Mountain Perks Espresso Bar & Cafe

Friendly staff, great service, and awesome coffee. The lady that took our order made my wife and me feel super welcomed! We’ll definitely be back.

Great little mom and pop place! The owners were sweet and the food was great! I would def recommend the bagel sandwich. Mhmhmh

After a couple of delicious local beers at Nantahala Brewing, I strolled by this small store front and smelled the familiar aroma of fresh brewed coffee, that pulled me in the store. Great place to grab a quick coffee while walking around town or before a train ride. I opted for the Cuban. Well made and perfectly sweetened. Looks like they had some nice crusty bagels and some quiche. The young man who greeted us told us about the menu and took our order right away. The Cubans only took 2 – 3 minutes. I’m sure when this place gets busy with tourists, people probably get frustrated, but I had a positive experience.

The staff and owners here are incredibly friendly. They have the best coffee in town. Always have a wonderful homemade quiche and soup selections. Cream cheese for their bagel assortment are made in house and they also offer nutritious and delicious wraps and salads. They are a must try when you stop in town for a train ride, a hike, or a fishing trip.

Great food with great flavor… Stopped for some homemade soup after train ride and ended up having soup and sandwich
Come say hi to the Florida owner.
We’ll be back
Thank you

We wanted a quick breakfast before heading into the Smokies to go tubing. I had read reviews on this place and seemed like a quick stop with good food.
The register is over in the corner of the counter, with a large table right in front of it. so that creates a bad flow there.
We placed our orders… I ordered the Angel Bagel (on a asiago bagel) with an egg. My boyfriend had an everything bagel with egg, bacon and the bacon/​chive cream cheese spread. The food was DELICIOUS. (My boyfriend was very glad I talked him into ordering the that cream cheese.) However, it was quite the wait to get it. We also ordered two coffees of their dark roast and found it odd that they weren’t served to us right away, nor did they come out shortly afterwards. Usually drip coffees are given to you immediately. Disappointed with waiting at our table for quite some time, I went back up to the counter and asked one of the women prepping the food — as the cashier had a line — if we could get our coffees while we waited for our food. When our sandwiches did come out, the server asked the table next to us if they were their sandwiches. To which we interjected and claimed the food. We saw this happen quite a bit. The server is not the same person as the cashier and has no idea who ordered what. So they just ask the tables. (What happens if they ask someone who ordered the same item 10 minutes after someone else did? They’re going to give it to the wrong person.) I’m not sure why they aren’t handing out numbers to put on the ends of the tables? It did seem like a nice, local joint (and they are right. they DO serve hippies. they seemed to be the locals there)
Nice place, delicious food, but I’d definitely suggest giving your customers their brewed coffees at the counter and handing out numbers for the food orders.

Hippies Welcome? Apparently they are the only ones. I never write reviews. I simply choose not to patronize poor establishments, but I felt obliged after this woman made my son cry.
I can not recommend this spot to anyone even if some of these reviewers believe the food is amazing. There are plenty of other good places to eat/​drink in Bryson City.
I never got to the food (the bagels are frozen), or the drinks for that matter so I can not speak for the quality of either. I walked out with my 7 year old after sitting at the counter for 10 minutes without so much as a word from the up to 3 people that were behind the counter at any given time. When I finally inquired if I was supposed to order at the register, all I received in return was a yes nod from the back side of the older woman behind the counter (she appeared to be doing all the food work). When I questioned why no one would have pointed this out, after sitting right in front of her, she snapped about the sign by the register (around the corner from where we were) and blurted something else about how busy she was (2:00 pm mind you, and maybe 8 people sitting at various tables). At that response I told my son we were leaving and would not be eating there. The woman then responded with a flip of hand and a «We don’t want your business», «sic. Get out of here». My son was pretty upset by this woman’s rudeness. I couldn’t have agree more with him.
I love capitalism. I love the choice to patronize people that seem to enjoy what they do and take pride in what they produce. These folks have a great location right by the train depot and because of that will probably be able to sustain themselves for quite some time. Some of the reviewers had great things to say about the food and the service.
My take is this: Good for them. Not of me.
For the record, We walked to the Cork & Bean, were greeted cordially, ate bagels, had drinks and tipped handsomely.

One of our main stops when visiting the Bryson City area. The staff is always friendly and quick to recommend site-​seeing places. Highly recommend the peanut butter Carmel frozen espresso. Amazing!

My favorite place in Bryson City for coffee and a light meal. I usually order a coffee and an asiago cheese bagel with cream cheese, for which I have never had any complaints. I’ve gotten quiche (of varying types) on several occasions and thought it flavorful and well-​textured. Their cinnamon rolls are enormous and mouth-​watering too.
Pam runs the joint and commonly seems to be managing everyone’s order single-​handedly. Although it may take a few minutes for your order as a result, she does an excellent job. She is very personable and always goes the extra mile for the customer. The atmosphere of the place is great as well, I would highly recommend stopping here to anybody in the area.

Ordered a latte, got something to the likes of house coffee with milk poured in. Not happy. For a coffee shop I expected a good quality coffee that would beat any chain coffee houses. Hope they recover the quality soon, so the city can keep its old time charm and avoid chain stores coming into town.

My husband and I stopped in one afternoon while we were in bryson city. We ordered a chai tea latte, and an Irish dream latte. We sat at the counter and drank our drinks, and the woman behind the counter talked to us during down time. She was very friendly. We finished our drinks and then ordered the trail fuel bagel to go as we were about to go for a hike. When we told the woman our plans, she went to the back and pulled us some maps of the area, and told us exactly how to get to the area we were looking for. The bagel was awesome. But you can’t go wrong with peanut butter, granola, and honey.

