Cafe Edna

This used to be my favorite neighborhood spot for all food-​related experiences. Now, because of new ownership, Café Edna is a skeleton of what it once was. No food. Coffee only. I guess there’s a bar in there now, but it’s literally a shell of what it once was. A deflated balloon.

Café Edna is reopening this Thursday with an old Hollywood vibe. Guests will be met with staff dressed in their best 50’s wear listening to Marilyn, Elvis and Frank. New hours are 5pm till close on Thurs/​Fri/​Sat. Surrounded by jazz, live music and burlesque. A new local bar to relax and drift back to old Hollywood alive in Brooklyn!
Note: Café Edna is also available as an event space. Please contact us for your next film, photo shoot, art exhibit or party!

awesome coffee, great food, delicious kombucha (used to be on tap, I miss that, bottled stuff is still great), free wifi. great place to sit all day doing work on your computer. lots of space and a backyard!

I am only going to echo the sad sentiment of some of the other reviewers here. I’ve lived down the street from Café Edna for the past two-​some years and it had become my go-​to neighborhood coffee shop; the staff was super friendly (unlike at some of the other places in the neighborhood, where they are continuously too cool to acknowledge they recognize your face even though you’ve been in about 1,000 times), the food made by the super nice chef Juan was incredibly reliable, simple and delicious, and not to mention, the coffee was on point. My boyfriend and I started noticing the staff, and service, getting progressively worse weekend after weekend. Then one Saturday morning we went in for our usual breakfast only to find out from the bleak and unfriendly staff members that they now had «pastries only». Since pastries were never Café Edna’s strong suit anyway, we walked out and pretty much decided never to go back. It’s really a shame — we are sad to have lost our favorite neighborhood spot, and are missing the great staff, chef, coffee and food from the good ol’ days #EdnaIsDead

What the hell is going on with this place? The chef quit so there’s no more food. The entire sweetheart staff is gone. I walk in to order a coffee and do some work (noting the two sad bagels as the only food in the place) and the server ignores me for a while before telling me they’re closing at 2pm. I asked why and he said «traffic.» Meanwhile, there are plenty of customers in the café. Then he proceeds to talk about me before I’ve left the room. Seriously, Café Edna, get your shit together.

I used it really like it here. Unfortunately, I won’t be returning. The kitchen is closed, and they have no intention of opening it again. Only serving pastries now– lame and boring. The coffee has always been a bit expensive, but I still went because of the great menu. Juan (the chef) was what made this place what it was. I always got my order to go, and he would hand deliver it with a smile. It’s sad to see this place take such a negative direction.

This place officially has gone down the shitter. I don’t know the whole story but it appears that they often fire or replace their staff every 2 – 3 months. Recently Juan the cook left (whether he was fired or quit, I dont know), who has been the only fixture of stability in that place. He was there long before these new «owners» took over about 2 years ago, and have probably been the only reason folks stuck around.
The shop seems to operate on its own schedule as of late, and at least once every week or so, just doesn’t open at all. Or open hours later than they’re supposed to. This neighborhood is pretty relaxed, but with the outrageous coffee prices they have, along with non sensical business hours, and out of touch owners, everyone is pretty sick of Café Edna.

Coffee was never reliable since it’s French press and depending on who was working and how busy they got, the coffee could be anywhere from strong to weak with a lot to little grounds at the bottom of the cup. However, the food was pretty good especially those breakfast burritos the whole neighborhood liked. Now the kitchen is closed permanently. Big mistake. I know 4 others and myself who will never go there again. Maybe they’re planning on closing down. They definitely won’t survive serving just coffee.

I’ve tried so hard to give Edna the benefit of the doubt through their changes the last few months. I use to come here multiple times a week and the staff was always friendly, burritos were great (still are) and the coffee was good. They fired all of the faces the neighborhood had come to know over the last year and it has been in a slow decline over the last few months. Today was the final straw for me, they told me it would be $ 6 for a small iced latte. $ 6! I’m sad to loose Edna as one of my neighborhood favorites.

