If you are in Louisville and heading anywhere downtown, start your day at Blackbeard Espresso. This…read morequante little coffee shop has awesome coffee, great baked goods and kind service as well. The espresso was fresh and they have seasonal flavors to choose from. The baked goods were delicious, but in limited quantities so be sure to get there early. The vibe inside was chill and the music selection the day we were there was great. I definitely recommend hanging there.

Located on the main drag of Louisville near bourbon tasting rooms and the Louisville Slugger museum…read more. Ambiance is somewhat strip mall like. Service is good, menu covers a lot of standards and a few speciality drinks. Service is fast and friendly. Americano with a splash of milk is my standard order. Their version was good. Low acid and smooth profile. N*joy...

Really cute coffee shop in Louisville! Me and my friend were in town and looking for some coffee in…read morethe morning and decided to go to this place. They have wonderful coffee flights with really unique flavors and seasonal menu items. The inside of the shop is really cute, small but enough chairs to be able to find a place to sit. We ordered the normal ube latte and dirty ube latte which was amazing! Coffee paired beautifully with the ube and it wasn't overly sweet. The normal ube latte was good, very creamy and milky. Service was quick, loved the cups they used if you are dining in

I love Phalcha!! The inside is a cozy cute coffee shop with tables and some comfy couch/chairs. The…read moreservice is very quick, and everyone is really helpful. I LOVED the avocado toast. It was perfectly crisp, plenty of avocado, and had great flavor. They give you an extra slice of bread too, which helps make the perfect avocado to bread bite. The Ube matcha is one of my favorite drinks ever, and the fact that they make it look so pretty is a bonus. Love love love!

Stopped here strolling down east Market st. after the goat race. It's a small place but offers a…read moregood selection of seating. The interior is dark with pops of green and white lit signs. They have fresh cookies, and we split an oatmeal cream pie cookie and It was the best we've had! Perfectly seasoned, and the salt balances the sweetness really well - even better than the little Debbie oatmeal cream pies "by a mile" according to my husband! We didn't try their coffee as it was a little later in the day and they don't have decaf.

Delicious and top tier coffee. I had the Honey Boy which was better than I could have imagined with…read moreespresso, honey, cinnamon and milk. And the most scrumptious food menu item is the oatmeal cream pie. It tastes homemade with tons of love baked in the oatmeal and then the cream is perfection. Sorry Little Debbie! A suggestion would be to put raisins in the cakes since they are like the softest oatmeal cookie ever. The place has healthy green plants all around the shop. I was admiring a Monstera in water and chatted up an employee about how good it looked. We both agreed it might need a shot of fertilizer. I should've got her name, she was working on the to go orders and being so kind! Service was excellent!

Heine Bros offers a beautiful space at the corner of 5th and Main, with indoor and patio seating…read more The windows let you watch downtown while also being tucked inside the space. We commented on the coffee smell coming through the doors. I chose the iced rose vanilla latte - loved it! My cousin gave a thumbs up to their coconut cold brew with sweetener: Friendly and fast service. If I worked downtown this would be a common space to relax.

This location is fantastic for downtown workers. It's saved me on a couple of days when an extra…read morecoffee was needed by lunch time. Both times that I've used mobile order, my order was ready by the expected time. The sitting area looks great to enjoy coffee while on your laptop or to have a coffee with a friend/coworker. It's really bright with the windows. Heine Brothers does a great job switching up their seasonal drinks. I tried the salted honey vanilla tumbled espresso today and enjoyed!

I recently discovered Yemeni coffee and LOVE it! The cardamom might not be everyone's cup of tea…read more(or coffee, hee) but I love it. I got the Moka Spice latte and the Mufawar for a coworker. Both were delicious! The lids are also super cute and handy, although my coworker's lid kept coming off and we couldn't get it to stay on.

Service is a little slow but only because it will be the very best coffee you've ever had and…read moreperfection takes time!

