Black Gold at the Lord-Higel House may be one of the best coffee experiences I've ever had -- and…read moreI've been to Lord knows thousands of coffee shops over the years. The setting is absolutely beautiful: a historic Venice property, a relaxed porch, and an atmosphere that feels thoughtful without trying too hard. It has that rare quality where the place itself makes you slow down and enjoy the moment. The coffee is world class. You can taste the care behind it, and the quality of the coffee matches the beauty of the setting perfectly. It is genuinely magnifique. What makes it even better is that it turns into a wonderful evening spot as well, with fine wine, champagne, and dessert after hours. It's the kind of place you can visit in the morning for an exceptional coffee or come back later to enjoy a quiet evening on the porch. C'est bon in every possible way. Beautiful, thoughtful, relaxed, and truly special. One of Venice's absolute gems.

The coffee and the food are great - five stars The service…read moreis good (though less efficient than Sbux... but Lord Higel's food is FAR superior) - three stars. For ambiance: this is an amazing historic house that is owned by the City of Venice and leased by Black Golf Coffee. For that, one can overlook the challenging steps and the not-very-safe thresholds (caution: it is not marked; even non-elders stumble a bit on it); and the single restroom at which there can be quite a wait (the two locks on the inside are a bit confusing as to which one to use). What cannot be overlooked... Black Gold restricts use of their seating and tables to 30 minutes. At a coffee shop!! In an historic building owned by the taxpayers!! They DON'T WANT people to hangout and meet up. There are signs on every table declaring the time limit. The restriction is in place even when no one is waiting to sit. It's ridiculous - major negative stars for not welcoming folks who want to hangout to read and work and people-watch; for folks who want to gather in a non-alcoholic environment; for wasting valuable community-owned (albeit privately leased) space.

We originally came to check out the pour-your-own beer wall, but unfortunately a lot of the beers…read morewe saw on the tap list ahead of time were tapped out, which was a bit of a bummer. That said, it ended up not being a big deal at all because their cocktail list is seriously impressive. What also was impressive was their fantastic HH food menu. The kids ordered a pretzel basket & pizza, which they loved. For ourselves, we went with the Fig Pig pizza on a gluten-free crust--absolutely incredible. Everything we had was genuinely delicious. Between the food, drinks, & overall experience, this place was great. but if I could give extra stars I would, because their staff was beyond starrific. Their waitress spent time chatting with our daughter, answering her questions about the menu, her favorite things, & what she liked about being a waitress there. It was such a heartwarming experience her taking her time- even telling our daughter often, I have to check on other people so I don't ignore them, but I'll come back- displaying how to be attentive, mindful, and not just brush a kid off. Quality food drinks. Quality people. Quality place.

I'll start with the awesomeness, which was the location and outdoor eating experience in Wellen…read morePark. The wait for table just a few minutes, and waitress was very friendly and pleasant. The menu is a bit deceitful. We were there for lunch, advertised a $15 meal deal. Personal 10" Pizza, house side salad and soft drink. No substitutions or additions. Each day apparently this lunch pizza is one topping. Menu shows a pepperoni pizza. However, this changes daily the waitress said. So for us on Tuesday it was a mushroom pizza or plain cheese. I wanted the pepperoni as shown, nope! So, I ordered a pepperoni and mushrooms, side salad and soft drink. Total about $25 dollars. The salads were rather small and the pizza was decent. 1 ordered the special, said it was adequate. Then there is this ridiculous get your own beer with a 100 or so selections on tap. You pay by the oz, if you know anything about beer on tap it can produce a lot of foam when first starting. Especially, when several beers in one tap. This you pay for and one beer ended up to be $8. Not to mention it was barely chilled. Location, location is really all they got going. We felt we got the bait and switch on lunch special. I would only recommend to try for your own perspective. I write lots of good reviews, this is just meh. Been there done that, not agian for us based on the experience.