Caffe Romanza

I decided to come back to this very lovely and small café as it is the best coffee joint on Castro Street. Better than Red Rock, which has good and bad service. This place has wonderful service. If you need a stretch and need to go for a break to skim a newspaper, magazine, or a book, then you head downstairs. Just do not come back up to the café without purchasing whatever item from Books Inc. There is always a sign reminding you. Both on the front and back sides.
Wi-​Fi is definitely the best and has never been the issue any time that I have been here.
Other than the usual coffee and tea drinks, there are also sandwiches. They have their daily special, which is very reasonable.
I definitely recommend this wonderful and independent establishment.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Mountain View’s high street otherwise known as Castro was overrun with shi-​shi cafes and it all became a bit too much. Happily, there is still at least one solid café where you can just come in and it feels like home. Features? Plenty:
— plenty of space and power
— I’ve tried them all and this is most reliable and fast Wi-​Fi by far
— Jae, your host, is a great guy who makes you feel right at home. Won’t be long before you know each other by name. He only hires very friendly people too, never snooty ones.
— Great selection of food and pastries, including a goodly variety of mealtime comestibles
— Great coffee and a wonderful selection of teas. Soy milk is an available option for the lactose-​avoidant out there and don’t worry, they clean out all the milk first. Almost forgot! Great smoothies in the summer time!
— It’s above a bookstore so if you’re bored you can always head downstairs to browse through thousands of new volumes, and there are so few places you can do that anymore.
This is a great place to hang out for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or to get a coffee and dessert after any of those meals on the high street. Meeting your friends? It’s great too, because if they’re late there are so many books to check out. Just one thing please: if you use the space, please buy something, at least a drink, because there in business too so it’s only fair.
This is a café with a long history going back to the 80s when employees of Keplers Books in Menlo Park decided to open their bookstore which they named Printers Ink. They have moved on and the Palo Alto instance is gone now (as a bookstore), but we are so lucky that Books Inc. have chosen to take over the space and that the legacy of this great bookstore and café continues to the present day. May it continue ever thus!

On the days that I work from cafes, I mainly look for the following:
1. Easy access to power strips or outlets
2. Drinks/​food that isn’t overpriced
3. An environment that is conducive to getting work done (including pleasant décor /​comfy furniture /​music /​attitude of the staff)
Caffe Romanza has been on my bookmark list of cafes to try for a while. Today, a coworker and I came here to work in the afternoon. I thought it was pretty neat that it was above a bookstore (I love being around books)! The café isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing but it’s a simple, no frills place to get work done. Based on the things I look for, here’s the breakdown:
1. There is a long row of power strips on the wall (again not aesthetically pleasing in the least, but very functional). This makes me happy because I do not have to fight for a spot by the wall/​outlet.
2. Food is okay and the prices are not as overpriced as other cafes in downtown Mountain View. I like their lattes, but just a word of advice: do not get tricked into getting a smoothie thinking it’ll be a fresh fruit one.
3. It’s pretty quiet since it’s in a bookstore, which I’m fine with because I love working in libraries. For me, it’s a good place to concentrate on getting work done. On the other hand, if you are here to catch up with a friend, just a heads up that everyone around you will be hearing your conversation crystal-​clear.

Great location inside the bookstore. Nice meeting place, often overlooked so it’s rarely crowded. People are polite and service is okay in terms of timeliness.
Pastries (which are made elsewhere) are decent. But just about everything else involving food preparation is mediocre. Sandwiches are okay, coffee so dilute it doesn’t even taste like coffee.
I come to Caffe Romanza for the location and ambience; never for the food or coffee. In the end, I’ve got to knock off major points for the food and drink, polite as the servers may be and awesome as the location is.

Cute little place :) friendly barista, yummy drinks, and a relaxing atmosphere. Seems a bit pricey to me, but I don’t mind (as long as my budget allows). I love that this place overlooks the bookstore. I feel like a cat chilling on top of a cat condo when I get a table next to the railing.

Got the mocha less sweet just as I asked. Great service.

