Curio Café

So sad to see this place closed. Everything was wonderful, but it was ahead of its time for Avondale.

A great brunch spot! A group of my friends and I decided to make this cute little neighborhood spot the destination for our book club meeting. Street parking was a little tight, but all of us were able to find spots within walking distance.
We arrived around 9am and the place was pretty empty, however within 20 mins it filled up with locals. This spot is brightly decorated. The chairs look like they are hand-​painted and have the name of the café written on them.
The coffee is fair trade and brewed nice and strong :) I had a simple free-​range eggs/​potatoes/​toast breakfast. The potatoes were little red ones — very tasty. Two of my friends had the fruit crepes, which looked amazing. Another friend had scrambled eggs that came with avocado and tortilla and some yummy other items (can’t recall the name of the dish).
One other interesting thing to note about Curio Café is that it is very kid-​friendly. They have a small play table set up with various toys and a board so they can draw with chalk. With that being said, it can get a little loud, but is great if you are looking to have breakfast or brunch and bring your kids. They even had quite a large variety of items on the kid’s menu.
Overall great food and great atmosphere. A definite 5-​star spot.

I’ve only gotten coffee here which is why it got a four. I’ve been dieing to try the French toast so maybe soon I will break down and get it. They are super friendly and they put a water bowl outside for the animals. I wish they had Stevia there (hint hint). The décor is nice and there is a small town feel to the place. Which is a nice change living in the city.

Oohhh noooo I had planned to snuggle in the corner all winter and read books in your warmth… and drink lots of your yummy coffee…
It’s terribly disheartening to hear the news.
I wish you guys the best, as well.
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Curio gets 5*s instead of 4 because of the service!
The service takes it over the top!
Not to mention, everything on the menu is deeeelicious!
Coffee is fair-​trade and brewed perfectly, and your mug will never be below a third cup, the perfect fill-​up point where the coffee is neither warm nor scalding. Good work!
The Beet Salad is perfect. It leaves you with a feeling of pure energy.
Plato Tipico is as well amazing. Perfect light-​filling breakfast.
Perfect place to take your kids! They have a long short table painted with many bright colors, toys, and a chalkboard to draw on.
I HAVE YET TO HEAR A WHINING OR CRYING CHILD.
Everyone here can find contentment.
Hats off to you.

Last week some pals and I wanted to head to Curio, a spot we have enjoyed for a long time. After looking at Unilocal,and seeing some negative reviews I was bummed. I didn’t need to be. We had a fabulous experience. Yes, the old manager is gone. And yes she was lovely. However the lady who was manning the helms last week was also wonderful. Incredibly kind and attentive. The kid section is toned down, but it’s still there. And frankly some of those toys were filthy so I was ok with that. There was still enough stuff for my kiddo to have a blast. Ooh — and they got a toddler potty seat and clorox wipes in the bathroom. Score! Basically the only downside is that is cash only now. I’ll be back again soon!

How many times can I review this place? Well, I feel obligated to update my rating when there is something new to right about. Over the last two years the Curio has grown on me and don’t take that as me being complacent. The new/​first owner Sandra is amazing and I feel that she’s taken the Curio up a notch. I have to hold back the 5-​stars because I’ve eaten here in a while but she definitely gets them for her lovely attitude and for having servers on staff that are eager to be there.
My best story so far is when her basement flooded and she had to close up shop as did many other businesses. However she was sweet enough to open there doors so we could buy some coffee. That’s just amazing to me.
Anyways enough of the personal stuff. My favorite dishes here include the omelets, the pancakes, which are amazingly good, and the coffee. Is coffee a dish? For me it’s a staple. If you haven’t been to Curio in awhile go back and give it another chance

I cant even tell you how many times I’ve been here now. It by far is one of my favorite breakfast spots. Awesome everytime. On Mothers Day I was in a huge rush but needed their food, so I decided to call in and see if I could order my food but still sit down and eat it. It wasnt a problem they said.
So after a wonderful breakfast they gave me a free Mothers Day tshirt! They were giving them to all mothers that day. Im such a lame I went home and put it on and rocked it for the rest of the day.
Their chai is also amazing!

Awww Damn. New ownership and now they won’t take credit cards. Lame.

So happy to find another awesome place to eat within walking distance from where we live!
They have build your own omelets with some pretty sweet ingredients. I had the Spanish chorizo and cheddar. Unlike other places that skimp on filings, the cheese flowed with all the oozy goodness that cheddar can offer and the chorizo was spicy and plentiful.
The owner was our server and welcomed us to the café and to the neighborhood and filled us in on a monthly set menu dinner she is planning. It was nice to have that neighborhood feeling here.
The pancakes are amazing and the décor is fun. We’ll be back.
(As a side note, they no longer accept credit cards, but don’t let that stop you!)

