Coffee Talk — Restaurant in Stone Harbor

I recently visited Coffee Talk in Stone Harbor, NJ, drawn in by its cozy, local feel and promising menu. Walking in, I was excited by the extensive list of sandwiches displayed on the board—until I realized none of them had prices. That quickly became an issue when I ordered a scrambled egg, chive, and goat cheese sandwich on a bagel with an iced coffee and was quoted $23.

The breakdown? The sandwich was $15, and the iced coffee was $7—more expensive than Starbucks, which is already considered notoriously overpriced. While I understand small businesses need to make a profit, these prices felt excessive, especially for a grab-and-go breakfast. Feeling taken aback, I switched to a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for $9.25, which still felt steep but more reasonable. If the quality of the products is high, I am less upset about spending more money especially for a small business. But considering how similar the ingredients were to my original order, I don’t see how they can justify doubling the price of a sandwich because it has goat cheese and scrambled egg vs fried egg and cheddar.

As for the food itself? Underwhelming. My jalapeño bagel had no flavor. So, the sandwich was fine but nowhere near the quality that would warrant such high prices, and the coffee was unremarkable and should only cost max $4 in my opinion like literally every other small coffee shop. I only managed to eat half before giving up.

The person taking my order was patient while I worked through my order and service was fast. I love supporting small businesses, but transparency and fair pricing matter—and unfortunately, Coffee Talk left me feeling more taken advantage of than satisfied.

Would I return? Not likely. I hope they reconsider their pricing model because, with a some adjustments, this could be the charming neighborhood café it...

I’m having a coffee here right now. I got an iced latte with hazelnut. It taste okay, I thought it was going to be much better, but that’s okay it’s still good to drink… I wanted a bit of extra milk in my coffee because I love it creamy, but when I walked up and ask very politely, this much older women with short hair and glasses gives me the rudest look, takes my coffee and puts more milk in, but then proceeds to rudely say that there was milk on the side I could have used. I apologized on my part because that was totally my bad, but after this interaction I don’t want to come here again because there was absolutely no need for her to have such a rude interaction with me when I was being nothing but kind the entire time. This place may be very popular, but when met by rude workers, doesn’t make you enjoy your time too well, because I know I didn’t… Maybe talk to her about respecting customers no matter how she may be feeling, etc, because it isn’t hard one single bit to be kind to somebody else. Onto the next coffee shop. OH, and there was no sugar to put in my coffee here when I came, what coffee shop has no sugar??!! This was her if you want avoid a bad interaction because she doesn’t like her job for...

Lovely experience here. Prices are fair compared to other places in the area for similar fair- and some delicious higher-end ingredients here to boot. Breakfast sandwiches are made to order, barista was kind and flexible with my off menu drink order. The person at the register was patient while I described the order.

Beyond those standard coffee shop things, the ambiance was so nice. Walking in you're hit with the place to order and a tall-ish coffee bar. I was a little caught off-guard here as I accidentally walked in to the wrong place first (Fishin Pier Grille- also looked good, but not the chill coffee shop I was going for today). However, moving past the order point along the bar, the space opens up into a private cozy space with couches, tables, booths and longer picnic style seating options. My booth had a deck of cards available and the booth behind me has chess pieces for the mosaic chess board built into the table.

Absolutely will be back here. This was the quiet refuge I was looking for after a long night before with...