Sip & Kranz

Free wi-​fi in a nice location but when the cashier makes comments on how my order is too difficult and fancy for her because she doesn’t drink coffee, I’d rather walk down the street for my Americano.
I didn’t think that an Americano was difficult.

I have to say that despite the many other reviewers who are relieved that the kid area has now been turned into a «business center», I miss the fact that Sip n’ Kranz once catered to the family crowd. The Pearl is swank enough without one more coffee shop copping to a bunch of snobs who can’t handle little kids under foot. They’re right next door to a park for heaven’s sake. What better place to have a kid-​friendly coffee shop where parents can enjoy some adult conversation and a great latte? Sad, I tell you, very sad that the new owners changed that aspect of the business. And I don’t even have kids.
The coffee here is quality and their pastries are good too. I love the wicker chairs that make you feel a little like you’re sitting in a modern-​Scandinavian version of a throne. The plastic butt-​stools are more like pain-​in-​the-​ass stools but hey, a sleek and hip look requires a little pain right? Why else would women wear high heels?

Sip n Kranz is great, it has an awesome atmosphere and is a great place to meet people and hang out. I love the huge windows on the rainy days of Western Oregon’s Winter, and their outside seating is perfect on a warm spring or summer day.
They serve Stumptown and do a great job at that!
It’s also a place that I love to meet clients at, because there’s lots of seating and the staff is very friendly.

They’re pretty good. I think the coffee is always tasty, the teapot-​servings are generous, the breakfast sandwiches are pretty good.
The acai bowl is a five-​star coffeehouse breakfast dish– yogurt, acai berries, sliced bananas, granola, yum.
The new owners have more or less chased away the kiddie vibe: the playroom became a business-​meeting-​center, the booze and wine are more prominently featured, etc. As a disliker of children, I like this.
The baristas are fine– not the most outwardly friendly, but if you make small talk, they will too. Not snooty in the least, to my experience…
A solid three-​star place. If I were back in the Midwest, it’d be five-​star for sure, but it’s Portland, after all!

This place gives me little faith for economic recovery in Oregon. If the employees at Sip & Kranz are the type of people considered employable the rest of the 10%+ of Oregon citizens that are unemployed are either in a coma or have little hope.
Slooow service (I could walk to Stumptown in SW and back before getting my coffee here, and that includes the inevitable line from the Ace) with zero personality. They make a decent cup of joe for the most part, but you’re better off walking to Barista and getting a better cup served by people with personalities.

Dear Sip & Kranz,
You burned my stumptown coffee, which is the greatest sin in the world and made my girlfriend pay $ 3 for you to pour Odwalla lemonade into a plastic cup.
For a Pearl establishment, I expected better. Shame on you!
Hmph.

This is my favorite local coffee shop. It’s sheik, hip, and has great espresso drinks. I often stop by for smoothies during hot days too.
It’s nice to sit by Jameson Park and people watch while you chat/​gossip with your friends about all of life’s woes.

Not a bad place: great location next to Jamison Square, and their coffee is pretty good. I ended up spending a couple of hours here doing some writing on my laptop, but this place is just sort of weird if you want to do work while you sip. The high-​back chairs are just sort of strange and I never did get all that comfortable in them. To their credit, they have AC outlets everywhere, so power wasn’t a problem, and it was nice to glance outside and look at people in the square as a quick break every now and then.
Their prices are a bit steep, but this is the Pearl, right next to the Square, so I wasn’t terribly surprised. The service was the typical PDX coffeehouse service — aloof, but makes a good cup o’ Joe.

