iced coffee and one of their Big Breakfast plates and you will not be disappointed. The coffee is smooth and sweet, and they mean big when they say Big Breakfast. Local made sausage, potato cake, fried eggs, and house made bread and jam all work to satisfy even a picky eater. Other delicious menu items include a Croque Madam with tomato, ham, and cheese, hot cereal served with yogurt and fresh fruit, quiche lorraine served with either fruit or a side salad. All worth a first trip as well as many more.
I've only had lunch here once or twice. I was less than thrilled with a mozzarella and tomato grilled sandwich, but I had a burger made with grass-fed beef that was divine.
They get most of their ingredients locally and it tends to be organic, which makes for pricey but great and good for you food. My biggest gripe with them is the wait when they are busy. You can wait up to 40 minutes to get your food, but that's when it's very busy, and I think it's worth the wait (as long as you don't gnaw your arm off in the mean time... but that's what pastries are for, right?).
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