Essen

I love the smoothies and baked goods from Essen. however the employees are slow it is defiantly worth it.
I have seen the kitchen which is extremely unorganized and dirty which makes me wonder how often it is cleaned.
I also tried the chicken Cesar wrap that was okay except for the chicken. gross, precooked. Essen is not really the place to go for a good meal.

Ordered one iced chai and one hot chai with an espresso shot. The iced chai was made with soy milk and tasted like soap. The hot chai was errantly made as an ice chai twice before taking its final form as warm almond milk.
Café has potential. No quality control and poor service.

I live in Manchester and have been an Essen regular until this morning. Great coffee, great pastries, great ambience in a nice spot. Had visitors at home and wanted to bring home some croissants and chocolate croissants… Asked for JUST half a dozen but they told me they could only give me three! Really? Not coming back again…

I work right near Essen and know it well. The coffee is good but the service is painfully slow and not customer focused.
The place is run by a revolving door of teenagers who are in a constant state of being trained. The owner shows up about an hour a day and the place reflects his being absent. Ordering food is like Russian roulette — you never know what you are going to get and the prices are very high for very average, bland food.
The place also needs to be cleaned. Everything from the sticky tile floor to the overflowing garbage, to the book shelf with random outdated merchandise for sale… it all just reflects a «I don’t really care» attitude. I could give countless examples of this but I don’t have the time or desire to list them all.
I still get my coffee there. if I have too, but would prefer to spend my $ elsewhere.

Great coffee, lobster roll was just ok ⁷⁄₁₀. Friendly employees and you can sit outside to relax after a beach day.

Stopped in again on a weekend afternoon — empty as always.
I tasted the clam chowder, which was green. It was interestingly spiced/​flavored. Quite different. I wasn’t in the mood for it that day, but definitely at some point.
I had a chocolate chip cookie (excellent — she warmed it and made it nice and melty like I wanted).
I also had a grilled chcken chipotle on ciabatta. Solid sandwich.
Got a day old corn muffin, which was also huge and quite good.
Server was really friendly, had quite a personality, and great service.

Oh Essen I really want to like you but… The sandwiches are basic but good if slightly over priced. If you want extras on them just ask. The chocolate chip cookies are good too. I think so highly of it, I went there to buy two gift cards as teacher gifts. There were two very young girls working and the acted like asking for a gift card was like asking them to fly a space shuttle. They had no clue then one tries to call a manager for help and after waiting 15+ minutes she tells me, «Her manager doesn’t want to do gift cards anymore.» This made me SO SAD! Here I am trying to support my local business but I ended up getting Dunkin Donuts gift cards instead and it took 1 min. Ugh! I hope this policy changes. It makes no sense.

My mom is a keurig lover and I am not, so I always pop here for coffee in the morning when I’m visiting her (or the Lone Gull in Gloucester, or a couple shops in Beverly Farms that have great coffee). They have a great latte, iced coffee, and regular old cup of joe. Their baked goods are good, as well.
For lunch, I like the turkey /​apple /​cheddar sandwich, but I ask for mustard and lettuce. I think it’s odd that the sandwich is literally just turkey, sliced apples, and (good) cheddar. I’d expect a little more for $ 8.75, but once you doctor it a bit it’s good for the beach or a picnic. A-​ok and a nice convenience for beach-​goers since it’s across from the train station.
I read other comments about the length of time to get a sandwich and I agree, at 2pm yesterday I waited for about 20 minutes for my sandwich and others waited longer.
The staff was super friendly.

Ordered a ham and cheese on baguette. That’s all it was. No tomato. No lettuce. No mustard or mayo. Nothing. All for $ 8.75!

After writing this, I received a nasty message from the owner telling me everything I said was fabricated and I should never have left a review like that with so many lies. He picked everything I said and made an excuse for iron told me it was made up. I have no reason to make up any lies about this little café in downtown Manchester. I gain nothing by lying about what I saw there, leaving no reason for me to lie about this café and what I saw. I definitely don’t suggest going here, and if you do, make sure you don’t complain because you will get a long, nasty message from the owner calling you a liar.

