Colectivo Lakefront

Loved the location. Parking can be tough and good luck finding a seat if you’re looking to hang out for a little while. Coffee was good, I’ve had better, but most are way worse.

Love — Love — Love. This coffeehouse is fantastic — in addition to serving exceptional coffee and tasty treats, the building is exceptional. What a superb use of a historic building that had sat empty for entirely too many years! Gorgeous location with plenty of seating both inside and out!
I’ll be back during my next trip to Milwaukee!

Coffee was great, and the environment was nice, too. It’s a little chaotic, though (especially on the weekend), so a relaxing ambiance isn’t going to necessarily be had. But if you’re lucky enough to snag a spot – a great place.

One of my top favorite places to hang out in Milwaukee. Whether you’re inside or outside, the grounds is beautiful. Such a unique feel to this place and their coffee and food are amazing. This place is always packed and for good reason. If you wanna know where the locals go for coffee, this is it!

The amazing trail that leads me here, the birds singing eagerly waiting for spring, the sight of the beautiful lakeshore, the aromas that filled the nerves, you can hear different tongues whispering, the sound of the barristas conversing about their shifts, most people on their laptop continuing about their daily chores, the sipping of the hot coffee! Aye! Yeah, these are beautiful sounds to wake me from feeling numb! TV shows and shopping wouldn’t give me more pleasures ! Peace I find in this gloomy Wednesday afternoon.

Great scene great coffee great view. Ok that’s it but then it would just be a tip. Parking can be tricky and seating in winter is variable based on Day and time. Summer this is the place. Baked goods rock especially pumpkin loaf. And funky skeleton cups add to the fun. Quick bites better than most coffee shops so that’s a win too.

I always have a good experience at Colectivo whether it is stopping in for a quick coffee on the way to work in the morning or if I stay to study! I have plenty of family members from out of state that I always like to bring here when they come to Wisco, not only because of the neat historic building, but also for some great coffee which ISN’T Starbucks!

Super cool. Coffee is great. This place is a staple in MKE… However, if you’re going there to do work, like I was, wifi isn’t the best.

This is one of the best coffee shops that I have been to in awhile. Love the variety of seating options, late hours, decorative string lights, and right-​along-​the-​lake location. Locals of course seem to love it, and as a visitor, I was in AWE and want to make this a regular stop when I’m in the city. You can even peak down from the upstairs level and see where they used to roast the coffee (don’t look if you are afraid of heights). They will happily serve your coffee in a ceramic mug (woohoo no waste!) if you aren’t taking it to-​go (large is $ 2 and refills are 80 cents). I didn’t try any of the food but it definitely looked tasty. This is a great place to meet friends, have a date, study, or get some work done. The coffee and service are both worth coming back for… absolutely no complaints here (except maybe the small-​ish parking lot). Would love to come back when it is warm to walk lakeside and then grab a coffee (hope there is outdoor seating)!

Quite possibly THE coolest coffee location I have ever been to. Partner that with the fact I like Collectivo coffee anyway, you have a recipe for a loyal customer.
This place used to be the water pump for the lake that is nearby. They still use it weekly but now it services include the moving another type of life-​sustaining liquid. There is plenty of seating here, although some spots are more coveted than others. Yet, still on a Monday morning we were able to get seating upstairs.
I ordered their Pumpkin Spice latte and a sun-​dried tomato bagel, with cream cheese. The latte was good but not spectacular. They toasted the bagel for me, which was kind of burned around the edges. I ordered it with a veggie spread. I really did not care for the spread. It had rather large tomato chunks in it, which made it very hard to spread. The other veggies were MIA. Tomato took center stage for this one. Or, perhaps the preparer of said spread has a shoulder injury that prevented them from chopping more thoroughly?
Nonetheless, neither of those things would deter me from a happy reunion with this historic landmark of an establishment!

I’ve been here quite a few times and I have to say, I love this location. It’s very unique and has a beautiful set-​up inside and out. Plenty of seating on multiple levels inside and in summer there is a great patio area with beautiful lake views. And as with all locations, the food and drinks are great, as is the service.

This place is the most charming coffee shop ever! It’s literally right on the lake and the only business around (that I could see). You have to know where it is, or look it up, because as a visitor I would have never come across it. It has a picturesque view of the lake that is stunning after a winter snowfall, and I imagine is equally stunning on a sunny summer day.
As for the coffee– it lives up to the dreamy structure itself! Prices are reasonable, the menu has every coffee and tea drink you could want, they have non dairy milk options, and while I didn’t try food, I saw plenty of people eating delicious looking breakfasts– from quiches to granola bowls.
If I lived in Milwaukee, I’d be a regular! It’d be the first place I recommend to anyone visiting the area.

We drove by this little shop on our way to a wedding and had the fortunate chance to actually visit before we left town. Colectivo is a very unique little coffee shop; from what I can tell, everything seems to be organic or at least sustainably sourced. Really neat gift items and the place itself is super cute.
Now for the coffee. It was a really hot day and my boyfriend picked up on the trend that everyone else seemed to already know about: Espresso Milkshake. It’s super tasty and I would highly recommend it. He usually would prefer just a little bit of chocolate in almost anything (which they do have, btw — a Mocha Milkshake) but it was already pretty sweet so he was happy to have skipped the chocolate. The only thing I was a little bummed about is that he ordered an extra shot of espresso and they made a mass milkshake to fulfill multiple orders at once so I think his extra shot was forgotten. Bummer. I got an iced mocha which was tasty — but I was coveting his milkshake the whole time.
They were very busy so it took an EXTRA long time to get our drink — understandable. We sat outside on their super cute little terrace area to enjoy our beverages. I’d bet this would be the perfect spot for a warm drink in the dead of winter.

