Bongo Java East

This gets two starts for 1) the atmosphere and 2) the employees (some). I asked for a cappuccino, and asked if I could get another shot of espresso. He told me I might as well get a latte. Well, if you’re a coffee drink you know that a cappuccino is half steamed milk and half foam. A latte is very minimal foam at the top. So we had a little dispute, I just said f*** it and got a cappuccino with no add shot. The girl yelled out cappuccino and it was filled up half way, with no foam. In an 8oz cup. There goes $ 4.75 for 4 oz of milk and espresso. Wouldn’t recommend. The shots taste very bitter as well.

This place sucks. The customer service here is absolutely atrocious. If you’re not hipster enough, the baristas treat you like crap and make sure that you’re pretty much invisible to them. I love bongos coffee, but their baristas just make it a sad time to get a cup of coffee.
I understand the «cool factor» of working in a coffee shop in East, but seriously, be nicer to your customers. Especially if they’re being nice to you in the first place!
You’re better off stopping in Marché. Their coffee is amazing and their baristas are normal. Yeah I said it, normal.

I was extremely disappointed with my experience here, as the other location I really enjoyed. I stopped in for a nonfat latte on a Saturday afternoon. There was one barista and teller working at the time. I waited over 25 minutes for one drink to be made, which was an insane amount of time. The milk didn’t seem foamed all the way, like it was rushed so I was disappointed by the quality of the latte and the timeliness. I would possibily stop in again if in the area, but while in 5 points, I would rather hit Ugly Mugs or Post East.

Great coffee, always different options and new things to try by way of my caffeine addiction. I rarely order food, but when I do, it’s pretty good (i’ve had omlettes and oatmeal, both delicious). I love the space and the baristas are always friendly. They have free wi-​fi, so it’s great to pop in and get a little work done if I’m around town and need to get something done quickly.

Hipster alert!
But seriously, I enjoy everything about this Bongo location except for the parking situation. They have 3 spots in front, and unless you’re really lucky and find a spot on 11^th, you’re likely to have to park a few blocks away (or in the pay lot across the street). Prices are a little steep, but the quality is fantastic. Great seasonal special drinks (that are NOT pumpkin spice in the fall!) Plenty of seating, though much of it is not next to a wall/​outlet, so be warned if you need to plug in.

Ignore the whiners, I found the service totally fine and the coffee second best to Barista Parlor. I love that this location is spacious and makes meeting others very easy. The wifi worked great as well. I adored the art on the walls and wish I could buy it. (FWIW The art here was priced way better than art at the Post East which was both expensive and not as good…)

Place is in a really hipster laid back area. Coffee shop is big nice tables a lot of space to spread out and study. Im a huge coffee drinker the iced milky way was AMAZING! My friend tried the blue sky organic soda it was also really good. If you are in the area and a coffee drinker deff stop by here.

Bongo East has been my go-​to coffee shop for a few years now. The specialty drinks are always interesting and delicious. The food offerings are very good for a coffee shop, and the staff is always incredibly friendly.
If you want to see what East Nashville is like without battling tourists in line, come to Bongo East. It is what a great coffee shop should be.

This was a great find in East Nashville. Super friendly staff, great iced coffee, really nice granola and bagel egg sandwich. Spacious, good temperature, lovely art. Freelancers of East Nashville, we envy that you can hang out here.

Excellent espresso drinks. I’m a huge coffee snob, yadda yadda, this place is legit. We also had tea, a bagel with egg/​cheese/​bacon, and a breakfast wrap with banana, granola, pb, and yogurt to dip. Everything was great, we’ll be back for breakfast the next few mornings. People were extremely friendly, AC was pumping, and it’s centrally located in the 5 Points area. Total score.

