Caffebene

This has become my go to spot to study and enjoy some green tea. Its a small yet very comfortable and cozy area for you to come to and get some work done. They also have some great dessert options. I haven’t tried them all however, I have tried their honey bread and it is amazing! They have a variety of baked goods and a variety of teas and coffees that you can enjoy hot or cold. They have free wifi so you can even bring your laptop and just relax here on a day off. It doesn’t tend to get crowded like starbucks so I much rather prefer coming here.

Awsome place! Looks very clean, the staff is very friendly and quick. The place to go for great coffee and amazing service!!!

This is a decent coffee place for a quick stop. I picked up an iced coffee and a caramel latte. They tasted good. You can add your own cream and sugar to the side. They sell desserts, some made in-​house and some outsourced. The prices are ok. It has the feeling of a cute Asian café.
There are places to sit and relax, but it doesn’t have the cozy vibe of a Starbucks.

The revelet cake is way too sweet. I can barely taste anything else other than sugar. The cake seems to be not fresh since it’s so tough

Coffee’s not that good, and I love coffee. Wifi always sucks here so I stopped paying for overpriced food and drinks for nonexistent wifi.
I used to come a lot but their service and quality deteriorated. Such a shame. Now you get odd ppl hanging out in the back and staring at ppl.

The mojitos are really good! I I really like their honey bread, it is really big. The surface is really crispy, sweet enough and i can smell the honey. Also the bread inside is very soft!

Came here for a special friend to surprise him. I didn’t expect such luxurious presentation for the food I ordered. The Strawberry and Cheese Honey Bread was gorgeous. The Taro tea is very good too. It’s sweet enough, just the way I like it. The staffs are all smiling and very welcoming. The service was fast, attentive and feels very homey. I’d strongly recommend coming here. Can’t wait to bring some more friends over. Overall, it was a very fantastic experience. ^_^.

Meh. Staff isn’t rude, but isn’t really friendly either. The coffee is decent, I’m no coffee connusieur though. and I can never spell that word even with autocorrect.
The atmosphere is all right in the back, but not as comfy as Vanilla Sky for instance.
Easy location by Steinway R though.

The extra star is only because: It’s open late, and the café itself is very cute, relaxing, and spacious.
But what good is a late night, comfortable café when the employees are the most impersonal people I’ve ever come across, and the edibles on their menu are always lackluster?
I’ve been here maybe four times since it opened. All four times I’ve been dissapointed.
The employees never say hi, never smile, are always talking and laughing with each other while they have customers, and seem to have no idea what’s going on. I’m sure they’re nice kids, but have they had proper hospitality or barista training?!
I’m writing this review while sitting in the actual location, because I bought a Nutella and pistachio macaron and a lightly sweetened lemonade iced tea.
For the macaron: cookie part was bland, but the Nutella was great. But it’s Nutella, how can anyone mess that up? It was, to my surprise, not stale. Macarons usually are, since they go bad so fast. +1 for that. The pistachio was also fresh, but so sweet I gagged three times after eating it. It tasted like a green marshmallow peep.
The iced tea, though?! I came in due to dehydration and was desperately craving an ice cold beverage. It was beyond BITTER. And yes I know it’s probably fresh unsweetened iced tea and lemonade, but Arnold Palmer’s are one hof my favorite drinks wether sweetened or unsweetened, and while sometimes strong, it is never bitter. It taste like they poured bleach into my cup. Absolutely horrible.
Last time I got the hot drink with the cold gelato inside (I forgot the name) and they gave me a COLD drink with cold gelato inside, after 5 minutes of back and fourth between two employees trying to figure out how the drink is made. I had to help them out and they still got it wrong. It was gross.
White hot chocolate? It was literally hot milk. I had to ask them to put vanilla flavoring inside because I told them it lacked flavor. My dark hot chocolate? Tasted like swiss miss with water.
I know it’s not Caffe Benne itself, because I’ve been to the one in Times Square and loved it, and I hear great things about the one on Ditmars.
It’s the actual employees. They NEED to be retrained.
I should have taken the position to work here when I had the chance.
To the owner: You have a great place here, but the drinks are 80% of the business! If your employees don’t know how to properly make something or have customer service skills, teach them!
I will try again in about a month, and if the service has gotten better, I will update this review.

Checked out this place because my cousin recommended it.
I ordered their regular waffle, shrimp sandwich, cookie, coke and a small americano. Total came up to almost $ 21. I was shocked to see that the waffle was premade. Even more shocked to see the small size. I’m just saying for a price tag of $ 4.75 I was expecting that the waffle would be a bit bigger. Then we tasted it and it was BAD! I mean really BAD! It tasted like raw dough sprinkled with syrup. I should just stick with Waffles and Dinges next time.
As far as the shrimp sandwich, it was as bad as the waffle. It had tiny (looked like frozen shrimp) shrimp cooked in microwave oven topped with lots of spinach and some dressing. My daughter wanted to throw up. The price was not cheap either cos it was almost $ 8. I honestly regret coming here. I felt robbed. I work hard and I do not like wasting money. I should have listened to my daughter when she warned me that the place isn’t good (since there is a chain close to her school in Ditmars). I will never ever come here again.
Overall rating:
Staff — 1 (no hi or hello, no smile either)
Ambiance — 3 (it is cute but the seats and tables are super tiny)
Food — –5!

