Van Houtte Coffee

Food is ok, I wasn’t cool with the fact I ordered a schwarma and they tried to charge me an extra 2.50 to add some Chummos into the sandwich that should already have it included. RIP OFF ALERT ! Lady behind counter does not provide good service and never smiled once, avoid !

Very dirty and smelly. It is so in clean it makes me suck to go in there. If there were no stars I would do so.

Well I wanted to go next door to Green Chutney, but they were closed unfortunately. Came in here for lunch for the first time because the chicken pita picture on the window looked kinda good and I was pretty hungry.
Walked in, ordered a chicken kabob sandwich on a pita and a bag of chips. Sat down, waited for my food, and then the lady at the register called me up and handed me my bag of food.
I should have mentioned that during the time I was waiting for the food, I started reading previous Unilocal reviews. I got a little scared, but had already paid and said what the heck.
So I got my food, walked out, and walked about 10 minutes back to my office. Sat at my desk, opened it up, and lo and behold, I have a philly cheesesteak! Being the hungry and busy person that I am, I said screw it. The problem is that in previous reviews, mentions of badly made food made me wary. I can’t say this is the best philly cheesesteak I’ve had. And now halfway through it, I’m afraid of what may happen to my stomach later.
I’ll probably avoid this place in the future, and get my chicken pitas from the food trucks that I can trust and see what is being made.

I just started working in the area about a week ago. The first few days I came with my lunch from home & I would buy soda or water. Both were always hot and when I asked for ice I was given a Dixie sized cup with no lid and a gigantic straw (think Starbucks straws) After a couple days I asked for a cup with a lid & a larger size. I was charged $ 1.00. You say no big deal, but if I’m coming in 2x per day for beverages, I’m spending money, please don’t charge me for frozen water. The 6^th day of employment I decided to buy food from here, a philly cheese steak. It was so bad, I was spitting it out in napkins. I’m not even sure if its really beef, huge rubbery chunks of cooked something. HORRIBLE. This morning I got a plain bagel with scallion cream cheese, I thought there was NO way they could mess that up. WRONG! I will stick to my own food, possibly still beverages with expensive ice. Only because its super convenient, lots of room to sit & relax. I tried. The employees are also super nice, food — horrendous! Oh, they LOVE Celine Dion, its always blasting through the speakers! Save your stomach! Don’t eat here!

food quality is miserable. i had beef platter. the beef was very low qual. most of it was literally pieces of fat. Asked for a side of hummus and was charge $ 2.50 for a small ramekin. crazy upcharge. The hummus was also terrible. I am not sure about their coffee but definitely do not order food here. It was a mistake

I want to like this place. It’s conveniently located, and unlike other coffee shops, the wifi is free and isn’t painfully slow, and I can always find a table by an outlet! This is a dream for me when I need to work remotely.
Sadly, that’s about where my happiness ends. The coffee is okay, but nothing to get excited about. Oddly, their menu includes breakfast items and things like falafel, which seems surprising for a coffee shop. But the food isn’t very good, and sometimes comes with hairs. But the worst is the service. The women who work the counter always seem to be so annoyed to serve me, and the place is empty! Am I really interrupting them so much when I get to the counter to place an order?
I’d be content with the mediocre coffee and the wifi if they were just a little pleasant with the service. But they sure do make it difficult.

Pastries and coffee are decent here but don’t order food. Had the most disgusting shwarma from here. Took forever for them to make it and it tasted like old chewy meat with spices and peanut butter. Do not order that!!!

Absolutely miserable. Waited nearly an hour and a half for «rice to cook,» which was probably a stupid mistake on my part.
They were not so busy, but every customer walking in anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes after me had gotten their food before I had.
I do not recommend this place to anyone.

Wandered in for the coffee. Pleasantly suprised. Got the mocha latte it’s quite delicious. This isn’t a production line but I can’t say it took long by any means, but maybe I’m just not in a rush? The pastry window got me, I honestly stood there for 10 minutes asking about every cake deciding which one to get. Got the chocolate mouse, not disappointed! The bottom is a Oreo cookie layer, then chocolate mousse covered in chocolate. It’s not super soft but still quite delicious. Overall id rather go here than Starbucks.

I was baffled that this coffee-​oriented place seemed to be repositioning as a falafel and shwarma purveyor. I was at the earlier version many years ago when I still worked in JC, and figured it was time to experiment with the mideastern cuisine.
Unfortunately there’s not much reason to return for the falafel. While the patties themselves and the hot sauce were decent, the accompanying salad was mostly lettuce, and the hummus was a bland mix that had less flavor than anything you’d find in the supermarket.

Not a bad experience! We went there because the diner across the street had a wait. Everything was reasonably priced, our food didn’t take too long, and it wasn’t crowded. My boyfriend asked to have his muffin warmed up, and instead they made him a «fresh» one. They were frozen, heat-​up muffins anyway, but it was thoughtful, I guess. Also, the cashier saw we were splitting a water and asked if we wanted two cups with ice. I know these aren’t huge gestures, but they were appreciated.
We sat down and it wasn’t too long before out sandwiches came out. I got the sausage, egg and cheese on a plain bagel and my boyfriend got the Italian omelette (eggs, green peppers, sausage) on a croissant. His was definitely way better, but only because he got it on a croissant. The croissant made the sandwich.
All in all, good for if you’re in a pinch. Not an epic breakfast spot, but it’s cheap and not bad.

