Colectivo Coffee Lakefront — Restaurant in Milwaukee

A photo-perfect Milwaukee landmark and must-go. The dark wooded interior has a Harry Potteresque library feel. There are 3 or 4 levels of seating - besides the main level, there are several partial floors of seating up a few stairs, then more tucked up in the loft itself, which overlooks the bulk of the interior. The outdoor patio, with hanging globe lights and brightly colored metal tables and chairs feels like a relaxed beer garden. Seating is the across the road from Lake Michigan, and is right along paved walkways, next to tennis courts, across the road from beaches, the McKinley marina, and is a short walk or drive to bike, kayak, and other recreational rentals. Behaved dogs are welcome to hang outside with their humans.

We’ve been here a bunch of times and I can’t remember ever having anything but excellent interactions with employees. They’re just good people. The meals, desserts, coffees and other drinks are very good and they have roasted beans for sale by the pound. The avocado bacon BLT is fantastic. I don’t think they have a specific kids menu any more, but they can make you a regular grilled cheese, and likely other similar things if you ask. Free water is located by one or both entrances, and there’s free WiFi inside and out. During summer they have free live music Friday nights.

There’s no drive thru. The attached parking lot is a fairly narrow one-way lot. Often it’s close to filled or overflowing, but if that’s the case just drive through and circle back in once or twice and you’ll usually find a spot. If not, never fear, there’s ample free parking across the road on the lake side. If it’s cold and you’re not finding seating inside, take a walk through the doors to the right of the back entrance (parking lot side). The historic pump room can be a little noisy but I’ve yet to not find a...

Hello everyone, things are great here and the cafe workers do an excellent job and deserve raises.

There is just one thing that happened today I’d like to share. I ordered a smoothie (the green one) and as I started to drink it I realized that there were some pieces of fruit that weren’t able to be sucked up by the straw. So I ended up taking off the top of the drink and slurpin it old-fashioned style without the straw. I think that the smoothie would have benefitted from a straw with a larger diameter so that the fruit can make it through. If there are already straws like that for the smoothies, and I just didn’t see them, please let me know. I am also more than happy to supply my own straw (large diameter), I will just have to keep one in the car moving forward…..

EDIT: I recognize that this might be counterproductive considering the turtles. As a vegetarian I am an ally and so this request might seem like it doesn’t match my values…but I think that in our day and age it might be possible for us to create a straw that adheres to my request’s standards while also being break-downable, or like can decompose you know? God bless all turtles and have a nice...

Disappointing all around. We walked in with such great expectations! The venue is beautiful and was packed full of people on a beautiful day, the staff looked like a very fun, diverse bunch. Service wasn’t very enthusiastic and you pay and tip before getting any of your food or drinks. I had a smoked salmon bagel which was nothing special, the plain bagel was slightly stale and not toasted (nor was it an option) and the serving of salmon wasn’t generous, although the pickled red onions were a nice touch. My partner ordered an egg and cheese English muffin, when it came out the premade(!) egg “patty” inside was fridge-cold, he took it back and was either given a new one or the original one, either way it got nuked to oblivion, so badly that the muffin ended up hard and literally inedible, impossible to bite through, the whole thing got tossed in the trash. My Oat-chata was overly sweet and unimpressive, my partner’s almond flat white was undrinkable due to whoever was at the coffee machine having no idea what they were doing and burning the beans, it was somehow bitter and tasteless at...