GAAAAAH! It’s 2:00 in the afternoon!
Have the heaviest laptop in the world on my back and I need INTERNET!
I have to finish an essay for graduate school applications and I couldn’t take a minute of distractions at my house. So I run to Portland to save me and keep me caffeinated and focused.
Aha! What’s this? Sip & Kranz: free wi-​fi, ample space and outlets, next to Jamison Park, big windows, swanky looking interior… brilliant! I order a hot chocolate (I don’t know why I didn’t get a coffee… my mind was on pending graduate school essays) and a croissant. The place is nearly empty on the inside, save some stylish moms and their hyper children. For a split-​second I felt like I was in the play pin at Ikea…
I grab a table and get plugged in as I wait for my drink order. Keep in mind that at this time, I owned a PC laptop I bought in 2003. This laptop is old. And when I hit the power button, you can be sure that it takes a good 10 minutes to warm up and get to the start menu. Normally, I turn on my computer, do two loads of laundry, and then begin whatever I was working on. But it took the good folks at Sip & Krantz longer to make my hot chocolate! I suddenly realized that ¾ of my pastry was eaten, and I was on the third paragraph of my essay by the time I heard, «small hot chocolate ready!»
Good lord, did Sip and Krantz take a trip to South America for cacao beans?! Did they stop in Wisconsin for milk?! Swing by Hawaii for SUGAR?! Three ingredients. Milk, Cocoa, Sugar… Heat and stir!
The cocoa is lukewarm, decent but not worth the $ 3 something I paid for it. In the meantime I starving again and see that they have a menu of fruit and cheese plates, but that side of the counter looks untouched. Clean, but untouched. In fact, the whole coffee shop looks fairly untouched – with the exception of the mess the kids have made in the corner.
Here’s the problem with Sip & Kranz: they don’t know what they want to be. Don’t overwhelm a customer with too many titles. Play center, restaurant, coffee shop, Internet café, wine bar… pick one! It’s a shame too. The interior is well designed and trendy. It lures passerbys, like myself. Then it cunningly sucks them into this unexplainable vortex of coffee, children and wine and cheese and cute swivel chairs and wi-​fi and Oh MY GOD why is it taking so long to get me a drink…
Truth be told, I was so distracted from Sip & Kranz’s existence that I left after I drank my cocoa. To Stumptown stat!

Solid good coffee. I’ve been there couple times and both times, my Iced coffee drinks were cold and strong just how I like it.
It would be better if there weren’t so many screaming kids running around in this busy place. It would be better, if there are more registers instead of only one register so the line to order and pay won’t be sooooo loooongggg. Especially during sunny days in Portland where there are too many people hang out at the Jamison Square Park.
There are too many coffee shops in Portland, I really want Sip & Kranz to be better than Starbucks and the rest of the chain gang. Hopefully they will make some improvements to this place. Who knows, someday they can be awesome.

Now,
If I stick my head out my window, I could throw a rock (very lightly) and hit Sip & Kranz, so they see a lot of me.
First the goods:
Ninkasi Beer (one of the best IPA’s I’ve ever had)
Stumptown Coffee (and they know how to make it)
Good Sandwiches
The Bad:
The employees: They seem like they would rather be getting a root canal than be working. Here is a tip if they are reading this, introduce yourself if you have seen the same person (and I am friendly) more than 20 times.
The noise: every time the barista knocks the grind out of the press you would think pictures would come off the wall. there has to be a better way
Very cold décor. White on White on White on black wicker. ugh.
So the ingredients are good at S&K. It’s the shop that needs improvement. I hope the new owners lighten the mood of the shop and realize its just a coffee shop not a dentist office.

I used to really want to go to Sip & Kranz. Now, I walk past this place wishing that I could erase my bad experiences. The place is dirty. Like, someone needs to fully sweep and clean the floors more frequently. Maybe they do clean the floors; perhaps right before inspections. Prior to the floor, we’re stopped by and had the grilled cheese. There was bread, cheese and grills marks; so to my knowledge that’s grilled cheese. When we bit in, the cheese was still hard and cold. Seriously! I wish I could erase my bad experiences and get to know Sip & Kranz all over again, but I’m not ready yet.

More personality, light and airy space, I really thought I’d like this place better than the other coffee places I was at in Portland.
Walking in, ordering an (ok) coffee, sitting in the big airy space with a children’s play area at a distant end, and realizing what a slave the furniture is to style in here… I actually preferred some other less trendy, modern, futuristic looking places.