Another perfect Sunday morning at Nook and Nowhere. This time I tried their ham sandwich which was…read morevery rich. Lots of bubbling cheese on top, a nice tang on the dijon mustard, and high quality bread and ham. I might wait a little later in the afternoon to eat this next time, as it is a bit heavier than I was expecting and slightly greasy, though yummy. I really loved my rose mockatil with lemon, sugar, and bitters. A tiny bit sweeter than bitter, but very refreshing on a warm morning, particularly if you are enjoying their outdoor spaex!

Stopped by on our way to catch a show at the Louisville Palace Theatre (amazing!), and this little…read morecafe/bookshop is darling and has loads of places to sit and sip and read and chat. The outdoor patio is perfect when the weather is good, but the indoor seating is also very comfy cozy and would be every bit as good for an afternoon with a book and drink of your liking. The menu of drinks is very wide and appealing: from beer and whiskey, to chai, to London Fog, to energized espresso drinks, it has something for everyone.

Go here! Delicious…read morefood (the egg & cheese wrap is my favorite), outstanding service (shout out to Joel!), top-notch coffee (and I'm picky about my coffee) and a nice vibe (great seating out back). Tied for the best place in Louisville to hang out with a book, crossword puzzle, friends and a coffee.

Visited on a Wednesday morning around 8 a.m. There was plenty of parking, and it wasn't very…read morecrowded. There was also plenty of room for a stroller. As a parent, I probably wouldn't plan to stay long with my kids. I didn't notice any high chairs, and most of the customers seemed to be working on laptops, so it felt more geared toward adults looking for a quiet place to work than families with young children. I ordered a hot vanilla latte, half sweet. I'm glad I requested half sweet because it was still fairly sweet. My sister ordered the iced Miel and also thought it was good, though on the sweeter side. I didn't see any bakery items available, but there was signage indicating that food could be ordered. The service was fine, prices seemed typical for a local coffee shop, and the coffee was ok, though nothing particularly stood out to me. The biggest advantage of this location was how easy it was to park and access, especially with kids or a stroller.

I feel apologetic that I do not visit here more often, which has more to do with proximity. I…read morepromise that I make up for it with recommendations! This shop taught me that an iced lavender latte can be divine, and I indulged in one this weekend. Still delicious! I do wish they offered larger drink sizes. Their largest option is a medium compared to other shops. Parking can be tricky. It's a small parking lot so you'll likely have to maneuver parking on the side streets.

Didn't know this place even existed until I saw them on our Books and Brews passport for the LFPL…read more I'm always up for trying new places. I asked my friend to come here since it was on the way to another destination. It is definitely a unique little building. The inside was rather quite interesting, one side is the coffee/bakery/market side. The other has inside seating. We definitely looked around and at the menu to decide what we wanted. They have a cooler in the middle of the store for drinks. Since we were in a hurry (to get to our destination) my friend got a bottled glass coke and I got bottled glass Fanta. The employee behind the counter was quite interactive and was interested in knowing what prizes we got after getting the stamps on the passport. I wish we weren't in a hurry otherwise, would love to have sat down and enjoy an iced coffee and maybe a bakery treat. There's always next time.

Top notch. Great coffee. Great pastries. Friendly proprietor. Not flashy, but quality.read more

I was greeted warmly by a very awesome, sweet, and friendly staff. By far the best part of the…read moreexperience. I asked about the bon bon flavors, since they were not labeled and it seemed that most of them has the same filling even though the outside was different. Mm... excited about that. But still got a few. Also got a caramel, which was rich, delicious and a great consistency. The bon bons were fine. Nothing to write home about. I also got a swiss roll. The flavor was okay, the cream was good, but it felt a bit confused in flavor and I didn't love it. But worse yet, there was a string in it that I unfortunately did put in my mouth and chew. Lastly I tried a cinnamon lollipop. It was hard to get the wrapper off of it as it stick the the pop. The shape was odd and jagged. The flavor was a nice spicy cinnamon, but unfortunately the texture seemed off. It was hard, but also sticking to my teeth, but not in the way you expect. So I tossed it. I hate to add on to what is already a pretty critical review, but as soon as I walked it just felt a little cluttered and uninspired. There were display shelves, but they looked a little dusty and ignored. I think calling yourself a French patisserie just puts an absolutely high standard on your shoulders, and for me this was (at least this visit) a let down.

