Kona On The Corner Cafe

I’d really like to like Kona. I run by it in the mornings and it reminds me of warm places, like Hawaii. Who doesn’t want to be reminded of Hawaii?
Inside, the walls are painted a deep turquoise and the trim is brown. Caricatures of a surfer guy and gal mark the doors for the washrooms. There’s even an artificial banana tree in the corner.
Plugins are ample. And by ample I mean there’s a 6 outlet thing plugged into every outlet. You won’t want for power and the wifi is free. No computer? No problem! There’s a communal one over by the washrooms. That’d be pretty handy for checking your email or writing the odd Unilocal review…
The coffee is ok. The brewed stuff doesn’t make me want to load it with sugar which is saying something. There’s you’re usually mix of espressos, americanos, mochas, lattes, etc. They even sell spirits, although I’m not sure when happy hour is since they close at 5…
Food wise you’ll find things like bagels, muffins, squares, sausage rolls, lasagna, some chicken pot pie and soups and sandwiches. It’d be an alright spot to pop in for a lunch on your way by, but there’s nothing about it that screams «you must come here!»
I like the idea of the Hawaiian hangout… but it could definitely use a refresher of some kind. Maybe once the LRT construction is done and the construction workers have made their way to the next site?
At any rate, if you need space to study, work on your laptop, etc. without being disturbed, this would be a good spot to do so!
Unilocal’s 30 Day Challenge: ¹⁶⁄₃₀

This is a very dark café at the end of the line terminal on 10^th street, if it wasn’t for its neon open sign you wouldn’t really notice it.
Five years ago I was a regular at this joint, a nice bustling hip place to get home cooked food, good coffee and work on the internet. But now I have been back and it feels like a washed up hubbub of what it used to be. It just feels abandoned, I am not sure if it has changed management, the prices and quality of food seems to be the same but there just seems like there is hardly anyone there, it feels dark and gloomy and it just doesn’t have the vital signs of what it used to be.
Kona needs some sort of reinvention of itself, it is in a prime location to feed the local condo dwellers, I would suggest a new paint job and perhaps an interior decorator, some good energy. Simply put… a modern facelift would give Kona a pulse again.

This morning I was in one of those moods. You know, the «Uh, it’s Monday and I just don’t want to work out, I’d rather be in my PJs drinking hot chocolate» moods. So that’s exactly what I did. Bet you can guess where I got my hot chocolate from… Yup, Kona On The Corner.
This café is located right across the 10^th street west C-​Train station. I hadn’t even realized it, but I have walked by this place a good hundred times and not even been inside.
This morning I went in and there were a handful of customers in there. It’s a lot bigger than I thought. They have free WIFI available to all customers and they serve a variety of goods. Everything from your standard muffins, cookies and danishes, to sausage rolls, lasagnas and Jamaican patties.
I ordered a hot chocolate with a couple of cookies. The cookies came in a prepackaged plastic cover, you know, like the ones sold in vending machines. This being the case, I was not crazy about the cookies. They weren’t fresh baked and cookies are one of the easiest goods to make, so that was disappointing.
The hot chocolate however was VERY tasty, and their sizes are generous, so that made me happy.
All in all, Kona On The Corner is a cute, comfortable coffee joint, with tasty drinks and a very wide range of snacks.
I’m definitely glad that I went once, but I can’t promise that I’ll be back.