Had a very nice experience with Essen! I placed a small catering order for my sister’s bridal brunch. From the first conversation with Toby, who took my order and collaborated with me on what would be best, to the pick-​up, I had a very pleasant experience. They food was exactly as planned, and delicious! We had a selection of sandwiches, scones, quiche and fruit! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone!

Stopped by Essen to grab food before heading to Singing Beach with a friend. I got the smoked, cheddar and green apple on a baguette. The sandwich was boring. It was literally a slice of deli turkey, slice of cheese and slice of apple on a plain baguette… yawn. I guess I was expecting a lot more since the sandwich did cost~$ 8.00 and when I pay that much for a sandwich, (i.e: Flour bakery) I expect it to be pretty darn amazing. My friend bought lunch and I was grateful she did but, this sandwich was just… underwhelming.

Very dirty and sticky. Food (in the kitchen) on the floor. Pastry is good but service not so sweet. Just dirty everywhere I look.

I have tried them a few times, I literally get coffee only due to the cold breakfast sandwiches I have gotten previously and this morning was the last try. the line was out the door and the place was empty. the service was going soo slow and I wasn’t the only one to walk out. it was 845 am in the morning and in a summer beach destination with a commuter rail station, this is not the time to have two slow moving, teens running this place. the previous reviews are dead on. it has such potential and you WANT to like but everytime you are disaapointed and think never again.
Go elsewhere and save yourself the disaapointment ahead!

I have been a longtime Unilocal user but never a contributor. My repeated below expectations experiences at Essen has finally made get into the game and contribute. I hope for the betterment of this establishment.
I have been going to Essen for several years. The food is good, but expensive. My issue with this establishment however is related to the facility and the service.
The eating area of the restaurant has several bottle coolers and a display case that are so noisy it is hard to have a conversation. Also, in many instances these coolers sit mostly empty. So what is the point? Very often when you are sitting in the restaurant, you are sitting amongst cases of beverages and supplies that just seem to by lying around the floor. Can’t somone put this stuff away?
Finally, my biggest complaint and the biggest complaint of the people that I know in town is the service. You will wait for your coffee/​drink/​food no matter how many people are working at the restaurant and no matter how many people are in the restaurant. I entered the restaurant this week for a cup of coffee. There was no one else in the place. There was one person behind the counter making a sandwich (not sure for who) and another employee behind the counter squeezing lemons. It took 2 – 3 minutes for someone to acknowledge my presence and even then I was asked to please wait a moment.
I just can’t believe how «out of touch» the staff at this place are. Were the two people behind the counter so busy working on something for someone that wasn’t even in the restaurant that they couldn’t just take my order for a cup of coffee? This is the standard practice at this restaurant and unfortunately they have earned a reputation in town for having such poor service that people just go elsewhere.
It’s such a shame because they have the best coffee in-​town. The only other real options are to go to Beverly Farms where there are several places to get good food/​coffee. It’s funny to go to Vidalia’s/Half Baked/​Cha Cha La Mer in Beverly Farms and see people from Manchester patronizing the establishments because people generally do not feel that there is a good place to go to in Manchester.

Close to Singing Beach … Had the coffee and dessert I wanted … Chocolate cupcakes were divine.

Heading to singing beach? Essen is a great place to stop and pick up sandwiches and coffee. Their berry iced tea is great too. Everything is made to order and fresh. Great sandwich and coffee shop for a quick bite.

Food is usually good. Staff is consistently rude and sometimes incompetent. Coffee is ok to good. I keep going thinking it will be better. So far not yet. (So much potential.)

Our espresso drinks were all excellent as was my hot chocolate. The past few hot chocolates I’ve gotten at other places have tasted like a lukewarm cup of throw up. Not so here, it was nicely balanced and hot with the perfect amount of foam. The gentleman who helped us was friendly and most of the people in there seemed to be regulars. I would definitely go back.

Good food, but bad atmosphere.
All the sandwiches are great — I recommend the roast beef, the tuna, or the BLT.
But get it to-​go since the place is WAY TOO LOUD. Seriously, the db app on my phone measures this place as ‘inside car/​loud singing’ at 80 db. They’ve got three big drink coolers in the seating area with compressors running constantly, a tile floor, and drywall ceiling — which combine for a very unpleasant dine-​in experience.