Café Loftus Downtown

My boy Friend and I work right around the corner from each other so one day before my shift he left the office for a quick break and meet me for a beverage.
It was one of those ridiculously hot days we have been having in Philly so I knew I wanted an Ice Tea. I usually go to the Dunkin Donuts and get a large Peach ice tea but I was feeling like sitting somewhere and supporting locally owned mom and pop type business.
We stumbled upon Café Loftus while looking around where to go.
There was only one person ahead of me she was not near the counter anymore and the man was making her drinks. He didnt acknowledge me or anything. No, «ill be right with you.» It took 10 minutes before he was done getting all her drinks ready and that seemed like FOREVER especially since I wasnt really greeted properly.
When he finished with her I asked for an ice tea. He told me that they had two flavors and per his suggestion I got the coconut lime ice tea. I asked if there was re fills (most places give refills on ice teas when you sit down in their café) he said no, which made me a little sad, I mean c’mon its basically just water and the smallest amount of tea.
He filled the cup up with ice and then poured the tea over it. It lasted probably about 4 sips out of my straw worth (the space the ice took up made it so there was barely any liquid in the cup) and the coconut lime flavor tasted a little bit like wax.
I did notice that they had some baked goods and pre made sandwiches too. I didnt try any of these.
If you are a coffee connoisseur and want to sit in a fairly cute café this might be the place for you, but if you just want some ice tea to cool off from the heat, then just go to Dunkin Donuts, its cheaper and larger.

Best scones I’ve ever had. Made fresh daily! They open the windows to the street for an open market feel. Unfortunately they are located on the corner of a smelly alley so sometimes it’s best not to have the windows open

I’m giving this 4 stars to average out the quality of the coffee with the poor service from a particular barista. In all fairness, I’ve had pleasant encounters with most of the other baristas, but a few of my friends have also complained about a certain very rude barista. He really makes the experience a little less enjoyable.
Besides this certain barista, I like this place. The coffee is excellent and the prices are reasonable. I’ve never had one of their baked goods, but it sure does smell yummy in the morning.

Their coffee was fine, but I found the milk frothing on my soy latte to be too large-​bubbled, and therefore not well integrated into the latte as a whole. So, I would go with a B.
When I went there the other day, however, I had a delicious roasted vegetable sandwich with its multi-​grain baguette just the right degree of crispness, the vegetables grilled until softly giving and flavorful, aptly and minimally lubricated with some sort of mayo-​ish sauce that made the sandwich as a whole cohere very nicely. A+, guys. Definitely an A+ on this particular sammy.
I also enjoyed the pleasantly natural lighting and the very open tables (although it seemed a little small, as is the case with most places in Center City).

I like this place. I really do. If I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be stopping here almost every morning. The coffee is good, the baristas are nice, and they have have unsweetened peanut butter for the bagels. What more could you ask for? Well, it turns out there are a few things.
It took me 3 trips to figure out that the oven wasn’t just decorative. They actually do baking on site. However, you probably wouldn’t notice the delicious pile of scones as they keep them on the bottom of an otherwise unassuming cart. I only saw them after someone in front of me asked for one yesterday. There’s nothing on the chalkboard to make you believe they have anything other than coffee. They do have bagels, which you will notice when you walk in. However they are in a case sitting atop a confusing display that holds nothing but butter, jelly, and eggs. I’m not sure what is going on with that. I’m not sure what is going on with anything here.
I really love everything this place is doing, but I feel like it’s just a bit unorganized. Please get it together! This place has so much potential!

I like this coffee shop. It’s small, but there are three high top tables with stools that are comfortable to work from or conduct a quick meeting. I’ve never seen all of the seats filled so it’s not a bad alternative to the always-​crowded Elixr across the street.
La Colombe is on tap and the prices are pretty in line with other shops. There’s a small case of pre-​made sandwiches and baked goods but I haven’t tried anything.
Also, I remembered my last visit being somewhat chilly but the café was nice and toasty today. So there’s that, too.

Scene: Wednesday, 8am, two girls addicted to food therefore always on a diet walk into Café Loftus Downtown.
Girl 1: (to barista) We’d like two cups of black coffee. You have splenda right???
Barista: Yup!
Girl 2: What am I smelling right now?
Barista: Banana chocolate chip muffins just came out of the oven.
Girls 1 and 2: (in unison) We’d like those please.
–end scene, 1000 calories later.
Small place, La Colombe coffee, a chick stands at a small table and bakes the muffins in front of your very eyes, and they have french-​toast bagels. Awesome. Downside: super small. :-/​So good for 8am drive-​by, not super optimal for studying unless you go during off-​hours.

