The Cup Coffee — Restaurant in Oceanside

I've been to the Cup many, many times over the past several years and cannot believe I've never reviewed it before! I'm an Arizonan but visit O'side several times a year, and always stay right in this area near Pacific & Wisconsin. Highly recommend this area versus closer to the harbor if you want advice, by the way! I wish this coffee/beer concept would take better hold in AZ, because it really marries the best of both worlds.

The Cup is a true neighborhood joint, and you'll feel like a local when you stop in. The place is always busy, and the employees always know the names and orders of their regulars. You walk up and order, and there's tables or a bar counter for seating, plus a front and (much larger) rear patio. Both patios are dog-friendly also.

Basic coffee/espresso drinks, a handful of local draft beers, and a small selection of sandwiches and breakfast items. Even though the choices are limited, they're good. The Cup uses high quality Monin syrups for flavoring drinks, and puts lots of love into the sandwiches they make. I recommend the honey vanilla latte or black & white mocha, and for food, the chicken salad sammy, it's a bit spicy because it's mixed with sriracha! Even adding coconut milk, our order of two drinks is always $6.25. I literally pay more for that for one grande at Starbucks!

Be warned, you're likely to never want to leave Oceanside when you hang out here. Some sweet locals will win you over, you'll envy the couple sitting at the bar with both draft beers and lattes, working remotely for the day, and you'll want to be one of the cool parents hanging out on the patio with their dog and toddler. That's how I always feel! Can't wait...

There is one person who works at The Cup and is nice to customers: Camden. One other person works part-time for Oceanside Fire Department and treats customers with basic dignity. The other proprietors/employees of The Cup treat their customers with blatant disrespect, outright hostility, and in at least three cases racial bias that have caused people to stop patronizing their establishment. I used to visit here to grab a cup of coffee and work remotely over the past four years, and the loud conversations that these people have about their customer base is nauseating: They harbor absolutely no respect for the community at large and care only about their money.

I am no longer a customer at The Cup--I live in the neighborhood and walk by once in a while--and the proprietors/employees actively approach to engage in harassment and abuse toward others in the public space. These people are threatening, intimidating, racist, sexist, and generally pretty sad and remorseful about poor life decisions, all of which reflects in the loud conversations they tend to air in the establishment when certain customers are around.

The aforementioned matters of fact are based on their own words and actions from inside the establishment and not my own opinions. My personal opinion is that the drip coffee is thoroughly disgusting. Take your...

It's a great local spot next to a little grocery store a block from the strand/beach. The staff is super friendly and there are always dogs present which is a plus. The coffee isn't the best but it's consistent and about equal to Starbucks; and you don't come here because the coffee is great, you come here because it's on the beach, you come here because the staff is friendly, you come here because it isn't Starbucks (seriously though), you come here for the atmosphere. So the place is overall great.

I think if I were to pick a beach spot I like more I'd pick bird rock in la Jolla, but that's way up the road in la Jolla, and that place is super bougie, laptops are everywhere, and those people don't even really smile or say hi when you order. But their coffee is better. So I'm usually going to pick a...