Serra Doce Daytona Beach — Restaurant in Daytona Beach

Being in the south, it's always hard to me to find good coffee. I feel like it just doesn't carry the same weight and importance that it does from home. I can find a dozen mom and pop coffee shops in a square mile and a dunkin on every corner. So when I do find a coffee shop in the south they're either terrible or doing something right. Sweet Marlays is doing it very very right. It's a medium sized place with some indoor and outdoor tables available. Cozy feeling with some chess boards and things for sale.

The wait is honestly pretty long. Maybe because it's a Tuesday morning or maybe it's just the 2 girls there normally. One on coffee the other on food. Whichever finishes first will take your order. It prob took 15 min in line with only one person in front of me to even order and then another 15 to get our stuff. It was well worth it once we finally sat down. I spoke very briefly with the barista who was super kind and nice. The lady in food was just as nice to deal with.

The coffee was borderline perfect. A large iced latte with a double shot. They have some variety of beans for sale. Some from Indiana (I believe) and another bag that's just self labeled. So I'm unsure which they're using for the coffees but the shots were strong enough to be tasted in the milk but not over or under extracted in my opinion. For a latte, it was amazing. They also use coffee cubes (frozen coffee instead of ice cubes) to chill the beverages. I can count like 4 coffee shops in my life that have done this. Its a small touch that goes a long way because no one likes watered down coffee.

Paired with my latte was a sausage egg and cheese on a bagel. To be honest. I saw it at first and was disappointed. The bagel looked terribly undercooked. However after the first bite I was proved wrong. While pretty hard to mess up a bagel, this one was done perfect. It was very fluffy with no overcooked "chewy" spots anywhere. The flavor was amazing and we'll balanced with the use of applied seeds on top. The center was a little big but that's a moot point. The eggs were fluffy. Sausage tasty and a layer of cheese to go with it. They also added 3 fresh orange slices with it! It doesn't say it's included so it was a pleasant surprise.

This all being said. I am super happy with this place. I will be visiting again while I'm here. Not only because there isn't too many (if any) other shops to choose from but because Sweet Marlays is truly a...

I love the food and breakfast items at Sweet Marlay's...They are off the chart good, oops, make that great. For those reasons, I'm giving them 4 stars !!! With some reservations. I read and understand all of the previous reviews...I say that because I am a very new to Sweet Marlay's(3 months-15 to 20 visits) and neutral review submitter...I also appreciate the college people and laid back feel of Sweet Marley's. Now, my true hope is that the owners are reading this post and are willing to accommodate another segment of their customer base....I am asking, from the bottom of my heart, to clean this place up, cleanliness-wise...The tables are not just recently used, when I sit down, but are truly dirty...The coffee condiment area always has spills, stains and more waiting for me...Since I always have food items, there is no place to put them, at the coffee area, where they won't be set in something...The little waste basket near the coffee area, I'm convinced, has some sort of foreign crud on it...Always...For heavens sake, please wipe these things down once in a while....Also, Sweet Marlay's has one person taking your order, preparing it and checking you out...Preparing specialty drinks takes a while...Myself, and others, have waited up to 15 minutes for a bagel and drip coffee...Our time is valuable...They really, really need to get some help out front....Honestly, as great as the products are, they aren't worth the wait...They are priced most excellently, though. In closing, once again, while I love the college, local, everyone is welcome feel, watching someone sleeping in one of the easy chairs, complete with the snoring, then having to sit out front because the table was taken, is not a good way to start my day. I offer this as constructive criticism...With the hope of using Sweet Marlay's on a daily...

Went with my brother and it was not a busy day at this coffee shop by any means. One couple ahead of us in line ordering food only with about 3 other people in the shop already seated with their food/drinks. Ordered a single drink - a 16oz iced vanilla latte. The woman at the counter made the couple who ordered before us their food then immediately started playing on her phone. Wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and waited. After ten minutes my brother and I were looking at each other thinking what the heck, an iced vanilla latte should take a minute to make at most. The woman at the counter was still playing on her phone. Literally one other person came into the coffee shop after us, she made their order right away then went back to standing around. After 30 minutes of waiting it became almost laughable. 45 minutes later, I finally went back up to the counter and asked when my drink would be made because I had places to be. The woman looked shocked and asked me what I ordered again. She gave an excuse saying the order must’ve gotten lost. I literally watched her take my order, print the drink ticket, set it down, warm up a sandwich that was sitting in the display counter for the couple ahead of us, then immediately forget about our order. She made it then and there and it took her like 20 seconds to make. Maybe it was an off day for her but if this is the service provided on a slow day I can’t even imagine what the wait would be like if they...