Dark Horse Coffee Roasters

high quality roasted coffee on par with blue bottle or stump town.

Summary: cute coffee shops (2 locations), strong delicious coffee, amazing vegan donuts, and cool items to purchase.
This location is by far my favorite of the 2 Dark Horse locations. Every time I’ve come here it has been a pleasant experience. From the coffee, donuts, to the service.
I have come here a few times now and this little coffee shop is always poppin no matter the day or time of day. They have a couple seats outside for about 4 people and indoor seating for a max of 8 crammed in. I mainly take my coffee to go, so it’s no biggie. When you walk in there are a couple cool things to purchase. From bags of coffee, coffee grinders, cups, mugs, hats/​beanies, and shirts. All of their items have a unique cool dark horse logo.
The service here is always friendly and welcoming. The place is very small yet clean. The prices are reasonable, and the coffee is wonderful. Their blends are strong and have great flavor. Definitely will have you wanting more, and craving another cup. The donuts are amazing with or without coffee. They are a must try, and will leave your taste buds wanting more. They have different flavors depending when you go. I’ve tried the cookie butter, maple, lemon poppyseed, and blueberry. They are all tasty.
So next time you’re in the area and craving someone above the average boring Starbucks coffee. Check this place out.

Not sure how long this location has been opened for because I’ve only been to the one on Adams Ave. I LOVE THIER COFFEE!
If you are looking for a different taste, relaxing feel and small-​café atmosphere: this place/​coffee is a must try!
Decent prices, great service, and cool concepts.

My love for Dark Horse began in Normal Heights! Now that I live in North Park, my husband and I frequent that location. The pastry treats are delicious and we love their coffee: pour overs, lattes (my fave is the almond milk latte), cappuccinos… all of it.
The only reason I am not giving this location 5 stars is because recently the customer service hasn’t been the best when we’ve been in. No «hello,» not friendly, not even a smile — at least pretend to enjoy your job. There could definitely be some room to grow in that category. Otherwise, the coffee is fantastic as I mentioned earlier.

This place is really good and the employees are friendly. The vegan donuts are amazing!

Like this location more than the other one near it. Ordered a cold brew with vanilla bean and almond milk. Pretty strong stuff but absolutely loved it and the customer service. The girl who took my order made my drink as soon as I ordered it, handed it to me and charged me. Took like 2 to 3 minutes, in and out. Definitely returning!

I recently discovered this place while waiting in line for a concert at a nearby theater. I got an iced tea and a vegan chocolate scone. The customer service was excellent and my drink was really yummy to. I went to three other places before I found a place with vegan pastries. The vibe in this coffee shop is really laid back and I definitely plan to go again and taste new items on their menu :)

Great coffee and great service! I went here for the first time and had no idea what to order, the barista recommended «champ» and it’s now my all time favorite drink! Def will be coming back here!
There are a few downsides about this place, it’s pretty small and tables are limited. Parking is kind of hard to find and if you go on a cold day, beware they leave the windows fully open and it can get pretty chilly.

Great compliment to the Adams location but with espresso. Their espresso drinks are great too, I usually just get a cappuccino.
Nitro, cold brew, kombucha on tap, all that good stuff. Some pastries.
The spot seems cold to me, it’s all shaded during the day, so it’s great on a hot day to come chill out with a cold brew on nitro. I’ll come from pb for that.
They are killing it at espresso for their first spot with it. Can’t wait to try the new golden hill location.