I was so hopeful. SO eager to love this place. The homey-​atmosphere of hand-​painted chairs, a big chalkboard wall, bright colors, local produce, organic happiness and fair trade goodness… all wonderful. That’s a lot of little kids, though, and the service we received, in spite of being four very friendly and very happy individuals, was apathetic and even UNfriendly.
I don’t know. I think it’s family run, or small staff-​family like… I even suspected that we met one of the owners who rang us out… and she was a bit snooty. Our waiter was not interested in us or being welcoming in the least. The food was good, not great, portion sizes were fine (normal. not overwhelming.) and the prices were good considering it’s mostly organic/​fair trade.
I do agree it is in a great location! Very community-​oriented. It has the look, inside and out, and the idea is right (friendly and green) but those ideals were certainly not embodied in the follow-​through. Maybe everyone working there was having a crabby day?

My wife has been begging me to try Curio Café since reading a review about how everything is organic and fair trade, so finally today we were in the neighborhood and decided to give it a whirl.
Atmosphere is nice, and I assume the majority of people who frequent this place are young parents like ourselves. We happened to have our 4 year old son with us, so it was nice that they had a large play area for him to enjoy, not that we expected that or needed it. A small suggestion: please sterilize your filthy toys or just throw them away and start over.
The service was decent and the Equal Exchange coffee was drinkable, but that’s about it. Small portions for the price and a very limited and fairly uninspired menu. Sorry, but I will not pay 8.50 for a «Plato Tipico» (that I really wanted) – 2 eggs, avocado, refried beans and plantains. Maybe 6 bucks… tops. So I went with lunch. My wife tried an omelet. Our son ordered a strawberry banana crêpe that took WAY too long, was small and broken, and served 10 minutes after the rest of our food. Why?
The omelet came out well done (why must people burn eggs?) and with a small side of fried potatoes – left my wife hungry for a snickers bar. My steak sandwich was tasty (especially after I asked for a side of real salsa – not Tabasco from the table – and was brought a plate of chipotles… yum!) but again really small for $ 7.50. Next time I’ll cruise down to Marianao and get the same sandwich twice the size for 3.50. Perhaps it was grass fed or free range? Not sure – the menu didn’t specify that.
Overall it was OK, but I will not go out of my way to revisit unless they upgrade the menu, beef up the portions and clean the toys.

This hidden gem was GREAT! We discovered it by accident (driving by while exploring) and came back for the Saturday evening dinner. It’s a perfect place to go if you have young kids, because the entire place is cute and well-​decorated, and there’s a play area with tons of toys, a big built-​in blackboard, a little table w/​chairs, etc. And so while eating, our 4-​year-​old daughter could go back and forth from our table to the play area.
Our waitress, the owner, was very nice, and we loved the food — steak fajitas (w/​tender, well-​marinated tasty strips of meat), the chicken mojito, and a grilled PBJ for the kid, w/​soup, salad, veggies, and some nice fair-​trade teas. For dessert, the flan and crêpe were delicious. The poor owner owner, Lucy — we kept her open an hour past closing, because our daughter was having so much fun. And my wife and I enjoyed an unhurried, leisurely meal. We’re definitely going back.

I love that this place is not only kid friendly, but primarily organic food (and yes, fair trade coffees) and has Vegan options on their menu as well.
It was TOTALLY not what I expected of an out-​of-​the way neighborhood café in Avondale. It turned out to be a HIDDEN GEM.
It’s small, but there’s nice seating, a play area and toys for the kiddos, and the staff are so incredibly friendly! It’s a perfect place to warm up on a chilly morning!

Such a cute little family owned and operated coffee shop! I wish they were open ²⁴⁄₇! Though i have not tried the dinner menu– I am a huge fan of having brunch here! Their food is almost all organic, and sooo tasty! They have a great soy chai, and fair trade coffee.
It is a great place to bring your kids. They have a giant chalk board and many toys for little ones.
Try the Plato Tipico– which includes Black beans, cheese, avocado, eggs, tortilla, plantain, red sauce and sour cream… SOOO YUMMY!

Was very excited to find a coffee shop within walking distance. Walked in 20 minutes after they had opened and the woman working (the owner) was busily illustrating a mural on the chalk board.
Which is nice and all, but she hadn’t brewed the coffee yet.
So I waited another 20 minutes while she made the coffee, which made me late for work.
Oh, and it’s kid-​centric, which makes me want to barf. Does that mean that the jell-​o and chicken nuggets are ready by opening time ?
I don’t think I’ll be back. You kiddos enjoy.

