Black Dog Coffeehouse — Restaurant in Lenexa

I was a die-hard Starbucks devotee for years, but made a trip just down the street to Black Dog when my usually SB location was too busy for me to find a good place to settle in and work. I haven't been back to Starbucks since.

Black Dog's coffee is delicious. It's typically more smooth and mild than the bitter coffee you find at Starbucks. I don't necessarily mind a strong, bitter cup, but overall I find the flavor of Black Dog's espresso to be more favorable.

The food at Black Dog, while a bit pricey, is much stronger and more varied than you find at any other coffee shop that actually serves food outside the standard bakery-item genre. Their breakfast sandwich (The Sunrise Sandwich) is the standout for me. Hearty, full-of-flavor, and not greasy or heavy, it fills me up and costs about the same as a breakfast sandwich anywhere else (excluding fast food dollar/value menus, of course).

Black Dog's atmosphere is warm and soothing. Seating near the front is brighter, but gets dimmer and cozier as you move back away from the windows. This is either a good or a bad thing, depending on my mood that day. Seating can sometimes be a challenge, but I've always found someplace to sit with the two friends I always hang with when I go. They recently connected their coffee space to the neighboring IBIS Bakery (who provides all their breads and pastries and is, I believed, owned by the same folks), and they allow you to sit in that area as well, so seating isn't even remotely an issue even when they're at their busiest.

Outlets aren't plentiful (I've only been to one coffee shop that wasn't deficient in this regard), BUT almost every outlet has a power strip attached to make it easy for nearby tables to reach some kind of power source.

Pricing at Black Dog is about on par with others in Johnson County. Some drinks (standard coffee and other non-espresso drinks) are cheaper than you'd pay for an equivalent drink at Starbucks, while others (pretty much anything espresso-based) are a smidge more expensive, but the price difference isn't large enough to deter me since I enjoy the beverages and atmosphere more.

As someone who works in marketing, I have to say that Black Dog also succeeds at branding/marketing. For big fans, they have no shortage of well-designed merchandise that fits into the coffee-shop-appropriate category. No weird odds-and-ends shoehorned onto the shelves in an attempt to milk money out of impulse buys (seriously, though, why do so many coffee places have racks of scarves or goofball trinkets???). The T-shirts are all clean and crisp, the mugs, glasses, & thermoses are slick and rival the quality and style you'd find at any chain store like SB or LattéLand.

All in all, it's hard to find anything to dislike about Black Dog. With great coffee, tasty food, a fantastic location, large seating, competitive pricing, quick service, and friendly staff, this place...

Black Dog...another wonderful local business destroyed by corporate acquisition and greed.

I've lived in the area my entire life, and have been going to Black Dog for over 10 years, and used to be a regular between 2018 and 2020. They were THE definitive local coffee shop where you would go to work, study, and enjoy affordable, high quality baked goods, Toast, and coffee.

My last few infrequent visits were shocking.

It must have coincided with Messenger's (parent company, not sure when they purchased it) acquisition by FairWave Coffee Collective, but prices are through the roof. A 12oz (2nd smallest of 4 sizes) seasonal Sweet Potato Latte is now almost $7 with tax. A large specialty drink with a couple modifications can easily run you over $8.

For comparison, Sweet Tee's in Olathe sells Medium Lattes with 2 flavored syrups for

Coffee and food are absolutely delicious and they make coming here worth it, despite the unpleasant experience.

I ordered ahead of time thinking I could swing by and pick up my food and coffee easily without having to wait in line on a busy morning. Well, the online instructions tell you to tell the barista you have an online order, so this was kind of annoying as it made it pointless to order ahead of time. So, I stood in what I thought was a line to tell the barista, but since there's no clear indication of where a line should go, I stood there for 5 minutes when people formed another line elsewhere, and then had to get behind people who came in way after me just to tell them I was there to pick up my online order. My food was ready and brought out, but the worker walked away before I could even ask where to get my online order, even though she saw that she was handing me a to-go order and could have easily communicated to the baristas to save me the trouble.Then, I finally get up to the counter and the employee getting pastries who had been so friendly to everyone before me just stood there, didn't ask me if I wanted anything or what I needed. So I just said I wasn't getting pastries, I had an online order with coffees for pickup that I was waiting for. She asked if I checked the to-go counter, which I had no idea even existed because the instructions clearly say to go tell the barista to pick up your order. They then finally got my order packaged up and at the end of the bar, 15 minutes after my quoted ready time and 45 minutes after I had ordered it. Very frustrating experience, I understand being busy but staff was unhelpful, directions were unclear, and I could have gotten my food and drinks faster if I had just ordered there I think. Please make directions better/clearer and have a better process for...