I had never been to Bongo Java despite living here for 13 years. I also don’t drink coffee so that’s probably why… But I had a meeting scheduled there so that’s the only reason I went.
First of all parking is crappy. They have maybe 5 spots in front of the business. So I had to drive down the street looking for parking, finally went back to a side street and parked on the street. It was about a two block walk to Bongo Java East.
Upon entering I went to the counter to order and encountered two very bored employees. Not only did they appear bored with the job but already bored with me, perfect! I ordered a chai latte and it was ready pretty quickly. It was hot but not good. It clearly needed something else.
The only highlight of this place was the awesome people watching. The outfits I saw! You would have thought it was a walk of shame runway show on a weekday afternoon
A plus of this place is that there are a lot of tables and chairs. There were plenty of working solo on laptops at the tables and the staff didn’t seem to care.

I purchased a bag of ground bold coffee from here for a friend. I don’t drink coffee but the friend loved the taste. The employee was very helpful in explaining the different coffee flavors and helping me pick out one my friend would like. Though the price was more than what you’d pay at a grocer it’s fair trade.

Before I moved to Nashville in late 2014, I visited well over a dozen times, going back to 2012. On each visit, I sought to explore the Nashville coffee scene. I have been to Bongo Java at least 10 times in the past two years.
In the early days, I found Bongo Java’s brewed coffee to be very nice and their espresso drinks to be among the best in Nashville — as far as I knew at the time — but still a notch or two lower than what I was used to. While I eventually checked out still more places, I kept going back to Bongo Java, but over time I noted a gradual decrease in quality, which may be attributable to the beans.
In fact, in late 2014 I bought a bag of beans to grind and brew at home, either on the Bonavita or the Technivorm. I was put off by the labeling of «medium roast» on the bag. I guess I never noticed that before, because I went there for espresso drinks. That sort of categorization or labeling caused me to shake my head; it told me something new about them and how they view their customers.
Yes, rather than presume that their customers are intelligent, they dumbed-​down their labeling. I would rather see a general description or summary of the flavor profile on the bag, describing the end result of that crop of that bean, as they saw fit to roast it. If they did want to note the level of roast — which has little to no relevance when the profile is accurately described for consumers — they should use more universal terms to describe roast development. Again, I would rather see such things removed.
Anyway, about that «medium» roast — whatever that means. I would have called it more of a «full city» roast: not far enough from «second crack» territory for my taste. If I want more smoke on the beans, I’d go to Charbucks, but I don’t. I may as well go to McDonald’s for coffee. No, I don’t like trendy, highly acidic and predominantly citrus profiles, but I think there is some glorious space between that and post second crack.
Back to the bar: I have found more and more cases of what seems to be scalded milk or just less cohesion and smoothness overall, in terms of lattes, mochas, etc. I don’t know what factors have cause this back-​sliding, but I hope they can get it figured out and maybe turn the roaster down a few degrees.
Bongo Java was once knocking on the door of the big boys and could have taken things up a notch or two, but instead they remain at a better-​than-​average level. I will still stop by, when it’s convenient, because it remains better than every other place I know of in East Nashville, but I will not go out of my way for it.

As a student, I’m always looking for new coffee shops to provide some scenery for studying, and Bongo Java East is a definite ‘win.’
The drinks are good, especially this time of year as the cold’s setting in. My favorite has to be the hot cider; on a windy day, it’s a cup of sweet, cinnamon goodness. And at $ 2, I like that I’m not shelling out for a drink like at most other cafes.
I also appreciate the décor: the stripped-​down industrial look is simple, but there’s a real charm to it. Also, with plenty of open space, reliable wi-​fi, and plenty of outlets, it’s not at all a bad place to camp out for a few hours with a book and a nice beverage. And certainly, since most other customers are surfing the web or minding their own business, you don’t have to worry much about chatty groups being a distraction.
The only reason I’ll dock a star is that parking can be a pain. There are a number of small parking lots scattered about in the neighborhood, but Bongo Java East only seems to have about 4 – 5 of its own that are always difficult to nab.

