Haddon Hill Cafe

I didn’t notice anything special about this place. Good location, quiet place. A wee bit overpriced compared to their competitors.

Wow, I loved this place. The owners act like friends who have just invited you in for coffee. They have lots of comfortable indoor and outdoor seating. They have blazing fast free wifi. They have some magazines available if you happened to come in with nothing to do, and they play fun and soothing easy rock and pop tunes from the 70’s that transported me right back in time. It’s sort of a phenomenon that listening to music from when you were really young actually makes you feel really young again, even though it makes you appear ancient to young people who recognize that you know these old, old songs.
I wish they were a full café with more food, but they do have some savory croissants and empanadas, as well as sweet filled croissants and cookies, so no points off for that. I’m rating them as a great place to hang out and happily get some work done.

One of my favorite cafes. Small and always peaceful with seating outdoors and in. The coffee is beautifully made so delicious. They have a lot of good books and it’s a short walk up from the lake. They also have a bomb selection of goodies and food.

Four barrel coffee and amazing empanadas and snacks. Subway tile wall and décor are a nice touch. Glad I finally found a good local coffee shop in the area!

As good as it gets. The coffee is top shelf and the empanadas! Omg. The service is shit but… Just kidding. Even the service is stellar. I admit. I live just down the street, so I’m spoiled. Go get an empanada and a four barrel coffee and sit by the lake. Your welcome. Welcome to Oakland

Best café around. Cool art is often up on the walls too. Chill environment, nice people, really tasty coffee.

My girlfriend and I was looking at an apartment down the street from here. We arrived to the open house a little too early so we decided to go here for some wake me ups. The vibe here is very comfy. They have a lot of seating both inside and outside of the café. While waiting for our dirty chais I noticed that his place has racks upon racks of comic books for you to read. I am a huge X men fan and I guess the owner is too, because a majority of the comics were X-​MEN ! I used the restroom and noticed that there’s a huge box of comics stashed in the storage area. This place is awesome and I hope I get the apartment by here so I can get my comic book geeking on.

Time to update again! The coffee is still fantastic and I’m still addicted to their almond milk lattes. But now I have a bone to pick with Isaac (the owner) because at this point he’s messing with my healthy eating. So, here’s the problem. It used to be that once in a while, I’d get one of the currant fennel scones or a paleo muffin, but now Isaac is making his own croissants.
I kept resisting and then one of the lovely guys behind the bar gave me a small piece to try and all I can say is WOW. Buttery goodness. I had a ham and cheese croissant and my life is forever changed (ok, that’s an overstatement, but these are delicious and I now know what my reward will be for long saturday runs!)
This is still my cheers moment with the wonderful and welcoming environment, only made better (or more tempting) with croissant goodness.

This is my go-​to place for coffee, it’s walking distance from home and excellent. The service is pretty good too. I don’t like the space, but then I don’t hang out here either.
That being said, I really can’t stand some of the other clientele. Sorry, guys. I’m not talking about ALL of you. It’s just that it seems like every time I come in, there’s always some other patron talking about how brilliant they are.
I don’t know how that can be avoided though. It’s inevitable, I mean, the intersection of stellar coffee and folks who think they’re God’s gift to humanity.

Looking for coffee around Lake Merritt and found this café. It’s small and you wouldn’t see it unless you were looking for it.
Nice cozy atmosphere and loved the coffee!
The pastries look delicious!

Tiny, yet adorable neighborhood café serving quality coffee drinks and solid snacks. Really solid coffee drinks, that is.
The owner and staff here are incredibly warm and inviting, and despite the small size of the café, there’s a fair bit of seating, whether at a row of stadium-​style seats along the wall, at chairs along the windows, or outside.
A perfect little nook at which to stop and linger if it’s not crowded, or to grab your coffee on the go if you’re halfway through a run around Lake Merritt or up the Cleveland Cascade.

This is a very solid little coffee shop a couple of blocks away from the lake. Their prices are a little high, but the quality kept me coming back. Great place to spend some time if you’re taking a walk around the lake or just in the neighborhood.