I like Café Loftus. I went here on a Sunday, and I wanted to get some reading done and I just kind of tripped onto this place, without really knowing it existed. It reminded me of one of my old coffee shops before I lived here, and I wanted to give it a try. I asked what kind of coffee they brewed, and where it was from, and I turned to the left to see La Colombe. Strike one. And then I asked for a cappuccino instead because I enjoy the espresso of La Colombe, but kind of ambivalent about the coffee itself.
The cappuccino, I was asked if I wanted a small or large, and I replied asking for a ceramic mug, which the barista happily obliged my request, and then asked me if I wanted a dry or wet cappuccino. This is something I’m very rarely asked in this city, and I was pleased to answer, «dry.» And I was regaled with one of the better cappuccinos I’ve had in this city.
I sat down and read a bit, got some work done, watched the world pass by and really enjoyed the ambience. People seem to be overexaggerating some smell in the other reviews, I didn’t smell a thing. I was more pleasantly accompanied by the gritty surroundings that I’ve come to love about Philadelphia.
At the risk of sounding way too pretentious, it really reminds me of my favorite place when I lived in Milan, so I might be completely biased about this place, but I’m really pleased I tripped onto this gem.

I can’t review the food, I can’t even review any non-​coffee drinks, but I CAN review the cappuccino that I think might have been the best I’ve ever had.
First, let me set the scene: it was early in the morning, maybe 7:00 a.m. or so. I had walked downtown early with my wife and, while she started work across the street, I happily sat down at Café Loftus and prepared myself for my day’s obligations. I took a table and a cup of standard coffee. I sat and worked while watching morning commuters pass by the still closed French-​style windows that open right onto the sidewalk. A half an hour later, with a line forming behind me at the counter, I moved to take the table just to my right, so my computer could reach an outlet on the wall. By that time my coffee was finished.
After waiting for the line to die down some I returned to the counter and bought the cappuccino. As expected, it was a shot of espresso with frothy, steamed whole milk … but the art is always in its preparation. After pulling the first shot and being dissatisfied with its quality, the barista threw it out. A good sign, probably never seen at Starbucks. The second pull was apparently to the barista’s satisfaction and he dropped it into my ceramic cup. All this time I hadn’t noticed that the milk was busy frothing somewhere behind him, but the barista turned, retrieved the now steaming canister, and then did something I didn’t expect. He placed the metal canister on the marble counter and began to swirl it, round and round. After appx. 10 seconds or so of this and the firm and spongy frothed milk became concentrated at the canister’s top. The barista poured a dollop of froth into the ceramic mug from one angle, and then, quarter turned the cup, from another. He then poured the rest of the milk, frothed into a beaten egg white consistency, into the mug, fully topping off the espresso shot.
I brought the cappuccino back to my table and noticed the crescent stripe arcing across the foam. Knowing that espresso drinks always taste best fresh I picked it up, sighed, and sipped my first sip of real functional art. It was a great start to the day, and one that will have me returning soon.

I got the hot chocolate here and it was ok, nothing special. I prefer mine steaming hot, but it was lukewarm, so it got cold too quickly.
The peanut butter cookie was delicious. Left a good after taste and was perfectly made.
It can get loud here since it’s such a small place and opens directly up onto 15^th. Even headphones don’t really block out all the excess noise. Maybe earbuds would do the trick. However, the wifi is free, so that’s a plus.
It smells like crap if you sit near the window.
Lots of people are always coming in and out, so people must really enjoy this place. It’s ok at best. The internet is really stable since it’s password accessible, which is really nice.
But this isn’t really a place to study. It’s more of a café to meet up and chat with friends at.

I’ve tried over and over again to like this place– and I will say the staff is very friendly and nice.
BUT they never, ever seem to have ice. (I prefer iced coffee and tea.) No chai. Rarely an iced tea that has caffeine in it.
Might be a great place if you drink a basic black, but not if you want to stir it up a bit.

Any place that sells gourmet PB&J sammiches is A-​OK in my book.
Vanilla lattes are good, too.
Waitstaff is friendly.
Four stars instead of five because it always smells like trash-​strewn alley and bum piss outside the café.

Wow, Loftus you’ve really outdone yourself. Your new and improved sandwiches are amazing! Almond butter, cinnamon and sugar with apples on wheat bread toasted to perfection, I could get used to this. I have been in search for a vegetarian breakfast in center city (15^th and market area) but most places put eggs on everything and anything. No longer being a fan of eggs and wishing I could find tofu scramble (unlikely), I found these delish sandwiches. They also have nutella and peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly and something else with honey, I can’t remember what but I’m sure it’s good.
They also serve my favorite coffee, la columbe and if you must have soy milk in your coffee, they have that too, no extra charge.
Love this little gem.