My husband and I visited Mountain Perks over the weekend and we were really disappointed. I ordered a passionfruit Italian soda because it just sounded heavenly and my husband ordered a mocha latte. I’ve ordered Italian sodas from other places and this one was nothing like the others. The soda was flat and had very little flavor. I actually poured it out in a plant outside. My husband’s latte arrived lukewarm (almost cold) and tasted watered down, like it was made with instant coffee. He only took about three sips and couldn’t finish it.
My husband also ordered an «everything» bagel with cream cheese which was okay. It took a really long time for them to bring out, though, and they were not busy that morning. I actually thought they’d forgotten about it.
There was a man and woman working behind the counter (possibly the owners) and both were very friendly so I feel bad for leaving this review. But we basically wasted our money there and just can’t recommend this restaurant to others.

Very friendly service and knowledgeable about coffee! We wanted some coffee to take back to our cabin, and they gave us a few tasters before grinding up the Colombian blend. Unexpectedly solid coffee for a little town. Delicious bagels and cinnamon rolls! Definitely recommend.

This is a 2 part review.
First day we were there, everything was awesome! It was busy, but the lady behind the counter made a point to talk to us during down time. She was so nice and even gave us a newly-​wed discount because we were on our honey-​moon. I had a Nut n Honey– hazelnut drink and the bagel with homemade Bacon-​Scallion cream cheese. So. good. Such a great experience that we came back the next morning to try more things for breakfast!
The 2^nd day, they were also busy, so we waited patiently. There was different staff in and we sat there 20 minutes without so much as a word. And the girl behind the counter looked at us several times, so I know she saw us. A simple «Hey, sorry, I see you. We are really busy. I’ll get to you when I can» would have prevented this review. But she waited on people who walked through the door after us. So, since the breakfast we were going to order would have taken another 15 – 20 minutes (that we would have gladly waited– IF someone would have said anything to us), we walked out. Very disappointed.
I am an understanding and patient person, but it was rude, and it was sad because the first day was so nice!

This place is definitely THE breakfast place to go to in Bryson City. My husband and I are here now on our first anniversary trip and it was excellent. I had the angel bagel and it was the best bagel sandwich I’ve had. It comes with homemade sundried tomato cream cheese, slices of sundried tomato, provolone cheese, and oregano. My husband had a blueberry bagel that he liked very much. Their espresso is very good as well (I had a breve). The only reason it doesn’t get five stars is because it takes quite a while to get your food but the quality completely makes up for it. Just be prepared to wait.

Staff is not very friendly, no one greeted us, we had to find the menus ourselves, and when I asked where we ordered the girl behind the counter casually nodded to one end of the bar. Ordered a latte and they gave me a drink that had milk with a hint of espresso, and si much froth I could choke… and this is a latte. Anyway, it’s a tourist trap so whatever. I’d go somewhere else, like the dulce café nearby.

Really great ambiance, it can only be described as a hipster’s paradise. Lots of seating at the bar area and tables — probably a great place for just hanging out with your laptop.
The reason why I give them 2 stars is because we ordered iced coffee — but instead of having cold coffee, it was basically regularly brewed coffee and they put ice into it. Problem. When you put ice into warm coffee, it melts the ice quickly and it waters the coffee down dramatically. I’m sure their hot coffee options are fine though.
Their menus are easy to read and they offer lots of salad, sandwich, and wrap options. I would come back to try the food since it seems like a lot of people were eating. Just avoid their iced coffee…

Quaint little coffee shop. The one I got was
realllly sweet. It was blended chocolate and mint. If you’re into sweet sweet coffee drinks this is the place. I think I need to try it one more time before I rule it out completely.

I am so very sad to be writing this review. You see, I really really really wanted to love this place. When I walked in, I thought I would, notwithstanding that the croissants were individually wrapped in saran wrap and that they openly acknowledge they are as slow as molasses (uphill in the winter).
I mean, whatever, it’s good coffee I’m after.
Sigh.
I waited with great anticipation and tried not to hover as the waitress made the two espresso drinks I’d ordered. I checked out the CDs by local artists on the wall (and bought one that she recommended that was very good — Frank something).
Then, she retrieved my drinks for me. She’d made them as would have been done in any other coffee house … eek … but then put them in the microwave in their Styrofoam cups to warm them up a bit more.
The sign says «Hippies Welcome.» I’m a super hippy. Styrofoam as a general matter gives me anxiety about cancer. Microwaving crap in Styrofoam? Oh man, like, no way. I paid, left, dumped that crap in the bin and went to the other coffee place down the road.
Think I’m crazy? Google «Styrofoam» and «cancer.»

During our stay in Bryson City, we went to Mountain Perks both mornings to get coffee. This is a quaint little coffee shop with a lot of regulars. The lady who runs it (I didn’t get her name) is really sweet. She managed everyone’s orders singlehandedly and did a pretty good job.
The first morning I had the Almond Joy and my (then) boyfriend had a hot chocolate. The place was really cozy and welcoming. Next morning we went back here. We had gotten engaged the day before and the nice lady noticed! This time I had a regular coffee and my (now) fiancé had a smoothie made with lemonade. We both loved the place, the service and of course, the drinks. My only regret is coming home without the nice lady’s name.