Can I just say this little place was my favorite tourist experience in Austin??? First of all, the location is perfect! You are literally stepping into history! The little stone structure is so welcoming! The staff there was very nice and friendly. We had a nice chat about the area and the other locations! Coffee was AMAZING! I am not a Starbuck's coffee fan because of the burned beans flavor but I love the atmosphere so Merit had great coffee with that coffee shop hangout feel. It was truly an excellent experience!! read more

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Stonehouse coffee closed last month, and Merit coffee has taken its place. Stonehouse was a great spot, and it seems like nothing has really changed in the first month. There's ample parking, location on S. Lamar is great, and the staff is nice. It can get a bit hectic outside since there are some other shops around + occasionally some funky smells, but inside is amazing and the coffee is certainly top notch. Would recommend for anyone looking for a good place to hunker down to work or focus. There's somewhat limited seating inside but if you count the outdoor spaces, the amount of seating doubles. read more

Almond milk here is delicious. Cute place, but seems to constantly be overpacked and you can't always sit and eat. Also limited food options and the egg cups are good but overpriced for their small size IMO. I also got some of the merit coffee beans and I was glad to see they had a decaf option because a lot of places don't. This is my first time here, it was decent but I think the other locations might be better than this one. read more

Yay. One of my go to coffee places! Their spaces are always cozy and the coffee is consistently good. This location is good for lounging and getting work done. This time they have dedicated parking which is a plus. I'm hoping to visit here more often. read more

Enjoyed our coffees, pastries and yogurts this morning. A nicely preserved heritage building. Staff was very friendly. A pleasant neighborhood vibe. read more

They've got great outdoor seating, with COVID the line is outside/ down the stairs (which I didn't notice the first time pretty sure I accidentally cut people). Their coffee/ espresso is always delicious. The spinach quiche is good. All my favor orders have been great - the ham haute pocket was life changing. read more

Great outdoor seating and coffee. That's it. Horrible customer experience. One example: Customer: "You guys should order more so you don't run out early in the morning." Merit: "It's not my thing. I don't do the ordering." Customer: "Perhaps you can give my feedback to your manager." Must an employee be so disconnected from how feedback at a business works that he thinks a customer's feedback is a direct criticism of him personally and based on the presumption that he is the cause of the customer frustration? When providing feedback, do we really have to tell the employee what to do with it -- i.e., pass it along to the manager? From the looks of the long line (not to mention the overflowing trash and dirty tables), it looks like the loss of our patronage won't effect Merit. But someday, eventually, their indifference consistent will catch up with them. read more

The coffee is reasonably good, however one does see signs of neglect here and there. The parking areas are a case in point. See photo. The place can get very noisy so it maybe isn't a great place to study. read more

Merit Coffee - Huge pothole in parking lot - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Austin, Texas

Recommended to me by someone at city limits and I was SO happy! Also - if anyone knows what their green salsa (and more importantly how someone could buy it) HMU LOL read more

Great customer service, good pastries, and great coffee. I ordered the strawberry pop tart, almond croissant, iced vanilla latte and caramel/mexican vanilla coffee. I was very impressed and will definitely be back. read more

Today was a joke for service. And attitude. They yelled at folks in line to go outside and wait. And staff acted annoyed. With manager watching. And my pour over was forgotten and delivered cold and weak. Do better. read more

I wish I had discovered this place earlier. My thoughts: 1. Mill-king milk. Natural, tasty, Texan. 2. Amazing house-made syrups. Give the caramel a try! Rich and delicious! 3. Amazing location. Gaze at the south Austinites. Or...visiting south Austinites. 4. Parking in the back! 5. Close to a couple of food trucks, if that's your thing. 6. They have some cute looking fancy pastries, if that's your thing. Looking forward to spending some Sunday mornings here in the future! read more

So...I'm from California. Specifically, Orange County. And the streets there are quite nice (well, depending on what area you are in of course) and PREDICTABLE that your destination is coming up. My point in saying all that is that my friend and I literally drifted into this Merit location. It's so small that we almost missed it. Hence, the sudden drift haha. Anywho. On to my main point. The coffee was great -- I got their Matcha Latte and the homie got a Vanilla Latte -- and the actual ambiance in there was nice. We sat outdoors since it was such a nice day out. The street noise can get terribly loud though, but if you are okay with that, that's honestly the least of your worries. 4 stars cuz the caffeine and the latte art was hashtag good, but minus 1 star cuz we low-key got traumatized with our drifting incident and then the tiny parking space did not help at all. I definitely prefer the Merit on North Lamar (this one is South Lamar) since there's a way bigger parking lot and dramatically less noise. read more

