If YOU opened a cafe... (on a bus)?

rivalius13

Go to The Cake Cafe in Dublin, copy everything they do, you will be rich.

Perhaps add stripper poles too.

padraig71

I'd like to see some Dutch-style 'brown' cafes in Galway, offering an alternative form of inebriation with less antisocial side-effects than the ubiquitous pubs. Organic, locally sourced produce etc. Maybe one to take up with candidates for our votes when they come knocking?

On a more immediately feasible note, wi-fi, newspapers, decent music, interesting decor, friendly staff… Maybe an Irish-language hangout like the old Bananaphoblacht?

inisboffin

rivalius13 wrote: »

Go to The Cake Cafe in Dublin, copy everything they do, you will be rich.

Perhaps add stripper poles too.

Love the cake. Half of it is location tho (hidden courtyard, and headed out of town). You'd fit a pole in that courtyard too

Cake also has them model like metrosexuals for staff!.....and them granny teapots I mentioned (I was actually thinking of Cake).

Comfortable seats are missing from Cake tho.

rivalius13

inisboffin wrote: »

Love the cake. Half of it is location tho (hidden courtyard, and headed out of town). You'd fit a pole in that courtyard too

Cake also has them model like metrosexuals for staff!.....and them granny teapots I mentioned (I was actually thinking of Cake).

Comfortable seats are missing from Cake tho.

The location is great, the sort of place that if you don't know about it you'd never get to it. I get to feel all superior and snobby when I bring friends to it.

Oh yea, the seats are ****e. Also, I'd probably give the whole outside seating a miss in Galway....

A bunch of different granny teapots are a must, no two alike.

howyanow

late opening,friendly staff,competetive pricing.also always dreamed of going to a cafe/restaurant where i could get a small bit of everything at any time depending on what i fancied,an all day buffet thats got everything youd want!magic

beagle001

Its a hard one to call on the wifi,people who usually avail of this tend to just take up the seating for to long and spend very little being my experience of this in several countries.
You would need a dedicated area and lots of free seats if you were to provide this,same goes for the newspaper.
What you want is a fairly quick turnaround of customers at busy times and peole will go elsewhere if they see no free seats.
Service is a must,you need friendly staff with a good sense of humour and attention to detail.
I do think that service standards have gone down hill in Ireland since the end of the 90`s,lots of factors for this but it never hurts to have a smile and make the customer feel welcome.
I think on the food choce you need a varied selection to accomodate everyone and it can be difficult if you stick to one type of food.
The cafe by the spanish arch pura vida is a breath of fresh air,nice staff and cosy with a bit of a rough edge to it my favourite by a long shot.
Also remember that opening up a new business in Ireland is incredibly frustrating and financially/emotionally draining.
Best of luck to you if you do,last note footfall is key.

inisboffin

beagle001 wrote: »

Its a hard one to call on the wifi,people who usually avail of this tend to just take up the seating for to long and spend very little being my experience of this in several countries.
You would need a dedicated area and lots of free seats if you were to provide this,same goes for the newspaper.
.

Good point about the wifi. One option is to have wifi off at lunch. Can be a pain, but people understand that too. Saying 'free wifi' 3-5 or something. It's a tough one. PORT had a dedicated laptop area, but you can't really stop people getting out a computer at a table, so if was an evening cafe, then wifi in downtime may be the key. It's a tough one if your space is limited.

ttoppcat

beagle001 wrote: »

.
The cafe by the spanish arch pura vida is a breath of fresh air,nice staff and cosy with a bit of a rough edge to it my favourite by a long shot.
.

Totally agree with this. Only been in in 2/3 times for a takeaway hot choc but was impressed with staff and feel of place. Only had 2 euro on me on the way to my course one morning and stopped in to see if i could get a hot choc for that. I seen they were 2.50 but i asked the guy would he give me a small one for 2 as its all i had...not a problem at all AND he gave me a full one. Returned because of this (and made sure i gave him the 50 cent i owed him next time i was in even though he didnt remember:)

beagle001

There ya go,
He could of said no and told you to go on your way but instead did the decent thing and you returned because of good service.
Place is by far the best coffee shop to relax in during the day,I know there is better food out there in rival coffee shops but I am so tired of the sterile boring experience the majority of coffee shops in Galway have become.
I hate to use the example of the Arabica coffee houses but I was in the them many times and no banter from the staff and well overpriced.
Galway used to have cool coffee shops like strawberry fields,the old java to name a few and I think the fella in pura vida is bringing this back a bit.
Did a good job of the Christmas decorations around that area and betweent the townhouse and themselves really brightened up a dull corner.

inisboffin

Pura Vida has good staff, coffee, and location, but I wouldn't rate the food unfortunately. That said, great for coffee and cake and I continue to go there and support their strong points.

