Smokey Row Coffee — Restaurant in Pella

You only get one chance to make a first impression...here's mine:

The shop closes at 9 PM, and our group of 10 arrived around 8:15. Most of us ordered quick specialty drinks, along with a couple of regular coffees and one double-shot espresso. While the specialty drinks were fine, both coffees were lukewarm at best. Yes, we did ask for them to warm it up but that never happened. When my buddy went back for a second cup he was informed that they were out of coffee for the night and was offered a cup of hot water.

I’m currently working on perfecting my home espresso, so I had a few questions for the barista. Unfortunately, the responses were disappointing:

What weight of beans do you use in a double shot of espresso? "I don’t know, 3.5 seconds." Is your espresso a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio? "You mean 1 oz or 2 oz?" How many grams are in a double shot of espresso? "I don’t know, we don’t train our baristas to know that." How much crema is in a shot? "About 1/4 inch... let me show you." To demonstrate, she made a fresh shot, which looked good—so I decided to order one. However, when she pulled my shot, she did so using a dirty portafilter with leftover grounds in the cup. When I pointed it out, she replied, "Yeah, we only clean the portafilters once a day, and we’ve already cleaned them today." That was a major red flag.

To top it off, at exactly 9 PM, we were reminded that the shop was closing and needed to leave—which is understandable, but given the overall experience, it just reinforced the lack of warmth and attention to detail.

My first impression? Not impressed. Will I be back? Not likely. Did they lose just one customer? No—there were 10 of us, and none of us will...

I'm not sure why this place is rated 5-stars unless it's for coffee and pastries. When you walk in it smells wonderful because of the coffees the pastries look delish. However we were there for lunch my daughter mother-in-law two grandchildren and myself. I ordered the chicken pot pie my mother-in-law ordered chicken salad,, my daughter had there to Tia soup and half of sandwich ordered with mayo. My grandson ordered the mac and cheese off the children's menu. First my daughter had ask for a new sandwich as they put Miracle Whip on her sandwich and served her with a package of mayo. My grandson's children's mac and cheese which was 599 was apparently I microwaved cup of Kraft macaroni and cheese it tasted horrible! My mother-in-law's chicken salad sandwich she said had so much salad dressing in it you could hardly taste the chicken. My chicken pot pie, the chicken was canned the cube kind maybe the whole chicken pot pie was canned not sure served over biscuits. No one stopped by our table to ask how her lunch was. I wish I would have spoke up, but I hate doing that. 6 hours later though my stomach does not feel well, wish I could throw up the chicken pot pie. Maybe they should forget the lunch menu and just stick to pastries and coffee they looked and smelled a...

I've been to Smokey Row plenty of times. Sadly, it is one of the few places to get coffee in Pella. The service is almost always terrible. Expect to wait at least 10 to 15 minutes for nearly anything on the menu (the exception being tap water or black coffee). They put off a friendly vibe, but don't put forth the effort once you get past the initial smile and greeting. The food is mostly microwaved frozen food, so don't bother with that. The coffee is sub par at best. The work of our hands store further down on Franklin sells bagged coffee (whole bean as well), that blows Smokey Row's coffee out of the water. In any other city, Smokey Row would be a ghost town on the inside the majority of the time. The Rundown, super slow service, mediocre food, and sub par coffee. Make your own coffee, and if you don't feel like cooking... have a hot pocket or any other microwaved cuisine that Smokey Row tries to sell off as homemade food. Or, have a Hyvee breakfast or stop by the...