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| - I'm glad I was finally able to make it into Gold Bar, since I wanted to experience the last of the trio of coffeehouses along McClintock. And a big kudos to them for fighting the big fight against Starbucks across the parking lot. That said, I drove past the Starbucks first (which was mostly empty) while Gold Bar was much more crowded. Good goin', Tempe!
I entered and my first reaction was I liked the feeling of the place - tables made of wrought iron or of the wooden breakfast nook variety, random mishmash of art and stained glass on the walls and windows, a tall wooden shelving unit holding premium teas with "Gold Bar Espresso" carved into it, a pair of black leather lounge seats, etc. However, the layout of the place was a little awkward and it felt kind of cramped in there with every table and chair occupied.
I ordered a medium soy latte from the friendly barista, but when she told me it was going to be $4.70 I asked her to repeat herself to make sure I heard that right. I'm sorry, but that price is ridiculous. I'm used to being penalized by coffeehouses for being lactose intolerant (which sucks), but when a shot of espresso with soy milk in a 16 ounce cup approaches five bucks, I am really going to get turned off, especially when 8 times out of 10 the soy drink isn't going to be all that great. I'm not ordering some gargantuan frapuccino with 3 syrups and whipped cream, just a simple latte. Anyway, that's my own personal pet peeve.
I'd say the patronage was a mix of younger students hanging out to grad students working to older folks chatting and playing cards. I sat down to a table and tried relaxing when I realized that there was no music playing overhead. That was kind of weird. And with nothing playing in the background, every conversation became that much more amplified. I think some background music at low volume to set at least some sort of ambiance is key to any coffeehouse - whereas this felt more like a library except there was no librarian giving people dirty glances when they were being loud. I didn't have my iPod with me but I was wishing I did.
However, around 1/2 an hour later a bunch of guys came in and set up instruments at the far end of the cafe, complete with chimes and xylophone and sax, and proceeded to play jazzy versions of Christmas tunes, like the one from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. That was kind of cool and it finally led to a more decent atmosphere, except that with the weird layout of Gold Bar, unless you were sitting at the two tables in that section where the band was, you could barely see them playing. They were more or less disconnected with the rest of the cafe.
So I'm bummed to say Gold Bar was kind of a let down for me. I really appreciate the little indie holding steady against the corporate giant, and it was a lot mellower than Xtreme Bean if you wanted to get work done, but I'd probably rank it in the middle of the coffeehouse trio, behind Steve's Espresso, which was a lot more my kind of coffeehouse.
3 stars (more like 3.49)
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