Arepas Coffee & Bar — Restaurant in Starkville

Came here with friends for brunch before we left Starkville after attending the MSU/Auburn game. We had a nice time.

As expected, pretty much every restaurant in the Cotton District was absolutely packed. Arepas sits a little bit off the main road, but it's easy enough to find. I'm not sure if that's why they were a little less busy than other restaurants, but regardless, we somehow lucked into being able to be seated almost immediately, not counting the time we spent waiting for a waitstaff member to be able to address us.

It's a tiny little restaurant but very cute and modern looking; fun decorations and accents, bright colors, pretty table and glassware. The menu is full of delicious-sounding items. It was hard to pick just a couple of things to try. They also have an extensive selection of specialty coffee drinks.

Service was VERY nice, albeit a little slow. It took them a while to acknowledge us at the hostess booth, and our food and coffee also took a little longer than ideal to be delivered. That being said, they were very busy and either understaffed or overwhelmed or both, so I can understand why that happened.

The four of us ordered a round of tequeños as a starter. It wound up coming out at around the same time as our entrees, but at that point we were so hungry we were happy to have food at all, haha. The portion size felt a little small - only four small sticks - BUT the price was low so it balances out. They were crispy, a little less gooey than your typical cheese stick, and the dipping sauce was delicious.

For our entrees, everyone at our table got some variation of an arepa. Can't remember the specifics of everyone's choices, but all of us were happy! I had the build your own and kept all the toppings except avocado -- a corn arepa with pulled chicken, black beans, plantains, bacon, queso fresco, and Gouda cheese! They forgot to remove the avocado like I asked, but it wasn't a problem for me to take it off myself. It was very tasty and quite filling. My first time trying an arepa -- nice crispy texture on the outside, kind of chewy-gooey on the inside. The fillings were all delicious and obviously high quality. The bacon was especially good.

I also had an iced peppermint chocolate latte. Could've gone for sliiiightly more chocolate flavor, and it also came out really late (we were almost done eating), but all in all I enjoyed it!

The price isn't bad for the location of the restaurant and quality of the food, either.

Overall, I'd absolutely return here to try other tasty sounding dishes (or reorder my same meal -- really...

Was super excited to find this place! Super friendly waiter/server explained the menu and gave good recommendations. We had to try the sampler platter because we just wanted to try everything. Everything on the menu sounds so delicious! Was a little disappointed there were no tostones on the platter as advertised - but still enjoyed a variety of items.

My arepa was good- the plantains were perfect on the "sandwich" ! (Tofu was really odd and spongy). If I ever have the chance to visit again, I would forgo the tofu and ask for extra plantain!

Another person ordered the cachapa - great dish for a cheese lover- ours was topped with brisket and it was SO SO salty, my salt loving mother couldn't eat the brisket. The rest of the dish was so salty I couldn't eat it, BUT the corn pancake was simply terrific! Sweet corn flavor was the saving grace.

Last dish ordered was a corn arepa with the chicken, avocado mixture- it could have easily been the best dish of the day if the chicken had not been so terribly over salted. Great flavors, thick arepa with a perfectly crispy outside and buttery smooth inside.

I would rate this place 3 stars with the possibility of 4 or 5 if I had known to ask for a light hand with salt and for extra plantains. I'm giving it 4 stars because of an unassuming sauce that came with the arepas- a mixture of pureed veggies with vinegar. It was the best tasting item hands down- it isn't even on the menu, but could easily be the star of...

I HONESTLY never leave reviews but I feel inclined to, I went and ate there tonight with my bf and some friends and I honestly wish I could have spoken to someone about the situation and all the mistakes but felt completely defeated by the end of it that we just wanted to leave. Our server did not know what was going on. It took 45 mins for 1 drink. They’re sweet Christmas special drink was rimmed with salt instead of sugar the martinis we were told are made with ice. And our Irish cream was cold. The service was horrible and as a server I was very upset with the constant excuses for the drinks not being right finally we asked for our check only to realize they had charged us 2.50 each for a (Large Party) and there were 4 of us. So then I paid my my $14.57 tab in cash with $20 bill and I received $5 in change. when I asked if they gave change back our waitress responded with no, so i asked if I’d be getting my .43 cents in change back and she responded to me and said she had actually taken that $5 from her own purse bc they have no change, and was forced to just say okay. Overall I was really excited to try it out after they moved to the cotton district and I was left highly...