Agora Downtown Coffee Shop & Roastery — Restaurant in Fredericksburg

This is my favorite coffee shop in Historic Downtown Fredericksburg.

The coffee itself is high-quality. I cannot remember exactly, but to my knowledge it is fair trade as well.

The selection of espresso drinks is quite large, with some of my favorites including the Chili Pepper Mocha, the Curry Mocha (it sounds strange, but the flavors compliment each other very well!), and the Mama Rose Latte. Their selection of teas, while not given the same attention as their coffee, is nothing to sneeze at, either. They also seem to have either invented or been an early adopter of the Swiss Fog, which is essentially a London Fog with white chocolate.

They have a rotating selection of desserts, and all of the ones I have tried are of very high quality. These deserts range from vanilla-pecan scones with black tea-lemon glaze to macarons to pumpkin muffins and more. I will say, if they have the Southern Delight scone in their display, you will not be disappointed in getting one!

The atmosphere is great. It's cozy, with artwork, murals, and wood paneling on the walls. Almost all of the pieces of art on display are made by local artists, with most of them for sale. Seating is very limited because of the footprint, however, and due to its popularity, there is rarely a place to sit indoors. They do have patio seating that is less frequently used, but isn't suitable all year round.

The pricing is similar to other specialty coffee shops, perhaps even on the cheaper side. Teas and espresso drinks are in the $2.50-$5.50 range. Desserts are in the $3-$6 range. Spiked drinks (yes, they do those as well) are all around $9. Similar in price to Hyperion and Katora, while, in my opinion, maintaining higher quality.

They have rewards punch cards that give you a free drink every 10 drinks (not orders, so if you order 5 coffees, you get five hole punches), and will combine existing cards if you leave yours at home by accident.

The staff is friendly and attentive even in the busiest times. I've never had a bad service experience here. On slow days, many of the staff will be open to a chat as you sip your coffee.

All in all, it's arguably the best coffee shop in Fredericksburg. Been going there for about 5 years, and will continue to do so as long as I'm...

My girlfriend and I stumbled upon this place thanks to a recommendation by Google Maps. It was dreary and rainy out, so we wanted to get out of the cold and get some warm coffee in us. Little did we know, we were about to stumble into one of the most delightful little places that we have ever stumbled upon.

Enough with the stumbling. We got here, and we ordered from the very nice front counter lady. We got a coffee, a butter coffee, a piece of carrot cake, a caprese sandwich, and a chocolate biscotti. The coffee was good. The butter coffee was a house made concoction of their coffee blended with butter to make their coffee creamier without having to add cream. It was very good. I got it with some vanilla flavoring, and I was able to drink it without adding creamer, which I usually do. The carrot cake was honestly the best purchased carrot cake I have ever eaten. I have a feeling it was made with vegan ingredients. They have a lot of vegan and dairy-free options here. But it was very rustic, with medium sized chunks of real carrots and walnuts in it. Superb.

The caprese sandwich was nice, too. It was served on a big ol' brioche roll, and there weren't enough of a toppings-to-bread ratio, leaving the sandwich kind of dry as a whole. But the flavors were there. Finally, the chocolate biscotti was delicious. Their kitchen was on full display within the shop, and you could see them making the biscotti by hand. It was really kool.

The atmosphere is what really earned this place five stars. The entire length of the shop is lined with used books that you can read while you're in store, and you can choose to buy them, too, if you want. There are board games, too, like Scrabble and chess and checkers and Apples to Apples. And my favorite part, every choice of seating was different. There was a normal four-person table, a bar, a nook dedicated to studying patrons, a couch, a larger table, a pair of comfy chairs, and a table that was the chess board that we played at. Basically, we lost time in there and had to come to our senses as to what time it was and go home. We could spend hours and hours in there, and we...

Update to say: I appreciate the response and the reaching out to staff. I will definitely give another chance. Thank you.

Agora is one of our favorite places, and I don’t normally write negative reviews, but had a bad experience today. We called ahead to see if vegan burritos were available and no one answered the phone. So, we thought they must be really busy, and we’d just drive over.

When we got there, no one was in line. I asked if there were any vegan burritos available, and was met with some attitude and told no, what was available was in the case. There were no alternatives offered, no attempt to make a burrito or help out. Just a shrug. Finally disappointedly I settled on some other options.

At the pick up counter, another barista said to me, here’s your oatmilk latte. I wasn’t paying much attention so I grabbed it to take a sip, and realized it wasn’t iced. No big deal—I just asked if they could possibly make it iced. The original barista looked irritated and said she was making my drink right then. The barista who had given me the hot drink looked at me and said, you just drank someone else’s latte. As if I was the one in the wrong, when that was the one they handed to me.

I’m not sure what I did to merit attitude from the baristas. Maybe it was just a bad morning for them, but I’ve never experienced anything but positivity from the baristas here. Even if something isn’t available, they usually try to be accommodating and offer solutions.

The almond blonde iced latte was good, my husband said. The bagel I had was cold (no offer to warm it), Saran wrapped, and given with no knife or way to spread the butter with it. We left...