Liked the bookstore area, too many cool books to browse and nice atmosphere. Disliked the ham and cheese panini I had to suffer. And I said suffer because it was really a pain to finish it, but for the price and the hungry level, no other choice at the moment. My panini was very bland, not glued together and tasteless. Too many layers of low quality ham and just one of cheese. No tomato, no olive oil, no nothing, just bread (not warm as expected) ham and cheese, not melting and hot and attractive to the palate. The accompanying salad was equally boring and the lettuce in it was the lowest quality I have seen in a long time. Maybe I should have gotten just a coffee like most of the people there and enjoy the atmosphere alone. Probably will be back but for the books and the drinks,

~~ Lovely view overlooking the bookstore, excellent service, free Wi-​Fi~~
Whenever I want that full bookstore experience, this is the place for me. Whether alone or with friends I can always expect a good time. In the heart of downtown Mountain View.
Great coffee menu. Love the desserts and pastries.
Highly highly recommend.

I’ve been coming here occasionally for many years, and just recently started coming more often to work (I work primarily from home, and as great as that is, sometimes you just need to get the heck out of your house!). When I arrived today and was buying something to drink (a $ 2 eight-​ounce bottle of Pellegrino), the owner said, «Wow, you’ve been coming here a lot. You must have something big going on.»
Huh? I replied that I enjoyed working there, and asked a question about a salad I was thinking about getting, to which he snidely replied, «When will that be? 8 o’clock?» It was, at that time, about 3. He made a couple of other comments that were less than friendly (though I can’t remember what they were), handed me my change, and that was that.
I’ve probably been here five times in the last two weeks, and never spent more than a couple of hours at a time. I always buy something, I always leave a tip (except for today), and there are always plenty of empty tables, so I haven’t felt the need to move on and make room for another paying customer.
Suffice it to say that he made me feel quite unwelcome, and I doubt that I will be back. I’m disappointed because though I like Starbucks, it’s too loud for me to concentrate, and I find that I am quite productive here. Also, I’m a long-​time loyal customer of Books, Inc., so I like that aspect, it’s close to my house, etc., etc.
Maybe I don’t understand café culture and how much money you’re supposed to spend there per hour or something. If I didn’t have so much work to get done in a short amount of time, I’d leave now and find another place.
For the record, at the moment, there are four empty tables here.

I love this place; this is my sanctuary for focusing and getting work done. People who go there are diverse and respect the relative quiet. The people at the counter are friendly and provide great service. The food is delicious. The wifi is the fastest free wifi I’ve had.
I feel like it’s a well-​known secret because it gets very crowded over at another nearby coffee shop but you would always find some space here. I’m glad it’s like this, otherwise I wouldn’t cherish it so much.

Books and coffee a very natural combination. Well books unfortunately seem to be a dying artisan thing now but you can still purchase them below. Went looking for some travel tomes and decided to get some caffeine while I was at it. You go upstairs and they have a simple dated looking café. Got a red eye which is blakc coffee and espresso (boom!). Pretty decent though it didnt give me the oomph I though it would. However still a convenient place to hang out if you’ve got some reading material

Hm. Coffee here is VERY dark roast — made for things to be added to it rather than to be appreciated on its own. Regulars lurk around its tables and creepy old guys make awkward comments. Not sure if my experience just happened to be not so nice, but I’ll probably not be back.

The café here is OK. The bookstore underneath is cool but the café doesn’t complement it well.
we were told by someone, who later turned out to be the grumpy owner, that something must be purchased before we could sit down. i’m fine with buying stuff before sitting down, but it was the the grouchy way in which we were told. nowhere is there a sign that says «the rules» or anything here, but i guess it’s to be expected at these establishments. it’s not like we were taking up tables from «paying customers», there were barely anyone here and they were closing soon.
seeing as how Red Rock Café was completely packed, we ended up buying an iced cappuccino, some tea, and a slice of cake for 5 bucks, which all sucked anyway. cappuccino was very watery, the tea came out of a Bigelow store-​bought tea bag, and the cake stayed dry and rock hard.
in conclusion, i guess i would come back here if needed to get work done and Red Rock was too crowded. but the awkward, douchebaggish service service, the crappy drinks, overpriced dry cakes, and the strangely stale atmosphere prevent me from really recommending this place

I am in the midst of writing loads of essays for medical school and needed a place for inspiration. I couldn’t think of a better place than a local bookstore. The café is upstairs overlooking the local bookstore and I can go downstairs and browse whenever I hit a writer’s block or am too stressed to produce anything worth reading.
The owner of the café is very personable without being overly intrusive. I find it very refreshing that he just wants his customers to be happy with ambience, food, and drinks. He’s just a happy real guy.
The coffees are no Italy or France but they sure do hit the spot. I highly recommend a vanilla spice latte. And the vegetarian panini was surprisingly well made.
This is definitely a regular spot for me and for the others that have joined me in working on their own projects. Hope this is useful.

