Public Espresso — Restaurant in Buffalo

Just hidden in the lobby of the historical Hotel at the LaFayette, you can find some very good coffee and several great little baked bites from Butter Block. Our slight detour from the I90, we were minute to getting some much needed caffeine kick.

If it wasn't for the small sidewalk signage, we may not realize public was found inside the lobby ... there's nothing on the actual hotel building that lets you know they are there. The small but open coffee place has lots of seating as it shares the space with the hotel lobby. You first walk in and you notice how nice the historical brass details have been restored to their shining original state and how there's enough muted metallic gleam to just update the space as well. I love the long glass enclosed space showing all the great baked items from Butter Block.

One thing that is quite amazing here in addition to their own signature coffee is that they offer hazelnut milk! Never had it before and after trying it here, I found the richer and thicker texture far better than the soy or almond milk alternative I've been drinking.

Baristas here are pleasant and helpful enough to offer you advice on best choices here. They still have that chill demeanour that reminds you of all the 3rd wave coffee is still the only choice to go for getting caffeinated.

Lavender latte with hazelnut - rich, smooth, and creamy. Oh this was nice as the espresso pull was bold and assertive without being overpowering on the lavender syrup or too acidic. Great balance with the creamier hazelnut milk ... now where the heck do I find this?? The lavender was incredibly mild .. only offering a subtle sweetness. Truth by told, I didn't smell or taste any Lavender floral note but still a great espresso drink nevertheless. It is pricey though 4/5

Iced Chai latte - a lightly sweet and spiced chai. This one seemed to be a nice refreshing drink but nothing of the chai stood out as a wow as it tasted like a subtle tea mix with very muted spices. The hazelnut milk made it richer than an almond milk one and that was nicer 3.5/5

Butter Block Almond Croissant - oh... I've got to hunt this down to the source. I was offered a snip of an end but if anyone left any crumbs or turned their head, my paws would be on this. Buttery, crispy flakey layers with a rich fragrant and creamy frangipani delivering sweet almonds bursts in every bite. Yeah it's very good but it feels a bit hours old (aka not as flakey as it could be) as it's brought in. The ends were starting to dry out while the inner layers were just starting to wilt a bit. Still an impressive croissant and worthy to buy and hunt down 4.5/5

Great spot but two little items that I raise my brows on ... parking is not easy. No fault of the place but be aware there's limited paid street parking. The other item is the price ... for 3 items it came close to US$20 with tip. Definitely on the steeper end comparing pure numbers (no conversion) to the 3rd wave good coffee in Toronto. Yes it's good but it's a...

Update Mar. 2024: What's with this place and burning food? I came back just for their bagels bc all the other food we got last time was so gross. I got 3 bagels and all of them are burned to oblivion on the inside. Barely any cream cheese either. Yeah, definitely won't be back for anything now. And I'm opening a credit card claim bc this is just ridiculous since I had to throw all of them away. Were they blind when they slapped a tiny smear of cream cheese inside? There's no way you could've missed that. At least have the decency to scrape it off first but nope, had zero issues giving me this literal garbage. Just shows you how little they care. There were zero customers and it still took them 15 mins to toast 3 bagels incorrectly.

They were not good for menu items for us. Baked goods are fine but the kitchen food was disgustingly salty where it made our mouths numb (see sweet potatoes pics - couldn't even finish it). The over medium eggs were very under cooked. It was like eating snot (see pic) - couldn't finish that either. The avocado they brought out was so brown (see pic) we had to send it back. We went around 9:30 am so the food should've been pretty fresh. I feel like this was from the night before.

This coffee house didn't know what a flat white was and gave me a latte which would've been fine but it was barely warm. They were yelling my name across the whole restaurant (literally from the counter to the window seats by the front door) multiple times to come over to get my coffee and started waving their arms and jumping up and down - I was holding my baby while my husband was setting up the high chair and didn't want to burn her (not that it mattered since it wasn't even hot)! It's embarrassing to be shouted at like that and made a scene of because others were starting to look. Like 3 or 4 of them were doing that wth. I got my drink maybe 60 seconds after that and it was already lukewarm.

Their baked goods are mostly fine. The honey lavender donut is like eating soap or potpurri - 100% pass. Even my sweet crazy kids didn't want it. The best thing they had? A sesame bagel with cream cheese. I'd go back just for that. Everything else was a definite no for me. If it weren't for the bagel and the decor, they would've...

Food: 0 Stars I ordered a Nutella croissant sweet potato hash and a cappuccino.

Nutella croissant: 0 Stars $4.50 It was rock hard, and there was hardly any Nutella filling inside, bottom line; Uneatable

Sweet potato hash: 0 Stars $16.00 The potato hash looked decent. Came with sweet potatoes, 2 sunny side up eggs, and avocado mash and sour dough bread.

The sweet potatoes were so salty I had to spit it out.

Avocado mash was brown and extremely salty as well.

The sunny side up eggs were so overcooked that the yoke was hard.

Sour dough bread was stale, and it wasn't even toasted or buttered.

Bottom line; Uneatable. I threw everything out

Cappuccino: 1 Star It was mediocre at best, weak espresso beans.

Service: 1 Star The girl at the checkout was not very friendly. She didn't even greet me, saying good morning. She looked absolutely miserable with her life and job. As did most of the people working here.

Atmosphere: 0 Stars

The atmosphere was that of a 5 grade public cafetería from the 90's. It was very unpleasant, a bit dirty and dusty, and the color scheme of mint plastic chairs were super unappealing.

I would not recommend this...