Merit Coffee - Matcha Latte (back) + Vanilla Latte (front) - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Austin, Texas

I had been wanting to try this place for a long time. The coffee is a bit bitter. I had an iced Americano. Bitter but decent flavor.the thing that was a huge turn off was no workers were wearing masks and they were rude.being this was the first time here, we waited a while and they weren't busy today when we were there. My wife got a latte and she asked a worker at the counter if that was hers. The worker's reply, "I guess. How am I supposed to know?" Rude! I will never return because all the workers were flippant. read more

Cute little place to enjoy a nice drink, meet up with a friend or do some work / study! Everyone mentioning the vibe, its a great homey vibe with natural lighting and the baristas are all very nice! The entrance and exit are separate, one ways. I tried their hibiscus tea, cold. The MKT price for the day I visited was $3.50. It had a nice and light taste to it, no added sugars. My little sister mentioned their prices in general for coffee and others items are pretty cheap compared to your typical coffee shop. Each table has a laminated sign that you can flip when you are done so they know to clean for the next person, a nice practice during Covid-19. The only downside is that the wifi is a little slow when there are multiple people on the network, but seeing as how this place is operated and well kept its no surprise theres a lot of people who come through here. read more

Tell me how hard it is to go in your car and get a gallon of milk. I was only able to get oat milk because they were out of everything but specialty milk. And no milk for the day! I also got up charged a dollar!!!! When I inquired about my $12 cappuccino and why it was so expensive she said well you got oat milk. No apology or anything but a blank stare. Pathetic! Where was management today? read more

maybe its just because theyre always busy, but the espresso is always pretty underwhelming, and the shot consistency is all over the place. matcha lattes are great though so kudos for that. if your ideal coffee shop has a great aesthetic for insta pics, this is probably the place to go. read more

Unfortunately have to put in this negative review, the staff here always has a fussy uppity attitude I do not understand (hint hint they are better than you) service is unfortunately horrible and I try to avoid places like this as much as possible, and possibly a year since I last visited here and go to a different place to purchase my beans, so their loss, but had to make a urgent run here this time because I recently moved south and yet another bad experience, they have such an amazing location so it's a shame that unless you have a certain look (safe assumption), you can pretty much experience horrible service here. read more

We really enjoyed the ambiance of this place. It has indoor and outdoor seating. It is located inside a historic landmark house which is cool to any history lover. The hubby had an iced latte which he liked, I had an iced mocha which was also very good. read more

What a cute little coffee shop and what a great location! Fun place to hang out with friends or your family. We stopped for coffee after watching a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and we sat in their patio. I had an oat milk cappuccino that was alright. The iced lavender passion fruit drink was our favorite. I will definitely go back to try their other offerings. read more

I'd consider myself a regular here, I'm in at least 3x a week. The coffee is great and the staff is really sweet but be prepared to wait 20-30+ minutes for your drink. read more

Great place to chat with a friend or get work done. There's both indoor and outdoor seating. Outdoor has a lot of trees, so there's plenty of shade. And the inside isn't overcrowded with seating. Great job spacing out the entrance, so it doesn't feel too congested when you walk in. And there's a nice balance of natural and indoor lighting. Coffee prices are fair. Baristas were kind and patient with orders. No complaints here. read more

Good coffee, great location, good amount of seating & outlets, nice patio, nice people! One star down because they have the AC on WAY too cold. I get that Austin is hot, we love our AC, but it's tough to get work done when you're shivering...if they could bump it up just a degree or two all would be well at Merit :) read more

The coffee & matcha is good, but the attitude of the workers isn't. Not very welcoming when you walk in and had a rude tone when I asked a simple question. read more

Cute coffee shop with lots of natural lighting. They have an indoor and outdoor seating area that are both enjoyable. I would have loved to have seen more comfortable cushy chairs to sit in and the tables a little further apart, but I get the need for more seating with limited space. The music selection was great as well. Very mellow, a little loud but that is just me. I ordered a cappuccino and a sea salt chocolate donut which were delicious. Will definitely revisit! read more

Merit Coffee - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Austin, Texas

Nice atmosphere coffee shop with decent parking. Ordered two new coffees to tr, but 1 was low on an ingredient, so I got a refresher drink instead. The other coffee was fin, but the refresher was a lott more sour than I expected to be, but overall a decent spot. read more

Basic coffee shop with terrible parking. The entrance to the shop is 5 ft from the front counter so be prepared to be in the way of everything and everyone. I had a drip, they didn't have a blonde roast so I was given whatever they had. The only thing that was good was the chocolate croissant which is from a local bakery. read more

