The idea of revisiting Indiana University for the first time after many years with my daughter, a…read moreproud alum, already was so special. We launched our weekend at the Poindexter, a charming multi-functional space at the Graduate by Hilton hotel. Designed to mimic the dark wood at the IU Memorial Union, the Poindexter sports a bar, table seating and booths. Our hosts, Kelsea and Charley, made our dining experience so friendly and welcoming. Of course, we started with the signature cocktail, the Hoagy Spritz, in homage to the award-winning composer who penned his hits right there in Bloomington. Great food. Affordable prices. Perfect place to celebrate Indiana University wins!

Wouldn't go here for the food again. I ordered the tavern wings, and they were just okay. Not sure…read moreif they were worth the amount I paid. Great ambiance and decent service though! Helpful tip: don't get the matcha.

Such a wonderful place! They offer top notch books, events, food/drinks and fun little gifts…read more Staff are super nice and knowledgeable. Make sure to check out the calendar of events!

This is a really lovely place. I attended an author signing event here. The event was very well…read morerun. The store itself is a delight. And it even had good snacks. In a world with increasingly few great bookstores, this place is well worth a visit.

I come here a lot because it's right across the street from IU Jacobs, and it's the only…read moreindependent coffee shop that opens early (they open at 6 am M-F and actually have food out when they open, unlike the nearby Crumble and Inkwell that open at 7/7:30 but don't have baked goods out until about an hour later). The baristas are always friendly. The place is spacious with a good amount of seating, but it can sometimes be hard to find a good seat inside because, as you would expect, students come to study/work and stay for a long time. I love their baked goods - they have interesting and unique offerings and everything tastes wholesome. Besides their Soma-made bakes (muffins, loaves, scones, dessert bars, cookies, and more), the bagels (I think from Gables) and Piccolo Dolci pastries are great, but they have these two muffins that are from a different supplier that I didn't think were of very good quality - I recommend avoiding the chocolate cheesecake muffin and banana nut muffin. I think the veggie/cheese sandwich is decent. It's just deli cheese slices with lettuce, cucumber, pesto, and mayo, but the bread is good and if you want something simple it's surprisingly satisfying. The coffee is pretty good. I am a decaf drinker so I appreciate that they have both decaf coffee and decaf espresso. They have a really good loose leaf tea selection and the teas are legit. Between the variety and quality it's the best tea selection I've found at a coffee shop in Bloomington. The quality of the chai and matcha are less impressive. I feel like there's a slight artificial flavour to the matcha, but to be fair, I've only tried it with flavour added, so maybe it's better unsweetened. When I asked for half sweet, that was better than regular sweetness. Both are still better than Starbucks. But I'd definitely recommend the loose leaf tea lattes over the chai/matcha. As mentioned in my previous review, some things are self-serve. It turns out they do have glasses and mugs available if you ask, but if you don't ask for dine-in, the default is disposable cups. Brewed coffee is self-serve, with your choice of (usually) two regular roasts and one decaf. If you want a toasted bagel, you have to slice and toast it yourself in the toaster on the condiment table. It seems like you sort of have to know what to order here, but as I'm learning what's good, I really appreciate the offerings that are good, the comfortable unpretentious environment, and long hours at Soma.

You will find this coffee shop right across the street from the main IU campus. There is a small…read morelot available in front of the the shop that has spots with a 20 minute max. Since the shop is so close to IU campus, most people walk here. The dining area is large and has couches, tables/chairs and bar seating along the front window. You can imagine that the place is usually filled with IU students working away on their laptops of in small social groups, given the shop's close proximity to the campus. The women that were working during my visit were all so very helpful and friendly. they helped my make my selection. They serve a wide array of hot and iced coffees and also has teas, smoothies and juices as well. The coffees come in 3 sizes, yep you guessed it, small, medium and large. The light food options that they have includes cookies, scones, muffins, parfaits, quiche, zucchini bread, brownies, and cinnamon rolls. I ended up getting a large iced pumpkin spice latte. It took about 7 minutes for me to get my drink. It was very savory and hit the spot. It was gone in a matter of seconds. Anyway, I highly recommend checking this place out. It is a traditional coffee house, with a great staff, savory drinks and delicious treats. I highly recommend checking this place out.

Absolutely wonderful place, ambiance and food. The owner is very kind, as are his employees. The…read morefood is delicious, freshly made. The yaglama with lamb is one of our favorites!

We stopped by when they were closed and the owner welcomed us in anyways and gave us this delicious…read moreube tres leches cake. Such a kind man and hospitality experience that we're already planning a meal here in the fall when we come back. Thank you for your kindness!

I grab my Friday morning coffee almost every week at Soma. I love the atmosphere & the music they…read moreplay, it's become a beloved weekly routine for me. It's not my favorite place for espresso drinks, but their Blackbeard drip coffee hits the spot for me. My husband also loves their juices. The back patio is a perfect spot for meeting with a friend during the summer, and they have a prime downtown location as well.

Went here after work for a matcha. It was well-mixed; however, the barista was very light-handed…read morewith the vanilla syrup. Not too inviting... definitely a grab and go spot. Service was decent.

Went here over my honeymoon and we were blown away by the quality of the food that we went back…read moreagain later in the week! The service was great and the vibe was intimate but without feeling like you are fighting for room or speaking at a louder volume. Highly recommend this spot!

Runcible spoon is a classic here in Bloomington. Got the weekender as my meal and it was great. The…read moreservice here is always good (except this time the waitress dropped ice on my buddy but it was funny). The environment here is special as well as it has the homie feel if you sit inside but on the outside you have a nice porch view.