This place is super average. I get nostalgic whenever I see it, because it reminds me of the many wonderful weekend trips that I have taken to Montréal with my wife. Van Houtte is all over the place in Quebec. However, whenever I try the JC version, I’m always let down. I have only gotten the straight black iced coffee, or a simple double-​espresso, both of which were not terrible, but the service is devastatingly slow. I’m impatient as is, but as you can see from other Unilocal Reviews, I’m not alone here. It’s not terrible coffee, but it’s just not worth going here for any reason at all…

I’ve been to this place a bunch of times. Mostly because they have tables, outlets, and it is always empty.
The reviews about there being no customers in the place, but your coffee still taking 10 minutes to be made are no exaggeration. My mocha latte always takes 5 minutes, minimum. And it always comes out tasting like hot chocolate. Sometimes, the guy forgets to steam the milk, but I don’t bother to correct him, because I won’t even want the coffee by the time he is done making it.
The have a window with lots of cupcakes and fancy pastries behind it. Don’t be fooled, they are most likely stale. The chocolate mousse is thick and crunchy because of how much sugar is in it. If you want something more «fresh» get their pastries on the counter instead.
The hot meals are hit or miss. Deli meats not fresh, once I had the chicken soup and the smell coming from it was so vile, I couldn’t even have it in front of me. Same goes for their clam chowder. So gross. I did once have a very good egg white and cheese on a croissant.
The reason I come here is to get work done sometimes, where it’s quiet. Also, the woman who seems to be manager is very nice. Although her staff are incompetent, she is professional and kind. Plus one star.

Meh. I have been to better. Place seemed kind of disorganized.

Van Houtte is Italian for «World’s Slowest Coffee Shop» — well that’s what my co-​workers and I say anyway…
There can be literally 0 people in the shop but it takes at least 15 – 30 minutes on average to get an order. And 9 times out of 10, the cashier/​barista doesn’t know how to make the item ordered or the «cook» in the back messes it up.
Do yourself a favor and walk a couple extra blocks to someplace else — you’ll probably save yourself some time.

I’m being a little kind with the 3-​stars here only because Van Houtte usually comes in clutch with a fresh and decent afternoon iced coffee just a block from my office. What I find maddening about this place is those rare times when I want a hot coffee, or frankly, when anyone in the store wants a hot coffee. You see, Van Houtte serves up hot coffee the same way 7-​Eleven, Quick-​Chek, and Wawa does: they hand you an empty cup, and then they send you off to a lineup of several large carafes where you then have to manually pump your own coffee. And it’s not the pumping that’s annoying. It’s the fact that — and I’m just estimating here — oh, about 150 of the 150 times I, or anyone else, have ever stepped up to these carafes — they’re always EMPTY! Ok, maybe not totally empty. You can get an ounce or two out of them, maybe four or five if you are willing to drain the few drops left across all of the carafes. But most of the time you have to complain, and if you’re lucky they have a fresh carafe ready to go, but most other times you have to stand by and watch the «barista» reach for a filter and a bag of coffee, and then you just know you’re never going to get your goddamn cup of coffee without waiting 9 or 10 minutes for the pot to brew. And of course, this all takes place AFTER you have completed your purchase, so you’re basically screwed and just have to wait.
But wait, it gets better.
I’m sure this part has happened to you before as well: you now finally have your coffee, and you’re one of those people who like to put milk or cream in it. You stride up to the fixin’s bar and reach for the first stainless container of milk, attempt to pour it into your coffee only to find one or two sad droplets plunk down into your cup. Alas, this container is empty. Unfortunately all too often at Van Houtte this scenario is repeated for each subsequent dairy container you try, requiring you to once again interrupt the line and ask the one person working the counter to please fetch you some more milk. I sometimes wonder if I’m on a hidden camera TV prank show when I’m here.
Luckily, as I said, I drink iced coffee most of the time. There’s almost always some in stock. And I drink it black. Ice always seems to be readily available, too. For this type of order, Van Houtte manages to deliver. But still, seriously, WTF?

Small coffee shop with 4 tables or so. They have some salads and sandwiches which they will run out of by the afternoon. They were out of everything, the service was super slow, and my lunch consisted of a v8 and a bag of almonds (which cost me $ 4)

Given this place is nominally a *coffee* shop, on that score it fails hands down. The absolute worst, flavorless, watered down (literally), overheated, froth-​lacking cappuccino I’ve ever had the misfortune of paying close to $ 4 for.
Red flags always go up when the «barista» «makes» your coffee by putting a cup under the machine, pressing one button then walking away. Making good coffee is a craft, it cannot be automated.
If you like a decent coffee, avoid this place. Such a shame as the location is great.

On my mission to try as many coffee places in Jersey City as possible I stopped in to get a coffee and maybe a little something something to go with it.
After checking out the available goods I decided to pass and just get a coffee to go.
It was not anything to write home about.
I’m afraid it will be my one and only visit.

The service here is slow, and the coffee is nothing to write home about.
They seem to have some decent desserts, but I have not tried any yet.
Did I mention that the service was slow? And it was just to ring me up, and make change! Most of the coffee is self serve. C’mon now. Get it together.