The Coffee Alley

Reviews

• Sarah H.

  star star star star star 26 July 2026

  Cute little coffee shop. Brick flooring throughout, very cool art work on the walls, and it was on the quiet side. Great place to read a book or work. The quality of the coffee was superb.

• Eric T.

  star star star star star_border 21 July 2026

  Found this place while trying to kill time between deplaning in Ohare and the early check-in window for my nearby hotel.
  
  This place has a more upscale, yet still casual enough vibe to suit my fancy. I got my drink of choice, the cold brew, and it didn't disappoint. For $4.50, I appreciated the attention to swankier, square ice cubes, and a healthy pour.
  
  There were a few pastries in the window, but none looked stellar. I noticed they had a sandwich option or two on the chalkboard. However, the food highlight is "The Canteen" car parked inside. It's got some food truck ethos to it, although I'm not quite sure what they serve.
  
  At any rate, with what looks to be a healthy business crowd frequenting for meetings and a bike locker/yoga studio down below, this cafe makes for the perfect millennial rendezvous.
  
  My favorite parts are the interior design with modern style, chic furniture, arched windows, and a breathtaking view of the river.
  
  If I were meeting a business contact during the day, this is one place I'd want to take them.
  
  Free WiFi, clean restrooms, and even some board games round out the positives.
  
  I would have liked to see a little more direction from the barista on how to enjoy the space i.e., how should I interact with The Canteen and a more expansive menu as I would have likely enjoyed some breakfast with my coffee.

• Gurjot G.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 18 July 2026

  You would think that 'Coffee Alley' would have good coffee.  
  
  It doesn't.
  
  It's always on some dunkin sh*t.

• Rohan D.

  star star star star_border star_border 14 July 2026

  The location is excellent and it's maybe the best choice for caffeine and work in the immediate area.  Definitely A-OK.  I appreciate the owner being on top of things, but she's got some issues with workers.  Believe me I'm sympathetic, today's younger adult labor pool is very different.  The please and thank you standards of days gone by aren't practiced by the baristas who instead employ post-Millenial pleonasm and nonsense words ("at all" gets attached to the end of every sentence).  One time I was in trying to get some work done and on the other side of the wall someone was using very noisy power tools.  As if that weren't bad enough, the barista-server asked us to turn our games down.  She was polite, but more than a little foolish. Just slightly more observant investigation and she should have seen we all had documents up on our computer screens and maybe a power drill sounds like Call of Duty but we were all South Asian adults.  It's not a stereotype, we all have work to do.  
  
  The breakfast and pastry selections are excellent, the coffee is quite good, the decor is attractive, comforting and unique.

• Rachel J.

  star star star star star_border 12 July 2026

  Super cute! Reminds me of Diagon Alley. Coffee is good, food is basic, but not bad. Would go again for the chill atmosphere alone.