Kaffeine Place - Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

POUTINE WEEK! September 13-28 on Michigan St in Grand Rapids.

Kalbi Au Poivre (poutine) - $23.50: This poutine stands tall and charismatic. There are a lot of complex flavors, but they work really well together.

The Korean braised beef short rib was cooked perfectly and was very tender, juicy, and fall apart good! This was probably the best part of the experience and worked well with the rest of the components.

The fries were a bit in the background, but were melt in your mouth good when there. The creamy mushroom peppercorn sauce was a wonderful touch and the mushrooms were not prominent. I am not a fan of mushrooms, but this was great.

The cheese was not mentioned in their explanation in the store or on the Poutine Week website. I assume it is feta cheese. This is another example of an element I don’t much care for, but enjoy in the right context. It is not a traditional poutine cheese, but worked really well with this combination.

The chestnuts added an amazing flavor and texture! I am not a fan of chestnuts, but it added so much to this (I am breaking my character saying this), it needed more chestnuts! The pine nuts, carrots, and other elements were also a great stacking of flavors.

One of the other competing restaurants actually recommended stopping here to try their poutine and I can see why. Sounds like they won back in 2022 and I’d say they have a strong chance this year! The price is probably the biggest sticky point on this. It is expensive. It was a lot to eat, though.

I’m going to explore Korean food more after this. Wow!

Service: You order at the counter and the food is brought to your table. Not much to this, but the server was super sweet, helpful, knowledgeable, and overall positive!

Atmosphere: It is a narrow space, but there is generally enough room. If you need extra room, go to the back. The tables have plenty of room for spreading out there.

The place is both cheery and a bit darker (though plenty of light). The decor is delightful and cute. They really focus on coffee and delightful accents.

Conclusion: I like expanding my palate and this is no exception! They have a great thing going and I expect to see them standing strong for years.

8:00-8:30pm Thursday...

I rarely write reviews, but this gem deserves recognition for its friendly attentive staff, lightening fast service and high quality ingredients. I’m lucky to have stumbled across Kaffeine while visiting from Ann Arbor. The avocado toast was generously portioned, with red pepper flakes adding something new to the brunch staple on freshly baked bread, featuring a perfect crunch along the crust. The food was presented nicely even in a to go box.

Kaffeine has a low-key vibe with great natural light and parking in front, a few feet from the door. The decor has a clean modern feel with concrete floors, open floor plan and patterned tile along the bar and half wall separating the kitchen area, while sharing it’s delicious smells.

I removed a star for food because the taro bubble tea was lack luster and disappointing, and while I loved my spicy brunch, the avocado toast felt a bit too spicy for most.

If you’re local and haven’t been to Kaffeine yet, you’ve been missing out. I anticipate visiting every time I’m in the area. For any fellow Ann Arbor-ites, the quality of the avocado toast and staff were on par with Zingerman’s deli in Kerry town. Kaffeine shares the same high standards and quality service that is so rare today.

Thank you Kaffeine! I look forward to...

I can’t rave enough about how good all of the food/drinks were. I came with my mom and we got the chicken dumplings (we came for the bulgogi dumplings but they don’t always have them), the smash toast, the bulgogi toast, and an iced caramel latte. Everything was SO amazing. The bulgogi was so flavorful and filling, I could only eat half of my bulgogi toast. The chicken dumplings and the sauce that came with it were so amazing it was like the perfect comfort food. I didn’t try the smash toast, but my mom said that it was sooo good. I got the latte, and im not much of a coffee person but it was so perfect. I’m definitely going to have to stop here before work sometime because I need to try everything on the menu. The staff was also very nice, made conversation and was do helpful. It was also not busy at all, but we also came a little after they opened so there was not much of a wait to get our food. Every aspect of this place gets 5 stars! Definitely an...