Beantrees Cafe — Restaurant in City of Cold Lake

I love this place. The "hands on" new owner seems to be very passionate about taking the former cafe and making it better in many different ways.

The food is delicious and the staff have always been great. Some of the food prices seem brutally expensive but I guess that's the new normal these days.

The espresso bar needs a lot of help though. As the majority of people would be adding milk and possibly sugar to the espresso, the flavour of a bad espresso shot is easily masked. (For my latte, the "barista" seemed to be pressured to get the drink order completed quickly rather than properly. As a result, the grounds were tamped at a noticeably wrong angle, the espresso shot completed in only 16 seconds including pre-infusion, and the milk was way too hot. My first sip of the latte burnt my tongue so my latte had to sit on the table for ten minutes before I could start drinking it.) I suggest that someone go take a course and then come back to train the staff. (They offer courses in Edmonton at ACE Coffee Roasters.) Upping your barista game will definitely take your business to a...

If you’re a local and you haven’t been to other coffee shops this is a great place. If you’ve ever been outside cold lake you’ll realize it’s overpriced. With the poor food, mundane music, and the absurd hours it’s caused me to stay away. If the owners were willing to be open after 4pm, slightly lower the food and concert ticket prices, or improve either, they would see new and returning customers. With the lack of decent music, and the opening of Starbucks nearby there’s no way this place can continue running the way it is. It’s a shame, great local venue with amazing staff, they’re trying to bring arts to cold lake but just doing it wrong. Hopefully I don’t get a snarky reply from the moderator of the reviews like I’ve seen below. :)

EDIT: Since I can’t seem to reply to the owners response. I’ve never been in Beantrees for a trivia night so I can’t attest to the alleged full house or alleged fun I had. Maybe when you open your doors again, or host another show I’ll give it...

I had the daily special which was the 1/2 bowl vegetable soup and Reuben sandwich. The wife had a full bowl of vegetable soup and biscuit. The wife thought that the biscuit was a little small but tasty. The soup was very good and homemade. I liked the Reuben sandwich overall and had a good balance of taste. Service got better but in the beginning she seemed a little upset that we wanted to move to a better chair as the one's that we were in were more reclined and not good for eating. That was only short lived and she was nice afterwards. The owners are very nice and managing through this tough time. It's nice to support a business that is not a chain. I love the look of this place and the assortment of chairs and areas to sit. It gives you the feeling of being at home and you can relax and enjoy. If you go to Timmies or McD's and the uncomfortable seating which are designed to make you want to finish quickly and leave. You never have that...