Manzil Cafe — Restaurant in South Brunswick

First off, digging the metal/silver interior! There’s a good amount of tables/seating with outlets along the wall and free WiFi, making this an amazing spot to get some work done. Plus, after you order, they’ll bring you your food/drinks to wherever you’re sitting :)

I love that their menu is not jammed pack with so many different items but rather has a few options across each drink/food category.

We didn’t get the chance to try any baked goods or food items but will definitely be back to try them. For drinks, we ordered the passion fruit yuzu tonic, iced cardamom latte, and iced black sesame vanilla matcha.

Passion Fruit Yuzu Tonic: Not overly sweet and you can really taste the passion fruit. On that note, the yuzu flavor is not as apparent since passion fruit is stronger but this was still an amazing drink and I would get it again when I don’t want caffeine but craving something cold.

Iced Cardamom Latte: The cardamom flavor definitely comes through nicely without being overpowering and I love that there’s a pretty good balance in the espresso to milk ratio so it’s not so milky. Personally, I like my lattes not very sweet so this was just a tad too sweet for me but I would still order this again and just ask for less syrup as I LOVE the flavor.

Iced Black Sesame Matcha: Disclaimer - I am not a big matcha drinker as I find it to be too bitter for my liking at most coffee/matcha spots. However, I really enjoyed this one! There was only a very slight bitter taste and thought it was perfectly sweetened, though you can’t really taste the black sesame.

Overall, I really enjoyed this spot and would 1000000% come here again and again...

Almost $10 for one earl grey matcha latte??? They increased the pricing after the grand opening and I’m a bit disappointed because when I make my matcha at home using Japanese ceremonial grade matcha it costs about $4-5 per cup so the markup at a cafe should yield about $6-8 per cup for their profit. But after tax it comes out to $9.60. This is unfortunate and no longer will be coming here. Would rather go to Ooika in Princeton. $9.60 is the price of a chipotle bowl around here and it’s important to understand your customer base.

For long term profits and higher customer retention rate, you should decrease the price back to $8.53 Or less. Ooika in Princeton mills their matcha fresh every single day and they’ve been mentioned in VOGUE magazine for their extraordinary business model and authentic quality, and a cup of their matcha is $8.48 after tax and they give incentives to reduce the price like bring ur own cup and bring ur own milk so the drink comes out to about $5-6 after tax after you use the incentives. Last I checked, Manzil wasn’t mentioned in vogue magazine. Please don’t be greedy and lower the price to a fair value or customers won’t come...

Hole in the wall Coffee Shop you have to try! 10 times better than any Starbucks and here you actually get your moneys worth.

I had the Iced Chai Tea Latte with almond milk (A+ for dairy free) and the Earl Grey with Lavender frosting cake baked fresh that morning. The cake was so good! The Baker did not skimp out on the Earl Grey tea it was so flavorful and smooth in every bite. The lavender frosting was a perfect pairing for the cake together it was both vibrant and smooth.

The Chai tea was made fresh and it was strong authentic Syrian blend that’s a secret recipe. If you want a beverage to get your heart pumping in the morning I’d recommend this. Manzil Cafe really takes care of its customers the barista brought me my drink and cake on a real plate with a metal fork. It’s the little details that really make this a place to stay.

The mood lighting and silver art deco give this spot a perfect place to plug your laptop in to get some work done, a great place for a coffee date, and I’d honestly call it a perfect book club meetup. I will absolutely be coming back and I bought my mom a slice of cake...