Seaneh

I really like An Tobar Nua on Dominic Street.
1.90 bottomless coffee is good.
Their cookies and brownies are so good and cheap (brownie is 1.30, cookies are .70c or 3 for 1.80) and they do decent food for the price.

Free wifi too.

Just wish it was open later.

An L shaped couch around a table with power sockets, wifi and a bookshelf full of National Geographic next to it. Regular seating and good music for the rest.
Good coffee and bruschettas, and I'll go there whenever I make it back to Ireland.

TristanPeter

Seaneh wrote: »

I really like An Tobar Nua on Dominic Street.
1.90 bottomless coffee is good.
Their cookies and brownies are so good and cheap (brownie is 1.30, cookies are .70c or 3 for 1.80) and they do decent food for the price.

Free wifi too.

Just wish it was open later.

I went to go in to an Tobar Nua one day but couldn't get in the door with the queue of secondary school students. They must do good student deals because it was wedged and it is near to the Jes which will encourage students to go in. Any other time I have been in there it was nice and friendly. They have a good music policy in the far room. It's to do with providing a low noise area so they keep it to a minimum if they have it on at all. Nice view of the canal and it can be nice and relaxing.

I think the cafe on Shop Street that sells Lavatzza (opposite Griffins...which has a nice cafe in it too now that I mention it) is a great idea. Good coffee with very few overheads I'd say. The coffee is expensive though.

dafunk

inisboffin wrote: »

An excellent coffee will go a long way. Agree about good staff, and get staff with barista knowledge, ones who know the temperature of milk in a latte, the difference in 'pulls' for espresso etc. Sounds a bit poncy but a really well made coffee is really appreciated now that we've been exposed to good ones when we've travelled.

Little things like quirky granny teapots are good too. Giving people the feeling of a 'local' in a cafe.

It took 24 posts until someone said "a decent cup of coffee"!

I'm astonished. Ok, maybe it's not important to people so but I would hav put that at number one, there is actually very few places in Galway where you can get good quality coffee that's also been made properly.

I would ask second the need for somewhere that does decent veggie food. Food for thought is the only place that does veggie that I know of.

In my ideal a cafe would have wireless, decent veggie food and snacks, be comfy (no canteeny feel) , damn good coffee and table service. I hate standing at a counter in a coffee shop for ages and then juggling to carry stuff go a table, I'm a terrible server and want someone else to do it for me.

Galwayps

The budding flower or flowering bud??? cafe near the Crane on William Street West does exclusively vegetarian food and serves great coffee and if the seating arrangements were better it would be nearly perfect.
Very relaxed

TristanPeter

Galwayps wrote: »

The budding flower or flowering bud??? cafe near the Crane on William Street West does exclusively vegetarian food and serves great coffee and if the seating arrangements were better it would be nearly perfect.
Very relaxed

+1
Lovely little place.

inisboffin

Galwayps wrote: »

The budding flower or flowering bud??? cafe near the Crane on William Street West does exclusively vegetarian food and serves great coffee and if the seating arrangements were better it would be nearly perfect.
Very relaxed

I third that hAve only had tea there though so can't speak to the quality of coffee.
Comfy seats and open later and it would SO be a place worth the trek. It's a bit off the beaten track so I tend to forget about it.

muppetkiller

Combine the simple food of Elles Cafe with the Coffee of that Chocolate place on Shop street with the comfort of Neachtains

Oh and no coffee should ever cost more than euro, and re-fills if you're drinking black.

Seaneh

TristanPeter wrote: »

I went to go in to an Tobar Nua one day but couldn't get in the door with the queue of secondary school students. They must do good student deals because it was wedged and it is near to the Jes which will encourage students to go in. Any other time I have been in there it was nice and friendly. They have a good music policy in the far room. It's to do with providing a low noise area so they keep it to a minimum if they have it on at all. Nice view of the canal and it can be nice and relaxing.

I think the cafe on Shop Street that sells Lavatzza (opposite Griffins...which has a nice cafe in it too now that I mention it) is a great idea. Good coffee with very few overheads I'd say. The coffee is expensive though.

Yeah it's kinda mental during lunch but if you go down into the back room it's not an issue, also, they have table service so you don't have to worry about the kids at the counter.

If even the back room is too loud there is an atrium back there too that the kids aren't allow into. Lovely little place to sit and do some study/have a chat.

inisboffin

Seaneh wrote: »

Yeah it's kinda mental during lunch but if you go down into the back room it's not an issue, also, they have table service so you don't have to worry about the kids at the counter.

