Viator Coffee Co — Restaurant in Elgin

These guys are shaking up the coffee game in elgin. The owner Austin has worked in specialty coffee for over 10 years. That's significantly better then the buttered up "Starbucks" experience that other coffeeshop & bakery owners have in the local area. With that specialty coffee experience Austin brings together a team made up of baristas from daily projects and some of the big places from the Chicagoland area. This crew is focused on always improving and never being complacent.. this is the cafe Elgin has needed. The coffee itself is from Halfwit who roast for Dollop and the Wormhole.. they are also doing guest roasters which aren't no name roasters. At the moment they have Cat & Cloud, which if you know, you know. Viator exceeds with their brewing method as well by having an actual Italian espresso machine and the espresso is dailed in mutiple times a day to get tasty shots of espresso. Cafe Revive didn't even come close to what the crew here is accomplishing with their coffee. The knowledge and technical skills are bar none in comparison. The space that they have built out is intimate and comfortable, without feeling cramped or dated like other shops in the area. Their baked good done by Ally are exceedingly better then the ones made down the street at Arabica. Seriously these guys are...

Living in the PNW has spoiled me. Five years ago, I thought Dunkin was the best coffee. Now, I want to find coffee that is brewed well, is ethical and is brewed by skillful and knowledgeable baristas. Thankfully, Viator coffee hits all the right spots! It’s located in a cute food court with an outdoor seating area. While 87 degrees, they had covered seating that felt very comfortable. They were super busy, way busier than any of the other stands in the food court. I was shocked to see they were serving Proud Mary coffee which I haven’t seen anywhere outside of Portland. Obviously it’s based out of Australia. I enjoyed my drip coffee which was brewed perfectly. It was enjoyable when hot and even lukewarm when driving home (on my second cup).

I really enjoyed discussing the trends in coffee and other subjects with Ranson (Spelling on the name might be wrong). It has been a while since I have been in downtown Elgin and I’m happy to see the area is doing well. I hope that other areas in the burbs invest in coffee shops like that. People need more options than Dunkin and Starbucks! It is an untapped market and hard to find good roasters in the suburbs. If in the area again, I would gladly go again. And for you coffee snobs like me, yes you can find your coffee here while...

Great coffee, but their curbside service is absolutely terrible. My few curbside experiences have been a nightmare. One time, there was no parking nearby at all, so I had to park a few stores down. The employee brought out my coffee and seemed upset they had to walk so far. They told me, “Next time, you need to park closer.” I tried to apologize and explained that, as they could see, there was no parking near their business.

In my last couple of curbside orders, the app showed my coffee was “being brewed” and then “ready.” I would mark “I’m here” in the app (on time), yet after 8 minutes, no one had brought out my order. When I went inside, an employee was in conversation and took their time acknowledging me. I was told my drink wasn’t ready yet, and they only started making it after I arrived, with no sense of urgency and no apology.

I’ve been late to work on both occasions because my coffee wasn’t ready on time and the employees lacked urgency.

It’s very disappointing because the coffee is really great—expensive, but still great. I won’t return unless it’s a day I have nothing else to do and can...