Café Java

Currently my preferred coffee place in Blackrock.
The menu is quite something to impress. Many many options including meals for vegetarians or just «healthy» meals.
The atmosphere of the place is cool, the service is fast and the food is delicious. The wifi is free but it never works on my mobile.
This time I had the «American breakfast». Waffle, syrup, bacon, egg — shouldn’t it be «Canadian breakfast»? =) It was simple and good.
My friend had the «Our breakfast special». I was told it was heavenly. The mix of Ballymaloe relish with bacon + eggs+ caramelized onion was pure perfection.

I don’t think this place is up to much. All I wanted was a sandwich or panini, as I only had 20 minutes to spend in there. One of the waitress told me to take a seat, that’s fine, but they never came over to take my order, so then I went to the counter to order. I decided to have a pepper toasted panini, which comes with sundried tomato, rocket, & pesto and I asked them to add some ham. So, it took about 10min to get it and then when I had my first bite I had noticed it was without pepper and the pesto was on the side… Why? My choice was called pepper panini, so you expect to get some of it. Well, as I was in a rush, I couldn’t even ask them to send my food back to the kitchen… Anyway, not a big deal at all, but just felt they are in a very slow pace atmosphere, saw two other tables recalling the waitresses to order.

Café Java serves decent café food and offers a great choice of cakes with teas and coffees. Staff is discreet and efficient.
Some people have a local pub, I have my local café in Java. Great for one, two or ten people.

Café Java in Blackrock is cosy and offers tasty light fare for breakfast or lunch. Since I arrived at 11:45 am, I had the option of either. So many items on the menu were appealing!
I chose the 2-​egg omelette, which has both a breakfast and a lunch variation (lunch includes a side salad). Thinking that adding a few veggies to my meal couldn’t hurt, I went with the lunch version, and in fact chose the vegetarian option, which features tomato, cheese, and caramelized onions as the filling. The caramelized onions had me sold! And, to accompany the food, a nice pot of tea.
The presentation was simple but inviting. instead of a typical omelette with a sort of «fat banana» shape, they rolled it like a sandwich, and cut it on a diagonal. Nice! The fillings were just right, and not too heavy or wet from the tomatoes. The tomatoes were lightly cooked.
The salad, too, was inviting. In addition to greens, there was some tomato, slices of pepper, an olive or two, and some hand cut shards of carrot, which is a nice change from the usual packaged, dried-​out, grated variety. It was served with a choice of white, wheat, or soda bread.
It was a pleasant, light meal that was easy to eat and easy on the wallet, at just under 10.00. Best of all, my server was kind, attentive but not intrusive. She noted that I was keen to get some work done while eating, and so she cleared my plate to give me more room when I finished my food, but assured me that I was welcome to stay. I did, but of course, kept an eye to make sure that I wasn’t taking up a table if it were needed.
I’ll definitely head back. Soon.

Really nice café with something special about it I just can’t put my finger on. Nice and bright and spacy and as the other reviewer that big front window is nice to be near. The wall seating is comfortable too, which makes a big difference going in to read a boom or the paper.
I always get a nice coffee (black or cappuccino) and the staff are very friendly and chatty, might even say I have a few friends down there.
When you order a desert, even a muffin they present it nicely on a plate drizzled with fruit sauce and icing sugar — unnecessary but a lovely touch.
They are the perfect place for free wi-​fi as the tables are large and seating is comfortable for tapping away at a laptop but it frequently breaks.
Lunch and breakfast is delicious, only downside is tad too much dressing on the salads and price is highish.

When you’re not from the area, you tend to look for places with lots of locals, places that are basically packed. And this place was, and the menu was quite extensive, but the service was quite lacking and the food just all right.
Before I left for Ireland I was prepared by some Irish family for «poor service», because apparently it’s very common. However it does have a nice vegetarian selection, which apparently is a little hard to come by.

Nice place with a good atmosphere and a real nice big window for those rainy days when you just want to sip something warm, listen to jazz and watch the cars fizz by on the main street and the waves wash up on the sea front.
Bit poetic there!
But it is a nice place, a bit expensive but not so much that you wouldn’t go here every day for a coffee… perhaps a bit too much for food though. They do everything you would expect, to eat-​in and take away.
The staff are nice and the place is always busy so things move along quite well.
Worth dropping in for a cuppa while your shopping.

For me, a coffee shop’s main draw is being local. Especially in a village. And although Blackrock sits somewhat uncomfortably in the traditional village category, due to it’s suburban situation, it still retains some of that community feel. Now, Java’s probably the nicest place to go for a quick bite in Blackrock… it’s definitely got the best food/​décor ratio going. It used to be super-​expensive too, but once the rest of Dublin got expensive too, it suddenly didn’t look so bad. And they put real chocolate shavings on their cappuccinos/​mochas/​hot chocolates. Which kind of rocks my world.
The staff could do with remembering their (non-​existent) people skills training, as regular customers are treated just the same as random punters and smiles appear to be frowned upon. But the lack of competition around means they can afford to do so I suppose!

There are a handful of café java’s around Dublin and the one in Main St Blackrock is my local.
It’s a great spot for having brunch at the weekend — they serve breakie all day on Saturday and Sunday’s — and mulling over the papers, or catching up with friends over a coffee and croissant. They do everything from the full Irish to scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.
They also do lunch, pastries and fresh juices and smoothies.
A good spot to kill some time and watch the hustle and bustle of Blackrock village go by.