Emerald Coffee Bakery — Restaurant in Madison

Update 7/20/25 - Wanting a flat white, I decided to order a Cortado some the flat white was oversized. I got a 6 oz drink instead of 4oz, so I actually got the flat white I was hoping for, it's just that the menu is inaccurate in this way. The foam was much improved over the previous two flat whites I had though. Progress is being made.

Update 7/11/25 - I had to come back to see the progress that was made. It's fun seeing the different kinds of dessert offerings. I had the Alfajor which was really sweet with Carmel and some brownie like pieces. It's small, but it's rich, so picture something like fudge where a little goes a long way.

The menu is running on the TVs now. I ordered a flat white again, but this time asked for "for here" and got it in a mug and it has a little golden spoon to stir with. The mug appears to be about 10oz and I was hoping for a 6oz, so it was too milky with virtually no foam rather than dense microfoam which I was hoping for.

The owner is very nice, so I am upping the star on service. The espresso drinks are still not what I was going for, but if you are the type to drown your coffee in sugar, I think you'll like it just fine. I have hopes that this place will continue to improve. The atmosphere is nice.

--Original Review-- Disclaimer: When I went, they were still ironing out a lot of details and clearly haven't arrived at a grand opening state.

They had no menu, but would make espresso drinks and had some bakery items. I ordered a flat white as I always do and the taste of the espresso was ok, but the milk felt like it was heated to 180+ degrees and was slightly scalded. The foam was not well done and looked a bit like dish soap water with loose bubbles that made for a terrible consistency, so the overall drink was a generous 2-star experience. The staff still needs a lot of training and there is no actual menu yet. When we asked for the most basic things like a knife or water, the staff looked generally confused and asked around, but again, they're still setting up.

On a positive note, when my friend and I came back to the counter to order the bakery items, we tried 4 different things and split them between the two of us and who I assume was the owner came up to us to explain some future plans for desserts. She also gave us each a little cup of flan for free. One of the four bakery items we got was kind of like a scone but was very dry and another was like a more moist brownie version of the same thing which I much preferred. Overall desserts are worth trying.

The atmosphere is nice and bright, similar to the coffee shop that this one replaced, but they were actively still decorating since it opened so recently.

I would say it's worth checking out for the bakery items, but I really hope the staff gets trained to make better coffee drinks so this business can stay afloat. It's...

I really don’t like writing bad reviews but I would just like to bring this to the owners attention. I tried calling multiple times but no one answered.

I wanted to try out this cafe as I saw it was new and it looked really nice. I will say I had a breakfast sandwich that was very good and I have no complaints about that. Also the staff was super nice and absolutely I have no issues with the service.

The problem is it was my birthday and I saw that they had tres leches cake which is my favorite. I got a piece to go and later that day I took it out from my fridge and opened the container and saw mold on the whipped cream. To be fair, you couldn’t see it from the outside of the container but it was truly a disappointment that I couldn’t have my little piece of birthday cake and also that I spent $5.75 (I think) on this thing that I couldn’t eat.

Again, this place seems very nice and I don’t hold any ill will. The breakfast sandwich was very good. But I was just disappointed by this and the fact that I couldn’t even contact them to tell them about the possibility spoiled cake that might still be...

I stopped in today because my son had brought me a cookie on Sunday from Emerald. It was one of the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten so I went there today and got a little container of four of them and asked what they were filled with. There is some sort of caramel flavored filling, a Spanish recipe the young man told me - I apologize if I am incorrect in that it may be Peruvian. The top layer and the bottom layer cookie are like melt-in-your mouth spritz and crescents all rolled into one. The owner is a lovely woman, and I found out that a young man who had helped me, who was very polite and sweet as can be, is her son. It was so pretty inside that I took lots of pictures after asking if that was OK. I am planning on going back to try their lunch and dinner menu and every other type of pastry they have. I was just so happy for this lovely woman and her son that they were able to open such a sweet...