Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse — Restaurant in Baltimore

My spouse and I recently decided to have a little date here on our day off, we don't have a lot of money and don't get to go out often but after reading the reviews this place seemed promising. We had picked up a couple of books to take home before going to the cafe for lunch, but unfortunately the service experience there was horrible. we had ordered a burger and falafel, with a lemon aid and coffee, all on the same order ticket, but they only ever brought over the burger and coffee. after 30 minutes of waiting we figured they had forgotten and went up to politely check on our order status. The person at the register said that they couldn't find the order but that they would put it in again (how only half of the order on the ticket when through? I do not know). After another 10 minutes of waiting, having not even received our lemon aid yet, we went to a check again as now we could not stay any longer because of a doctor's appointment. It was now 40 minutes after we had received our first items. The person at the register seemed to have already forgotten about the order and could not find it in the system, again, so tried to put it through the system for a 3rd time (why they could not just go in the back to check with the cook? I do not know). We told them we would need to just cancel the order and get a refund as we could not stay any longer, and they told us we would not be charged for it, however we already had been charged for it when we initially went up to order. They assured us we would not be charged for it so we left, but at no point did they have us insert our card or have any receipt print verifying that the charge was refunded. At this time the charge is still showing on our account. It is baffling to me that they would not have just checked with the cook or just asked them to put the order in that way since the computer system was obviously giving them issues, but now we are late to our appointment and my partner is hungry and irritated having to now rush to that appointment. we could have gone anywhere else and spent our money but we took a risk to go out of our way into the city to try here, and the experience has honestly ruined our day. We will be disputing the charge with our bank if no refund is processed.

Edit: I have changed my review to 3 stars as the business did reach out and rectify the issue, however I do still feel the service was very lacking, especially since it was not busy and we were the only food order...

This coffee ☕ and Tea spot serves food that is vegan/plant-based/and vegetarian and has a real vibe too this location.

It's very alive and vibrant. It was full of people on a Saturday afternoon. All kinds of people from all walks of life. The location is in the Waverly section of Eastern Baltimore. This area is a blend of socio-econonic differences in the process of shifting and changing to a better community. You can see it right here in the store.

The music was a bit too loud for me personally. I had to put on headphones to focus and study. The high tables and chairs are not comfortable for long-term multiple hours studying. At least not for me. I'm 5'10" and husky at 270lbs of muscle and chubb. There are plenty of outlets on the left hand wall but the tables were full.

The people don't greet you at the counter, but that's Baltimore for you. 😂. They were kind and professional though which is more than enough for me.

First time seeing an "All Gender" Bathroom 🚻before. I think that is due to the local community. I've always found this odd. If I need to use the bathroom at home. We all use the same bathroom but in public, I have to do the old man dance if I have to pee and one is locked 🔐 in use but the other is not and I can't enter because it says ♀️. TBH...IDGAF...I'm getting old. I will go right on in if it's a single toilet bathroom. 😂😂 Just like at home. Good for them. Common sense is king.

Anyway. Bookstore is cool. I wasn't hungry so I just got some Chai Tea (which was not chai...it was just a tea bag and hot water). I'm used to Indian 🇮🇳 or Somali 🇸🇴/Kenyan 🇰🇪 style chai which has milk but it's cool. I was there to study, not dine. 🍵

Overall, good place and vibrant and good. Music 🎶 too loud for me, but cool...

I came I saw and I conquered! I have been wanting to visit this place since the beginning of time and today was the day that I did it! This place is huge! When you walk in it's a great big open area w seating to the right and seating to the left and a fabulous bookstore in the back of the left seating! This place has so much character that I didn't even know where to begin when I arrived! I really didn't have much time to dedicate to this place the way I would have preferred, so I just stepped up to the coffee counter and ordered. The person who helped me was very helpful. They were kind and even broke down the particulars about the latte that I ordered. They have an in-house made seasonal brown sugar and cinnamon flavor and let me tell you about how yummy it is! It's so smooth that I probably could drink it by itself without any milk or espresso. ... Wait a minute back to the milk, they have milk options! You all know I only can do soy milk but I will dip into the almond every so often. They had my wonderful soy milk! A lot of places just assume lactose intolerant drinkers are all the same so they don't care or invest in carrying both so I was happy to see that this place does! This place has so many little things set up around the counter that gave it so much character as you will see I my pictures. I do want to return back for lunch one day & I definitely recommended everyone to visit this place to get a touch of the feeling that I felt when I was there!

Cons - street parking can be difficult, but usually isn't. There are a lot of wandering folks in the area. Leave purse/ wallet in car and lock up.

The cons of 2 simple things that will not hinder me from visiting in the future! Thanks for a great...