I can see how Jay can be mistaken for rude, but he’s actually a very nice guy and owner. Whenever I’m back from school, I try to go and see him at least once. Have a talk with him and see what’s up with the city of MV. :)
I haven’t really eaten much of the food, but I got their BLTA sandwich here and boy, did it fill me up! Totally worth it. The drinks are also decent. I dislike Red Rock and Dana St. for some reason (though their coffees are decent, as well), so this is usually my go-​to place for coffee when I’m in downtown Mountain View.
Seating is awkward, as some people say, so I only go to have chats with friends, not to do work.
The bookstore downstairs is pretty awesome in its own right, as they have authors who come in and sign their books every now and then. I got a couple graphic novels signed by an author and gave them to my friends for gifts. Pretty nice and personalised. :)

I really like this place. It’s fun to come here and grab some tea or a coffee before looking around the bookstore.
It’s just a small area upstairs from Books Inc and can get crowded on weekends. I went there on a weeknight and it was pretty empty. Since I like uncrowded places, this was a huge plus. Their cheesecake is good, and their lattes are yummy. We tried the veggie bagel which has tomatoes, avocados, and cream cheese on it. Very good and filling. We’ll be back for sure, but probably on weeknights when it isn’t so crowded.
Just a tip: if you suffer from vertigo like I do, the stairs and upstairs loft-​ish area can be disorientating so I’ve had to skip this place a few times (which is disappointing). Hold on to those hand rails going up those stairs folks!

Upstairs from Books Inc, this is a great little spot for coffee, food and working. They have reasonably fast – and free – Wi-​Fi and a long power strip on the wall. It can be quieter here than the other coffee shops on the street. That either means that it’s quiet for you to work or you’re able to hear the one bozo with a loud voice even better.
Mixed blessings.
Try the coconut mocha. Yum!

I honestly wanted to give this place four stars. The food is fresh, tastes great and reasonably priced considering the amount they give you and all. They also have wifi, but you have to enter it in through the guest account. It’s super cute as a little balcony upstairs from the bookstore. BUT the owner[?] was just kind of rude. When I went, there weren‘t any empty tables, except one — which was marked the «employee‘s table» so I was going to leave and go to Starbucks or something when he stopped me and said I could have the employee table. It was nice of him but as I was sitting down, he was like: «You ARE going to buy something, right?» Which was just kind of tacky, especially in the way he asked it. However, I didn‘t think much of it since it‘s pretty small and of course he would want paying customers.
But then someone by the window left so I moved over there. And I swear, every time I looked back, the owner was looking at me. I don‘t even know why. Did he think I was gonna lift a table and chair and run off with it? I mean, if you don‘t want me there, just tell me. It was seriously uncomfortable and he just made me feel like a criminal for using the wifi and plugging my laptop in. Even though, yes, I bought a sandwich. Anyhow, the food‘s good though. So if you get it to go, it wouldn‘t be a bad choice.

It’s a simple, bookstore coffee shop, reasonable prices and big enough tables for you to put a cup of mojo down and also a book.
I have a particular liking to these bookstore coffee shops. =)

Try the grilled chicken panini, and ask the owner Jay to add some grilled onions to it. This is such a tasty sandwich, especially with a side of freshly cut fruit (VERY sweet pineapple and cantaloupe). I was also extremely pleased with my visit today because I was able to wait it out to get a larger table with access to the electrical outlets.
Unlike some chain coffee shops that shall remain unnamed (ahem, Starbucks), this coffee shop allows you to stay as long as you need to do work or chat or relax. The typical patron has a laptop or a book or an iPad. Sometimes, people use the shop as their place of business. Most patrons are polite, keeping their conversations low key, but sometimes you get an annoying neighbor who has no idea how long he talks. Then you end up as part of the conversation, whether you want to or not. The lighting is pretty good for studying and usually the temperature is kept at a comfortable level.
Jay, the owner, is very friendly. You can tell that he knows his patrons well and gets regular visitors as he strikes up conversations with all the familiar faces. He also takes the effort to get to know his regular customers, which is much appreciated in this day and age of corporate coffee juggernauts.