Amélia Café

Great coffee. Sweets at reasonable prices. DON’T come at opening time. The service can be a bit changeable. As in an hour late wandering in looking like in her PJs and acing as though doing you a favor making coffee. Other times the help is outstanding.
Rich simple and quiet atmosphere. I like taking a break from the office here with my laptop and getting some thought done. Then sitting back and listening to the great music and people watching. The crepes are also spot-​on late int he afternoon if I’ve missed lunch… they fill that spot until dinner.
Not tried the gelato, but the cheesecakes and churros in the morning yum.

The desserts are ok – as other reviewers have mentioned, they look a lot better than they taste. They are often out of gelato, or just put it away early. In fact, if you come here a half hour or so before closing they will already essentially be closed. They’ll have packed up the gelato 9 times outta 10 and refuse to brew fresh coffee or tea. They’ll hurriedly serve desserts so that they get mashed or fall over on their plates. They’ll start nagging you 10 – 15 minutes before closing that you have to finish and leave. This happened not once, not twice, but 4 – 5 times. So I just stopped going.
So yeah, not a great café, and as you can probably tell, serious probs with the «service.» Try Beyu, Francesca’s, or even the Whole foods dessert case – you’re sure to have a better experience.

This is the perfect café for a quick and cheap coffee or late. Crepes and pastries are constantly being brought into the store, which are baked at a different location. Tons of seating inside or outside patio to enjoy brightleaf square.

Had a nutella and a dulce de leche crêpe and it was delicious. Would try it again.

Gelato!!! Gelato??? It was all GONE (ALL) I’m assuming for the Day? I’m Guessing they were getting ready to stop Business for the day (it was almost 3:30 pm)??? Is that early! maybe some kind of Emergency or Special Circumstances (like someone not coming in for there shift to relieve the worker there??? Anyway, my DudeFriend and I looked around, there was one Guy (staff) on the Phone the whole time maybe speaking with his boss??? He never looked up to acknowledge us, which was OK, I’m cool with being ignored, or overlooked and do not mind looking around until the worker (s) are able to say, something, friendly or Rude (Rude can be sooooo entertaining) as long as the Food/​Gelato… Is Very Yummy! The Napoleon looked GREAT! As did many of the Baked goods nicely on display! Hopefully I have a Napoleon Wars Unilocal list!
This is a very Nice looking place with Lots of Potential! In Cool Brightleaf Square!
We will be back to solve this mystery and see how many stars they wind up getting from Rod0 and the other Unilocalers!

Great location, coffee is not-​great but fine (unlimited refills), relaxed atmosphere. I came here on a weekday afternoon to do some studying and it was perfect. They get all their fresh baked goods from an Italian restaurant down the street and their baked items are reasonably priced.

Last two times I have come the coffee was cold and ran out before my wife and I filled our cups. The deserts are beautiful but lacking on taste. I really prefer Francesca’s.

Came on a Saturday afternoon, pretty quiet. While the other people in my party didn’t care for the desserts they ordered, I can only speak to the visual appeal of the desserts behind the glass… which was strong. Also, I got a flavored latte with sugar-​free Kahlua flavoring (right?!). It could’ve been the fact that I indeed ordered a sugar-​free Kahlua latte, but it wasn’t the most enjoyable latte I’ve ever had. If I ever have room at the end of a dinner in Brightleaf, I’ll consider going back to try out the desserts. Alternately, I could try gelato from Piazza Italia. Decisions…

