Coven

The service was very friendly.
The prices are average for an independent café — drinks $ 2 – 5, sandwiches $ 4−9… Their iced tea was amazing — hand brewed loose leaf tea poured over ice.
I liked the décor, it was visually interesting without being overwhelming.

I was recently back in Salem and made two trips there. I pretty much feel the same about the place, but here’s my update.
Service seems a bit faster, but the friendliness varies depending on who you’re getting. I had one girl who was very sweet and another who was okay. Not bad, by any means. Also, I know this isn’t an upscale joint by any means, but they may want to have a dress code that says no dirty ripped jean shorts and inside out black shirts. I saw a lot of that, and to me it looks like people don’t give a crap about what kind of image they project, which then reflects on the place.
As for the food, I had a really amazing apple cider muffin — not at all dry, very simple and very tasty! I picked up a gluten free cupcake for a friend, which I didn’t try but just looked great. One day I had iced coffee, the other I had an iced white mocha… and I don’t know, maybe my taste buds are different than other people’s but I just don’t get the appeal. I preferred the latte to the iced coffee, so I’ll assume the quality of the espresso-​based beverages is better than the brewed iced — but still nothing to write home about.
Once again, I want this place to be awesome, and I want it to be there every time I go back, just a little bit better. Keep working at it, Coven. You’re almost there, in my opinion.

A great café in the middle of salem, ma…

To stumble upon here I’m pretty impressed!
I liked the atmosphere… felt like I could just hang out forever.
Big winner in the gluten free catagory from me! Their serve yourself ceral section had a gluten free option… and it is completely self contained (I did not have the ceral, but I would feel totally safe if I did!).
I had the She-​Ra Sandwich… and yup, what could be better for a name?! Turkey, Avocado, Marinated onions, gluten free bread… allllllll good! There were 3 mini sandwiches (which I really appreciate as gluten free bread tends to be smaller, so I didn’t feel cheated on the price/​size), came with a tasty mixed green side salad. The bread was fantastic, tasted similar to sourdough sliced bread… nice crisp crust.
There were gluten free cupcakes (5kinds) and brownies in the bakery case… separate case for the GF options… again, making me feel pretty darn safe!
People working there were pretty friendly, and it was nice to be sitting there enjoying a cup of coffee and have some one bring me my sandwich.
Tip for the owners: add a composting bin! I saw one recycling bin, but I had to ask where it was and it seems (by the contents of the trash) that most people don’t know where it was either.

So I’m a little late to the table, as I went to Coven last Summer BUT this place is deserving of an awesome write up, so better late than never right?
The retro toy theme is amazing and I absolutely LOVE that the menu is an ode to the cartoons and tv shows of days past.
The space is casual, very cute, not too big, not too small with afew scattered tables. The vibe is low key, you would totally feel comfortable rolling in in your PJ’s or yesterday’s clothes, but most importantly the food is also delish, We ordered the Betty Boop, and the Three’s Company and both were amazeballs. But that balsamic dressing they have, OMG that ish must be magic because my girlfriends and I haven’t stopped talking about it, (yes we have problems).

I have mixed feelings about Coven. Ideally, I love it.
First, I have to mention that the best thing about Coven, I think, is that their menu is EXTREMELY considerate of dietary restrictions. Even though they are partially a bakery, they have a variety of gluten-​free treats shipped in weekly from a gluten-​free bakery in/​near Boston. They have gluten-​free bread and wraps for all of their sandwiches.
(AND they don’t charge extra for gf bread!!)
There are a lot of vegetarian sandwiches, and a lot of vegan or vegan-​option sandwiches as well. And sometimes vegan treats, too. (Not sure if that’s all the time or just sometimes.) Wow!
Service: The owners and employees are always SUPER nice. They will also go way out of their way if, like, you are looking for something that is gluten-​free but ALSO vegan but doesn’t have cilantro in it – whatever weirdo issue you might have.
The down side is that the service is usually slow for no reason, unless you are just running in to grab a dessert and run out. Sandwiches take longer than they should.
If you are there with friends though, it’s easy to be distracted by the board games or tv screens while you wait, so I don’t think it’s such a big deal.
But back to the sandwiches, I think they taste great! Everything I have had at Coven has been delicious. The prices aren’t cheap, but they’re not ridiculous, either. Their house dressing is tasty. Breakfast is pretty cheap. Their desserts are good, too. Apple cider muffins!
They also have a tiny market and stock fresh/​local produce when it’s in season.

