Lucky's Cafe in Tremont, Cleveland Ohio

Today's review is on Lucky's Cafe in Tremont (Cleveland,Oh). I saw this place on the Fox8 Hot list and I have read lots of positive things about it, so I thought I would check it out.



Lucky's Cafe is right in the heart of Tremont. Tremont is an old world style district, where there are little boutiques and amazing historic buildings lining the streets. It has award winning restaurants and cafes, and a new England type vibe to it. It's city living without the bustle and congestion. If the weather was better we probably would have walked around a bit but since mother nature brought a thunderstorm with her today, we kept it inside.

The little background about this place that I do know is Lucky's Cafe is owned by Heather Haviland, who is also the chef there. She owns Sweet Mosiac Inc which does wedding cakes and special occasion desserts. The "sister" company of Lucky's is Vine and Bean Cafe which is located in Shaker Square.

If you didn't know you were looking for a cafe, there is a good chance you might pass this place up. It blends in with the houses around it and only stands out a bit because of the outdoor seating area with multi colored picnic benches and elevated gardens. Parking is strictly on the street, I saw a few people park across the street on the grass but I don't think that's super legal so I wouldn't recommend it.

They have a full espresso bar, a stocked pastry case (banana chocolate chip coffee cake?? Don't mind if I do!) and a brunch and lunch menu. There was no shortage of workers, we counted about 10 people working there, a few girls behind the bar, a handful of servers roaming the seating area, some people doing outside cleaning, and even more working back in the kitchen. I ordered a Lucky Latte which has honey, espresso and half and half (I subbed soy for half and half), a banana chocolate chip coffee cake , and Chad ordered an Americano and a Raspberry Butter Cream Torte.



We took our seats since they offered to bring it out for us. Immediately a waiter came over, told us the specials and asked to take our order. Looking at the menu..."overpriced" is a word I would probably use to describe it. Now I am SURE that their food is worth every penny but paying $13 for mac and cheese wasn't in our budget so we opted out of it and stuck with our pastries and coffee.




The decor seemed nice, artwork on the walls and fresh flowers on every table. The waitstaff was more than helpful as well. The coffee that they were making was freshly ground as we saw one of the baristas walk up, get some of the whole bean coffee from the wall and grind it to brew. There was no music, but for the most part the sounds of conversation filled the silence pretty well. We paid about $16 for everything. The torte itself was $5 and I think my coffee cake was $3.



I get the feeling this place's focus isn't the coffee though. There was no latte art unless you count the tree looking thing on my latte...I wasn't sure if I was reaching by trying to find a shape on my latte. Their espresso machine didn't look well taken care of (I didn't see the barista rinse out the portafilter before pulling her shots) and the espresso menu was a snooze fest. When Chad asked if there were any signature espresso drinks since I was on the fence with what I wanted to order, I was told their signature espresso drink was a mocha. Wa waaaa. Lame. Come on, dazzle me with a suggestion of a Peach Cobbler Mocha, hell make something up on the spot like a "Rainy Day Latte". The food looks amazing in the pastry case and if anything I will come back for that. It was filled with so many options of sweets that it was almost hard to choose. Chad's Torte was a little frozen so it was kind of difficult to get a good feel of how it was supposed to taste. The barista told us to wait a few minutes for the frosting to soften, we waited but in the end it was still pretty stiff. Maybe put it in the micro on defrost for a few seconds? That would have made it 10 times better.





Lucky's Cafe was voted the "Best Brunch in Cleveland" by Fox8 so maybe that is where the focus is in that place. It looks like a nice place to take my parents when they come in, it's the kind of place you take a family member to as a treat for lunch or breakfast. I'd come back for coffee sometime, it looks like a nice area and the service was very good. The price was kind of high...so definitely not a regular stop for me though. I don't want to go broke from my coffee habit, you know? :)

Willow Coffee in Cleveland,Oh

To be honest, I had never heard of Willow Coffee until about a week ago. I was stuck at a stop light at Madison and West 117th, and looking to the right the word "coffee" immediately caught my eye (of course). The first thing I did after getting home was google this place. Was I the only one in Cleveland that was in the dark about Willow Coffee? Apparently I am not alone in my ignorance. I found only a few websites that had Willow Coffee mentioned. But the places I DID find some reviews were on Fox 8's Hot List and CityVoter.com and I read nothing but good things. They made the top 5 in Fox8's Hot List in 2009. That being said, I read nothing but good things about Koffie Cafe too so good reviews aren't always a guarantee that something is going to be worthwhile.