A startlingly pleasing café.
It’s a stand-​alone, historic (?) building across the street from the park and Lake Michigan. There’s two stories of seating inside. There’s outdoor seating on a gravel patio with various plants and flowers, overlooking a lawn. There’s parking (it gets crowded, but you can park near the park and walk).
The interior space is divided up with various merchandise for sale (shirts and other stuff besides the expected coffee).
The espresso is big-​city good (smooth, rich, a great pull), and the food was much tastier than I expected (chorizo breakfast burrito in my case).
I was pleased to learn Colectivo is a small Milwaukee based chain. This one is definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in town.

Yummy honey latte. I enjoyed the view of the Lakefront, scenery, and appreciate the history if the building (circa 1888). Pretty cool with large outdoor patio-​found seats on the bright chairs right away despite it being the weekend. One rude barista but ill overlook.

I’m reluctant to downgrade this place because my issue has nothing to do with the quality of the product (which is excellent — IF you can get inside to order), but feel compelled to do so because parking is such a pain in the a$$ that it really impacts your experience coming here.
I’d been here once before and really liked it — but even that time we had to circle the parking lot for 15 mins or so waiting for a spot to open up.
This past Sunday we were driving home to Chicago after a weekend in Door County. We decided to take a break, got off the highway, and headed over to Colectivo for some java.
Once again, we circled the parking lot a couple of times — to no avail — and ended up leaving and going to Sbux (yech). I don’t know if there’s anything they can do about parking, but it’s just not worth going out of your way to come here if you can’t find anywhere to park.

All Colectivos are pretty much the same, but the lakefront location stands out from the rest because of… its location, naturally! So let’s talk about that.
Colectivo Lakefront is situated on the corner of Lincoln Memorial drive (the lakefront) and Lafayette Hill Road, adjacent to the Oakleaf Trail, those pedal boat things across the street, and also near to Bradford Beach and Whole Foods, both important landmarks on Milwaukee’s East Side. It’s nice to go for a run along the lakefront and pop in to CL for a bite to eat afterwards — basically, you could do this at any Colectivo location, but at CL you’d be able to see … the lake. So it’s special!
Jesting aside, even though there’s a steady stream of people going in and out of CL, which makes for nonstop long lines (most of the time), the baristas at CL are especially adept at getting everyone through as quickly as possible, which is much appreciated.
The only drawback to this location is that it’s rather loud — both inside and out — not only because of the amount of people, but also because of cars driving by (outside) and this weird machine in the back room that sporadically makes a ton of noise (inside, duh).

Delicious food and a great view of the lake! This place gets super crazy on weekends though!

The atmosphere, with old electrical equipment, motors, and industrial dishwashers is really groovy. The place is pretty busy in the mid-​morning with interesting people of all adult ages. Despite all the interesting looking people, I think the setup with individual tables would make it hard to meet new place – one of my goals of this trip here. It however has a fairly quiet atmosphere, conducive to conversation.
Certainly this is a nicer atmosphere and more spacious place than most Starbuck’s. I didn’t buy anything during this trip, but there was a variety of good looking foods in a refrigerator case and plenty of coffee selections.
I would recommend the place.

I love this place! Friendly staff and a really unique coffeehouse in general. My favorite times to come here are during the warmer months because of the large outdoor seating area. Great food options as well, I highly recommend their brownies. I usually have an iced mocha and it’s always great :)

I come here so often I almost live here. I LOATHE to see how much money I have spent here in total but it is all worth it. I have been coming to Alterra (I will ALWAYS call it Alterra) for years and cannot find a better study spot. It is beautiful and relaxing in all 4 seasons and now has free wifi! It is adjacent to the lake and has some excellent outdoor seating. The parking lot is right next to the building, but if its full you can park in the McKinley Marina lot. Very chill and full of life with different people every time. It happens to be the biggest Collective (Alterra) around as well with pretty stellar seating.
The staff is very friendly, youthful and artistic. Most of them know me by name now which is very comforting when you enter into an establishment. They are so spirited and energetic and really appear to enjoy their job, even on the busy Sundays. I have been around and have seen the new people they hire and I gotta say who ever is doing the hiring is doing a great job.
The food is pretty good. I am upset they got rid of the Rosemary Turkey but oh well — they made up for that with the pulled pork sandwich. I also recently started getting their breakfast menu and I must recommend the potato bacon burrito and cheesy biscuit because they are phenomenal. One thing that blows is the price of the food, but that is to be expected of a local chain around here. The coffee is actually pretty good, but I am a bit biased toward the high calorie high sweet lattes Starbucks (I will no longer mention that S-​word around here) has — namely the pumpkin spice latte. ALSO! if you have a sweet tooth the cookies and cinnabons are ridiculously tastey!
Aside from the price (which I overlook because I love Alterra), I have to say the wifi is pretty cruddy which could be an annoyance to us college students who need to get things done… or it could be beneficial since it keeps us off facebook. At any rate, Id like to see some faster wifi but if not its no biggie.
So yeah Im pretty zealous when it comes to this place. I enjoy their posters on current events, oh and when the MSO (Milwaukee symphony orchestra) or some other group comes and plays live music FOR FREE. I love the scenery here — the old, the young, the runners, the bikers, the business people, the hipsters, the dog owners, the tennis players etc etc… I have had too many good memories here with my friends, my gf, and my grandma, my car and I will always be drawn to this place. Do yourself a favor and come see what the fuss is all about! Grab a coffee, bring a pal and have a conversation. Or just do some people watching. Whatever you do youll be sure to become a fan of Alterra :)