Bert’s Coffee Cafe

Right idea, bad execution. If I thirsted for gas station coffee I would go the Freedom a block down the street. Upside: the gal who works weekday mornings is a hoot, but not funny enough to compensate for the price paid.

I love that this place is quaint and cozy. The free wifi is awesome and the ladies who work there make me smile. It is like the Cheers of coffee shops. Unfortunately, I don’t drink coffee so I got a chai tea. They poured chai from a box into my cup and added some milk. Yucky! If I knew that was going to be the case I would have ordered some real hot tea. But, it is a nice place to sit and rest a while.

My girlfriend and I stopped by Bert’s last weekend. We’d never been to Hudson before and stopped at Bert’s because it looked interesting and we like to support small local cafés. The place wasn’t busy, and one high school aged girl was working.
While we were taking our time deciding, the employee told us that «there was a sub shop down the road.» We thought that was odd, but figured for $ 5 we’d just stay and have Bert’s. We ordered a turkey avocado sandwich and a BLT with avocado added.
They weren’t the most appealing looking sandwiches when they were dropped off. As we started eating, we realized there was no Avocado on either sandwich. I asked the employee if they had avocado, and she replied, «Oh it’s on there. it’s kinda in between things.» It wasn’t. We both dissected our sandwiches. The sandwiches weren’t horrible, but for $ 10, I wished I had gotten what I paid for. We really wanted to like this place, but between the employee’s attitude and our sandwiches being made incorrectly, the experience was lackluster.

A delightful little place in the heart of Hudson. Nestled in an old storefront, complete with squeaky, old growth pine plank floor, it feels like sitting in great-grandma’s kitchen. In fact, you might sit at a porcelain top table in a creaky old chair that the American Pickers would be trying to buy. You can play checkers but instead of red or black, you have to be Packers or Vikings.
Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name — as the string of regulars coming in and out proved.
Bert is a floor show in herself, a lady with personality far beyond her diminutive size. She offers a wide variety of beverages, pastries and home-​made breakfast sandwiches that put Ronald’s hockey puck to shame.
I’ll be back tomorrow morning!

This place made me appreciate the quality of cold, cookie-​cutter, bland-​box coffee shops. Bert’s looks interesting enough but upon entering on a Saturday night I wondered why the place was completely empty. Hmmmm…
We asked what time they closed and it was 8pm; great, over a couple of hours to sit back and relax with a cup of hot «joe.» NOT!!! After ordering a cup, we were directed to a large, self service thermos to pump our own. After trying the first one, we discovered it was empty so we tried the next. Ahh, not empty but upon the first sip, it was obvious that it was neither fresh nor hot.
We asked the barista if she would make a fresh batch and was told that it would be a waste of coffee to brew a new pot so close to closing time. [Seriously!!!] We asked her if the shop was still closing at 8pm since it wasn’t quite 6 o’clock yet and she confirmed. So since she wasn’t going to make any fresh coffee for the remaining two hours of business, we asked for a refund.
So thank you bland looking, cookie-​cutter coffee shops for your extra effort for spending an extra few cents for refreshing the brew every half hour or so. Is it a wonder why their shops are always full? Perhaps the staff at Bert’s should ask themselves that question…

Small, cozy, quaint, great friendly service, unusual food for a California family, but tasty and fun. The little children loved the toys and I love the water feature. It’s a good breakfast and lunch stop… fast food and low prices with great coffee.

great friendly service. right on main street and great breakfast sandwiches. rhe bread is homemade as well. my parents come here all the time and i was in town and joined up with them. I got a sandwich and water for 5.35 deal

Feeling like a bit of a maverick on a brisk Wisconsin afternoon, I decided to forgo the chain coffee shops in town and try this independent joint, despite its low rating. When I first walked in, I saw some promise: cozy chair in the corner, some board games, couple people typing away on their laptops.
Upon closer inspection, though, the décor just didn’t seem quite right. It looked like someone was going for «coffee store chic» and ended up with something closer to «fraternity common room». But hey, I was willing to look past that if the hot beverages were tasty.
Sadly, I was disappointed there, too. My dad got a hot chocolate which for something like $ 3 was some mostly hot milk with a few squirts of Hershey’s syrup. I ordered a latte which had an off consistency and like the «hot» chocolate, wasn’t as hot as I would have liked it for my walk down along the St. Croix.
I’d go back to see if I just had a bum barrista, but for the time being, I’m a skeptic.