Well, you know the first thing I talk about is parking. They have some street parking in front of the shop, or you can do what we did and park across the street at the RTA parking lot. There were tons of spots and it's a lot easier.


I was a bit skeptical walking in there, a window had been broken in and a board was being used to patch it up temporarily. I saw a lit up 'open' sign and a few men hanging around outside so I figured at least there were other customers around. Turns out one of the "customers" was the owner, as he followed us inside.



The place was decorated amazingly. I can honestly say that in the hundreds of coffee shops I have been in (yes, hundreds..I love my coffee) this was by FAR the most impressive. One of the owners, Richard, is an artist and he did all of the decorating. He painted the walls and put in a little babbling brook water fountain in the corner . I thought the running water was very calming. Usually a coffee shop is filled with the sounds of laptop keyboards and cell phone conversations, so having an oasis like this in the middle of Cleveland was a great find. Coffee pictures and signs were up on the walls, and he even painted the floors to make it look like a stone pathway leading to the back. He was working on opening up a small back patio area, using some old tires for flower pots and a pail for another running water fountain. Even the back seating area was made to look like you were in a garden patio, complete with vines lining the walls and stained glass windows making you feel like you were on the outside looking in.



We spent some time talking with the owner. The entire time we were there not a single other customer came through the doors. Apparently Willow Coffee has been open for 5 years. The owner (well one of the owners, we did not meet the other one) is an artist and he wanted to open up a business that would allow him to spend more of his time doing what he loved. He was using a very small espresso machine, one that you'd find in some kitchens (the kitchens of people with money that is)and not the commercial grade espresso machine all other coffee houses use. He explained their other machine broke and until he gets the money for a new one, that was what he was using. He said that at night it got a lot busier, and that it was more of an adult crowd. Which is good with me, I'm not huge fan of the frappucino drinking teenagers anyway. His menu was small, about the size of a poster board. It was the usual chalk board coffee shop menu of course. I will say that unlike the other huge chalkboard menus I have seen, this one had about 4 items listed on it and they were all the basics (latte,coffee,mocha). His syrups weren't listed anywhere so I had to look through to see what he had. They were all sold out of pastries by the time we got there, apparently they sell out in the morning.




Our drinks came in huge ceramic mugs (green points!!) and while mine could have been a little hotter and Chad's a little cooler, I think they both turned out really well. We did have to wait a little while for our drinks, he could only do 2 shots at a time so making 2 espresso drinks took a bit. But sometimes I think it's okay to wait a bit. I have to remind myself it's not all about *quick* quick* quick all the time. I did watch his pull the shots and they came out very nicely. The crema was thick and perfectly timed. I have to say while the owner didn't seem to have a passion for coffee, he definitely did have a passion for his customers. He seemed genuinely interested in getting to know us and inviting us to come back later on for the "night life" there. They had a small stage set up with a guitar so I am assuming he has live music and such at night. He did mention a few times the "lively debates" that occur after hours so I wonder what goes on there after the sun goes down:)



The price was very reasonable, we paid $7.25 for the 2 espresso drinks and $2.75 for the americano we had to go. No punch cards but I got the feeling if you frequented the place you probably got tossed a freebie here and there if you came often enough.

All in all I would say I will definitely be coming back to Willow Coffee.

In these tough economic times, when you see a business that is struggling like this one is, you WANT to help. He is a perfect example of a businessman that is doing everything right, the coffee is good, the customer service is excellent...and he is hanging on by a thread. Talking with him he spoke about the RTA station right across the street and how he gets zero business from them. He even put $1 off coupons on all the cars and at one point even tried placing a kiosk right where the riders were getting on and off..and he was barely making enough to pay the person running the kiosk. I asked him why that was and in the end people feel more comfortable going to a chain. Asking the public to step out of their comfort zone and try something new is difficult. We don't have to live in a Starbucks world where everything is nameless and faceless. We can support our local businesses and keep them alive in a time where it's the most difficult to stay afloat. I think that is a part of the reason I do this blog. Because there are so many little shops out there,I want to shed light on the independent business owner. They are truly the heart and soul of our society. If we all just stop for a moment and make that choice to support our own people, support our neighbors...I wonder...what a difference that would make.