One visit was one too many
Visit: December 1
A group of friends met at Amelia’s to fuel up on caffeine and sugar before a big local shopping spree around Brightleaf Square on Saturday afternoon. This was my first time visiting Amelia’s and it will be my last time. Amelia’s has no redeeming qualities except for it’s a cute shop in a primo spot in Brightleaf located a few doors down from Hamilton Hill and Vert & Voque. I ordered a small skinny latte. It looked like light brown muddy water and it didn’t taste much better. The latte was so flavorless and bland it didn’t seem like it had any coffee added to the mix. Also it lacked even a thin layer of frothy milk on top. A friend also had a latte and she was unsatisfied with hers too. My husband ordered an Americano and it tasted like weak coffee from mild roast low quality beans. I can’t pinpoint the problem… poor quality beans, barista, or espresso machine. But it’s not good. And another strike against this shop, the coffee drinks were served in Styrofoam cups. Yuck! I prefer waxed coated paper cups to Styrofoam any day. However, they did have a collection can just for the cups. My friend selected a piece of cheesecake with blueberry topping. The topping looked like it came from a can. She only had a few bites before throwing it away. My husband had a slice of Dulce Leche cheesecake, vanilla cheesecake with a layer of caramel. I’m a big cheesecake fan (our wedding cake was a cheesecake) so I tried a bite of his dessert and decided he didn’t need to share anymore with me. The caramel was the right color, a nice light golden brown but it only tasted sweet and not truly like caramel and it was gooey… the ickey gooey type, not the yummy gooey. My husband said it wasn’t good but not bad enough to throw away eating it all. From my one experience at Amelia’s, I have no desire to visit again.

I am uppin’ a star for Amelia’s today because it was a lot better than previous experiences. The girl working this afternoon was very nice and helpful (not like the slightly younger ones that are awkward). She made me a good crêpe very quick. I wanted a can coke and there were none left in the fridge — so she went in Chama’s and got me a coke with ice to go, yay, good service!
Before when I tried other things here– they tasted kinda bland, not as good as they look. Well, a few weeks ago, I had their chocolate truffle. it’s like an extremely moist cake. It was to die for. Like lick the to go box good! :)
So you’ve redeemed yourself for me for now Amelias…

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to write a review about this place. I have been here multiple times — from the day it open until about a month ago. Every time I go I think the service will get better, every time I go it’s sucked.
The last time I went was on a quiet, 8pm-​ish night after having some great Thai food over at Mt. Fuji (also, unusual). We both really wanted some gelato and I FORGOT that the Italian Place on the corner has gelato (with MUCH better service) so we went to Amelia’s. Even in the back of my mind I was thinking, «Ugh, this is a dumb idea.»
So we walk in and all the gelato is gone. Apparently the two girls working were putting it out after cleaning the area. Well that’s good, I’m glad they like to keep things clean. Well, after we walk in so do about 3 – 4 more couples. There’s probably 1 – 2 parties sitting, enjoying coffee & desserts in the place too. So… again…not busy to start with but there was a surge of customers all at once.
Well, what do the two girls do who are cleaning the gelato case? They continue to clean the gelato case. One of the girls stopped for a moment to tell us if we can wait the gelato will be out again in about 20 – 30 minutes. Well, I didn’t want to wait. My friend and I craved sugar now. Plus, she wanted a latte. We told them this. She said we were welcome to get anything else, so we browsed.
I saw this fabulous dessert called «Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse.» I asked — is that cake or mousse? She said mousse, almost with an attitude that was trying to say, «Can’t you read the card? It says mousse, idiot.» So, I ordered that. I like mousse. I like chocolate & peanut butter. I sat down and went to go get a glass of water. The water pitcher was empty. Oh well, I went to ask for some more. That’s when things got disturbing…
My friend stood at the counter for — I am not exaggerating — 10 minutes waiting to be acknowledged by the two girls cleaning the gelatto area. She wanted coffee. I gave up on wanting water and just sat staring at my Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse while I waited for her. Eventually I gave up with being able to wait so I broke into it. Guess what? It was cake. I spend nearly $ 5 on something I can’t eat because some girl behind the counter has an attitude. I grabbed my friend, told her she had to eat the cake and we left.
To make matters worse, the cake was old. It was easy to tell once you started eating because the chocolate outside (covered the peanut butter mousse on chocolate cake) was rubbery. The mousse inside wasn’t even that great (yes, I tried for a moment to salvage the thing). The cake I was told was not moist and pretty dense.
I have no idea why this place is still open. I would love a coffee shop in Brightleaf, but give me some place that knows how to make food (and when to change it out) and can hire people that know how to work in a coffee/​dessert place. I’m just too bummed to ever try this place again. It way over promises and can’t deliver.
If you want coffee & desserts — go to Francesca’s on Ninth. It’s so much better, even if you have to deal with Duke students.