Not sure how long this place has been here, but pretty pissed I didn’t know about it until now. What a ‘hood gem!
Café Curio is a tiny little storefront restaurant on a residential street that is not just kid-​friendly but actually kid-​CENTRIC. There’s LOTS to occupy little hands in the children’s activity area making waiting for food a much less trying experience. The staff here almost seems to encourage child play — engaging them, showing them things in the restaurant, SMILING. SO great.
Breakfast and lunch only during the week, dinner on weekends, the menus are simple but full of organic ingredients and the coffee is SUPERB. The only thing that could’ve made my goat cheese, spinach, onion and cheese omelet better were if the spinach were fresh instead of frozen and to tomato less mushy. My mom said her waffle was a bit bland.
The service is friendly and attentive, the prices reasonable and did I mention how good the coffee is? Comfy comfy comfy.
I will definitely be bringing my son back here with some regularity now that I know about it.

I’m used to walking to Kristoffer’s and getting there in under a minute (
). The seven minute walk to Curio is a little much for me but I’ll have to manage being that I keep deciding that buying booze is a better idea than buying groceries. At least seven minutes isn’t ten minutes.
I had a delicious salad with fruit in it. I know, I used to hate those things. The idea of chicken tasting like apples grossed me out. But my pallet is sophisticated and fancy these days so Curio is perfect. Everything on the menu sounded fresh and wonderful. And I also had this pomegranate juice that actually tasted like juice instead of sugar water.
Everything in there is organic and has nice packaging. Things say «Fair Trade» and «Help the Farmers» and other things that Chris Martin from Coldplay promotes. I don’t care about that stuff. It’s just good.
But beware — there are a ton of kids toys in there. I was very hungover when I was in there so I couldn’t muster up the wherewithal to find out why. Maybe I was accidentally just in someone’s apartment?
Jesus. I’m a drunk.

A great coffee house with free WIFI and some of the best breakfast around!!! This area is hard pressed for coffee houses and Curio Café is a sleepy place tucked away on a side street. Granted it is very kid friendly but I have been here several times working from there and it hasn’t been a problem. The owners are warm and inviting giving this a neighborhood feel far removed from your «starbucks» big biz place.
They just started doing dinner on the weekends and I can’t wait to try it.

Curio Café is great. The place is family owned and it shows. The food is always served in a timely fashion. And they have a nice selection. The décor is super cute and the place is clean.
My only complaints are that they close at 3pm, before ppl have a chance to get off work. And the prices for a few of their items are a little high. For example, a bagel is like $ 3.50. Most of the items are adequately priced though.

I hope this place does really well…
If it does everything right, Curio could wind up a nice secret gem…
décor is really cute. hand painted chairs (i asked) are at every table and the table stuff (salt, pepper, water glasses, etc) are all tiny and cute. there is a table just for kids next to a big chalk board and toys and a couple of big, cushy chairs near the back. also, 2 really cute tables are outside, though they can’t technically «serve» there (yet?) they did give me my coffee in a to-​go cup and i sat outside and enjoyed the weather…
which leads me to the service… i met the owner both times i was there and she is very, very nice and concerned with her customer’s experience. i believe the other servers are her family members. they are all also very nice and attentive though bordering on TOO attentive. but they’re so darn nice you just can’t get annoyed about it!
the food: i ordered the «special» 2 eggs with black beans, mexican cheese, avocado and plantains… um…yum! it was so good i ordered it again the second time i went. it was almost as good as the first time but close enough for me. they should just put it on the menu and not make it a special. «fresh» is a good word to describe the food and my companions all enjoyed theirs as well… good coffee, too!
i do have one complaint…
–the table, chalkboard and toys for the kids, at times, made me wonder if it was a restaurant or a day care… if you have kids i suppose you might disagree but if you don’t, it’s kind of annoying when you’re trying to eat and kids keep coming over to show you their toys and talk to you. i don’t hate kids, well… most of them… i just wish maybe the kid’s goodies and play area were more in the back of the restaurant so adults can have their time, too…
that said, i love this place and am sure i will be able to give it 5 stars with some minor adjustments…
3 and ¾ stars.

I stopped in the Curio Café on a sunny Sunday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to find such a great place in the middle of a residential block. I only ordered an iced coffee for myself and a lemonade for my 4 yr old daughter so I can’t comment on the food (yet.) However, our server Claudia was extremely nice and engaging. There were several kids in the café and my daughter immediately made friends and began to take advantage of this kid friendly venue. Within minutes she was coloring on the giant chalkboard, playing with the toys provided (much more interesting than the ones we brought with us,) and enjoying herself at the special kid-​sized table and chairs. Very nice touch!
I’m excited to try the food – it looks fabulous with several vegetarian/​vegan options. If I have a criticism it would be that I would like to see espresso drinks added to the menu. Claudia said that that was something they had discussed for the future. Let’s hope that comes to pass. While the iced coffee was great on a hot day, I loves me a nice double shot of espresso.