peace on earth coffee RIVERTON — Restaurant in Riverton

I was pretty excited for a new coffee shop to open up for potential study spot/cozy hangout location; but fundamentally it fails at both for reasons I'll get into.

Coffee: The coffee is "okay". I'm not sure who their roaster is, but it really pales in comparison to other local coffee shops. The American drip is a bit stale, and the espresso is consistently bland. They have an excellent espresso machine, but I feel it's wasted on whatever beans they're using. If you like sweet drinks, this won't be a problem, but if you enjoy the taste of coffee itself, it kind of feels like I'm drinking a less chemical version of Folgers.

Service: They're all chill, I have no issue here.

Pricing: I feel like I'm buying the vibes of the place (which is adorable), but the pricing does NOT feel good. Toast with jelly for 6 dollars for 1 slice is insane. The coffee is also 1-3 dollars more than their competitors within a two mile radius, for what I personally feel is an inferior cup of coffee.

Seating: It looks great, but that's all it is. The actual seating is pretty awful if you're looking to stay more than 30 minutes. The outside area is decent, but if you're looking to hunker down on a laptop for an hour with food and coffee, it's aesthetic over function. The chairs are uncomfortable, and wobbly.

I REALLY want to like it and support the place, especially with all the vegan options. If they got better seating I would be willing to pay the higher prices, even with the coffee unchanged, but I just can't.

Depending on what you're after, you might love this place. Give it a shot, and hopefully you'll like it...

We came here hoping to relax on the patio with our dog and so I could enjoy a drink, seemed like the perfect spot. Except… apparently they don’t have their liquor license, even though half the menu is dedicated to cocktails and beer and have been open for years now. Not a huge deal, but kind of misleading. Makes you wonder if they served to a minor and lost their license? Can't afford it? Who knows.

Anyway, before we could even finish ordering, the older blonde woman taking our order snapped, “Just so you know, we don’t allow dogs in here,” with all the warmth of a DMV worker on a Monday morning. It was weird, considering the place markets itself as dog friendly and we were clearly headed for the outdoor patio. Its not like we were letting our small dog roam the place either. We were holding her the whole time while indoors.

Unfortunately, the food didn’t make up for the vibe. The eggs were undercooked, and no one asked how we wanted them. Especially an inconvenience for my pregnant wife. $50…just for a burrito, a breakfast bowl, a drip coffee, and a smoothie you’d expect at least a decent brunch. But honestly, it wasn’t great.

The whole place felt kind of like a coworking space with overpriced food. Weird informal interviews and wannabe influencers crowed the place. I call places like this Instagram spaces. Looks good online, but in person, lame. Not really what we were going for.

All in all, not worth the money or the attitude. We left hungry, annoyed, and really missing that beer they teased me with...

I appreciate having a local coffee place in town, but I feel like this place was designed by someone who only viewed coffee shops on Pinterest and has never actually visited one.

The menus are a mess, and I’m not talking about what they offer. The pastry menu is way off to the side and not visible when you’re near the register. There are specialty drinks written illegibly on two mirrors mounted 20 feet in the air. There’s another specialty drink menu hiding as a flip card near the register. And yet another menu with food items stored in racks attached below waist level at the register. It took me 3 or 4 visits to discover all of these. Most of the menus are not something you can see until you are at the register with 10 people waiting behind you so it’s not like you have time to really look. I wish they also labeled the pastries in the cabinet so I could clearly see what they are and communicate which one I want to the cashier.

That being said, the drinks I have ordered have mostly been okay, except for the “dark side of the moon” which was gritty due to the charcoal they put in it. The pastries however were quite good the couple times I’ve had them. I would have had them more, but it seems they often run out unless you...