On our first and only visit, we came in late after a meal at Mt Fuji and were looking for a sweet finish to the evening. After a complete and utter lack of any service, and the eventual discovery that they had already mostly shut down in preparation for closing, we left without any purchases.
A simple greeting to the folks wandering in 20 minutes before closing would have saved us the irritation of being ignored and encouraged us to come back another time. Instead, we’ve written this place off entirely.

I went to Amelia’s today, and a combination of things made me realize that I only liked it because it was in Brightleaf Square, and Brightleaf Square is adorable. I actually would never go out of my way to go to Amelia’s, especially since there are so many other awesome cafés around Durham.
They’ve raised the prices and decreased their portions; a half-​cup (maybe even less) worth of gelato is $ 5, and a cup (possibly less, as well) of gelato is $ 8. These cups are different (prettier and more stylish), and I have to wonder if they’re actually just charging for the cups. I tried the panna cotta blueberry and the passionfruit because they sound the most intriguing, but they were disappointingly artificial. I’ve never really liked any of their flavors besides hazelnut and pistachio, but they weren’t there today.
I did really like that truffle cake I had, though! And a friend got the strawberry churro today, which I tried a bite of. It’s pretty yummy — not overly sweet, with jam running down the middle.
So yes, there are some redeeming factors (and it’s generally pretty uncrowded, so it’s a good place to have groups congregate). However, the service has been consistently a little lacking; although they are perfectly friendly and nice, there are definitely moments when there’s absolutely nobody there. I think they only staff one person at a time (or at least, whenever I go, which is at night), so if that person wants to go on a break, there’s no one around. If you’re looking for a lazy night, Amelia’s would work. I don’t know anywhere else where you can get a sit-​down sweet crêpe in the area, so it serves this function, too.

I walked 1.5 miles to get here, and decided that merited an éclair. Sadly, as I mentioned in my previous review, the desserts don’t seem to taste as good as they look. I quick-​tipped that this particular dessert was a waste of calories. =(A good éclair should melt in your mouth with pudding-​like filling. The casing on this was dry, the chocolate more shell-​like than fudgey, and the filling was kind of mousse-​like… weird texture and not delicious like it can be. The staff, however, was really nice; and hubby and I both love the coffee — especially the rainforest blend. It’s self-​serve, so you can doctor it up just how you like… and get refills too.
They’ve renovated since my last visit, so the cute damask loveseats are gone, replaced by more two-​tops and some caramel-​colored leather business-​y looking chairs. Also gone is the general store-​esque candy corner that used to take up the center of the store. I think I may have preferred the previous setting. But it’s still a cool place to drop in for an after-​dinner coffee and dessert. Next time, I think I’ll try the gelato though…

Mmmmmm, this is one of my favorite little bakeries, and a huge incentive for me to make the trek to Brightleaf Square in Durham. People who know me know that this place brings out a level of giddy excitement in me reserved only for fancy desserts and… well…that’s about it.
My favorites are definitely the tiramisu and the chocolate mousse cake, although I generally have a lot of trouble deciding what to get, because everything looks so good!
They also have a large selection of gelato, though I am not a huge fan of gelato/​ice cream as a general rule, so I don’t usually get it. I HAVE tried the chocolate hazelnut, which basically tastes like frozen Nutella, so it’s a win in my book. I’ve also never tried the crepes, because I’m usually too distracted by what’s in the dessert cases, but I hear they’re good too.
It’s also just a really nice to place to sit and relax and chat. It’s small and usually pretty uncrowded, with some big comfy chairs.
If you happen to find yourself in the area… or even if you don’t…I highly recommend you check this place out. Your waistline may not thank you, but your tastebuds will!

