Coffee Alley

I don’t quite understand the hype, and I came here twice so I did give it a fair shot. You’ll definitely have to wait so I would suggest coming right when it opens or after the lunch rush. So 3pm? I was here around 12:30pm and had to wait 10 minutes, and then I came another time at 5pm and had to stand outside and wait almost 30 minutes. And even then, I sat a a community table (long table that seats ~5 different parties, no seats wasted) both times so if you want your own table you’ll have to wait much longer.
The restaurant’s environment is really cool though so I’ll give it that, and they have an extensive coffee/​tea/​drink menu, which is good because you’re REQUIRED to order a drink at this restaurant (even if you order an entrée already). «Clever» concept if you ask me. The sandwiches aren’t bad but nothing to rave about. I was disappointed by the waffle + ice cream dessert. The waffle was more of a cake consistency, but really thick and dry. Don’t be fooled by the cute presentation, it doesn’t taste half as good as it looks unfortunately. If you are curious to try this hip and trendy café, I would suggest their hot lattes (tiramisu and hazelnut are pretty good, not overly sweet which I like!) and the croissant sandwich (sadly a temporary menu item though). On the upside, service is good! They’re efficient in taking your order, bringing you plates and utensils, and consistently circling around the tables so they’re quick to come to you.

I was there last night for a team meeting of 15 people. We had reserved the table for 6, and it was only starting to get busy then.
I had the pizza toast and the honey ginger tea. The teas come in a pourer and teacup and a little side of cookies (so does the coffee). I quite enjoyed the tea, as it was very gingery and made with real ginger slices inside the teacup. They even do free water refills.
My chicken pizza toast was not bad, but not great either. The only complaint I have is of the bread, it’s the kind of white bread toast that is very airy and non-​substantive. Other than that, the topping was generous enough of the chicken, sauce and cheese ratio.
I tried a bit of their waffles from someone else’s plate. For a place that’s known for waffles, this place disappointed. While the waffles came presented very nicely, they were actually quite hard and stiff, unlike the buttery softness of waffles that you might try in the western world. The waffles did come with gooey chocolate sauce and a scoop of custard that made the waffles more palatable.
A lot of the people ordered the curry with the side of bread. A lot of them complained that the bread was way too toasted and hard, and would have opted for the rice if they’d known.
What I found odd was that the place required all of us to order a drink as the «minimum» for being there, even though all of us had ordered dinner. I wonder if it’s because we were such a big party, but I wasn’t too big of a fan of being forced to buy a drink, which costs anywhere from 40 (tea) to 100 ish (smoothies).
In the evening, and during my sleep, I had some uncomfortable bowel movements which resulted in a mild case of diarrhoea this morning. Hate to say it’s from this restaurant, but I’m pretty positive it is. Maybe it was the watery mashed potato salad on the side that was the culprit.
Overall, I think it was decent value for money for what it was. For under/​about $ 150hkd you can get an entrée and drink for a meal. The entrees aren’t huge and I could’ve probably had an order of waffles to share.
I’d come back if only for the tea/​drinks, the way it’s served is just delightful. And if there’s free wifi, it’s a decent environment to sit around in the afternoon to enjoy a cuppa while doing some work.

No wait. Lucky us. Ordered their famous dish– curry oxtail with the bread. It was good but I didn’t know it would be spicy. The drinks are good too! I see a lot of people ordered the peach iced tea. I would like to think that they have the best peach ice tea here!

Came here for lunch and was not very impressed with their food. The presentation was pretty but the taste was very subpar.
The drinks are my only reason for the 4 stars. We ordered their fresh fruit tea, lemon spritzer, and some other pomelo fruit concoction. All very very tasty.
For lunch we ordered 3 types of sandwiches. One was their BBQ pork sandwich, one was a chicken sandwich, and a pizza toast.
The BBQ pork was more like ham and nothing barbecue about it. The sandwich was drowning in their mustard sauce. They put too much and also smothered their potato salad in the sauce as well.
The chicken sandwich was marinated in a Thai basil kinda dressing. Way too salty! The first few bites were ok but towards the end, just tasted salt.
The pizza toast was yummy. It took a little longer to come out than the other food. Once again the egg salad was smothered in their sauce.
We were too full to try their signature waffles but next time we will for sure! The smell was devine.

I was there on a weekday around 11am, we got lucky and there were only about 5 – 7 people infront of us. 15 minutes later, the line exploded again.
Waited about 15 minutes for a seat, sharing a table with other people.
Things are quite expensive, but they are really fancy and big. They have many healthy choices too. However, I think they just tasted ok.
There is a time limit you can sit in the restaurant. And everyone has to buy one drink minimum.
The atmosphere was nice but I felt rushed because of the time limit.

I’ve read many reviews before coming here and prepared myself to wait in line. The line for this branch is actually on the streets if it’s filled up in the shop. Someone will tell you to go up when the line moves upstairs.
The wait time was average and we were quickly seated. I ordered a sesame ice-​cream with waffle. I’ve also noticed that all the waiters and waitresses speaks in mandarin (i believe it’s the company culture since they originated from taiwan.)
The presentation and taste of the sesame ice-​cream was great but the waffle was really filling and I had a hard time finishing it. You can probably share the waffles between two people.