Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar

Paid this a visit after seeing someone give them favorable reviews online. I got the double size latte and thought that it was average, really nothing amazing. One thing that I thought was odd was that they served the latte, and other drinks from what I could tell, in standard beer glasses. I also got a croissant, which was decent enough. The prices for both items were less than I expected after paying an arm and a leg for similar products from other craft coffee houses. The layout and design of the shop I think is very nice. As others have pointed out, there are a lot of tables and other places for you to sit. My only complaint is that the barista severing everyone drinks was obviously suffering from a cold and probably should’ve been at home.
Overall, not a bad or amazing coffee shop. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to try Black Dog, but it would be decent enough if you’re not too far.

I have gone here for meetings, catch ups with friends and for shows. It’s a great space with a lot of seating and small stage on the side where you enter. They have small porcelain variations of black dogs around the shop, and a lot of community postings.
One of the great things about Black Dog is that they make their chai in house. Because of this it’s a more smokey and spicy flavor rather than sweet. I love it! I got a soy dirty chai over the weekend and it was perfect. They know how to make specialty drinks. For reals.
Food can be hit or miss honestly. The baked items are always flakey and buttery, but the brunch/​breakfast was not impressive. I got the lox bagel and my mom got the waffle. There was only enough lox, onion and cream cheese for one side of the bagel! I got two pieces of lox, a ton of cucumber (which I can’t eat) and some onion and three slices of tomato. The bagels are huge so if they were smaller it would have been fine. But really, how are you gonna give an odd number of tomato slices?! And no capers! Makes no sense. For $ 8 I expected more.
The waffle was your standard waffle. They provided butter and syrup, but it definitely came out a little too brown on the edges. Because I checked in, I received a pizza and beer deal for $ 20 which I’ll try. Hopefully the lunch/​dinner menu ends up being a bit better. We’ll see.

Great place, good atmosphere, and great location. Most importantly, tasty food! I’ve only had sandwiches but They taste very fresh. I wish they would give more potato salad or cole slaw though, only get a couple bites, leaving more to be desired.

I have been here several times in the past weeks because it is convenient to come to. I generally come for coffee sometime in the day time. It has always been dead. The servers seem displeased to be there and I feel like they are annoyed to take my order.

Mixed review alert.
The music was awesome!
The twits making coffee on the other hand are clueless. I ordered a large mocha and was asked if I want whip with that. I said yes. Total $ 5. I commented that it was odd to be 5 even and put $ 1 in the tip jar. After waiting about 10 minutes the girl making the coffees asks me if I had ordered. I said yes. She looks at me lost and clueless and then asked what I ordered. I told her large mocha with whip. She responded we are out of whip. Okay whatever. I don’t even care about the extra 50 cents or whatever I paid I only want my mocha. It’s not a hard thing to make.
Then the girl making coffee starts asking the other two clueless wonders if I had paid. They both looked at me and said no. Seriously??? I looked right in the eyes of the twit from which I ordered and paid and there was a very blank stare. The lights were barely on and nobody was home.
I think the one making coffee figured it out by the look in my eyes (frustration mixed with disbelief) that I had indeed already paid and handed me my coffee.
Obviously there’s no intelligence required to work in these ‘trendy’ coffee shops.
Come for the music not the service.

Found a very long hair in our salad and then realized none of the cooks were wearing hairnets or hats! All had shoulder length hair! Yuck. Food was also overpriced and bland. Servers took forever to refund our food. Good poetry. Everything else was terrible.

Short one today | Slipped down from the farmers market and ordered an espresso and scone. Neither was remarkable in anyway and the espresso lacked almost any crème and was dull. From what appeared to be a true coffee shop they missed the mark. Staff was very cool and place certainly has character. It’s worth a try if in area.