So far one of my top two coffee places in the city! A good cup of coffee is surprisingly hard to find in San Diego especially in areas outside of downtown. It’s not the most convenient when you live near UCSD. San Diego can be a bit of a coffee desert if you are unwilling to go near downtown. My fiancé and I were dying for some good coffee and some fresh air for a mid day pick me up, so we decided to head to Dark Horse even though the drive to downtown is a little longer than something near campus.
If you want some no frills coffee, Dark Horse is the place to go. I love Art of Expresso at UCSD, but it’s definitely on the sweeter end for the mochas and etc. I tried the CHAMP here, which is basically a honey cinnamon vanilla latte, and the sweetness was more subtle than most places, but that’s what made it delicious. I could still taste the actual coffee beans, but the sweetness was enough just to cover up the bitterness of coffee that I can’t handle. I recommend you mix it before drinking though, otherwise the top is really sweet because of all the cinnamon. My fiancé got the regular coffee and he loved it as well and is ready to make another trip to Dark Horse. The beans seem very good quality here, and I saw several people trying to buy beans while I was here. They were out at this location and had to head over to the other store, so maybe the other Dark Horse is larger. The baristas are also pretty friendly here and will offer suggestions if you ask. I also felt like the prices were a bit cheaper than most chains, so that’s a plus. I think my latte was around $ 3 and usually for the same size at other places it’s about $ 5.
This location has a few cons, which is why I have to take off a star. Street parking is difficult. We just parked in the garage nearby, which was a dollar an hour, so it’s reasonable. In addition the location is SUPER TINY. There are only 3 tiny tables, but somehow we were able to get one and enjoy the fresh air a bit. This is definitely NOT an ideal place for studying.
Anyways my fiancé and I loved our coffee at Dark Horse. It was smooth, potent, and tasty and we will definitely come back!

For heaves! Finally got to this place, traffic was horrible because of a marathon and roadwork being done on a few streets, it was if everything was coming together to prevent me from getting my espresso fix!
Now, this is what I consider a great coffee place, it is small but comfortable and worth all the hassle to get here. Bella and Mike are two of the three barista working there, at the time I went and the three of them are incredibly efficient and friendly, you can see they take pride in being there and loving what they do, you can taste the excellence and passion! Bought a Ethiopia Guji and brewed it this morning and it was crisp with berries notes and a sweet earthy flavors.
Also and this is something that blew my mind away, I asked also for their house espresso and it was: 1.00 DOLLAR!!! One dollar for an amazing crazy good espresso??? Wow! I think every sandiegan should come and have their espresso fix here! Is not only impressively good but it’s inexpensive. It makes feel I want to move back to San Diego! I will come more often to visit my parents because of Dark Horse Roasters! See? They even bring families closer together! :))
The only thing I could say about Dark Horse is that the single origin served on a petite cognac glass was difficult to drink and made it loose some of the crema faster than the regular espresso shot. My guess is that they wanted to concentrate the aroma but for me… It did not work I prefer it in the regular espresso shot cup.

Yummy cold brew latte ($ 3.50) and a pretty smooth cold brew on nitro ($ 5). The cold brew latte was very lightly sweetened with their house syrup and had a dash of milk in there. The cold brew on nitro wasn’t served chilled and was a little bit colder than room temperature, but due to the August heat in SD, it got warm really fast. The price for the cold brews are pretty typical.
This location was pretty small and I didn’t see sugar and milk outside anywhere (it might’ve not been hidden — I didn’t look too hard for it) which is why I got the cold brew latte which costs a little more than just a regular cold brew. I was actually wondering if this was a good study place, but I’m glad I scoped this place out before I came with my laptop.

Been here 4 times and convinced they have the best cold brew iced coffee in town. Pure flavor with zero acidic after taste. A steal for $ 3. They have a smaller menu that’s cool and works for their tiny space. Feels a little too cramped in here.
They’re living the stereotypical coffee shop BS and it’s squared being in NP. Basically get on Etsy and Pintrest for 5 minutes and you’ll have a perfect visual of what Dark Horse is. I just close my eyes and tune everything out until it’s my moment to get my quick order in and bolt out the door. They have great coffee and located close to me. Everything else is just noise.

One of my favorite local roasters opened up a second location in North Park, so happy to see this. If only they had ample parking like their Adams location, I’d probably visit this place more often. I needed some more coffee after breakfast and a pour over from Dark Horse sounded great. Like their other location, all the coffee is fresh and locally roasted in San Diego. You can get pour overs, espresso drinks, cold brew, pastries and even purchase whole bean coffee to make at home. Dark Horse’s employees always do an amazing job at getting your pour over coffee brewed perfect and the coffee is the perfect temperature when ready to drink. This isn’t really a full fledged coffee shop, there is very limited seating inside with open air viewing of North Park way. There’s no way I couldn’t give Dark Horse five stars, their coffee is that good.