This venue was our monthly dining club's choice for a fantastic Sunday brunch. Our group of twelve…read morewas seated in a private dining space separate from the large dining room and this enabled us to have great conversation in a quieter setting. Our waitstaff were all friendly and the general manager also visited our table to provide some historical information about the business and building. Excellent experience! The brunch buffet was delicious with fruit bar, hot dishes, dessert bar, and an omelet station. All items were well stocked, fresh, tasty, and appealing presentation. We were allowed to tour the building following our brunch, which was also an amazing and fortunate experience. Thank you is owed to all of the staff who enabled us to have such a wonderful visit.

Maybe we had a super off day, but based on this lunch, there's a reason why the Hot Brown has…read morestayed in Louisville and most people haven't heard of it. My top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality and I came here two Fridays ago ahead of a bourbon tour (thinking, correctly, that we should probably have a hearty meal beforehand so we didn't end up face-first in a gutter somewhere). Several Kentucky natives told us that we had to try a Hot Brown during our visit, and since it was literally created at the Brown Hotel, this seemed like the logical spot. The actual Hotel has some gorgeous interiors, especially upstairs in the lobby. We didn't see that area until after our meal, so when we laid eyes on the Lobby Bar & Grill, we knew immediately that that was where we SHOULD have gone for this Hot Brown dish. J. Graham's, I'm sorry to say, doesn't have the history and personality of the rest of the building and just looks like a generic breakfast spot you'd find in any hotel. It probably exists solely because the other dining options in the hotel aren't open until later and they want to give tourists and their own customers a place to eat at all times of the day, which isn't a terrible reason in my book. But it's also unfortunately not very good, and the dirty walls and overall meh appearance of the establishment just make it very clear that the hey day for this hotel overall was decades ago. The service was the biggest miss here. Our waitress was scatterbrained, often not around or around but hanging out with co-workers or talking up other customers. It was honestly pretty mystifying because when she DID come by, she was often overly apologetic and trying to make amends. But the best way to make amends is not to have to keep doing that throughout the meal. She forgot my friend's coffee (didn't write anything down when we ordered, which is fine if you remember everything but...) and when my chum asked what was in the hummus (one of just three apps), she didn't know and had to go ask someone in the kitchen. That's arguably a nitpick and she DID try to figure it out, but the lunch menu is pretty small and it was a little odd that her menu knowledge was that limited. The bigger problem was that we were in there for over half an hour longer than we wanted to be because she wouldn't come by our table. I actually actively looked for her on the way to the bathroom so I could remind her to come to our table, but instead found her off to the side gossiping with other staff. Not a good look at all. So this might have been an overall positive experience if some of the hospitality from the hotel had spilled over here. We actually both enjoyed the apps, which were the only real positives of the experience. The Bourbon Barrel Fries and the Two Timer, featuring Smoked Bourbon Hummus (bourbon tends to be the theme of your days in this town, I've found) were both really good, and I probably ate more of those than the actual entree. The fries were cooked perfectly and were well seasoned/addictive. The Hot Brown was fine for what it was (we split it to try). It's basically a dramatic turkey melt, with slices of turkey coated in cheese and other sauces. It also came with strips of bacon on top, which on a personal palate level I didn't think really helped the dish so I barely nibbled on those. It's definitely a solid entry but it wasn't mind-blowing for either of us. Maybe it's just from where we come from in the Northeast, but I'm conditioned to like my turkey with accompanying stuffing, and usually in the latter part of November. I think it felt kind of weird to be eating turkey with warm cheese. But I'm glad we tried it and got the context at least. You might have a completely different experience with better service, but I'd still recommend going upstairs for any dining. It's a much better atmosphere and you can really appreciate where this hotel fits in the chronology of Louisville. You're not going to get that from going here.