Edna’s has been on a rocky path the past 4 months (and probably more), but it seems that these recent few weeks have changed the very heart of this place.
We have been coming to Edna’s EVERY DAY since January. Juan (the chef) is great. The people were great. They recognized us and were friendly. The coffee was good and fairly priced and so was the food! (Notice all of the past tense in this paragraph.)
So what has happened? Well, a few weeks ago, all of the previous staff (except Juan) were fired. Goodbye friendly neighborhood faces. That was a big warning sign that something was going on, but we thought we would see what happened… what followed was what you would expect when you fire everyone who knows the café in and out: problems with the register, slow baristas, running out of iced drinks on hot days, internet service going in and out, empty bar nights (because all the barista/​bartenders have been fired), etc.
This all leads to today when I walked in and saw that on the revised menu a large hot coffee and a large hot tea was going to cost me $ 8. With that I walked across the street to Northside Bakery and purchased both drinks for a grand total of $ 2.50.
I am supremely disappointed with the owners of Café Edna. Do you not know this neighborhood? A café has the opportunity to be an axis of community for a neighborhood. You have fired the community, and priced the rest of us out. Good luck with that.
For you coffee lovers out there, try Northside Bakery across the street for good coffee and delicious fresh Polish pastries or stop by The Standard (just next to Northside) for your top shelf hipster coffee and bagels. I am looking forward to trying Sweet Fox Café, a relatively new place on Nassau between McGuinness and Newell, maybe I’ll see you there!

Oh this place is lovely! I was there yesterday during a busy time with my family and had a gift certificate. I was holding up the line since the dude at the register didnt know how to process it and then my coffee drink had to be remade, and yet the manager was super accommodating and was serving us food himself, checking up on us, and overall being very thoughtful and welcoming — and we weren’t even high-​paying customers! I didn’t like how dry my chicken was in my carder salad bit I guess that’s what you get for ordering a vegan salad with a side of meat :) plus for the Caesar they used kale/​romaine combo which was awesome. I would come back here and recommend.

4.75 for a small iced coffee is insane. Those are Manhattan prices, if even, most places in Manhattan are cheaper than that. If you want to run a coffee shop in a small neighborhood in an area that’s not very gentrified, maybe it’s not a great idea to piss off and ostracize locals with ridiculous, arbitrary prices.

A very pleasant neighborhood café. I’ve lived near McGolrick Park for the past year and have been reading in this café every morning for the past week since quitting my job for the summer. The Toby’s Estate coffee is well worth the price, and the food isn’t bad either. (I would recommend the gazpacho and the grilled cheese sandwich.)
There was one day recently when they were having internet issues and their register was down, causing for some unprecedented chaos behind the counter. Despite a couple of assurances that my food was forthcoming, I became frustrated after nearly an hour went by and still no breakfast scramble. However, when the server realized the order had been lost in the mix, he very graciously rectified the situation by fastracking another order for me, refunding my purchase, and offering a free drink the next time I eat there. No café is perfect, but kind and friendly waitstaff make all the difference in situations like this.
My only real complaint is that the music there could use some work. On a morning when many people are trying to relax with coffee and a book, Backstreet Boys on the speakers feels out of place and distracting.

My husband has stopped by in a couple of occasions and says it has improved a lot. He actually likes the coffee there, so to be fair, I’m updating the review.

I grew up with the owners so some may think this could be biased but I think despite the relationship I’ll leave a fair review.
The coffee is very good. Their breakfast burritos are also excellent.
The owners are committed to success so I know they will take my feedback and improve.
The biggest knock I have is their internet connection. They use a 3^rd party free (6 hour limit) system and it bogs down a lot.
When Starbucks in the same hood ditches AT&T and uses Google wifi you know you have to step it up.
Ok other pluses. Staff is good. The chef rocks and makes a grilled cheese taste delicious
Patio out back is killer. And their new open mic night And after hours bar will be another plus.
Great job boys. Fix that Wifi and I’ll bump my rating to 5 stars.

Great Food, Great BAR Great Drinks… Fun place to go and meet girls.

I love this little neighborhood spot, most because of its vegan breakfast options. Some of the counter staff is really friendly, and there’s always a place to sit. Kombucha on tap, free wifi.

We were going to stop at our daughter’s favorite coffee shop in Greenpoint, but they weren’t open yet on a Sunday morning, so this was the consolation prize.
Nice atmosphere, especially in the back yard where you can find a quiet spot away from the city noise. REALLY LOVED the breakfast burrito. Tasty, and just the right size — that is, not to big! Only went three stars as I found the coffee to be amazingly ordinary, on the border of lackluster. I should say, (as I was in serious need of a cup of coffee,) I didn’t pay much attention as to whether I ordered the house blend, or even if there were other choices available, but the default option didn’t do it for me. CH was quite enamored with their hot chocolate, so if that’s you’re thing, you can read this as a four start review! :)

Wow. Great place. Great tasting food… they have cambucha on tap!
Vegan friendly, customer friendly, wifi user friendly.

From Los Angeles… went on a New York trip with some friends a couple of weeks ago. We stayed in Brooklyn and were walking the streets one night when a man (who turned out to be the owner) invited us in to café Edna. We decided to check it out and luckily we did because it quickly became our favorite spot. We went every single day of our trip. whether it was for breakfast or for late night drinks. The manager, Lancelot, was incredibly friendly and made us feel right at home… as well as the rest of the staff. I would definitely go back… in fact I actually miss it!!!