The Oak House Durham — Restaurant in Durham

A nice location with a nice atmosphere and lovely staff. I’ve heard that they make wonderful coffee (the crew of a tour that was passing through was glowing over the quality of their coffee, so this appears to be true), but as a tea drinker, I cannot recommend their tea. I ordered an herbal tea—the three berry blend, and what I received was hot water that tasted vaguely like it might have been near something that was berry adjacent. It clearly was not heated to the proper temperature or steeped long enough (the bag was floating on top as if they plopped it on top instead of pouring the water over the bag), and the leaves and debris had escaped the bag to float in the water. Even after another ten minutes of waiting for the water to cool enough to drink, it barely tasted of anything (except for the sugar I added). A nearby customer overheard what I ordered and leaned over to chat with me because she had gotten the same thing and was also unhappy with it. Her advice was to add a couple of shots of vanilla and a load of sugar, which in her words, almost made it good. I ended up just putting the full cup in the dishes bin, because it was so unpleasant.

I’m docking a star off the atmosphere because there were some large flies harassing the customers despite the freezing temps outside (so they must have come from inside), and the windows which faced the sun didn’t have any shades or window treatments to reduce the suns’ rays (had I sat in that seat for much longer, I’m sure I would have walked away with a sun burn).

In short, apparently the coffee is wonderful. But do NOT get the tea here; This is not...

Beautiful cozy shop in the middle of down town Durham.

Indoor - Spacious yet cozy inside with a mixture of large and small tables. Lighting inside is great mix of sunlight and warm incandescent. The bar adds to the atmosphere. Bathrooms are open and clean. Outlets are plentiful. I don't feel awkward taking a zoom call or reading quietly - TOH nails the mix bar/coffeehouse vibe.

Outdoors - a few tables on the sidewalk of main street. They look pretty small and undesirable for work but I've seen a few people having interviews out there.

Food - They have a small selection of very decadent pastries. If you want a huge crescent or danish you're in the right place but anything else you will not find here. One positive is TOH is in close proximity to many other restaurants, namely 9th street bakery, to fill any food desires. The peach danish I tried once was very fresh and peachy. I think you can order from the nearby bulldega but I've never done that

Coffee - Delightfully all drinks are served in mugs or glasses. Beans are sourced from a variety of locations with Caballo Rojo accounting for most of them, which is cool being a local and all woman owned coffee roaster. Espresso drinks are around 4.00 and coffee around 2.50. Espresso always tastes great. Lauren at the counter is always very nice and makes great coffee. All staff are very friendly.

Miscellaneous - Sometimes the Caballo Rojo people will come and roast coffee right there in the shop which is really cool. This is the only coffeeshop and Durham open after 9 pm but its still the best one at any...

Terrible. Terrible coffee. Burnt. This place is a joke. Walked in at 7:15am and the place is loud. The heavy set guy is yelling about something, talking so loud. He turns around and you are literally staring at his buttcrack. First thing in the morning and this is your greeting. Then it took two guys fifteen minutes to make my cappuccino. No line, just talking and doing who knows what? Finally I get the cappuccino and it’s 16oz. I said “I ordered a 12 oz” to which he said “you got an upgrade” with the stupidest smug look on his face. I kinda vibed him and said “yeah, right”. Then I walked outside and tried to drink the giant cappuccino and it was burnt and blistering hot, totally over extracted, like your first attempt at making a cappuccino. I thought about it for a second, started this review and then finally just walked back in and put it on a table and left. Absolute disaster of a business. There’s better coffee and service at a Sheets than the Oak House. I’m going to write the management. This was just...