I met friends there for coffee. First thing I need to say, I'm not a coffee connoisseur, snob, whatever way you wish to call yourself If coffee is your thing. I like it, but it's not a mandatory thing in my life and I don't drink it black, I add tons to it. If you're like me, keep reading, if you're a purist, ignore this post. I easily found something I would like there...simple a latte... I think I added a flavor...I want to say it was caramel?...maybe mocha? I'm not good with remembering details, but I do remember it tasted great. It wasn't the kinda coffee that I instantly makes you grow chest hair because it's so damn strong...so thanks for that. Also, it wasn't super packed and they are all about spacing out. The reason they fell short was because they are so close to Lamar getting in and out is challenging, hearing your friends talk on the porch is pretty challenging with traffic and there are some pee your pants moments with crazy pedestrians and cars driving waaaay too fast. Fabulous people watching though. It's a good halfway point for me and some friends, so I'll probably be back. Thanks for catering to the non-coffee pro!! read more

I love this coffee shop! Lots of seating and the staff is very friendly every time I come in.

Weird vibes, aloof staff and watery coffee. Definitely not a fan. Pro Tip: Cosmic sells Merit and it's wayyyy better all the way around. read more

Great spot for a delicious coffee and a quick pastry. They have house-made flavors (chocolate, caramel, Mexican vanilla) if you want your coffee sweetened up. read more

Are you kidding me?! This is one of the coolest coffee shops in Austin. It's nested inside an old stone house and the atmosphere is awesome. But not only that: - The staff is super friendly - The couches are comfortable - There is plenty of room inside and outside to sit - Coffee is delicious - It's a great place to bring your book or a laptop and get some work done. Highly recommended! read more

Mediocre to say the least. The milk-to-espresso and water-to-espresso ratios are way off. Their latte tastes like a cup of milk with a single spoonful of chocolate powder. The americano has a watery, tea-like flavor. The cookie I got was not fresh, and as someone else mentioned here, the pain au chocolat has barely any chocolate in it. The location is next to a busy street so it's impossible to read or hold a conversation, and the overall milieu of the place is uninspired and uninteresting. read more

The coffee was reasonably priced and tasted better than most places I've went to. We got a cold brew and an iced chai latte for a little under $9 which was great. The vibes were welcoming with an extremely speedy service from the staff. read more

WiFi issues crop up quite a bit and the staff is usually just ok. Their coffee, however, is pretty good. I frequent this place quite a bit for convenience, but there are lots of better options in Austin. read more

I've tried a few different coffee shops here in Austin and Merit has been my favorite by far! To preface, I always order a vanilla oat milk latte so I'm basing my review off of that, which was so delicious and the best vanilla flavor! They have a really great outdoor patio underneath trees too and parking was easy! My new go to coffee shop in Austin. read more

I am a fan of Merit Coffee. Not only do they have delicious coffee and chai tea lattes, but they also offer a great variety of non-dairy milk. My favorite is oat milk. The shop is cute and inviting. They also have a convenient parking lot where I am usually able to find a space. I also really appreciate their staff and their service at this time. They have a great online order platform. In addition, they are offering curbside pick-up. When you pull into their parking lot, give them a call and they will bring your order right out. I love supporting this shop! read more

The patio and inside had great ambiance with lots of seating. It's placed right next to a great breakfast food truck, Paperboy. Plenty of parking at both Merit and Paperboys private lots. We got our food and sat at Merit with our lattes. A perfect way to start the day! read more

Merit Coffee - Merit lattes and breakfast from Paperboy right next door. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Austin, Texas

I like coming here, the place is really pretty and full of natural light and the coffee is tasty. One thing that's super annoying is that since day one when they took over Stone House the Merit staff is obviously taught to compliment each customer (in hopes of getting a tip maybe?) It's super cringe worthy to hear over and over again "I like your shirt!"(or whatever) over and over and over again. It's like dudes, save it..I know it's it not genuine! Still giving 4 stars but please stop. read more

I honestly don't know why this place has any reviews less than 5 stars. Not only is this merit the best place to chill but the coffee is one of the best I have ever had and I have had coffee pretty much all over the globe. When I mean the coffee is good I mean the actual beans and taste of the actual coffee, I always get cappuccinos everywhere with no sugar because I like tasting the coffee and I can tell you this is one of the best coffees. If you want a crappy coffee masqueraded with sugary dessert then go to Starbucks but if you want a legit amazingly good coffee go to this merit. This review is for the coffee itself. read more