Epic Cafe

Stopped by based on a few reviews. I wish I had something positive to say. The place was disgusting & looked like it had never been cleaned. To top it off the Rice Krispie treat I bought was clearly way past the stale point, despite the stoner (that’s being nice) chick behind the bar saying how fresh it was. She was as frightening as the rest of the place. Yikes.

I was there today and asked for a coffee shake. SHAKE but what the server made was watery shit which dint even taste good. Worst part was that she dint even offer to make it again. She was like «Oh sorry I don’t know how it turned out to be so watery» and left. That piece of shit cost us $ 5. If she did it out of spite cos we dint add a tip to the already overpriced piece of crap, Epic Café needs to go back to customer 101 again.
It would have made more sense for her to screw up if the place was filled with people and a lot of people were waiting. But it wasn’t. It was empty. Just 4 people behind us, who clearly were in a group and were in the process of deciding what to get. No wonder the place is so empty these days
I wanted to say something to her right there and then but there were like 4 more people at the counter, it was very quite so everyone could hear what I was saying, and just out of respect for someone’s business, I did not create a scene.
I used to go to Epic Café a lot when I was in freshmen year (2010) but clearly they have dropped their standards since then, and hired a bunch of noobs who think tipping is directly related to the quality of service you get. Is it? If it is then correct me.
Oh and of course we trashed the piece of shit shake she gave us.
Come on Epic Café. You have seen much better days. Don’t lose your charm and definitely teach your servers a thing or two about making shakes. Please and Thank you!

Very nice, **BUT**!!!
This was a very cute place, unique atmosphere, and good food — BUT — I ordered a cabbage and red pepper quiche, according to the little sign sitting right atop the quiche. But it had chunks of some kind of mystery meat inside! I had already eaten a few bites and didn’t want to exchange it because they’d just end up throwing it out and I really hate wasting food like that. I’m not such a strict vegetarian (obviously), but please label your food properly — it did not mention meat at all and I wouldn’t have ordered it if it had. I would have given 5 stars if not for that! I should have said something then, but I was in a rush and I figured that’s also what Unilocal is for.

If you frequent Starbucks regularly, don’t bother coming here, and shame on you.
Epic Café is the quintessential Tucson Coffee shop. It is always a really good place to study and get work done, mostly because it is one of the few places open until midnight everyday. The coffee is pretty good, and the one time I tried their Breakfast Burrito was delightful. It is usually pretty busy but I’ve rarely had trouble finding somewhere to sit.
Here’s where the pleasantries end, and the quintessential Tucson bit begins. It is far from the cleanest place, the furniture looks worn down and dirty, the tables are rarely cleaned, the bathrooms are also not that clean and a lot of (for lack of a better word) dirty people like to frequent this place and hang around all day. I know that last bit sounds really terrible and judgmental on my part, but when you can smell a person from the other side of the room… that’s what I’m referring to when I say dirty people. Service ranges from either amazing to not that great. There’s been a few times when the person behind the counter forgot to even make my drink.
All in all though, Epic is a coffee shop with a lot of soul. If you need to study, this is the place to come. If you’re the type of person that would let the few negative aspects to get to you, then you don’t deserve a place like Epic anyways, and should go back to your shitty Starbucks coffee and stay there.

Went here on a whim yesterday for breakfast.
The little lady behind the counter was very sweet and very nice. As it was our first time there, she was very helpful in explaining the menu and was patient with us.
We ordered two breakfast burritos, one with bacon and one with turkey and a strawberry scone.
We took the scone and went to go sit someplace but here, that is hard to do. Most of the folks in here looked as though they had been here for a very long time. Laptops, papers scattered everywhere, dirty dishes, etc. The one table that was available was littered with crumbs and a sticky top. Cleanliness doesn’t seem to be high priority here.
We ate our scone and was thrown by the peanut butter. We thought it was just strawberry. So the pb ruined the scone for us. It would have been so much better without it.
Our burritos came and these get very high praise! Both were very flavorful, full of meat, cheese, potatoes, etc. They were also very filling, carrying us into dinner time.
This place was interesting. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it. It would help if they’d clean up after people and make the place more presentable to those who just want to eat. Most of the clientele looked like they had been there for weeks. Too us, that was a turn off.
The End.

The owner of the business reached out and personally promised that he would make changes. Really great customer service.

