North Shore Cafe — Restaurant in Anna Maria island

North Shore Cafe is my favorite place on the Island. I was in town May 10th - 16th and did not experience long wait lines after 10:30am. However one day I came at about 8:15am and there was a huge line. It took about 30 minutes to wait in line and then get the order..which was better than I expected. It was not a deal breaker for me but I imagine it gets busier at peak season.

I was here almost every day. It was my favorite place on the island for breakfast and lunch. I wish they were open later than 2pm.

My husband and I tried the Ham and Cheese Croissant, Acai bowl, BLT with Avacado, Iced Vanilla Latte, Iced Mocha Latte, plain croissant, and a chocolate cookie. We enjoyed everything we tried. The Mocha Latte is not sweet, so I enjoyed the vanilla latte more since I like sweetener, but it was not overly sweet, and the vanilla tasted very good, not cheap like other coffee shops on the island. The mocha latte was delicious if you like something that's not sweet, and the chocolate flavor was very rich but felt light, not thick and "syroupy". I think in the future I will try the mocha with 1 pump of vanilla added so I can enjoy that rich chocolate flavor with a bit of the sweetness that I prefer. The BLT was great but adding avocado is a must or it will be too dry. The Acai bowl is the best I've had and can't wait to come back one day for more...my husband is not a peanut butter fan, but he LOVED the peanut butter they use on these Acai bowls. Loved all the pastries.

Clearly I'm a fan of this place and the ambiance, views, decor, and patio just made it all even better. Hands down the best coffee on the island. And my personal favorite place to eat breakfast and lunch...

We look forward to visiting North Shore every year, but with its popularity the charm and customer service has gone down. I visited today and ordered a latte with whole milk. It was very weak and was so light colored, I couldn’t tell there was any espresso even in it. I went to the window to explain this and was offered no “I’m sorry, let me remake that for you a little stronger”, I was met with blank stares and “what was it?” And when I said a caramel latte and went to hand it back the guy refused and said “I’m handing these orders out first, ma’am” so I had to awkwardly try to turn around in the long line with my old latte. I wasn’t sure how I would get my new one as they didn’t even take my name along with offering no polite apology. They remade it and yelled out “remake latte” and when I went back up it looked like pure milk again and the girl said “if it’s too sweet again, let me know” so I told her the sweetness was fine, it didn’t taste like coffee at all. It was really weak and this one looks the same. (They may have wanted to actually listen instead of pushing me aside originally and the girl remaking it would have known). She then replied “that’s because you got whole milk” and this is where I pushed back…I told her I am a coffee drinker and this isn’t my first latte. Apparently, whole milk lattes are just that. All milk and no espresso and every other coffee place that can manage to make them also taste like coffee are crazy. So it was a waste of money. We also got smoothie bowls that were watered down and runny, but I wasn’t about to complain about those as quality takes a back seat to...

Couldn't tell you exactly what's going on here. Both times I visited were pretty horrible experiences. The wait is long, and I'm almost confident that this place doesn't have sufficient operating efficiencies. The wait has been noted as 20-45 minutes, I'd push for a solid hour - even if you want to get a cup of coffee. The staff doesn't seem to care at all about the wait and it's an apparent plan of - getting one order in and done at a time. My 2nd attempt was in visiting at 1pm on a Friday for an afternoon pick me up. Thought later in the day that I'd have a chance. Wasn't even given one. They closed the doors (while noting being open until 2pm) and of the 5 staff members working inside, none even acknowledged my existence once I approached the window. Why shut the doors for paying customers when your hours are still open? While I can't present an opinion on the food or coffee - the atmosphere is awesome. If more people could be served and actually enjoy the location, I cannot imagine the amount of business this place could do due to it's ambiance.

I really hope this review is taken seriously, the wait absolutely sucked and if the staff is going to continue a care-free attitude towards its patrons it'll be tough to see what happens here. There are plenty of other options for breakfast/coffee around. I'd recommend getting some sort of online ordering established to expedite customer orders or the very least take a two pronged approach pending what customers are there for to bring in more business. North Shore Cafe has all the potential, but the drive is apparently lacking in wanting...