We had purchased a $ 20 gift certificate through
for $ 10. We decided to go on a Saturday morning for breakfast. It was rather empty when we got there. It is a counter set-​up, so you place your order and then have a seat. They have a CEREAL BAR!!! It’s amazing. Every kind of cereal you can imagine. The only thing that was a little clumsy about it was that milk was not readily available. It was the same milk they were using to prepare coffees behind the bar so I had to wait a minute for the cereal.
I also has a sausage, egg and cheese on whole grain toast which was very good and my husband had a waffle which he said was good. The coffee was also very good. I’m not sure which kind it was but it was delicious.
It did take a bit of time for them to get the breakfast sandwich and the waffle out to us. but hey, at least it was cooked to order and they give you a side of fruit which I thought was nice.
It’s definitely a hippie crunchy granola atmosphere. which I like occasionally. I also like that the owner is very hands-​on and has been in the café most of the times I have been there.
If you are looking to support a local business (which I love) and break up the monotony of DD — I would give Coven a try!

This review is for lunch.
We had a groupon for Coven so we stopped by this past Saturday on our way to the Peabody Essex Museum. This place has a lot of different things going on. it’s a coffee shop/​café, deli, partial bakery, and also has wine/​beer — oh, and a small mini marketplace with pickled veggies, hot sauce, pasta sauce, etc.
Pros:
Sandwiches were delicious! We had She-​Ra. and some kind of balsalmic chicken panino. The soup of the day was great (chickpea, orzo, with lemon)!
Atmosphere was nice and relaxed
Service was friendly
Cereal wall — similar to your college dining hall — lots of choices!
Prices were good — it was $ 6-​$ 8 for a sandwich (comes with salad). Sandwiches were large — they could be split between 2 people.
Cons:
Limited seating
Not a lot of baked goods for being a dessert bakery (+deli + market + café…)
Parking is probably difficult. but it’s so easy to walk to if you are already in downtown Salem.
I would like to go back to try the coffee. I would recommend for weekday/​weekend lunch!

Popped into Coven today as I’ve been meaning to try it for awhile. Generally speaking, I was unimpressed. It’s a great concept and the nostalgia was entertaining while I waited for my peppermint mocha, but the quality wasn’t worth the wait & the staff was lukewarm.
In short, it needs some work.

I’ve been to Coven a few times and it seems to get better every time I go in there. They have a number of vegetarian options, a fresh deli counter, free wi-​fi, a fun and relaxing atmosphere, and to-​die-​for baked goods! The salted caramel brownies are crave worthy. A few days ago I stopped in and was able to get a box of 18 «yesterday’s» cupcakes for $ 15 and they tasted like they were made the same day and were absolutely decadent!

I tried to get lunch at Coven 3 times with a friend and no one would serve us so we ended up walking out every time. We wondered what exactly we had to do to get served there. Apparently standing at the counter staring at the employees wasn’t sufficient.
The 4^th time we decided to try it again. We actually had a staff member take our order!!! We were so excited! I ordered a sandwich that was pre-​made and the employee merely had to take it out of the case and put it in a to-​go container. She did that and then left it open sitting on the counter for flies to land on it while she made my friends sandwich. It took at least 15 minutes for her to make this sandwich– which was just turkey and cheese with lettuce. Finally another staff member decided he could ring us up at the register while we waited. The credit card machine was right next to open baked good sitting on top of the counter. Each time he had to reach over these baked goods– some sticky looking– to have us sign our credit card receipts… who knows what made its way into those brownies…
We finally got back to our office to eat and they had forgotten to put cheese on my friend’s sandwich. $ 8 for turkey and lettuce on a roll. My sandwich was OK. It was large and tasted fine, but again it was super expensive. I don’t think I will be returning any time soon.