Unless you’re a hipster plugged into a laptop, I wouldn’t bother. Coffee was not bad. Bread pudding was incredibly dry and somewhat bland. As my friend said, an «Epic (ally dull)» experience.

I used to frequent this café and wanted to go back recently after reading a recent review on
citing Epic as «a vegan scone-​lovers paradise» and Unilocal reviews that they had lots of vegan items. The only vegan pastries they have there are some cookies. I did get an incredibly good vegan pesto on a bagel however. While there aren’t «a ton» of vegan options, as another reviewer mentioned and as there were in many years past, you can get a small bite to eat and a coffee made vegan, just don’t expect many options

Actually: 0 stars. Unilocal requires a star rating to post reviews, that said – you can easily do much better. i really wanted to like this place. i am transgender; myself and a friend went in here recently for lunch and coffee. a young guy behind the counter; crew-​cut, tall, u of a t– shirt was extremely rude and offensive. he wouldn’t stop staring and smirking at me, he made it very obvious and it made me very uncomfortable. when i asked, «is there a problem?» he wouldn’t answer. when i said, «can i get the hummus platter,» he said, «i don’t know what that is,» and shrugged his shoulders. i made the mistake of calling the, hummus PLATE, a platter, he should have politely corrected me and taken my order. instead he just glared at me. this went on for a couple minutes until i realized that he was going to continue to be a rude asshat. then i walked over to Angelina and asked her for help. she was polite and took care of us but, the damage was done. i am not a complainer and avoid confrontation. my friend, who is a yoga instructor and Vedic teacher, and i decided to leave it alone but, avoid the place in the future as i/​we won’t put up with this disrespect. this guy behind the counter kept it up the whole time. if that wasn’t bad enough, just about the minute we were done with our lunch a different male employee started sweeping the floor; he started the end opposite of us and by the time he was next to our table had a sizeable pile of dust and dirt which he energetically swept up toward us. i don’t think this was intentional, the kid was obviously stoned! dust filled the air at our table landing on the hummus «PLATE.» thankfully, we had already finished our lunch. a customer shouldn’t have to say anything about these things to the manager because these things should NEVER happen. when i asked how i can communicate with the owners i was given an email to contact them but, it’s pointless now. i had just days before met the female half of the couple who own the place, we are both from the seattle area originally; she seemed very nice, sweet even. i hope the owners will put some energy into being more hands on about how this place is run. some of their employees are driving people away, the owners probably don’t want that, they want to run a succesful business. that starts with good customer care – respect. i wonder who does the hiring and firing here, they need to make some changes. i have talked to several locals who have echoed my experience. especially, if you are in the LGBT community, i strongly suggest that you stay away from, the epic café. also, who tf, still serves coffee in styrofoam? well, that would be the «epic café.» you will be warmly invited and appreciated at both, Revolutionary Grounds, and, Sparkroot Coffee, both within blocks and both of these will give you better coffee, and excellent treats and service. friends of mine are waiting for a place with a kitchen to close on 4^th ave so they can open a restaraunt. they won’t be waiting long if major changes don’t take place here soon.
family comes to visit me from nm and phoenix often, we will not ever go here again. i’m grateful that i have a witness who was with me that day. as for myself, i have blacklisted this dump and ABSOLUTELY WILL NEVER return. you can do MUCH better…
UPDATE 3÷01÷2016
An, Alex H; presumably, either an owner or, manager, asked for a chance to rectify the negative experience I had at, epic café. I was thinking I might do this until I read Alex’s description of the employee at fault and realized that Alex clearly is describing a person other than the one who I complained about. Specifically, the age of the person alone, eliminates the athletic, adult male who had waited on me. I appreciate the response, and the desire to do better; however, we are alluding to two different people. Best Wishes.

I went to Epic Café for lunch with my family and was served by Skyler. Skyler was very helpful and polite. She not only took our order, but made the food, which was great. Good job Skyler!

