Spence Cafe

Service was slow, not very friendly. On the flip side, one of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time!

We’re in the process of buying a house, so we haven’t been eating out as often recently, but I went to Spence for a coworker’s small going-​away lunch last week. We knew it was on the pricier side, but we’ve gone to High Street Caffe for lunch a few times and have always found it was worthwhile, so we gave it a shot.
First, our service was treacherously slow for a Monday at lunch. There were perhaps three other tables occupied, and although we recognized this lunch wouldn’t be a quick turnaround, we were not expecting a two hour lunch. Several of us had to cancel meetings while we waited.
As for the food: I ordered what sounded like an interesting sandwich… bacon, fontina, turkey, and apple on sourdough. What I got was a croûton stuffed with greasy mush. I really can’t describe how poorly done such a great sounding sandwich turned out. I’ve honestly had far better turkey sandwiches at Boston Market for less than half the price.

I give four stars for the weekend bar scene, which usually starts around 9 – 10. The restaurant itself is not great; the food is average and is way overpriced. I give the dining experience 2 stars. Back to the bar review… like Russ commented, this is the only true haven for hippies in WC. There is a decent selection of good beers (Magic Hat of course) and usually a live band. Prices are not cheap, but not overly expensive either. They usually have good beer specials. The female staff is SUPERB; very friendly and gorgeous. This is always a good place to start the night and a nice change of pace from the typical WC bar. Good bar, bad restaurant.

My wife and I ate at Spence Café last Friday night and really enjoyed it. We sat outside at the table that is by itself, to the right of the entry door. Good setting, albeit a little loud with all the West Chester cruisers out on Gay Street.
We enjoyed our food, and the service was great. I had the tomato fennel soup. It was surprisingly tangy, which i enjoyed. And it included a real surprise — a grilled cheese in the soup. The rye bread wrapped around goat cheese, which, when combined with the spicy soup, was fantastic. We also had a good cheese plate with 6 choices for an appetizer.
My wife had the salmon and I had an interesting paella that included mussels, clams, shrimp and andouille sausage. Very interesting and good.
The wine selection is good, and most bottles are under $ 30, which is another pleasant surprise at a restaurant these days. (In fact, they have 10 Under $ 20 as a wine page.)
I’d go back again. I would think Spence Café would be a nice place to sit outside in the summertime. But I might now do it on Friday night when the guys without mufflers come out to show their muscle cars while you’re trying to eat mussels.

If you like hippies dancing like fools to Phish cover bands you’ll LOVE Spence Café. When I think of Spence Café I think of a large beer selection, cigarette smoke, decent specials and 9 minute organ solos. Wednesdays at Spence are reggae nights, with Red Stripe beer specials and live reggae bands, which can be cool.
I’m not a big fan of the staff here, as like in most places, the workers think they cooler than a polar bears toe nails. One time they thought there was someone underage in the bar so a bouncer came around to check ID’s again… no big deal, if all he did was check them. Instead he COLLECTED everyone’s IDs, took them to the front and held them until cops came to check everyone. This almost led to an upheaval, as they would not let people leave or give them back their IDs for over a half-​hour. Just writing this is getting me angry and reminding me why I never go there.

during the day this is a restaurant, but at night they clear the fancy tables and it becomes a low key bar. i went and met up with friends for a great lively conversation and some good beer. that night they had a jazz band that played good background music. in general the dark, simple atmosphere made me feel nice and comfy with a cold brew in my hand.

My husband and I tried the Spence Café because we wanted to try something new in our area, and Zagat gave it a good review. We could not have been more disappointed.
Our meal there could possibly be the worst meal we’ve ever had in a somewhat upscale restaurant. First off, Zagat bills it as a seafood place, which the big fish hanging over the door would seem to also indicate. But no, it was a typical New American — which is also fine, but not what we were expecting.
Second, I’ve never had New American food that was so «forced» — like the chef was trying WAY too hard. Everything was too much — the salads were drowning in dressing (instead of lightly dressed, as you would typically find), the entrees were so swimming in sauce that you couldn’t cut your meat without it spilling off the plate. It was a crude attempt at New American, to say the least. We love dining out at great restaurants, but by the time we were done both of us were so angry we’d wasted an evening here. As you might guess, we’ll never go back again.