Blackbox Cafe — Restaurant in Pueblo

Fantastic non franchise coffee shop, with a great vibe inside sesting and outside seating. The outer seating was nice with above and side sunshades to appropriately shade the outer seating depending on the time of day. Felt immediately welcome and morgan welcomed me in as I entered. The music was nice, not to loud, but also not to quiet, while being chill and feeding into the calm vibe i think most people look for in a great coffee shop. I appreciate the simplicity the shop seems to be shooting for, as it leaves the space open for every perso. To find what they need. A nicely varied, but simple menu that isnt too cluttered with buzzword menu items like franchise coffee shops have. Morgan at the front counter was knowledgeable of the menu items, and ingredients of what they are made of and quickly helped me land on the avocado toast because I wanted that and bacon which are both ingredients on that item, the bone broth as that is an item that is easy to make as a health drink, but hard to make a delicious menu item, and the drip coffee as I feel the drip or pour over is the heart and soul of any coffee shop. Morgan was a good conversationalist and he picked up on small notes in conversation and was observant of things he saw on customers and made the conversation steer towards them, which always makes some feel immediately welcome somewhere. Elizabeth, who primarily worked in the kitchen area doing food but helped flex to drinks when small rushes came in, was kind and extremely knowledgeable about the coffee they carried and was able to quickly give me dosing recommendations for the medium roast they used for large batches and small pour overs. The avocado toast was delicious and simple with clean flavors from the arugala, avocado, made lightly hearty with the great toast, and tied together by the candied chopped bacon, and balsamic vinegar. The bone broth was amazing, with great herbal undertones, supporting the clean beef bone flavor, and was gratefully not over salted. The drip coffee was amazing, well dosed and brewed, helping to allow the medium roast coffee speak for itself. Service was great, as the food and drink was brought out to my table as the shop wasn't busy when I came in. While I am active duty member of the Army, I dont expect thanks or people showing gratitude, but I do still appreciate it, and after ordering my food and drink and waiting at my table, morgan from the front counter brought me a bag of the medium roast they use as a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for my military service. They alsk gave a free cup of coffee to a small table of older military veterans as appreciation to them as well, and i feel that shows character, for any business to be willing to give something free of charge for any reason, not just military, and profit is in the end something that they have to take into account. I highly recommend and Pueblo/Mineral Palace natives to chdck this shop out and possibly make it a new regular if you need a good coffee shop to relax, get work done, read, write, or doing anything crestice that needs that vibe that a great coffee shop brings for...

First three latte flavors ordered were no longer available so I ended up with "violet" Not sure what "violet" is as a flavor. Really missing the old Blackbox. No one knew what a Breve was. I don't know what kind of milk was used. It was burnt. The breakfast wrap came with chips out of a bag. The scone was undercooked and raw inside. The latte, though I asked for "to go" was in a "for here cup."

I loved this place. I want very much for it to succeed but I cannot emphasize enough how desperately new owners need to restore it's former glory. ORGANIC...especially milk and flavors. Homemade or high quality favor options in clean bottles that don't have sugar encrusted bits and drippings all over them. Remove old labels if you want to reuse bottles. Freshly baked goods...breads and pastries. Easy and simple breakfast and brunch menu items... a great poached egg on avocado toast cannot be that challenging to replicate. Please be well trained behind the counter and if that cannot be acheived then make the menu so minimalist you cannot go wrong.

Simple, refined, basic, and very high quality is what made the original Blackbox superb.

Also...maybe purchase an "hours of operation" sign for the door that is large enough to read and states "OPEN" if you are open. If your parking lot is empty at 8am and people keep driving through...it's because the sign out front looks like a big dark sharpie "CLOSED" and the rest of it is illegible.

Honestly, I hate to be this hard on ANY business. But it is sincerely because people want this place to succeed. It's beautiful and in a great location and used to have an amazing menu. I get it is super hard to run a business in Pueblo but this place was amazing and maintaining it is...

I had an interview today (Sep 20, 2024). I maybe thought that the interview was at the cafe itself but was given an address in the email. I put the address that was given to me for the interview into google maps and it wasn’t taking me to the cafe (which is fine because you won’t always be interviewed at the place you will be working) so I tried getting there but the whole block was closed for construction. I took about 10 minutes trying to figure out a way to get there and couldn’t. I finally called a family member and told them I can’t there and what the address was, my family member told me that it is for the cafe but I was given the wrong address. I drive to the cafe and was told I won’t interviewed because I was late and that they take being on time serious there. I apologized and said that the address that was given to me by the person who was interviewing me gave me the wrong address and she told me “WELL YOU COULD’VE LOOKED IT UP ON GOOGLE”. So because of her mistake I got the consequences of not being interviewed. Was very rude and hateful and will no longer be having my business with them. Definitely would not want to work for...