Like most things over in East End, BJE is hip. That means bikes, ‘industrial everything’, beards, babies in ironic double-​wide strollers, angry-​looking young people… you know the drill. If this isn’t your cup of tea (hyuck), you might not want to darken the doorway. But, if that kind of stuff doesn’t cause a blip on your radar or you’re part of the zeitgeist, c’mon in.
For me, I take a positively Burrussian view of things: don’t start none, won’t be none. For those who don’t speak [redacted], what I mean by this is, I’m all for letting people be who they are and do what they do so long as everyone’s able to able by that same axiom. I’ve never had a problem with any of the above at BJE so all’s well that starts and ends well. And what they do (coffee) starts & ends pretty well. Typically, I head here in the morning hours, so I’m looking for the standards breakfast-​y items. My usual go-​to is an everything bagel with sun-​dried tomato cream cheese. Thankfully, I’ve never had the experience of finding mold on said bagel but you can trust & believe that if something like that ever happens, I’ll be the first to post about it. To the contrary, the bagel options have always been fresh and pretty satisfying. I played around with the coffee selection before settling on the Bollywood. As the name suggests, the dominant flavors harken to India with a spice flavor that boasts cardamom and a silky, chai-​like appearance/​texture. In addition to being delicious, it’s quite a relaxing beverage. It’s the kind of drink that doesn’t require conversation or debate. Simply sip on it, type away using BJE’s free wifi and think about all the things the day has to offer. If the Bollywood doesn’t strike your fancy (or disappears; it might have been a summer seasonal drink), BJE offers plenty of coffee concoctions to delight your tastebuds without sacrificing street cred. I’ve been a fan of Bongo/​Fido since my Vandy days. Its eastside outpost acquits itself nicely.

Great spot to start the day in this hipster paradise. As a older person I enjoy the vibe of this place and the positive energy it gives me to get through my day. The food is good and I would recommend the fishy bomb or the east bomb. Great place…

Had an iced Americano. Good coffee, simple décor, reasonably priced, minimal pretentiousness :) I like it

Easily the worst coffee shop in East Nashville. Overpriced. Rude staff. Mediocre food. Today, I pointed out a bag of moldy «day old» bagels to the barista. Day old? Yeah right. I’m not talking about a tiny spot of mold. Every bagel had large mold spots. Gross! No attention to detail. And guess what? No embarrassed «I’m so sorry» or «thank you so much for pointing that out.» Just a whole lotta nothing in the customer service department. But don’t you worry, they made sure to make my drink incorrectly to make up for it. And yes, of course, we paid full price for everything. Two coffee drinks and two meatless breakfast sandwiches cost $ 21.
Pet peeve: when you have a double door entrance, please unlock both doors.
The Bongo Java/​Fido family is clearly not paying attention to this location. Don’t waste your time here.

Solid place for an egg and cheese bagel and a cup of joe, but it’s nice to be able to drink some of the coffee before the bagel, or during, or within 10 minutes of finishing your bagel. Coffee was super hot.
If you are a hipster, you should avoid this place at all costs, as you will no longer feel unique in this sea of Buddy Holly/​James Dean look-​a-​likes.

I think if this had been called «That Coffee Shop at 5-​points» I’d like it more, but as it stands it’s an imitation of something I’ve always considered close to my heart.
I used to be a heavy frequenter of the original Bongo, as such I’ve got a pretty decent idea of what I liked and disliked about their establishment, menu, etc. My likes of the things that overcome my dislikes of other things do not apply here. This is a very different vibe and feel and doesn’t feel like either the OB (Original Bongo) nor does it quite feel like East Nashville.
It suffers with Franklin Syndrome (opening up something amazing in Nashville and then making a copy of it out in Franklin) where it feels… meh… an odd copy
Beyond my dislikes based on it not being OB, I’ve had pretty substandard coffee the few times I have braved the place. Or maybe it was standard and I just like the original Bongo so much. I don’t know.
Then again, perhaps to each their own Bongo. For all I know the East Nasties feel about the same way for my beloved Bongo as I feel for here.
Also, I realize coffee shops are no longer about talking to people, they’re about connecting to WiFi and ignoring everyone around you, but man, this place took it to the extreme the last time I was there… I felt like I could have walked in naked and the only person who would have seen me was the barrista.
Eh not my thing, I’ve had better. May be your thing, and it may just be when I’ve been it’s a terrible depressing place to me…