Espresso Alley — Restaurant in Oakland

If you consider yourself a coffee snob, this place is not for you. I assume all of the 5 star ratings are either from people who love sugary flavored coffee (which masks the taste of poor coffee) or they farmed their reviews because it simply doesn’t add up.

We ordered 3 drinks: an americano, an oat milk latte, and a regular milk cappuccino.

The americano tasted very weak, and even with adding half n half, it did not taste that great. The oat milk latte was the worst. It had 0% foam and was so watery. They also filled it above the lid somehow so when my wife opened the lid to let it cool, it spilled all over her. She had one sip before tossing it. The cappuccino was passable, but likely because dairy milk does a decent job masking low quality coffee.

To top it all off, we waited ~45 min to get our coffee. We did have 3 cars in front of us, but come on, man!

I’m sure they’re nice people, but usually if you have a 4 star rating or higher, you can expect a certain level of quality. That expectation was not met by a long shot.

I gave it 3 stars even though I’d like to give them 1, but I don’t want to mess with their business too much. It could have been an off day. Just wanted to let those know that check the reviews that this place is a sugary drink shop with black bean juice added to caffeinate the drink. Not qualify coffee (I repeat that I am a coffee snob so take that...

We visit DCL every year, and this was probably my fourth time at this shop. While the coffee is consistently delicious, the overall experience this time was disappointing. Despite only having one car ahead of us, it took 30 minutes to receive three iced drinks and two snowballs.

My husband and son ordered milk tea, but the boba was hard and poorly prepared. I ordered an iced latte that was served warm with only a few ice cubes. We were also looking forward to the snowballs, but most flavors were unavailable. I ended up with strawberry and marshmallow topping, though I’m fairly certain I was given bubblegum instead.

It’s a charming spot, but the quality of the non-coffee drinks and the speed of service need significant improvement. Unfortunately, I don’t see...

Espresso Alley is absolutely fantastic— from their drinks down to the very boba ball itself! It’s a little shack on the side of the highway, which somehow makes the whole aesthetic that much more charming. They offer a wide variety of drinks (I especially loved a strawberry pineapple boba smoothie and the refreshing Passionfruit Green Tea).

The staff are truly lovely and welcoming, and the service was very friendly. One small heads-up for fellow customers: if you want to leave a tip, be sure to mention it before handing over your card— there’s no prompt on the machine, and they don’t offer a way to add it after the transaction. Cash tipping is an option, but not always convenient in today’s swipe world.

Overall, an exceptional hidden gem— absolutely...