Spent the weekend with my best childhood friend (we had matching Dorothy Hamill haircuts back in the day) and her family trying to lure her to Portland. So we hit many of Portland’s family friendly hot spots, but S & K left one of the biggest impressions as she declared it ‘the best mocha ever.‘
Thank you Sip and Kranz! Now can you do something about the weather? Appears to be a deal breaker for her…

tick-​tock, tick-​tock, tick-tock…oh, hi there biological clock. I guess you really DO exist! After years of thinking that my baby-​maker had gone dark, today I introduced my uterus to Sip and Kranz. (Too much?)
Ok, so maybe I’m not ready to go on the bachelor and make an oh-​so-​romantic national declaration that I am ready for «the reproductive phase,» but sitting here at this sleek Icelandic-​themed café/​coffee lounge I am realizing that with places like this, being a mommy would not only be tolerable — but hip and fun! (wow — my kids will be TERRORS… but we’ll save that for another review…)
Basically, I feel like I’m in the midst of a kiddie-​Matterhorn ride, and I’m having a blast. Perhaps it’s because I can still be drugged (both caffeine and alcohol are easily accessible), and food is within reach — as is the escapism of the internet.
Yet while I sip on my iced americano and take bites from my ham & gouda sandwich, kids are streaming in and out with bright board shorts and squirt guns, munching on sides of goldfish and tootsie rolls, and sipping off their crinkled straws in chocolate milk boxes. The sunshine of early June has filled Jamison Square with families and Sip and Kranz seems to act as a neutral home base where everyone can be happy. I am surrounded not only by great music, but by infectious smiles and laughter.
And somehow, right now, all seems right with the world.

EDITED 3÷15÷09 Meh. They took the kids’ area away, so I have to bring my star rating down to Meh. They also took away the water jug (guess people were abusing it) and now you can only buy bottled water. Boo.
— — — — THIS WAS THE OLD REVIEW WHEN THEY DID HAVE THE KIDS SPACE. — — — — —
I come here once or twice a week with my 2-​year old. I probably wouldn’t come on a day that I’m not with him; on non-​kid days you’ll find me at Tiny’s or Stumptown.
Anyway, I love the coffee, and the décor. I haven’t had the service problems that other people have complained about. The service seems normal to me, then again I am a regular, I tip the expected amount every time, and I am courteous to my servers, not expecting that just because I am a mom, they need to drop everything and treat me differently.
I usually get my son settled in the play area first, then I get in line for my drink, maybe that’s why I don’t encounter the «waiting meltdown» others have been subject to. It’s easy to keep an eye on your toddler by just peeking around the corner — the play area has a big clear glass enclosure so you can see exactly what they are doing. My suggestion for those with infants would be to come in first and park the stroller (there are plenty of little corners by the doors — the space between the milk station and the door is perfect for 2 small MacLarens), PICK UP YOUR CHILD AND HOLD THEM while you are waiting in line. (effing duh.)
I love the Stumptown coffee and Nuvrei pastries. The food they make is a little less exciting — just paninis and some weird stuff like acai smoothies that I probably would never get. I usually stick to coffee and pastry. They have ice cream too.
I guess I must be a little more laid back than the parentzillas who complain about the grime. I hope they never go to Urban Grind! For the most part when I am there, I might have seen a stray cheerio in the play room but nothing outrageous. I say, let he who is blameless etc. etc. Let’s just say it’s cleaner than my living room! If I notice that things are out of place, I might straighten a bit here and there. It’s hard to be a business owner (I’m one myself) so if it’s easy for me to put some blocks back in a box or move the tunnels out of the way, I do it instead of complaining online, crazy!
Final notes: the wifi always works great for me, and I love the nearness to Jamison and Tanner Creek parks. Hot Lips Pizza, and three cool kids/​toy stores are nearby too (Posh, Little Urbanites, and Green Frog) Also, for nursing moms, I have never felt weird or had a problem nursing in public there. It’s easy to make Sip and Kranz the hub for a kid friendly afternoon.

