Upcycle Bike Cafè — Restaurant in Milan

Upcycle Bike Café is one of the few places in Milan that advertises itself as a co-working café, but unfortunately, it falls short of delivering a welcoming and enjoyable experience.

I arrived on a Thursday morning to find the café about 60-70% full, with most patrons deeply focused on their laptops. It's clear that this is more of a working hub than a casual coffee spot, so if you're looking for a cozy place to catch up with friends, this probably isn’t it. The atmosphere struck me as cold and somewhat uninviting, which was further compounded by the distant attitude of the staff. Aside from the cashier, who was polite enough, the service felt indifferent—perhaps my lack of Italian played a role in the chilly reception, but in an international city like Milan, I expected more warmth.

I ordered a flat white, having confirmed with the cashier that they could make one. Unfortunately, the coffee was a real letdown. The milk was poorly steamed, leaving the drink overly foamy and far from the smooth texture you'd expect. For a café in Milan, where coffee is almost a religion, this was particularly disappointing. I didn't try the food, but given the lack of care in the coffee preparation, I wouldn’t hold my breath for stellar results on that front either.

In terms of the co-working setup, the café is definitely laptop-friendly. The two long communal tables in the middle are packed with people working. However, there are some practical issues—namely, a shortage of charging points. These are only available at the benches along the sides, which can be a hassle if you need to charge your device and don’t want to move from the communal space.

While the café does offer Wi-Fi (password protected), I can’t say much about its speed or reliability, as I used my own hotspot. By noon, I noticed many of the laptop users had cleared out, and the staff began setting the tables with cutlery and placemats, which suggests there's potentially some sort of unofficial rule against laptop use during lunchtime.

In summary, while Upcycle Bike Café is convenient for those who need a space to work for a few hours, the unfriendly atmosphere, lackluster coffee, and limited amenities make it difficult to recommend for an extended stay. It’s a decent option if you need a spot to open your laptop, but the poor service and disappointing coffee will have you thinking twice...

I heard a lot about this place and I was very curious to try it. I went for breakfast, the food was nice and the staff friendly however if you are looking for a quiet place where to work or study it might no be the place for you. The day I went the (dance) music volume was undoubtedly high - which I found quite odd considering it was only 10.30am. I'd like to clarify that there were many people there who were working or studing which probably didn't mind about it, so I'm definitely talking about a personal preference. In addition there's a lunch policy according to which from 12 to 15 tables can only be used for eating and "socializing". Which is fair enough if it wasn't for the fact that I just had breakfast and wasn't ready to have lunch at 12pm. I wish I could keep working an hour or two more and then have lunch but although the place by then was half empty I've been reminded by the staff that I couldn't use my laptop as they were setting the tables for lunch so I had to leave. Generally speaking I think is a nice idea and I can see the point however it's something you might want to keep into account...

We come to Upcycle regularly and so far we've had two very unpleasant experiences. Once we were denied to be served food at 2:30 pm knowing that the place closes at 3pm and the excuse was that they decided to close the kitchen much earlier. The worst experience though is the following. In one evening, we ordered food and drinks and had our laptops to finish some work on a Tuesday night. The waiter comes and tells us that we should liberate the table for customers that are consuming food and that we should close our laptops because it's the place's policy of having no laptops in the evening. Knowing that there were no customers waiting for a table and that we were still finishing our drinks it made no sense to treat customers in this way. We weren't bothering anyone and we weren't even speaking while on our laptops. It's supposed to be a "co-working space" and this is by far an unacceptable behavior. Upcycle just lost many...