What an amazing find! I have become so jaded in my travels with generic coffee shops pretending to be Italian because they have Italian roast coffee and a picture of the Colosseum above the register, as if that is all it takes. No, this place is the real deal, through and through. I really felt like I was back in Italy the moment I walked in. Up on the TV there was an Italian football game being broadcast in Italian. In front of me in line were a group of people discussing the merits of Lambrusco wine from Modena and how its "Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita" certification is reason enough not to confuse it with lesser imports marketed under the same name. Mind you, this conversation was entirely in Italian. Meanwhile, behind me there were some old men have an entirely different conversation in Italian. This was by no means unique to my first visit either. It really is a slice of Italy here!
Authentic ambiance aside, the coffee is rather good too. My only lament is that their large is not an Americanized large. They have a pretty nice selection of bags of organic and fair trade beans should you wish to brew some at home. Espresso? They are actually one of the wholesalers for espresso machines in the city, and they actually service the machines. Yeah, they know what they're doing. You really can't miss at all here. The best part though is that this is genuinely a place where you want to hang out, relax, and socialize. It's wonderful!