Coven is truly a funky, enjoyable place. I walk every morning I can to get their iced coffee. It is worth every cent. Their smore’s bars are huge and yummy. The cupcakes… pricey, but wowwwww.
The service is nice and normally remember the regular’s orders. The owners are a little. I don’t want to use the words stand-​offish, but they are not as perky as the staff. Nice, just not as great as their staff. Their chef came out the first day they started breakfast and introduced himself and reminded me they were doing breakfast. I enjoy a trip there… They are the only place I can find retro candy I love. (like candy buttons on paper) My hubby doesn’t always dig the vibe there, but I am happy to go alone. As other people have said, ordering food takes forever, go when you have time… But enjoy the honey limeaide and iced coffee. (just don’t enjoy those together)

I was here on the day of their soft opening, just to grab a cupcake. I had a chocolate cupcake that was really good — the cake & frosting were both perfect.
Then, I went back for lunch, and had a tomato & mozzarella panini (Three’s Company), which was delicious & huge. You can definitely share a sandwich, plus sandwhiches are served with a small salad. I also had the homemade strawberry lemonade. Dessert was a s’mores bar — good, but the cupcakes were better.
So far, I’ve experienced fast, friendly service here (owner on the first day, staff on the second day). Love the board games, cartoons, and figurines.

I visited Coven around dinner time last week, after reading great reviews on Unilocal.In fact, I went out of my way to walk a few extra blocks to get there.
So let me just say right off the bat that it wasn’t worth the walk.
Yes, it has a fun atmosphere– old beat-​up furniture and a love of 80s toys/​games/​etc. Sure, I could play Sorry or watch cartoons while I waited for my food. Great.
But my food took 20 mins to arrive, and the restaurant was almost completely empty!
I wish I could say I ordered something very intricate, but I didn’t. I ordered a smores bar from the case, and a Ricky Ricardo sandwich.
The smores bar was great– I think it was golden grahams and fluff maybe? Too sweet for me but my husband liked it. And it was big, which was nice– we could share it. That is basically what they get two stars for.
The sandwich was ok, but it wasn’t really what I ordered. The Ricky Ricardo was supposed to be pork, a mustard vinegrette, pickled onions and manchego.
10 mins after ordering the spacy woman that took my order came and asked me what kind of cheese I wanted, since they were out of manchego.
She didn’t bother to tell me they were out of pickled onions too. So they just put raw red ones in the sandwich– not even thinly sliced– big diced pieces of them. So really, my sandwich had pork in it, and it did have some sort of vinegrette on it, but otherwise I wouldnt think it was the sandwich I ordered.
To top it all off, it took us forever to pay our bill, because the woman who took my order didn’t want to run my credit card, so we had to wait until we were leaving, and then the woman manning the machine at that point didn’t know how to use it, so it took her like 10 mins to learn while she was checking us out– you know, not that we were in a rush or anything, it was fine for her to take our time while she fumbled around.
I wouldnt waste my time at this place. The best thing about this place is the names of the sandwiches.

Came here in seek of these incredible cupcakes I heard about. I asked the guy at the counter if I was able to order a dozen specialty cupcakes for my boyfriend’s birthday and he replied with a complaisant response to ask me to write my phone number and name down and what I wanted. He also said I could choose from Cookie Dough cupcakes, or Red Velvet, and told me the baker can get fun and make something chocolaty and deliciously special for my man. So yes, I got a phone in the morning the nest day saying I could come around lunchtime to pick them up. They gave me a discount for buying a dozen, but they are still a little pricey, BUT OMG THESE THINGS HAVE SOMETHING MAGICAL IN THEM.
Coffee here is also kick ass! They have a small amount of local produce, some specialty food items. They make daily goodies too! Environment is awesome, unique art on the walls, cool music, funky seating.
LOVE THIS PLACE!