They cold brew their iced coffee which is awesome.
They charge you $.50 for almond milk, not awesome.
I have been going there for over a month at least 3 times a week & nobody has asked my name or treated me like a VIP yet… makes my princess self unhappy.
Solid coffee hot or cold. Avoid their espresso it’s really awful.

I’m a big coffee fan and I didn’t like their cappuccino. The espresso they used is too acidic for me and maybe the extraction time more than 18 seconds, making it bitter and burnt. I had whole milk and it was not creamy enough to make it taste rich.
What I liked — spacious with lots of tables. I love the chill vibe. They also have a bakery but I did try any of their pastries.

I’ve spent a lot more time here lately, using it as a great spot to get work done. While the food leaves much to be desired still, this shop gets accolades for its reliable wifi, ample outlets and comfy seating. If you need a cup of coffee and great working environment, this fits the bill.

Was hungry walking around in the area. Walked in not knowing this was a Korean Franchise! Great atmosphere. Clean. Comfortable ambience.
Extraordinary service! They will actually bring the food to your table. They have a great selection of books lying around for people to read. PERFECT CAFE atmosphere.

Inclined to give them 4 stars based on the décor/​ambiance (very conducive for doing work or studying), spaciousness, and the hours (open until 11pm every night! except Sundays).
I’m a bit hesitant to try any of their baked goods or specialty drinks — I’ve had their interesting and very filling misugaru latte, which has an oaty/​nutty flavor to it, at their Times Square location. It’s not something I would get just to sip on because it’s not a light drink. It’s super dense and could be a meal.
Their pastries and desserts seem very standardized for an Asian style bakery, I feel as though I can get better versions of them in Flushing or Chinatown.
However, I don’t want them to close this location down because there are a lot of pluses to having a great late-​night space open on Steinway. I’ll have to hunt for something more substantial to order here. To be continued.

This place is really beautiful inside. The back room area is super cosy and when I went it was packed. There are a bunch of people camping out and doing work, so find a spot quick!
The iced coffee I had was solid, but nothing spectacular. I love all of the choices in drinks and food. They have really everything you could want from a coffee shop. There are help-​yourself type bakery options up front and they can make sandwiches behind the counter. There are premade drinks, coffee, tea, boba, and even more drinks I couldn’t even digest because the menu was so large.
I would come back here to hang out or do work, but the drinks can be a little more pricey than pretty much anywhere on Steinway. It would be worth it for the space and I’ll be back to try the food.
Nice work bringing this cute, kind-​of-​chain to Steinway.

The people were nice enough and the décor is attractive. Unfortunately for their customers they’re supposed to be good at food too.
After sending back a rock hard carrot cake, my friends and I settled on mango cheesecake, cookie gelato and a berry crème brûlée.
The cheesecake tasted like a cheap fruit cup on top of dry old ricotta cheese and had a curious film over it. The gelato tasted like canned frosting but aside from that it was actually gritty. It felt like cheap ice cream that had had fine sand poured into it. All terrible but the worst was the berry crème brûlée. First of all there was no «brûlée». The crème seemed as if it had curdled and was topped with a berry sauce that tasted just like Robitussin. And this was the server’s recommendation!
They need a top to bottom overhaul of their food. Don’t be fooled by the look.

My new favorite coffee shop on Steinway. Very nice and attentive staff, good coffee, dessert and chai tea! They also have bubble tea! A bit pricey for a coffee $ 5 – 6, Dunkin donuts is a couple of doors down but not the same quality as this place. They have free wifi and plenty of tables to sit if you need to work or study. I sometimes work from home and when I need a break, it’s nice to bring my laptop here, get a coffee or macaroons for a nice daily treat!

On a quest to go to all Caffébene’s…at least the ones nearby. But my journey might be cut short… if the rest of their menu is as bland and basic as the banana & walnut honey bread.
You would’ve thought, «hey, that looks like french toast or something… looks good” – yeah it LOOKS good, but looks can be deceiving. :| It’s as basic tasting as it turns out to be. Not worth it. …Maybe if it weren’t almost $ 9, maybe if it were like, $ 3 or $ 4? It’s pretty basic, I’m sorry.
Their pizza looking things are pretty good, out of the three I usually see there the mushroom is my favorite.
My second favorite is the ham & egg bread you can find by all the baked goods (they didn’t have this in the summer time). You take a bite into that sweet croissant bread, taste the ham, the cheese, and oh what’s that? It’s half of a boiled egg. It was actually a nice surprise. They’re pretty darn good.
The caramel macchiato is pretty good, and the spanish coffee isn’t half bad.
This particular location has a buy one get one free (after 6pm) thing for all bakery items. Wish the other Caffébene shops had the same.
Minus one star because some of their items are pretty basic yet pricey. Like that piece of toasted bread with banana.
I’d take off half a star for not having wraps like the Sunnyside location has. But eh, the sandwiches aren’t so bad.
**…I’d also take off another star because of all the dang flies flying around earlier the past few months. It’s getting colder so I don’t see flies. …c’mon guys, everytime a fly lands on something, it poops! I don’t want fly poop on my mushroom pizza thing!

The sole purpose of this review is to inform people of the Banana & Walnut Honey Bread.
You might walk into this Caffébene and look at the pretty pictures of the honey bread, and think to yourself, gee I feel like eating a giant piece of bread with a small amount of toppings! Well look no more.
It’s white bread.
A brick of white bread.
At least it was toasted.
Minus 1 star for the giant piece of toasted bread.
4 stars cause their little pizza looking things are the best.
And the macchiato is good.
For the most part, their sandwiches aren’t bad.