If even the back room is too loud there is an atrium back there too that the kids aren't allow into. Lovely little place to sit and do some study/have a chat.

A couple of friends used to go in, so I gave it a couple of tries. Food was nice enough, and PACKED with schoolkids on those days too. A little sparse for my liking, but not as clinical as some places. While none of the staff or clientele tried to witness or preach to me directly, I found the religious stuff still present, and a some of the stuff posted on the wall that day put me off enough not to go back in.

Madame Razz

Have decent coffee, and decent deserts. The lack of nice deserts in Galway cafes is shocking. Most cafes only sell those HORRIBLE bought in ones.I've no problem with them not making stuff on site, but at least buy in NICE deserts!!!

Oh, and reasonably priced sandwiches and paninis. Most places in Galway still charge 8euro for a panini, which is a a scandalous price for a sandwich.

A child free area would be good too if the cafe had the space for it; that's maybe not a very PC suggestion, but god dammit I've had far too many lunches ruined by screaming children:p

Robbo

The ability to evict other customers by popular vote.

Seaneh

inisboffin wrote: »

A couple of friends used to go in, so I gave it a couple of tries. Food was nice enough, and PACKED with schoolkids on those days too. A little sparse for my liking, but not as clinical as some places. While none of the staff or clientele tried to witness or preach to me directly, I found the religious stuff still present, and a some of the stuff posted on the wall that day put me off enough not to go back in.

It is a Christian café, so it's hardly surprising that there would Christian books etc laying around. There really isn't a whole lot of it either. Small stand with leaflets beside the till, notice board at the end of the counter and a few books in the window sills in the main room. And like you said, they don't try preach to people in the café, it's just there as a resource.


As an aside. The place is run at a massive loss by the owners.

inisboffin

Seaneh wrote: »

It is a Christian café, so it's hardly surprising that there would Christian books etc laying around. There really isn't a whole lot of it either. Small stand with leaflets beside the till, notice board at the end of the counter and a few books in the window sills in the main room. And like you said, they don't try preach to people in the café, it's just there as a resource.


As an aside. The place is run at a massive loss by the owners.

Yeah, I knew it was Christian affiliated, but tbh, the presence and the literature on show *that day* (dunno about other days) was enough to make me not want to go back.
Didn't feel comfortable essentially supporting a place that promoted (some) political stances I strongly disagree with. Personal choice and all that.
I realise that the place is probably run at a loss, and for that reason, feels less like a coffee shop to me, but more like a Christian resource...with coffee. I stress *feels* as no one was preaching, like I said, and one friend hangs out there a lot, though he is quite involved in the Christian community.

Seaneh

Meh, fair enough points I guess.

Have me wondering who the friend is now...
Odds are I know him.

oneofakind32

A selection of filter coffees with free refills would be nice! And good strong Americanos for when something a bit more is required. Comfy seats too and brownies and a heated smoking area where the contents of a long rolled cigarette are not questioned

Acoshla

Madame Razz wrote: »

Have decent coffee, and decent desserts. The lack of nice desserts in Galway cafes is shocking. Most cafes only sell those HORRIBLE bought in ones.I've no problem with them not making stuff on site, but at least buy in NICE desserts!!!

+1,000,000

I don't drink coffee so desserts are needed to make cups of tea more special, and the crap that is served in most places (and at crazy prices) really annoys me. In one place in the city recently which I think actually like to consider their desserts one of their best features I was charged €5.25 for a stupid huge slice of hard dry chocolate cake, absolute madness.

If you had desserts have good quality stuff in smaller cheaper portions, I'd prefer to pay €3.50-€4 for a small/medium sized portion of quality food than €5+ for a huge portion of something horrible.

Madame Razz

Arabica and Brazcos are top of the list for the hideous (overpriced) bought in desserts; in fact I think that they must source them from the same supplier. Horrible, horrible products. Claire's tearooms in Clarinbridge could teach them all a thing or two about stocking nice dessert items in one's cafe

forumfiend

Ficheall wrote: »

To avoid asking a question which might wander too far off-topic in another thread:

Supposing, hypothetically, I were toying with the idea of opening some sort of cafe/eatery in Galway some time in the future - what would you folks regard as good value for money / worthwhile? Seeing as many of you have so many complaints about prices, poor quality, poor choice, even poor service etc - if you had the opportunity to offer some constructive advice and have some input - is there anything ye'd like to see?

I think the fact that you are taking the trouble to ask people what they would like in a cafe augurs well for one that you might open. Places that try and see things from the customer's point of view in preference to their own are few and far between. I hope you do open something and if you do I hope it's a huge success.

beagle001

This would not be the vacant premises opposite Griffins bakery?
Saw some construction going on there