Here is an update to my Coven review. We finally got the chance to stop in for lunch.
The counter service is SO cool and friendly. My husband ordered the Rainbow Brite,(a veggie wrap with hummus) and I ordered the Ramones (a reuben sandwich) plus we got the cookie dough cupcake and a fig/​shortbread bar.
We watched the Smurfs on TV while we ate our lunch, and browsed the cool books, knick knacks and games on the shelves. The food was great, it was a pretty good reuben.
The Fig bar was delicious, even though I prefer my shortbread to be a bit crisper/​firmer, this was a softer shortbred more cake like than «crust» like. The cookie dough cupcake was fantastic. I wish they stocked more cupcake flavors daily. The first time I went in they only had two, this time they had four flavors.
This will defintely be my hangout when I move to Salem. Great food, cool things to look at/​watch, books to read and free WiFi.

Oh my sweets — treats — great coffee — a cereal bar !!!
and more — they got boars head — in-​house made food…
AND — some of the coolest nick — nacks to follow — from great board games (MOUSE TRAP!!!) to the RAD figurines all around the great space of the store.
A good vibe — and a great time — well worth a stop in if you never have.
thank you for opening up in salem !

What a welcome find while roaming around Salem in need of caffeine! First off, the décor is fabulous and funky and everything a coffee house should be, and sadly you rarely see this kind of cool décor. It was just neat. That’s the best word for it. Lots of things to look at, and an awesome laid-​back vibe.
The selection is insane. I mean– picture a goodie and then picture it 10x more gooey or with more frosting and that’s what all the treats looked like. They even had salty caramel treats! Wow! Add to that a great selection of higher end foods, that you never find in a coffee house, and the store is off the charts cool.
The staff was friendly. They served peanut butter lattes! Oh. My. God. SO good! All of the flavors looked interesting, and unique. This is going to be a place that I have to visit when going to Salem, no question about it. And, it’s right across from the comic book store (which makes it cooler in my nerdy head). Check it out, you will love it!

I stopped by here on Wednesday for some sweets– got 6 cupcakes– and was impressed with what they had so far. As has been mentioned– they are in the soft opening stage right now and I am one of the 700 fans on FB that Geoff mentioned so I was excited they were doing the soft opening.
They have a varied selection so far and are going to expand in a few weeks with the grand opening so I can’t wait! I got 6 cupcakes– two red velvet, two vanilla with vanilla frosting & Rainbow jimmies and two vanilla with chocolate frosting that had chocolate chips. To die for. I onlly tried the chocolate frosted one but shared the rest with co-​workes and my husband. To die for all around. Cupcakes were like angel food cake and frosting was very rich and buttery. A little on the heavy side but not to much. Quiche looked good– I will have to go back for that. I cant wait to make this a regular in my rotation
As mentioned already they try and use local foods when possible like bread from A & J King which I think is great. I know they are going to have gluten free stuff and veggie stuff so everyone will be happy :-)

Yay!
Coven, which 700 or so of us have been following on Facebook for a few months has finally opened on Essex Street in Salem, in the former Tompkins Furniture building.
So what is Coven? It’s part restaurant, part bakery, part high end grocer. Or, it will be in a few weeks, anyway. Right now it’s in the process of becoming all of those things. The vibe is cool, with several areas set up for patrons to sit down and relax. There are board games for the playing, and an entire wall of cereal for the slurping. Interspersed with this is a refrigerated case filled with dairy products from Richardson’s, cage free eggs, shelves of high end groceries and a full on espresso/​cappuccino setup.
So what did I try? I got some mac and cheese for lunch, and a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. The best word to describe both is RICH. The cupcake frosting was almost too much for me.
Right now, the dinner/​lunch options are limited, but I know they intend to expand those between this soft opening and their grand opening in a month. Think cheese plates with wine, and fancy sandwiches. But also with fruit loops and I’m pretty sure I saw some waffle irons.
Service is eager but disorganized as they get things rolling. I’ll update again later.
I had hopes for Coven coming in, and my first visit tells me that they may well deliver. If you go now, remember that they haven’t even had their official «opening» yet.