I like it here… but…
See there it is… I don’t like that but in there. I wish i didn’t have to put it there… I do go here and take my kids here… but… DAMN there it is again.
OK, here you go.
The other review that mentions the staff’s ennui is so accurate. I’m there on a busy Sat morning within the last week and there are 5 of us in line. Three of us have children. Sip and Kranz staff should recognize that those of us with small children (I have three sons under the age of 7) are going to come and need their support. Otherwise why have the GREAT kids room? But there is only one register and the guy working it couldn’t have seem less concerned about taking orders quickly. He wandered off. Chatted with the guy making sandwiches, and generally showed no sign of urgency.
Finally got my kids herded into the kids room and boy has that gone down hill! Was there 6 months ago and it was in pretty good shape. When I arrived was excited to see they had added a kids train table. However, as another review mentioned broken or torn up toys were still in the room (that stuff is going to happen, you might as well clean it up). Two dirty tunnels were in there, but they were all tied up so they couldn’t be used and were just taking up space. Only two pieces of chalk were around when there used to be 20. I know it is hard to keep track of all that stuff, but once or twice a week go in there, clean up some stuff, throw in a new clean used toy you got at Goodwill and refill the chalk box… oh yeah and vacuum. My kids still had a good time, but it was in spite of the condition of the room not because of it.
I like this place, but they need to figure out how to move the line a little faster, show more concern for customers and keep their kids room in a bit better shape.
Coffee is good-​if a bit slow coming out of the bar. The food items are overpriced, but not in a bad way, everything is made with fancy ingredients which is why. I’ll go back, and i hope the but will go away…

You will enter Sip & Kranz and think that you perhaps took a wrong turn and ended up in the West Elm showroom, but you will be mistaken. You are actually in one of the most bizarre and lovely coffee places I have ever set foot in.
Loveliness:
*The tuna sandwich. On warm ciabatta — with grapes and almonds. Sounds off, but oh so very yummy.
*Croissants and pastries from some really nice bakery in town — name of which has slipped away. Bagels from Kettleman. If you don’t bake it in house, knowing where to order it from is key.
*Free wifi
*Coffee and beer and wine
*Right on Jamison Square
Bizarre:
*Décor is starkly white-​on-​white Mac modern.
*It’s kid-​friendly! It’s one of the kid-​friendliest dang places I’ve found in this town. $ 5 kid meals served on cute little orange trays with grapes and crackers. A glassed-​in kid holding pen full of toys that actually does a pretty good job of containing/​entertaining the little buggers and muffling the screaming.
*Where’s the pitcher of ice water and cups? This is like a standard amenity at most coffee places, yeah?
(As an aside in the bizarre realm, last time I visited, I saw standing in line a biker, construction worker, and police officer. If a cowboy and/​or Indian chief would have shown up, I totally would’ve given this place five stars.)

Am I cool enough for Sip & Kranz?
This is one ultra-​hip hangout for the pretentious urban guerrilla and the baby brigade. I happen to notice it as I was passing by on the streetcar heading north. When I made the return trip, I decided to take a peek and see if this plebeian could fit in. Not quite.
The young hipsters minding the counter looked like they were suffering from extreme ennui, but the one girl managed to fulfill my order of a $ 3.95 Mocha Blender on an unseasonably warm day in Portland. Plenty of tall-​backed rattan chairs abound as well as Scandinavian block tables with those chic Design Within Reach stools that swirl effortlessly.
While the malt-​like drink hit the spot albeit temporarily, I just didn’t feel very comfortable among the skinny staff and even skinnier customers. Discouraged, I tried to take a seat on the patio where more anorexics had taken the available tables. Failure again. Luckily there is the whole of Jamison Square in which to set a spell and enjoy my drink.
Uh-oh…brain freeze, brain freeze.
DRINK — 3 stars… hit the spot but kinda small for the price
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… cool, stylish with semi-​private conversational areas… yet it left me feeling vacant like in one of those Calvin Klein commercials for Obsession
SERVICE — 3 stars… ennui
TOTAL — 3 stars… OK if you’re in the area or a trendy Pearl resident but probably not worth getting out of Fareless Square if you’re just a plebeian like me

I’ve never dressed up to go out for coffee until I stepped foot in Sip and Kranz. You won’t see any sweatpants and stained t-​shirts at this hip spot, so slip on your best duds and show up to get your Java buzz in style. Sip and Kranz is bright and tastefully decorated, with light blue walls and tall white chairs right out of the Jetsons.
In the afternoon, Sip and Kranz is packed with sophisticated urban mamas. There’s a glassed-​in play area for the kids, so mom can keep an eye on the wee ones while she sips coffee and catches up with her friends.