The menu on the website is what made me want to stop by this small hole in the wall coffee shop. Turns out its outdated, and they have no menu or prices listed anywhere at the shop.
No more gourmet sandwich selection, just 4 choices of regular fare sandwiches. good prices for what they have but the people at the counter were rude, much like described in another review.

Cool place but needs help. It has the potential to be awesome.
1.) get a menu
2.) needs more décor
3.) the guy behind the counter is absent minded
good part about this place? $ 3.50 minimum when you use a card. Better than the usual $ 10.

I’m not really sure how to describe Loftus. Maybe forgettably solid. Maybe La Colombe lite. Sadly, I feel the place lacks any identity of its own.
It kind of looks like La Colombe, what with the marble bar counter, pastry display, dark woods and light paint, and they serve La Colombe coffee, but whereas La Colombe is bustling, quick, loud, and intense, Loftus is relaxed, slow, and quiet. The barista is a little slow to make drinks but I can deal with that for an inexpensive coffee and a place to sit.
Haven’t tried the sandwiches or any food other than an orange, but the selection is varied (albeit small). It’s a great largely undiscovered go to.

So the other night I kept getting woken up by this dream that cockroaches were falling from the ceiling into my out stretched hand while I was sleeping. I made it 2 hours at work before deciding that I absolutely needed to get some coffee. Unable to deal with Starbucks today, I decided to walk a block and a half to Café Loftus, a place I’ve been two times before. While both times were good, I just never think to go there. Well, that changes today. I went in and got a delicious 20 ounce mocha for $ 3.75. That’s freaking ridiculous. You can easily pay $ 4.00 for a mediocre 16 ouncer for miles around here. And while it didn’t replace Capogiro as the queen of Philadelphia mochas, the fact that it’s much closer and more economical will make it my new at work go to.
Yes, it’s cute. Yes, it’s small. They have cupcakes from Flying Monkey, if you’re into that. The one thing though that drives me crazy about this place and makes me deduct a star is that they don’t have a menu out. I hate places that do this; it’s something that makes me feel really unwelcome. To me it says «you’re not in the know enough to know what we serve or how much it’s gonna cost, so you’ll have to have someone explain it to you.» Not that the staff is rude if you ask them questions; they’re really nice. But still, I don’t want to stand there and ask them to run off their prices to me. I don’t care if you’ve got your drinks written on a white board, or if there’s a couple of xeroxed menus on the counter. Put something out.

Even in a to go cup I had one of the best cappuccinos of my life! Perfect amount of foam and milk. I was in absolute milky abyss heaven! Seriously AMAZING! My mouth is salivating and I’m looking at my Starbucks in disgust. Damn you crappy latte! *Pouts*
They have sugars in bowls on the counter. You can choose your Splenda, Sugar in the Raw, or the fake stuff (if you want the runs). Having cinnamon sticks to add to your coffee is also the most perfect touch in the world. How classy. Brownie point. Not to mention I love how the barista hands you your lid and a spoon on a plate. It made me feel so elitist. Did I mention I like feeling elitist? This place is just an absolute winner.
The store itself may be small, but I found it warm and endearing. I wish there was a coffee shop like this back home where I lived because I would come here everyday.

This coffee spot definitely has it’s flaws. everyone else mentioned the size of the storefront, so you might find yourself having and awkward time sitting down and eating in, especially if you plan on utilizing the free wi-​fi. It also has some pretty whack hours. I’ve only seen it open twice even when I lived 6 blocks away. depending on who you are it’s a flaw or treasure, but they do serve La Colombe.
But other than that the service I’ve experienced has been pretty dead on. I never encountered Mr. Bluetooth that Cherie Mentioned, and those that I have encountered have been attentive and friendly. They also passed my hot chocolate test. Frothy and smooth all the way! Good specials too. when I was there on Saturday they had 50 cent espresso shots and $ 2 nutella bagels. definitely recommended for when your on the go.

They serve excellent Remedy teas. Nice space. Scones were okay. Guy behind the counter chatted on his bluetooth the entire time I was there, even while taking my order.
I walk by often on my way to work, and the guy is ALWAYS on a phone, even where there is a line of customers. That, along with the «alternative staff» vibe, keeps me from going back. There are other cafes with good-​looking staff who have tattoos and clever t-​shrts that offer better service.