Java Central Café and Roaster — Restaurant in Westerville

Java Central is more than just a good coffee shop. It is an essential part of the local community. You may walk by and see a cute front window and have assumptions about the size but just like a Tardis, Java is bigger on the inside! Literally all the staff are so friendly and will become like family to you if you visit often.

The spaces inside and out are cozy and perfect if you want to have a meeting with someone, sit and work on your laptop, hang out with friends, enjoy nice weather on the brick-walk patio or simply sit and enjoy a meal and a GREAT drink. I travel a lot and never have found a place like this. They roast their own coffee and care about the quality and the farms and people they get their beans from so you’re going to get an actual great tasting cup of coffee that you can feel good about! And it’s tangible how much they care about the community and human rights and making sure everyone feels welcome.

Aside from the good product, safe space, thoughtful atmosphere they create and all the qualities you like to see from a business, Java also supports artists and musicians. You’ll see local art on the walls throughout that rotate to showcase many different artists. It’s all for sale as well as local goodies you’ll find by the registers in the cafe area. Perfect for grabbing a gift or just something for yourself.

And if you come in on a Friday evening, you can enjoy (and ask Ralph to sign up!) the open mic night. If you come by on a Saturday evening, you’ll experience a full intimate show from a local musician or band. I love to come during a music night, buy a drink and a hemp flax cookie and draw on my iPad while listening. It’s my happy place.

My drink of choice: 12oz iced latte with oat milk. I also used to drink (before cutting sugar) an iced latte with honey and lavender. So dreamy.

My husband’s drink of choice is like a traditional 8oz cappuccino with whole milk. Ask for the...

This has been my favorite café in Columbus, but their implementations of the Covid-19 policies have ruined the experience of going there. An employee told me to put on my mask while I had an English muffin in my mouth and was chewing it. Another employee told me to put on my mask while I was sipping on my coffee. I am not an anti-masker and I respectfully wore my mask while entering and at times where I was finished with my coffee. These are reasonable actions in this time of a pandemic, but asking people to put their mask on and off repeatedly while eating or drinking is too much. Truthfully I believe that no restaurants or cafés should be open in order to stop the spread of the virus because anytime we have many people gathered in a building with masks off we are increasing the spread. However, America has done such a poor job at decreasing the spread and we have chosen to let businesses like Java Café remain open. So it is best for this business to either remain closed/be takeout only or loosen up and allow customers to enjoy conversations and their coffee within the building. By choosing to have dine in, the store owners should own the fact that Covid-19 will likely spread, but allow the experience of customers to be satisfactory without employees constantly asking us to put our masks on while we eat and drink.

Besides that, they have a really lovely lounging area and multiple rooms. Those rooms were closed the last time I visited, but hopefully they will...

This is an incredible community space! It is in the heart of Westerville, and it is cute both inside and outside. I was impressed from the start as a few of their fall specials (the ones starred in the picture of the menu) were buy one get one free! Getting 2 iced coffees and a big donut nibbler for $10 was a great deal! While we were waiting for our drinks, we explored what the space has to offer. There is LOTS of seating (there are 2 major rooms in the back with plenty of people both working and hanging out with friends). And there is an outdoor space, both in front and to the side. This would be an incredible place to come and get work done for the day. I was really impressed with the curation of the items around the store. They had books from local artists, a notice board where people can post flyers or business cards, a wall of art from kids, and some sweet merchandise. What impressed me the most was their community pantry. It was a healthily stocked area with clearly delineated needs in case you want to drop something off. Next to that, there's flyers for community resources, games & books, and notices of events happening around Columbus.

I'm sure there were other awesome details I didn't even notice, but after one stop, I can't wait to come back! What an incredible place to have in...