Updated 1/28/2024:
I wanted to add an update to my original review simply saying that Alina and Vitalii are the most incredible people you will meet. Hands-down, this is our favorite local spot for coffee and pastries and sandwiches. They have massively expanded their menu, now offering different kinds of wonderful teas, sandwiches, iced drinks, and incredible delicate pastry offerings. Over the weekends, they offer incredible croissants, which are to die for, and they have entire loaves of fresh sourdough bread over the weekend. Another very popular item is that they have delicious cookies like Biscoff, cookies and cream, chocolate chip, peanut butter, and more. Just a really great place to go. They even have some little merchandise like beautiful little teapots, looseleaf tea, homemade salted caramel, raw honey from their country of Moldova, hot chocolate bombs, etc. Really it just goes on and on. Vitalii Is very much a coffee connoisseur, and he can discuss specifics on espresso with a customer for an hour straight :-). I've seen him do it with my bestie and it's quite hilarious :-). Having someone who's that passionate about coffee is a guarantee that your cup will be perfect every time.
Best times to go if you're looking to avoid a crowd is probably before noon on Saturday if it's over the weekend. After 12 PM they start to get incredibly busy and they're also busy throughout the day Sunday. A lot of their special offerings you can only get on the weekends like the croissants, and things sell out early, so I would say check both during the week and the weekends for different things. They recently introduced these delicious ham, avocado, cheese croissant sandwiches along with a smoked salmon and cream cheese croissant sandwich. Everything is so incredibly well-balanced at very reasonable prices.
The actual location is incredibly well-maintained and very clean. I also have to call out Sam. She is the barista on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and she makes incredible drinks. If you want something very unique, try the mint Matcha mocha latte. It's made with white chocolate and is just phenomenal. What I really like also is that a lot of Alina's menu is seasonal. There were some things, for example, she offered in the Fall and some things she offers now in the Winter that are gone or leaving soon, but she's preparing for upcoming Spring items. They also do special orders, so make sure if you need like an entire cake or an entire box of macarons, you can place an order and pick them up. For Halloween, we ordered this box of various macarons, all decorated for Halloween. It was really cool and a huge hit at the Halloween party we went to.
At the end of the day, definitely support small business, especially this one. It is truly a fantastic place in the area, there's nothing like it. You're not going to find things like donuts or slices of pie or anything like that here. Everything here is high-end and delicate and perfect. I hope you give them a shot! read more