I love to visit different restaurants/​cafes. Sunday, I met a friend at The Black Dog Café in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. They have best brownies and atmosphere here. It was a little later in the day so I didn’t have the food yet. They played one of my favorite CDs The Miseducation of Lauren Hill! Her music brings back so many memories, good memories. It really brings tears to my eyes. Especially, the song To Zion. They must of seen me coming and put in the CD. One of the jams on this CD is Lost Ones. Well, The Black Dog Café gained one Sunday. I will be back. Granted, it was pretty empty since the crowd was at the St. Paul Saints game right next door. It was so nice for a meeting. We talked about a business partnership and enjoyed the entire CD of Lauren Hill. They have live music often, check them out!

Walking up to the front door, my first impression was that of eagerness to find what treasures this wine & coffee bar held. Lowertown is on its way to becoming a Twin Cities gem and it seemed that Black Dog would add to the area’s cool vibe.
They have a variety of food, wine, beer and coffee which are tasteful and, from what I tried, delicious. But as I was enjoying my time and wine with friends on the patio, a manager approached us. She rudely commented on how the patio was getting full and if we weren’t going to get anything else, that we should finish up our beverages and leave. Taken aback, we glanced around. There were a couple open tables, no line of people waiting for a spot, we weren’t being loud, and we had only been there for an hour or so.
A few minutes later, as we were still sitting, an employee (prompted by the manager) came by and asked if we’d like anything else or if we were ready to leave. When we did chose to go we confronted the manager, who had no apology and was incredibly rude during the whole conversation.
Needless to say, I will not be returning, which is disappointing as I was ready to make Black Dog a regular destination.

Bland food, weird atmosphere, people who never leave. It’s in a sort of lame part of town. It’s the place you go if you’re at art crawl or something– because nothing else is in the area. Don’t make a trip out of it. Coffee isn’t even that good. It’s just pricey. They also don’t accept credit cards on purchases $ 5 and under.

The food is overpriced and bland. The servers look at you like your annoying them. The portions are small. And I mean the coffee too. Its close to my job so I ran in for an iced coffee. They poured coffee over ice and handed it to me. Thats not what I wanted. Can you make it like starbucks? I asked. Ha ha ha that got me a look. One day I asked for a café a lait large. Well the cup was large and the coffee filled one inch the rest was foam. If I’m gonna pay starbuck prices I might as well go there and get something worth the money.

I had a beer here with a friend on a Monday evening. There was live music, which is nice. The atmosphere is casual and comfortable. There’s a strong sense of Lowertown community inside. The service was friendly. I’d like to come back and eat sometime.

Prime location near farmers market. friendly baristas. Seems to be ran by an Asian family — look for their banh mi sandwich! Soy milk, no almond milk.

Black Dog Coffee is the kind of neighborhood coffee shop that every neighborhood needs. They’ve got ample seating, a good bakery selection and a ton of personality.
During a recent 4-​hour visit, I had a blueberry scone, good company at the large communal table and plenty of dark roasted coffee. Coffee refills are a bit more than $ 1 and a fair trade for the free WIFI I leveraged during the stay.
Black Dog is also a wine bar. It also hosts musicians regularly. I’m looking forward to going back again for both.

Really enjoy this place for lunch or what-​have-​you. Chill atmosphere and it’s also a decent venue to see musicians.

Yes Sir… this is THE right kind of coffee shop to be had ANYWHERE. Old, refurbed place in downtown area. Great coffee and fresh made food items. Great service and friendly staff throughout. Did I already say this is perfect?

I stopped in this morning to kill some time before a job I have down here in the cities. I am not a city dweller, so first off, the parking was meter only (as far as I could see) — not a huge fan of having to pay another dollar so I can go get myself a cup of java, but hey it’s the city… maybe that’s commonplace down here.
It has a quiet, work/​study oriented atmosphere, with an artsy touch. Plenty of small tables and a few with outlets for your laptop.
I just wanted a cup of coffee which was readily available (I asked, the chalkboard was a titch overwhelming) with a little bit of hazelnut. The baristas were friendly enough, though not very smiley, which is something I personally like, but again, city dwellers… In my experience they seem to often be like this.
The coffee was good. Not fantastic tingle your tastebuds coffee but was delicious enough for my (non-​coffee-​snob-​non-​city-​dweller-​used-​to-​drinking-​folgers) taste.
I didn’t have any cash on me so I ended up having to buy a blueberry muffin to make it to the $ 5 minimum. I don’t remember seeing that posted anywhere but I didn’t look very hard. Which is fine, I wasn’t really hungry but I like supporting local business.
So let me tell you about this blueberry muffin. IT WAS FANTASTIC. Perfectly sweet and moist and delicious with a crispy top. The nice barista guy checked on the name of where they came from upon me asking, and it’s a place called Grandma’s Bakery in White Bear Lake. I hope the rest of the treats are as yummy as this muffin!
If I found myself in this neck of the woods again, I would come back.

