Bad Owl Coffee — Restaurant in Henderson

I absolutely LOVE this coffee shop! Ever since I moved to Henderson I have been looking for my coffee shop. I had one back home in Utah but until recently haven't been able to find one here and I've tried a LOT of them. A coffee shop to me should be a comfortable place where you can sit for as long as you want and read or bring a laptop and work (I'm a published author), it should also - of course - have AMAZINGLY good coffee and yummy snacks.

Bad Owl IS MY PLACE! When I first walked in it was packed with a line out the door. Not surprising in Vegas (seems to be a theme for all of the coffee shops here) but also not a bad sign either, right? Two squishy chairs that are never available but I don't care because the rest of the seating ISN'T awful. I especially love the long picnic style table for working on a laptop. Why? Because it actually had a raised section down the center of the table so you can sit across from a total stranger and still feel like you're in your own space - you don't have to worry about your screen bumping theirs and whether or not that's going to make them mad (hey, some people are weird like that). You can put your coffee on the divider if you want which gets it out of your way but makes it convenient to grab (just pay attention when grabbing/setting it down so you don't dump it on your and or someone else's laptop because that would totally suck) and the bench is comfortable despite being a hard slab of wood. Barring that, though, the tables are nice too and they all have cute sayings on them that have something to do with Harry Potter.

Fun fact! According to the signage, Bad Owl has been around longer than Harry Potter by a decade or so. In other words, they were either a coffee shop by another name before HP or they realized that a place called "Bad Owl" could use that to their advantage, redecorate a little, and cash in on the fandom. Wise move BO. Wise move indeed! Love the decor. It's cute, quaint, HP feeling but not overly in your face and cheesy. Actually, it feels more like a coffee shop that you would find IN HP than an HP themed coffee shop, which is a good thing. Does that make sense?

Other reasons I love this place include the food and coffee! Oh yeah, that's kinda important, right? The food is KILLER! I'd love to see them add a cheese danish to the menu but the pear tart is to die for. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. They also have chocolatey cakey moussey options and everything is ENORMOUS! Several of their coffee options are HP themed like the Butterbrew Coffee (butterscotch flavored, which I liked despite the fact that I hate butterscotch). My favorite though is the Nutella coffee. I can feed my coffee demon and my chocolate demon at the same time.

Now for my absolute favorite thing about this place - the coffee is served at the PERFECT temperature for drinking. I honestly don't know how they do it. EVERYWHERE I go including the major international chain that will remain nameless serves coffee at boiling temperatures so you have to wait twenty minutes (60 if you leave the lid on) before you can drink it without burning your face off. I never order hot coffee anywhere because it's always too hot to drink. When I get coffee I'm ready to inhale it by the time the barista hands it to me - I don't want to sit and stare at it for a half hour like a well trained dog with a biscuit balanced on its nose. I wanna drink it darnit! At Bad Owl I actually can! It's never too cool, never too hot ... I swear they must be using magic to make that happen.

Also of note, some of the employees have pretty fun personalities and really get into the spirit of where they work. It's...

I went to this place with a friend expecting to find a new coffee shop. I paid about $22.00 dollars for a 12oz tea, a coffee, crousant, and a breakfast burrito. Long story short found a hair in my food, staff was very rude even after tipping them. I sat outside at the tables with my number and after an extended period of time they came out with my coffee and said "you disappeared on us". I wanted to make a sarcastic remark saying "I must be magical" (all pun intended) however I refrained. After another extended period of time they asked if I was the number that was clearly sitting on the table in clear view, I relplied respectfully yes as I handed them the number on the table and she said nothing. After another extended period of time they brought out the burrito which a few bites into the second one I found an eyelash that was clearly cooked into the food specifically an egg so you can clearly tell that it did not come from me or my friend. (I did take a picture of this for proof). I normally don't complain however this is a bit ridiculous. I tried to contact HR however I have been unable to reach them. If HR would like to contact me to discuss this matter I would be more than happy to polietly explain what happened. I was hoping to find a new awesome coffee shop instead what I found was a nonmagical unhappy rude and unsanitary staff. I will not be returning or recommneding this place to anyone. I hope they have a serious talk with the staff and can turn this place around as it has potential if they care.

Last but not least my reccomendation is to care about your customers more and add some actual HP⚡ drinks to your menu. Take a page out of Universal...

Bad Owl Coffee is a bit of a mixed experience. The coffee is good, but often the service is lacking. On at least two occasions, I've observed staff hand over coffee with improperly placed lids, resulting in spills. Service is generally slow, and staff leaves the impression that they just don't want to be there. Service with a smile is just not a thing there. Pastries are good, but overpriced compared to similar coffee shops. For example, Bad Owl has an almond croissant that is identical to the almond croissant at Sambalatte, buy costs quite a bit more. (It's delicious, by the way.)

So why do I go back? Because this coffee shop makes good coffee. That's really it. You want fast coffee, you can go to Starbucks. You want good coffee, you should probably come here. And their coffee selection includes some delicious options like nitrogen infused coffee, pourovers, and some fairly exotic lattes.

Bad Owl also makes amazing breakfast/brunch dishes that are well worth the long wait you'll experience while they are being for prepared.

So...go to Bad Owl for good coffee and great breakfast. Don't go there expecting good, or fast service. As long as you manage your expectations,...