Tra Amici Cafe & Bar

I’ll keep it short and sweet.
Go for the espressos, stay for the atmosphere and free wi-​fi. The place is the size of your grandma’s basement, but then again, for a quaint, small Italian café, what more could you expect. The people who work here are typically nice, and there even used to be a younger guy who would have his tunes playing if you got there early enough. Not a lot of people visit (aside from the ransoms who visit from Fresh Start on their break), but that leaves the atmosphere nice and comfy. And, the coffee, paninis, donuts, and all that jazz taste nice and the price is right.
Also, despite the fact that I mentioned its small and quaintness, I’m happy to announce that hipsters very seldom visit.

I love a few things in life. Coffee, Italian food, and places off the beaten track. OK, so McKernan isn’t so «off the beaten track,» but it’s far enough away from Whyte Avenue and far enough into the residential streets of McK that it feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle of urban Edmonton.
The cheese pizza here is yummy, and the coffee and lattes are always brewing. The owner was delightful, and my date and I spent an afternoon lounging out in the sun right out front. The perfect spot to have a quiet summer coffee with a spouse or group of friends. Plus, gelato!
It’s not the flashiest of places, but it’s definitely worth a try.

A small Italian café located in the Belgravia area, this is under the same ownership as the Tra Amici that used to be downtown next to the Italian Centre. I have to correct Jennifer — this second location of Tra Amici already existed when the downtown one was still in existence.
I thought the downtown location was bigger, more spacious, and with more of an atmosphere of a café rather than a bar. This Tra Amici is more of a bar than a café. There is a large selection of coffee drinks which are supposed to be excellent (I was there for an evening social networking event and I try not to drink coffee in the evening) as well as bottled beers and other spirits.
I had an Orangina and a veggie burger panini sandwich. The paninis are made fresh, and as a result my need to have a cheese-​free sandwich was honoured. The result, however, was very average — a mushroom patty with mustard, pickles, and tomato in grilled bread. The tomatoes made the underside of the crispy bread soggy and the overall presentation was not great. I saw some of the other people at the event get lasagna, one of the daily specials, and it looked pretty standard. I didn’t hear any complaints about it.
The place is cash only, so there is an ATM on site, and a television tuned to sports. There is also free wifi, which I appreciated (and so did everyone else since this was a Twitter meet up).
Tra Amici is a good place to go for coffee if you happen to be in the area, but it is certainly not a destination.

Just off the #7 ETS bus line on 76 ave and 112 st, Tra Amici is a small Italian café that offers a small variety of foods and coffee, including pizzas, paninis, a full espresso bar, and gelato. I never tried the Gelato, being that the weather was really not favorable for eating it. Their pizza and coffees are excellent.
There is free wifi, so I spent plenty of time at Tra Amici doing work. They have a few TVs and usually play music.
Since it’s a small place, it gets a bit drafty whenever someone goes in or out. The owner seems a little bit disinterested at times, but she’s still nice. The people she has working there when she’s not around seem very helpful and friendly for the most part.
It’s a nice place to hang out, and a good place to get a coffee, but definitely not as cozy as someplace like Remedy or Hulbert’s. Their chairs are not really that comfortable, and the 4 comfy chairs they have let you sink too far into them to make the tables useful. Recommended!

This little Italian café used to be located downtown on the same block at the Italian Bakery, but when their lease came up for renewal, it wasnât granted because the Italian Bakery wanted to expand next door. So Tra Amici needed to find a new home, and this quieter neighbourhood of McKernan is a nice fit for it.
Itâs open all day every day and they have prices that are surprising. I had breakfast — an egger and cheese on fresh toasted italian bread and it was $ 2.75! My Americano was delicious and under $ 2. You can also get peanut butter and nutella sandwiches here and thereâs homemade pizza and paninis for under $ 5 as well. Tra Amici is a painted a golden colour and sunlight poured in through an oval window the day I was there. Family Feud was playing on the TV and the lady working there was relaxing at a table doing a Suduko. She says it gets busier on the weekend and at lunch time.
They have a liquor license but itâs more the Italian gentleman who comes for a glass of vino mid-​afternoon than hard core drinkers who get smashed like itâs a Saturday night on Whyte Ave. They close at 7 or 8 p.m. I will definitely be back here. They have free wireless Internet and an ATM machine on site because they only take cash. Iâll have to come back and try that pizza. Itâs still on my mind…

Somehow I once spent a year living half a block down the street from this little Italian café and never realised it existed till this summer, when it became a halfway pit-​stop during long cross-​city treks.
Tra Amici is licensed, serves food items like panini and various pastries and usually has the TV tuned to a soccer match, but the only thing I can vouch for is their perfect takeaway cappuccino — topped with thick, luxurious, velvety foam and a sprinkle of cocoa on top. A large — the size of a Starbucks short cup– seems pricey at $ 3.50, but it’s worth every penny.