Living down the street from this amazing café, it’s so hard not to go every single day. My regular order is an almond milk cappuccino — they use amazing almond milk that is frothy and creamy, and makes a great cappuccino. Also, the empanadas are my favorite food item there (Try the mushroom! All I’ve tried are good but it’s by far the best in my opinion), with the currant and fennel scones a close second.
Great coffee and espresso, really friendly staff and a great community vibe. There’s always a consistent local crowd coming in and out, hanging out for awhile, etc.

I just adore this little café, I think it has to be one of my favorites in Oakland. It’s also just a couple block walk from the lake!
Seating: There is ample seating, it’s a small place, but it is never crowded to the point where I can never find a seat. There is also outdoor seating for those nice sunny days.
Coffee is good! Can’t say I’ve ever ordered food here, but their espresso drinks do not disappoint. I always get the almond milk latte.
There is also FREE WIFI, which is something I always look for in a café.
Lastly, I just adore the service here, I’ve only come across really welcoming staff here. If there’s a café I recommend to my friends, it’s this one!

Cute little café about 1.5 blocks from Lakeshore Avenue. Tea & coffee (4 barrel
) and a small selection of eats including pastries and Argentine empanadas.
They re-​heat the empanadas in a countertop oven so the crust does not get soggy like if they were microwaved.
The beef (
) and chicken (
) empanadas I’ve had both had a well seasoned filling. The beef came with a chimichurri type sauce (
)
Friendly staff.

Very cute little café that I discovered in a quaint Oakland neighborhood today. It’s down the street from Grand Lake, so it gets local joggers, residents, and students. It’s small with minimal seating, they play good music and have a nice vibe. My iced green tea and empanada was tasty.

My favorite place to get coffee. They use quality local coffee (Four Barrel), serve the best almond milk latte’s (I keep trying to get a good one at other café’s and market’s and it hasn’t happened yet), and the baristas are friendly.
Awesome place to get some work done, chill with friends, or just grab a quick bite before going to the lake.
Try the empanada’s and the house made scones!

Met up with a dear sister in Christ this morning and ordered a mocha & fruit danish. As I stood near the register to pay, the owner (I assume?) asked me what my name was. I told him my first name, thinking that they might need it for my order. Instead, he goes, «One of my employees told me that I owe you an Americano.»
O_​O
o_​O
O_​o
–_​–
I didn’t even remember what he was talking about at first. If you have no idea, please read the update I wrote on 9÷23÷2014. Yup. He then proceeded to comp my fruit danish which is more expensive than the Americano. Aiyahhh.
I really appreciate the gesture. Unilocal,why can’t I give more than 5 stars?
After having the mocha this morning, I think it’ll replace my almond milk latte. New fave! The danish was also DEEELICIOUS.

Everything a café should be. Thank you Unilocal.If you want a different coffee experience from the normal Starbucks, Peets, and Coffee Bean experience than this is it. The Barista today was very helpful and knowledgable. I’m so used to ordering Ventis and Matcha teas that I had to ask what they included in a café au lait and espressos. I don’t know if they did this on purpose but the Cha Cha Cha muffin did a good job complimenting our coffee. Some desserts just over power everything else and are too sweet.
Location is great! Just a block away from Lake Merritt. Lots of seats outside and someone even started playing the piano while I was in line.
By far the best part about this café is the fact that they have comic books to read while your sipping your cup of coffee! I love it.

For the last few years now, I’ve been reading on Thrillist that Oakland is «up and coming» and «revamped», blah blah blah hippy Berkeley meets hipster entrepreneurs who want to change the face of what was once considered the murder capital of the country. Basically, let’s turn this place into SF, and pretend it’s cheaper.
Nicole N. put it quite perfectly — it’s literally «tucked back in a sunny neighborhood» (although I was there when it was raining, so, take that for what you will), the ambience was incredibly pleasant, the mood was a contemporary minimalist with a flair for making a simple cup of joe taste beautifully complex. The wifi was free (which is good, because there is literally *no* service when you walk inside), and the baristas were incredibly sweet. Minimal seating. I didn’t get a chance to try the pastries, but I do have one thing to say about them — they *looked* good. They looked fresh, and looked handmade — maybe it’s because I just finished a 10 week pro pastry series down in LA, but recognizing the difference between mass produced and handmade could mean the difference of a $ 5 «why the fuck did I buy that» moment.
Quiet here, you’ll get a lot of programming of your flashy new app that is supposed to «change the world» or some shit. That’s what this place is turning into, right?