The ambience of the place is it’s best point. I used to come here to study all the time because it was quiet most of the day and not crowded in the mornings. They have a good selection of desserts, and I love the coffee.

I had really high expectations for this place — the good reviews and their delicious looking website.
They have great seating for a after dinner dessert.
The ambiance is great, and they don’t have loud music that makes a conversation difficult.
I got the napolean, thumbprint cookie, peanut butter chocolate mousse and a fruit tart.
The thumbprint cookie was delicious. Buttery and the jam on top was fresh tasting.
The napolean was also pretty good — the puff pastry was made perfectly, but their pastry cream was a little too heavy and the strawberries were not fresh.
The peanut butter chocolate mousse was way too sweet — The chocolate mousse was too thick. The peanut butter mousse had a gelatin texture to it, which wasn’t appetizing. It also didn’t have a strong peanut taste. Upon eating it, I found a piece of paper in my bite. I’m sure you don’t find pieces of paper in all of their pastries, but. I got lucky.
The fruit tart was a little bit disappointing. The fruit wasn’t as fresh as I would have liked it, and the gelatin coating on the fruit was way too thick. Their pastry cream was again, too heavy. I like my pastry cream — light with a hint of vanilla. OH well, and it came on a short-​bread crust, which all in all made the pastry too sweet.
This is a great spot for a little dessert and coffee after dinner due to their comfortable sofas and great service. As for their desserts, it’s very average.

Amelia Café is a Brazilian bakery attached to Chamas (the Brazilian BBQ place in Brightleaf Square). It’s a cute little place, with a great variety of foods, but far more nuanced than some other dessert-​based places (for example, the walls don’t look like they’ve been painted the same color as the gelato).
The desserts look delectable (ranging from fruit tarts to gelato to cheesecakes to chocolate raspberry things to massive carrot cakes), and they are also quite good. I ended up getting a black and white cheesecake. The cake itself was absolutely perfect: cheesecake at its finest, and not frozen either :)
Service is excellent. Also, they also have a random and interesting selection of other candies, such as Tic-​Tacs (if you happen to be a Tic-​Tac addict, they’ve got a whole mini-​bucket filled with ‘em). And the seating is also really nice as well, both inside and outside.
Basically, if you want a nice dessert treat, it’s a nice place to get it.

Adorable! Well-​priced cute coffeeshop, Durham needs more Amelias!
There is limited seating, a great amount of well-​priced baked goods (biscotti for $ 1 WOOT WOOT!). Have not tried their gelato, but have heard positive things. However, I am a gelato expert and I can tell you that their gelato is not 100% authentic (ie: there is food colouring).
You can also pick up Duke wireless. Downside is they’re closed on Sundays. However, on the weekdays they do have long hours.

I did not have a good experience here. We got there 20 minutes before closing, and they were out of a lot of stuff. We ended up splitting the key lime tart and the white chocolate raspberry tart. The key lime one was a pretty good combo of tart filling (which was slightly too eggy) and delicate crust. The white chocolate one was very disappointing, a combination of overly sweet sugar cookie crust and white chocolate filling with extra white chocolate savings on top. The raspberries around the rim were not enough to cut the sweetness.
The worst thing about this place was the coffee. They were reluctant to brew coffee or turn on the espresso machine for us since they were about to close, so we were directed to whatever was left in the air pots. It turned out to be old, tepid, extremely bitter coffee. This was so disappointing because coffee is such an integral part of the whole café setting. They should have just refused to sell us coffee if they weren’t going to brew a fresh pot — it just makes them look bad.
Overall, a very disappointing experience. I have no desire to go back again.