Koffie Cafe Cleveland,Oh

Getting back on the wagon for Coffee Shop Reviews, I went to Koffie Kafe in Cleveland. It's located right across the street from the West Side Market in Ohio City. I actually have been to this place once before. Right after doing the Brewery tour at Great Lakes Brewery, Chad and I decided to get a coffee and since this place was right across the street we wandered in. I remember saying my latte was so-so, nothing too impressive but since I've never reviewed it, I hoped this time things would improve.



Well for starters, when parking you have a few options. You can find a place on the street and do some meter parking, there are a few spots right in front of the shop (but on the weekend you can forget about it),or you can park in the public parking. I think during the week it's free, but if you're there on the weekend it's $5. You can also chance it by parking in Dave's Market parking lot. I'd advise against that though, there are tow trucks patrolling most of the time and 'tow away zone' signs everywhere. You might end up paying more to get your car out of impound if you choose to park there. We decided to just pay the $5 and go to public parking.

Apparently the background of this place is it used to be called 'Talkies'. I guess Talkies was a film and coffee bar, and while the owners have changed, the workers there have remained the same. When I googled this place, I read nothing but good things about it. From it being "pet friendly" (a guy came in with a beagle and sat down with his coffee while we were there) to the "friendly" staff (I wonder if the friendly people quit.)So I was surprised I had the experience I had there. Maybe I came on a bad day? Maybe the workers have changed since the last review...or maybe people are just too nice.






The place is really small, about 25 chairs including a few bar stools if you choose to sit at the bar. No comfy chairs or couches at all, as there usually is at most coffee shops. But maybe space was an issue so the comfy chair idea was impossible. The usual chalkboard menu boards, one for espresso drinks and one for food. They have a small sandwich menu with the usual paninis and soups for sale.



I ordered a soy vanilla latte (I had my fill of coffee this morning so I wasn't up for more) and Chad got his usual Americano. The barista was unfriendly to say the least. She bluntly asked "what do you want?" when we got there, and I immediately regretted my decision to tip. After she watched me put the dollar in the jar she couldn't bother to utter so much as a "thanks". I have to say as a barista, if I see someone put a tip in I ALWAYS say "thank you" or if I am busy at least catch their eye and smile a thanks. Because you want the customers to feel appreciated, and baristas don't get paid a lot so tips are big factor on income. Anyway so as we waited for our drinks we got the pleasure of hearing the latest gossip as the 2 baristas working there talked about their man problems and their friend's man problems. Fascinating. I know if I owned a coffee shop I would love for my workers to not only bring their personal lives into work but to talk about it in a not so hushed tone. For the 2 drinks it was $8.05. Chad ordered a cookie but she didn't hear him or care because she never rang it up and we never got it (ironically it was a smiley sugar cookie). She was barely listening to us anyway as I ordered. She just stared at me blankly, even almost pissy, then wordlessly made our drinks. When we got our drinks, she did walk them out to us (which was nice). But since we made a point to say "for here" we thought we'd get ceramic mugs (you know...trying to be as green as possible) instead we received the to-go stirofoam cups.

Ok, now we get down to it. How were the drinks you ask? Not good. In fact with all the crap beforehand, the gossiping baristas, the unfriendly service, the outrageous bill...if our drinks had been made well and tasted delicious I would have completely forgiven everything. But they weren't. They were bad, and weak. So weak in fact Chad could see through his Americano. I am thinking for a 20oz they probably put only 2 shots. For my 20oz latte I am thinking they only put 1 and a half or maybe 1. I couldn't even taste a hint of the espresso. When I went up there to ask for some ice for Chad's *burn your taste buds into oblivion* drink, I had to wait until they had a pause in their conversation before I was even noticed. Never mind the fact I was the only one standing at the bar, it's not like I was lost in the crowd.

At one point the 2 workers walked out of the shop for a smoke break. They both walked out, leaving the establishment to self service I suppose. When 2 customers walked in, one of them was kind enough to butt out her cigarette to come in and make a sandwich for them. Never mind the fact she reeked of smoke OR that she didn't wash her hands before making the food. Chad wasn't even able to finish his drink, and I took mine to go. I figured I could just warm it up later, it's not like it was going to taste any worse.





As we walked out, I threw my Koffie Cafe frequent customer card in a nearby trash can. I will not be coming back.