Space Monkey Coffee

I love Space Monkey. My favorite baristas in Portland brewing up amazing Cellar Door specialties! These ladies are very friendly and go out of their way to make me feel at home.
Space Monkey has the right atmosphere to hang out in. Free Wifi, good tunes, and a friendly neighborhood vibe! I think the food is better than most small cafes I’ve been to. They have amazing breakfast bagels, fresh muffins, and the french toast panini is exceptional!

Good food, poor service. The women always act so overwhelmed, I’ve even overheard one tell a customer on the phone to call back later because she was «swamped». She was making two sandwiches and there was no one in line. It still took an extremely long time for us to get those sandwiches.

Update! There was a change in management, and it appears as if the rude woman is gone! Rejoice! I have my neighborhood coffee shop back! I’ve been back several times over the past few weeks, and the staff is always friendly. A big sigh of relief. Happy to be a customer again!

Extremely fresh and tasty sandwiches. The roast beef on sourdough was yummy. Veggie sandwich on a pesto parmesan bagel was fantastic. I do wish the portions were larger, or that chips or a small side was included, though with the low price, it makes sense.
Customer service was very friendly!
Coffee good, from Cellar Door.
The down to earth charm, quality of ingredients (organic/​local/​fair trade), and lovely trees across the street to gaze at in comfy chairs makes this my favorite café in the ‘deep’ south east of Portland!

Great coffee and service! Would for sure come back! The baked goods were fresh and amazing. This place is a gem in the neighborhood. Don’t miss it!

This is a nice, relaxing coffee shop. The coffee is good and the muffins are fresh. The soup/​sandwiches are ho-​hum (not much flavor), but it was still fresh tasting.

I usually just go to the next foor, Arleta Library, for the BEST biscuit and gravy, but was on line so went here to get a coffee. Wow, what a jam! Their Lavender & honey organic fair trade coffee was AMAZING and their selection for smoothies and homemade muffin looked divine!

I really love this place. Like a living room away from home, with great sandwiches, good coffee, food ethics, families, first names, WiFi, free doggy treats, lovely location, and staff who are real people. I couldn’t be more content with my neighborhood coffee shop (unless they stayed open a little later than 4pm)!

I feel bad writing this review, because I really want to like my local coffee shop. It’s cute, has a good location, has a free library and a very alternative vibe. Unfortunately the service is either rude or hopelessly incompetent, and the coffee is just plain bad. I don’t know what they’re doing to their coffee but it tastes awful every time. I’m not saying the place is awful, just that it is barely acceptable.

Great food drinks inexpensive great for kids only one lady working and our meal only took 5 min to get to the table!

Local favorite. Super sweet location, great coffee, plus ultra-​yummy sammies. Huzzah!

The best thing about Space Monkey is the location. Its location is very convenient for meeting near Mt Scott. If you have to meet someone in this neighborhood, this is a place with walls and tables that would likely suit your needs.

Won’t be coming here again. Help is rude. They charged me .25 cents for a small slice of lemon in my hot. water. Wtf? Why the face?

I really want to like this place. It’s close to the park, it’s in the neighborhood, it’s local. But the reality is it’s dirty, has burnt coffee, and the customer service is terrible.
I wanted to like it so much I have gone there four times. Sorry it’s just bad and I am not going back.

I visited Space Monkey for the first time two days ago. What a gem! Fun atmosphere, nice and sincere lady behind the counter, and a good up of coffee. I often am in SE Portland and I am planning to make this my «go to» coffee shop.

Great place to relax, read, catch-​up on work, or just hang out. They make the world’s best Morning Glory muffins to be found anywhere. Staff is very friendly. I stop in whenever I am in this part of Portland. Love it!

Great local spot with an at home feel. Great options with fresh local produce and ingredients.
I enjoy their fun local products they carry of artwork, crafts, jewelry and other fun goods.
Our favorite is the kid friendly atmosphere with their play area. We often run into other young families from the neighborhood that enjoy this spot as well. It’s community feel keeps me coming back and has helped me to make new connections with other parents.
I love their grasshopper smoothie and all their other options. We like to get their pano is and other fresh baked goods. Easy off street parking. Conveniently located across from our amazing Mount Scott Community Center and beautiful park.
Grab yourself a coffee or snack before or after playtime at the park.
Super unpretentious with an über hippy feel. They welcome everyone from the neighborhood to meet there and hang out.

After a long run one morning, I figured I earned myself a treat and decided to give Space Monkey another try since it would be nice to have a coffee shop I enjoy within a stone’s throw away from home.
This update is over a year after my first visit, and the little shop doesn’t seem to have changed much appearance-​wise. The two experiences were night and day though. The barista this time (who I am almost certain may be the same one as before but then again, it has been over a year so I could be wrong) was warm, friendly, and pleasantly chatty. I ordered an iced mocha since it was warm out, even though iced coffee beverages are not normally what I prefer. It was good, maybe a little heavy on the ice, but definitely good.
While I can’t say I’m a huge fan yet, I have hope that I will grow to like Space Monkey more, but for now they have definitely bumped it up to A-​OK.

When you see a line next door at Arletta and no one inside Space Monkey, there is a reason. Well, two actually: bad service and bad coffee.
Like so many other reviewers, I wanted to like this place but save your time and money and go elsewhere.

I come here on the weekends for a coffee drink I wouldn’t spend the money for on a regular weekday. The staff isn’t unfriendly, like I’ve seen mentioned in other reviews, but no one’s trying awkwardly to be your friend. It’s also entirely possible that I have had a different experience of this place and, for whatever reason, positive interactions with the staff.
My fancy weekend coffee drink is a Banana Chocolate mocha at a good fancy price (between 4 & 5 for 16 oz). They also have a Salted Caramel latte and a Bacon Maple thing, among other specials and standard coffee and tea drinks alike. My wife always gets the Salted Caramel latte. No one has tried the Bacon Maple thing. Maybe it’s good?
The art is good sometimes and other times very weird. There’s a public computer, couches, a lending library, a sock monkey collection, games, and toys for small children. They are always selling local art and their roaster’s beans, which are from Cellar Door Coffee Roasters. They make surprisingly good bagel sandwiches.
The décor generally lacks polish, possibly because they are doing so many disparate things in one shop, but more likely it is a Bohemian flavored resistance to corporate coffee that is polished to a shine.
All in all, it’s my neighborhood coffee shop, and if you wanted to know what middle-​Southeast Portland is all about, this would be a good place to start.