Woodlawn Coffee & Pastry — Restaurant in Portland

All I can say, is every time I go into this place I am greeted with confidence, cheer, cordiality, integrity, and engenious Barista, Pastry and breakfast creating skills. The staff is always cheerful to the point of emotional appeasment. The energy within and surrounding Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry, recently, has been Devine, which is a rare and a manipulation free method of finding the true feeling of the place to connect with the true heart and soul of Portland Oregon. The pastries are seriously worth the few minutes of wait time and the Barista skills have surpassed all other Coffee Houses I have ever frequented. Having lived in Seattle and growing up around the birth place of the Latte, the skills have truly traveled South to spread the love, joy, and hope a simple latte can bring to ones soul. I do believe, I am in love with the one who truly does make Woodlawn Coffee special. %-). I truly hope to build the reputation and relationships within the coffee shop to become truly Devine....

This'll will hopefully be the first review with many updates but for the time being let me just say the baked goods are out of this world.

I went with a friend for just coffee and they bring out goodies as they are being finished in the kitchen and out walked out first of all the cutest bear of a man baker I've ever seen with a handsome ginger beard... woof... um I digress, in hand was two pieces of the best looking lemon meringue I've ever seen. Classic perfection. Both of them.

I'm not a huge lemon based flavor fan but when it's this good and real ingredients to make that lemon flavor I'm in! SO perfecting sweet and tart with the best crust ever.

Perfect outdoor seating both available out front or in the side alley for some privacy or shade. Charming decor, old but hip. Plenty of room to spread out. I'm sure it's crazy busy by 10 but go early and enjoy a perfect splurge breaky quiet morning.

Needless to say I...

Really want to love this place. Food is good (get biscuits and gravy), and coffee is solid. Unfortunately, the service is overall pretentious and unfriendly. I own a food service business, and if my employees interacted with customers the way most of the employees here do, they'd be getting a talking to. No smiles at the counter. Literally one stone faced word, "hi", for a greeting.

We thanked them for the food and coffee. Zero response. They were out of water at the water station, and three customers informed the barista at different times. The response was, "okay". 20 minutes later, still no water.

Look, I don't need my servers to act like best friends, but some level of friendliness, fake or not, is appreciated in the service industry. I have never gotten that on multiple visits. If friendly service isnt important to you, you may enjoy Woodlawn Coffee.

This place feels like an SNL skit of a coffee shop...