The Mermaid Coffee Bar

Coffee is amazing, on of the best coffees I’ve had in this area!!!
A great little coffee shop with excellent service too

I visited this little spot when I was waiting for my boyfriend to finish a job at a clients house in Balboa. I was in the mood to kill sometime and hang out by the water, and this place happened to be within reasonable biking distance. It’s a very small shop with pretty standard coffee and tea options. I was a little bummed that they didn’t have fresh loose teas, rather a huge stock of the brand «Republic of Tea». My problem with this is that there were dozens, and I don’t know if the freshness can be guaranteed for each variety. Regardless, I was pleased to see that they freshly brew each tea — and they can make it iced or hot! I went with an iced tea, and I wish I could remember my choices! It ended up being a really well made cup, so I ended up getting a second iced tea after I had finished the first. The barista was delightful and the option for outside seating was awesome. It was a particularly warm day and the location is pleasantly shady.

Not a very good place to study, or pull out tour laptop and do work. First of all, there are no outlet that work! Utter nonsense! I had to charge my phone up on the ceiling wall outlet which is the only one that does work, but how are you suppose to bring a laptop like that? Plug your cord up on the ceiling? There coffee is alright not that big of a fan. The chair are super uncomfortable, so if you plan on reading on using your laptop your butt will hurt after a while! Plus they have no bathrooms!

We frequent this area to walk at the beach. Earlier this week, I was craving a fruit smoothie during our walk on a hot day and found this place was within walking distance.
I asked the lady at the counter if the smoothies were made with fruit ONLY or if there was any kind of added sugars. We don’t eat refined/​added sugars. She said they were made only with the fruit so I ordered a mango/​strawberry & a water then we were on our way to finish our beach walk. Immediately I tasted added sugar bc no fruit is naturally that sweet. By the second sip I asked the hubby if he thought it had added sugar and he agreed that it did, a lot.
Either the staff has no clue what they are serving or she completely lied to make a $ 5 sale! Regardless it’s horrible business and we won’t be back. To assure you it had added sugar, we both literally passed out upon getting home from the walk due to the sugar crash. It was awful! Yes, we still drank it bc it was hot out but at least we shared otherwise we may not have woken up!!!

Sad place. Bad costumer service and bad coffee. The girl at the register looked like she was upset to be there, not friendly at all. I will not go back.

A classic stop on the peninsula for a cup of coffee before a ride on the ferry. Regulars galore. Staff is friendly and service is quick!

I soft serve ice cream machine didn’t work, so I got a coffee instead. Coffee is basic, which is fine with me. At least this place is next to the water…

Oh my, what a complete let down and waste of money.
We happened to be standing in line for a harbor cruise right outside the Mermaid Coffee Bar, it was about 40 degrees out at 7 PM a day after Christmas. We were freezing our butts off so we decided to get some hot cocoa and coffee to warm us up.
I stood in line for the cruise while my husband went inside to buy the drinks. It took 20 freaking minutes to get a drip coffee and two hot cocoas. He was the 3^rd person in line, and there were really no other people there except for tourists lingering in and out to get some warmth from the cold outside.
Our hot cocoas lacked cocoa and heat. It was like drinking warm milk. My husband’s coffee was watered down and weak. I would’ve our drinks but I was afraid that would take another 20 minutes and we were about to board the boat.
Lesson: Buy your coffee from another mermaid… the Starbucks mermaid.

Stopped by this Cute little café here by the water before whale watching today. One girl working right now.
Great variety of coffee, tea and danishes as well as warm bagels with their homemade cream cheese. I just had the strawberry hot cocoa. delish!

I desperately want to like this place. It’s within walking distance to my place, it’s along the water, and it’s a cute set up. However, the hours it keeps are odd, but understandably so given the area and how dead it is when it’s not tourist season (summer). The upside is that I’ve never had poor customer service. The downside is that the drinks and pastries are not up to my standards. I’ve had the chai latte and their coffee. I often judge locations off of their chai lattes. I didn’t enjoy theirs. What I’m about to say next might sound like a joke, because I’m aware coffee is made with water, but their coffee was watery. I suppose I like my coffee stronger than what they offered. It’s a fun little place to check out though given it’s location and there isn’t really many other places to get coffee in this area.

Only place for a cup while waiting on my buddy to cross over with his bike on the ferry. The kids inside were friendly, but while sitting outside, the conversations and banter became tedious. Maybe its because I’m old. lol

This is the first review I’ve ever written on Unilocal,never really cared to write anything. I just visited this coffee shop while waiting to take a boat to Catalina. The girl working there was nice, but my bagel sucked. I got the «avocado tomato bagel». She toasted it but it was still cold… she spent 5 minutes attempting to cut out avocado and I ended up with 3 little flakes of green. The avocado was not ripe at all it was rock hard. She could’ve just told me they had no good avocado. Frustrating. Rant over (: never eating here again

I wondered in here while waiting for my parasailing appt.
Cute little coffee shop right along the water. They offered quite a bit unique options and all the basics. I tried a carmel ice blended and my friend did a white chocolate ice blended. Both were great.
They also offer sugar free syrups which is nice.
They have a few indoor tables and a bar area, but not a ton of seating. They also share a few outdoor tables with neighboring spots.
Overall a good spot to grab coffee if your in the area.

I was looking for a café near the beach and found this place on Unilocal.I thought I would be getting a view of the beach, and not the port, but that’s o.k. I got the coffee, which was o.k., and I was expecting some indoor space but there wasn’t much. The flip side is that there is free public wi-​fi.

Get the iced coffee! The woman working was super friendly, and helped us pick something out before we went to Catalina. Unlike Starbucks, the iced coffee we ordered was flavorful and not 75% ice. Defintely reccomend!

Stepped in for a bagel sandwich and a coffee before a round of whale watching. Had a yummy bagel sandwich, everything is as fresh as you can get. Service was great. She was very helpful and pleasant.

Went to the Mermaid Coffee Bar before going on the 11am Celebrity Harbor Tour one Thursday at the Fun Zone Boat Company. We were exhausted and both ordered lattes. The place is really nice inside, as it looks like a regular bar. There was only one girl working and the machine she was using was manual, so we waited about 10 minutes for both. TOTALLY worth it. It was the best soy latte I have EVER had! I can see how this place would not work out well for someone in a big hurry, but if you have a moment to enjoy the scenery, then the Mermaid Coffee Bar is the best. Quality sometimes takes longer.

I loved the Island Blend coffee! It was perfect — not too strong in flavor, but lots of wonderful caffeine :-) The bairsta let me sample their house made whipped cream, soo good! Also try the Cream Cheese Cinnamon Roll, yum!
This was the first time I had been there and turns out they just opened doors a couple weeks ago. Cheryl N’s review said the service was slow, but I would chalk it up to this shop being new and working out the kinks. The fact that they were packed tells me others agree that Their Coffee is Great! When I went, the service was good and in a timely manner, and they were very friendly.

I’m giving this place three stars, and that is because my latte was excellent. Other than that, this place had problems.
8:30 Sunday morning — the place is packed with people. The problem was, there was only one person working. She was taking orders and them filling them, which meant the service was extremely slow. Each drink order takes a few minutes to make, and she didn’t have enough time in between orders to start a new pot of coffee, so the person in front of me who ordered plain coffee was told it would be 10 minutes!
There is a case with pastries, etc., and at 8:30, there was not much of a selection. Is this because there was an early run on sweets, or did they just not plan well for a busy Sunday?
I felt really bad for the girl who was working. It must be stressful to work as fast as you can when you have a long line of customers who want their coffee now!

Best service and coffee! This will be a new staple stop every time I’m in balboa!