Grrrr
For such a small space it’s kinda hard to miss a customer waiting for service when three baristas are standing behind the counter chatting about God knows what.
I don’t care that you’re wearing a bikini kill shirt and your musical tastes are superior to mine, I want a cup of coffee.
Because I can walk to: young hickory, Holden, Calabria, Claire de lunes, Starbucks, streetcar merchants, coffee and tea collective to receive prompter service.
And that donut… THE WORST.
I’ve eaten cardboard that tastes better.
Was it vegan? Totally flavorless and chewy.
Ok. I do have to say the coffee was pretty tasty. I’m a sucker for pour over.
There’s always next time, maybe it will be better than this first impression. Which has been a total steaming turd (insert smiling poop emoticon here).
Post Script–
What a doll; mike from dark horse wrote me to apologize for what jerks his workers were to me and the other customer waiting in line. He sounded genuine and sincere when telling me that every customer service experience should be positive. And i couldn’t agree more!

I think the other location has a lot of personality, but this one is just as small and I definitely had more confidence ordering here, their menu is much clearer. In my attempt at trying new coffee shops every weekend, I stopped by on my way back home. Parking wasn’t bad that day, but it could potentially be terrible, it’s North Park after all, and it’s the popular part of North Park.
This place is handicap friendly! I went to the cashier, and picked up a cold brew, Iced Latte, with their housemate vanilla w/​soy milk. It came out fast and it tasted great! There are 3 small tables located inside, so you can sit down if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend this as a study spot. Awesome experience!

Another awesome crafted coffee joint had been added to the Nutty Ps!
It’s located right next to Waypoint Public but this location seems to be much smaller than their first location off Adams (which is very small as well).
Definitely not a spot you’d come to for a work meeting or homework. Just grab it to-​go and walk around the neighborhood as you sip on your caffeine fix.
You can never go wrong with their cold brew on tap. Pour overs are super delicious as well (please drink it black!). Grab yourself a vegan donut and wash it down with a lovely cup of java!
This location does close a bit earlier than the one on Adams (5pm) so keep that in mind. You’re better off bringing your bike if you live in the area as parking is quite limited these days around 30^th and North Park Way.

I had been wanting to check out Dark Horse since their other location opened up in Normal Heights but I moved out of the area before they opened.
I live fairly close to this new location on 30^th and was excited to give it a whirl this past weekend.
The spot is small, with just a few tables, so it’s not really a go get a coffee and work on homework/​chat with friends kind of place, but that’s ok. I got myself an iced vanilla latte and it was delicious. Not too much flavor syrup and the espresso was tasty. They had a little case of mini donuts out on the counter that looked scrumptious but i was still a little full from breakfast so I passed. Staff was very friendly and informative — you can tell they care about what they do. Got a bit crowded with people ordering/​waiting for drinks, but the baristas were fast and efficient!
I’ll definitely be back to try more of the delicious drinks they are rumored to have.
Parking can be tricky, but hey! we live in San Diego. Hop on a bike or take a walk and enjoy the beautiful weather we pretty much always have!

Been waiting for these guys to open forever!
It took a couple days to get the iced coffee nitro up, but now that it is, I’m smitten. Beer from a keg… you are North Park. Everything as it should be.
This spot it quite literally a whole in the wall with only a few tables and room for about four people to order inside. Bonus is that they’re amazing at moving the line along. It’s located directly next to Waypoint’s door on North Park Way.
They’ve still got the same donuts and scones from the Normal Heights location.
Good stuff.

Dark Horse Coffee Roasters continues to impress with their great roasted beans and espresso drinks. Recently opening, I stopped in to get am Americano and a chocolate chip scone.
The location is small, with a few tables inside, but it sure provides some super coffees and such. My Americano was bliss, with it full flavor, richness, and smooth after taste with not a hint of bitterness. Equally as good was the chocolate chips scone filled with sweet chips and held together by a dense yet moist scone breading. It as the perfecting pairing for me great Americano.
The employees running Roasters were very friendly and as well as informative regarding their product. Dark Roasters is a great addition to North Park and its community. They are located right next door to Way Point Public on North park Way… No phone yet, but coming soon.