Really cool looking place.
Came here for breakfast ordered two breakfast burritos one for my friend and one for me yay but they effed up our order we still ate it anyways because we were hungry and they would have taken long but that was one of the issues another was that the employees didn’t seen happy I didn’t get a good vibe wish they smiled or said welcome to our café they just looked tired I get it it’s 8am but common act at least a little happy.
This is our first time in Arizona and the first place we stopped at for breakfast so it would have been nice for this place to be woahhh but it was meh due to them messing up both of our orders and the energy of the employees but the three stars is for the place not being so busy and the food coming out to us in a timely manner also for the location of the place and for the artsy vibe I loved how it looked inside and out :) look forward to coming here in the future and perhaps leaving with a great smiling face if you’re ever in Tucson you should try this place :) tootles

Awesome place! Got the iced coffee mocha and a slice of peanut butter chocolate cake! Really good stuff :). Will definitely be back!

I had high hopes for this place, but unless all you want is coffee, it’s far less than epic. They advertise desserts and much more, but nothing they serve is that special. Service was slow. Dog hair was all over the seating. Dirty old silverware was unappealing and led me to use their flimsy pastic which does not hold up to the ice cream. It tasted blah like some generic grocery store brand. In all it was a dirty, hippy dippy, unkept, place with very misleading advertising. The owner needs to seriously look at some cleanup, replacement of utensils, and step up the food and service to even come close to matching how it’s advertised, and look at things from a customer’s point of view. I was embarrassed to have suggested Epic Café to my group. It’s was a sad and disappointing experience. I’ll never go again.

Epic Café gets an easy four stars because its the only place I’ve been able to get a coffee after 11pm on 4^th. After walking to the end of downtown, and up to University, we realized that we completely missed Epic Café and promptly stopped in. Surprisingly (at the time) they were open, still making coffee, and there were plenty of other people in the shop.
As for the coffee itself, I realize I’m making my assumptions based on what is probably half-​day old coffee so I’ll go easy, its solid. Even after what might have been ⁸⁄₁₂ hours of sitting, the cold toddy was still delicious. I don’t know if I’d call it the best I’ve ever had but certainly more than acceptable for late at night. I also had a shot of espresso which was delicious, perfectly well made.
Epic Café has a great assortment of seating arrangements, and is pretty quiet. I assume it’d be great for studying or reading a book. Overall its a your pretty average, hip little coffee shop except for the fact that they stay open waay later than all the others which I’m very appreciative of.
I’ll be dropping in at reasonable hours sometime to get a better feel for what everything is like when its still fresh.

Great little spot for breakfast, enjoyed the breakfast burrito with potatoes inside, should have added the bacon. My cappuccino was made correctly. Locals are eating here and you can see why.

Bad Coffee: Not Epic
Too-​sweet Muffins: Not Epic
Cappuccino Foam that looked like a bubble bath: Not Epic
Baristas/​employees who seemed to never have made any espresso drinks before: Not Epic
Very Strange Music: Not Epic

The coffee is to die for! This is the farthest thing from Starbucks you can get, in all the best ways! They are very veg & vegan friendly too! Such a unique atmosphere! The staff is very knowledgeable about coffee.
This is a great place to hang out on those awkward 1^st dates or studying for midterms. I love coming to read and have a treat on my child free days.
The décor is constantly changing with fresh local art and the amount of indoor plants takes you to a mini oasis in Tucson.

This place used to be ok when I was in college but seems to have gone down hill…
–unfriendly staff
–terrible, chemical tasting, prickly pear lemonade
-‘lemon meringue cake’, served rudely and slowly missing half the meringue cause it was haphazardly dished and very dry/​old tasting
–I’ve seen cleaner port-​o-​potties than their bathroom
Hard to support local businesses when they don’t maintain quality or cleanliness
SKIP THE TRIP

I’m an Epic regular. It’s still got the vibe of pre-​revitalization 4^th Ave/​downtown– a little bit grimy, lotsa locals, and mediocre coffee.
The breakfast burrito is amazing, and I also love that they have different muffins and scones every day. Always tasty. :)
It’s a decent place to hang out and work, lots of space. The wi-​fi is kind of sketchy, but it usually works alright.
I do wish they would clean the furniture though. Seriously, some of the couches look pretty nasty.
The staff are mostly pretty nice. Once in awhile you’ll get somebody who doesn’t seem to know what’s going on, but the folks who are usually there are cool.

The guy at the front was pretty disrespectful in letting us know the kitchen was closed already…
Instead of verbally telling us… he points to the sign he was standing in front of (which is obviously blocking our view of it anyway) as if we were unintelligent and incapable of understanding a kitchen close time.
He then proceeds to «explain» to me as if I was a 5 year old that the kitchen was closed.
No thanks.