​Found this wonderful coffee shop while in Bloomington and was so impressed! The interior is…read morebeautiful and spacious with plenty of seating, making it a great spot to relax or get some work done. The staff was incredibly friendly and welcoming. ​I ordered a latte and a few pastries--the coffee was expertly made and the pastries were noticeably fresh and delicious. They also sell a nice variety of coffee beans to take home. I'll definitely be making this a mandatory stop every time I'm back in town!

Bloomington has a lot of coffee competition. Needmore isn't cheap, it's they're the best coffee…read moreroasters in the city. I wish I could afford it more often. A grind of their South Asian coffees are amazing. Their food selections are good, but an after-thought, unlike Hopscotch and down the list, Soma. This is a noisy place. There are picnic tables outside, but inside, it's often populated by laptops, loud conversation, and fueling all this commotion, the best coffee in town. I haven't had a bad cup yet, and I've had plenty. Bring money, but it's worth it. Competence should be rewarded.

Wonderful, local coffee shop! Clean restaurant, friendly…read morestaff and a good variety of teas/coffees. They offer food as well, I did not order but will order next time-menu looks great tho! Seating is fantastic-outside tables, inside by the bar area and a decent room to the back with lots of outlets if you need to plug in.

If Yelp allowed zero stars, that would be my rating…read more My wife and I took our two daughters to Inkwell for breakfast around 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday. It was busy. That's fine. It's Sunday morning in downtown Bloomington. Busy happens. What followed was not "busy." It was astonishingly poor service and even worse problem-solving. My wife and daughters ordered, and then we waited. After AN HOUR, my wife went inside to ask what was happening. She was told, "Sorry, the IU basketball team is here. Let me see what happened." Apparently the arrival of the IU basketball team creates some kind of breakfast singularity in which ordinary customers cease to exist. The employee said they would check. They never came back. Another 45 minutes passed. So after ONE HOUR AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, my wife and daughter -- both of whom had been loyal Inkwell customers -- were left feeling like they simply did not matter because more important people had walked through the door. That is what makes this experience so disappointing. Restaurants get busy. Orders get lost. Mistakes happen. But when you discover that a family has been waiting an hour, tell them you will investigate, disappear for another 45 minutes, and then offer essentially no apology, urgency, ownership, or attempt to make things right, that is not a kitchen problem. That is a customer-service problem. Eventually they agreed to refund us. So the single star is awarded because Inkwell did, in fact, return our money after failing to provide breakfast and did not lock the doors to prevent our escape. Cherish it.

Good service, cool old space, great donuts…read more The case when you walk in has sample donuts, but it looks like the frost/fill donuts to order. There is a big window so you can see the process. I got a mini donut and got the option to fill with coconut cream or raspberry. I should have said one of both, but I got the coconut cream and it was a great bite. The filling was creamy the outside was crisp. My daughter really enjoyed the Chocolate carnival. The bathroom situation is interesting. The toilet is not straight there are random holes on the wall and a covered tub. But I figure it's part of the charm with the old building.

Their specialty layered donuts are like a croissant/donut hybrid, flaky like a croissant but fluffy…read moreand chewy like a yeasted donut. When I was there early in the morning, they were glazing all donuts to order. This location doesn't have the vegan/gluten-free doughnut (there's a sign on the menu that says "temporarily out", but they haven't carried it for at least a year). I got the cream & crimson donut, a strawberry jelly-filled donut topped with whipped cream and a strawberry syrup drizzle, unique to the Bloomington location. It was substantial! There was lots of jelly inside which made it pretty messy when coupled with the whipped cream on top, but that's not a bad thing. The donut was fresh and tender, and I really liked the unique texture, but I thought it was overly sweet. The jelly was very sweet and there was that syrup drizzle, plus the donut itself was rolled in sugar. I still enjoyed it, but it's like a once a month at most kind of thing for me. I would like to come back, just not too often. I got an iced matcha latte with my donut. This was a pretty decent matcha latte, honestly better than expected for a donut chain. It was unsweetened by default. The donut came in a paper box which was good packaging because it's relatively eco-friendly and protects the structure of the donut if you're taking it to go. I did see they had also had plates but forgot to ask for one. There's actually a pretty large seating area in the back of the shop plus a patio. The two workers there were helpful and friendly.

First time at this Crumble Coffee, but I love the other two. Same good experience here…read more I got a tomato red pepper danish, a piece of blueberry almond cake, and a summer garden tea (seasonal green tea with fruit syrup) The danish was actually my second choice after I found out they were out of the galette I wanted, but I actually liked the danish a lot and was glad it was what I ended up with. The pastry was great, with nice layers but not overly flaky for my taste like a lot of danishes; it had a nice tenderness to it. The filling was delicious, like a cheesy roasted red pepper dip baked into a danish. The cake was also great, not too sweet and very aesthetically pleasing too. The tea was really nice, with the fruit flavors balanced with the green tea. The shop is very cute and felt welcoming. There's a lot of outdoor seating. They have some local art prints for sale and there's even a printer for customer use. The baristas were friendly.

I ordered one Cookie it took about 15 minutes to receive it. It was a line though. The employees…read moreare not very friendly not much of a smile or a genuine thank you for your business. I ordered the cookie with the apples and crumbles on it. I assume the apple strudel cookie. It's very good. I also ordered milk. The lady didn't told me that they didn't have milk, but then a display showed that they did have milk so she had to go look for it and finally found it. It's really a unusual Customerservice experience as the employees aren't that friendly and don't seem very hospitable and welcoming.