So close, and yet so far…
After a 4-​hour drive from Madison to St Paul, we felt like swinging by for a quick spot of coffee. A previous visit from a few weeks earlier ended with frustration and disaster, but we decided to give it another try.
+ Awesome building/​space. The high ceilings, heavy timbers, huge windows, flooring — it’s all gorgeous and provides a vibe that says, «this place is cool without being pretentious.» Loved the huge, communal tables and seating areas
— What is with the super high bar-​like table near the windows? I stand 6’4″, yet when I sat down on the stool, my arms «rested» at about shoulder height on the table.
— Upon entering, it’s difficult for first-​timers to find basics — things like available coffee roasts, cash-​only policy, ATM location, and so on. The staff didn’t offer any assistance on either visit; we had to fumble our way around through everything.
— The daily roast offerings are listed on a small chalk board to the left of the cashier on a little half-​wall, near/​semi-​covered by a plant. Makes perfect sense…
+ Coffee was delicious
+ Coffee was reasonably priced
— Elena R’s review of 5÷2÷14 mentions a Unilocal coupon — we saw the *same* coupon when we checked-​in via Unilocal.So, be warned… it’s still on Unilocal; whether or not you have success with actually using it may be a bit of a gamble.
Notes for first timers:
— Don’t expect a ton of help from the staff; they’re largely stoic
— It’s cash only
— There’s an ATM immediately to the left of the front/​main door
— Coffee listing isn’t on the main menu board
— The coffee «dressings» station (cream, honey, sugar, etc) is located near the front door

I did not enjoy my experience here. I had a groupon for a pizza and two drinks which I bought to give them a try. You order at the front desk and take a number. I ordered two pizzas and two drinks for my guest and my son (well… water for my son). We sat down and waited… and waited… and waited. 45 minutes later we finally got our two pizzas. I was long out of beer at that point and they didn’t have any clean water glasses.
The pizza was terrible and I don’t use that term lightly. Hard, dry crust; terrible toppings that seemed to come right out of the can. Totally gross. I have never not finished a pizza before.
It gets a star because it seems to have quite a following. They must be doing something right, right? The place was crowded, the coffee seemed to be enjoyed, and I hate giving anything that is trying something new in Saint Paul anything lower than 2 stars. It’s my bias.
The beer was cold. That’s something.

Driven by local artists, downtown residents, patrons of the Farmer’s Market, and local workers, Black Dog has an earthy comfort among the warehouses of lower-​town.
Black Dog was the very first coffee house I planted roots… only…it was the early nineties and it was called Copernicus. It was considerably larger at the time too. I’ll try to keep nostalgia out of this review… but feel free to knock off a star if you feel the need to do so. I feel I’ve already knocked off that star… as my memories were fond… but again… feel free.
The atmosphere and ambiance reflects the bustling energy of engaging conversations and has a warm openness. The high ceilings do wonders for the acoustics in Black Dog, as conversations have a tendency to mingle into a singular, resonating hum.
Black Dog really has the feeling of a social hub, where locals come to post and discuss upcoming events and get-​togethers.
So you can probably tell by now, that a coffee shop is more about the comfort and ambiance to me. So what about the coffee you may ask?
So-​so…
I get iced Thais… so how hard is that? They’re great every time. The coffee as many have already said… can be a bit inconsistent. Coffee and coffee drinkers can however, be fickle more often than not. I know the best coffee I’m going to get, is the one I make at home.
I’ll likely continue getting iced Thai after perusing the Farmer’s Market while in town.