iCafe

Hooray for later night wifi and caffeine spots– I can’t be the only person who likes to work outside my house sometimes and needs somewhere to work beyond library closing time?!?
This was my first visit to this branch of iCafe, I had been to other branches but I thought I would try a new place to work for an hour or so as I had something which I wanted to finish off.
iCafe still has some internet café vibes going on, as there is a row of PC’s at the back of the café, but there are plenty places to sit and enjoy a social coffee and tables of different heights so you can choose a nice window view if you like. The ethos of iCafe has always pleased me, triple certified coffee so very ethical. They have an all day food menu as well as cakes, biscuits and crisps (I had a nice toffee slice, rich and bad, but soooo good). I chose a coconut coffee as I had not had dinner– wow, it was tasty. Delicious stuff. The staff were super cheery and even offered to top up my coffee again.
Without iCafe I would not have got my work done whilst my brain had things it needed to get down on the screen. Thanks iCafe, please keep doing what you do!

The coffee is good and their large coffees are massive, which I like. But the food is a bit hit and miss — they have strange sandwiches that don’t include normal choices like ham and cheese. And their breakfast selection is pretty dismal — you can get scrambled eggs but no bacon, only those nasty turkey rashers that I hate.
I opted for toast with scrambled eggs and it’s £2.50 for two slices of toast and quite a small portion of eggs. It was good but served on a stone cold plate so doesn’t stay warm for very long.
It’s clean and bright rather than comfy and cosy but it’s an ok place to get some work done or sit with a book for a while. The staff are always nice. If you just want a quick coffee, it’s good, but if you’re looking for decent food then I’d go elsewhere.

I haven’t been into iCafe for a quite some time, but as I was passing and in need of some brunch I popped in to see what they had on offer. As it turned out, the selection of brunch food wasn’t that great to be honest; especially with newer places like Papercup making more efforts in the food department.
After an uninspiring look through the chill cabinet, I spotted the breakfast menu and decided on the scrambled egg on wholemeal toast, with an Americano of course. The staff were very cheery and helpful though, which goes a long way towards making you feel welcome.
The breakfast arrived fairly quickly, and the eggs were tasty enough if a little small in quantity — it couldn’t have been more than two eggs — and the toast was fine. Nothing exceptional, but fine, as was the coffee.
The place was pretty empty when I went in, apart from a businessman in a window seat who was chatting on his mobile the entire time I was there. This did at least mean that there was nobody else using the free Wi-​Fi, so I took advantage of all that bandwith to update a bunch of apps on my phone.
iCafe is fine if you’re not too discriminating — I would rate them as a step above Costa — but there are better artisanal places around these days, and some of those are not too far from this place. Next time I think I’ll keep walking.

3.5 out of 5 for me.
Good coffee, good choice of pastries and sandwiches, and the friendly staff make this a safe option for a coffee. However there is definitely something missing.
It’s hard to put my finger on it exactly, but it never feels like the most welcoming place. It might be the layout or the décor, but it just doesn’t make me feel like somewhere I’d happily stop for a couple of cups of coffee.
Ideal for a quick pit stop to recharge the batteries though. The coffee is dependably above average, they have a good range of snacks and their homemade soup is always worth a look.

iCafe isn’t really far off being Starbucks. It’s a coffee shop with Internet and sockets for charging your electrical goods. The coffee is good too, and the only real difference between here and Starbucks is that they do proper food here, whereas in the bucks you only get a few paninis!
It’s comfy in here, and I could happily sit and write away on the laptop, but it’s not the best place on the planet, and though I might come back to try the food, I’d probably rather stick to the wee independent cafés!

Loved it !!!
Best Cappuccino on this side of Milan.

I do like the iCafe’s coffee… and I suppose that’s what a coffeehouse is all about really isn’t it? Well, I suppose, but there is something just a wee bitty soulless about the iCafe, it doesn’t really seem to have much at its core besides, well, coffee really. Oh and computers. But I haven’t used those so I can’t comment. It’s fine if you’re just after a quick cup of joe (or more fancy stuff as well!) to take away, I have sat in a few times but found myself a bit aware I was being watched through the large windows in both the Great Western Road and Woodlands branches. Like Chris the previous reviewer mentioned, I am also loath to go into here if I can avoid it as it is a chain (of two, ha!) and where I have the option I would always plump for Bibliocafe or Artisan coffee. But, the coffee is good and reasonable, I haven’t tried the food, and the staff are pretty friendly. I’m sure a lot of people use the iCafes in the interim period of internet access being set up, and everytime I pass them they are always busy, so I think these west end institutions are here to stay!

I’ve always harbored a kind of ‘hrrrrmmmm… not sure’ about these guys. Not sure if it’s my aversion to chains of anykind (ok, it’s an über small chain of 2 stores), or the fact that i’ve seen it manifest itself from a jack of all trades coffee shop /​internet café /​dvd rental store, master of none, into a pretty comfy internet café.
What ever the reason for my reservations, they now have to be blasted from the water on a couple of accounts. Things that make it OK:
— The coffee is better than it’s ever been, as is the service which is now more coffee shop than ‘A Cappuccino… Is that the name of the film you want to rent?’
— Cakes… flippin yumerenstein!
— The worn in look and feel of the joint. Ok, some would say its a little scruffy. I however like my coffee shops like my trainers… worn in and a bit worn round the edges.
In all, a great wee coffee shop with good cakes, decent coffee and a couch to fling a small child onto whilst you dip your saturday afternoon brain into a cup of caffeine.

Despite the almost painful name (I mean, seriously, could they not do any better than that?!) the iCafe on Great Western Road isn’t a bad place to pass an hour or so. The chairs are comfy, the window view is interesting, and the wifi is free. They also offer printing services and DVD rental — which although a little bizarre in a café is perfectly useful.
However, I didn’t rate the food at all. They had a nice selection of cakes and muffins — but we went in there for lunch so this was pretty useless to us. Although the paninis looked quite nice — that was pretty much all they had to choose from. And I don’t mean to be picky… but I can’t eat bread. Which meant that all I could have eaten was the soup. Which is often all I can eat in little cafes. And you know? That gets a little bit boring.
So long story short, we left without ordering and headed somewhere else instead.

I came here when I had half an hour to kill and a book to read, and enjoyed some fizzy water in their window bench, watching the Great Western world go by. As the previous reviews have said, it’s not all that interesting inside, but when I needed a cosy refreshment stop off, it did the trick nicely. With very friendly service and helpful to boot, who even offered to open the door for me on the way out as I was struggling with some bags. How sweet!

Icafe is a kind of hybrid café as Lewis has pointed out but it is still quite nice inside. The shop windows are filled with their deals which are ok. I think this place is more of the place people pop in to on their way back from work or what have you. It is kind of trying really hard to not try, but it does feel almost generic a little soul less for a café, kind of average. Comfy seats, reasonable deals (coffee and a Panini is £5 at the time of writing) and I suppose it offers more than just food. I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to try it for yourself but good for internet and DVDs.

The food served is good. It is a bit expensive,(for food).They do not serve anything with Pork. This is because the owner is a Muslim. The reason that I like it is because they have young laid-​back staff, who do great coffees. They also are o.k.about you staying to near to the bitter end. This is very important if you are in the middle of a very long email and need every minute. The one on Great Western Road is best because they stay open later. They also hire out films in Gt.W.Rd.one.(other one is Gibson Street).
If you want the other side of the coin then try the Easycafe for internet. No conversation between staff and clients. Twenty minutes before end of night one of the Albanian staff will loudly shout out to all and sundry to start finishing off
That’s why I will stick with icafe !!