Washington Hotel Coffee Room

Update 11/8/11: Washington Hotel Coffee Room has changed its name to Lakeside St. Coffee House. Thanks for the heads up, Linda.

In a word: Shore is decent.

The specs: #0733  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Raising Madison, Yelp; listing at Eat Drink Madison; Facebook,

Latest Washington Hotel Coffee Room news and reviews

JM ate the chocolate croissant and a toasted cheese sandwich with a chocolate milk.
Nichole ate the hazelnut espresso scone with a cappuccino.
The bill was $18, or $9/person, plus tip.
JM gave Washington Hotel Coffee Room a B+; Nichole gave Washington Hotel Coffee Room an A- (see our grading rubric).

Washington Hotel Coffee Room on Lakeside Street behind Lakeside Fibers is in one of our favorite little neighborhoods in Madison, and if we'd managed to find a pad there when we were house-hunting, we'd be regulars. Or at least, Nichole would go there when JM was up to JM-type things. It gets its name from the Washington Hotel, Restaurant & Culinary School in Door County.

At WHCR the yarn that used to double as decor is gone, but the fiber craft reference books remain. The menu is day-and-night, with coffee in the morning and wine (and beer) in the evening. And milk around the clock. JM got a Sassy Cow which was creamy and delicious. The cappuccino was balanced and had nice soft foam. 

A hazelnut/espresso scone was excellent. It had lots of body, possibly from whole wheat, or the richness of a little bit of what looked like ground espresso in the dough. Every bite had a toasted hazelnut in it and it wasn't overglazed nor too huge to enjoy to the last bite.

JM overindulged a bit with both a chocolate croissant and a cheese sandwich but it was worth it. The croissant was nice and warm with some soft dark chocolate in middle (as opposed to the more often found solid rod form, which he just doesn't understand). His cheese sandwich on sourdough used butterkäse, which was so creamy. It turned ou tto be not quite hot enough, which dejected him a bit.  The chips were chips.

If you need your coffee fix and are in the area, Wash Hotel Coffee Room is really something quite nice with a great view and places to loll and pause in quietness of mid-morning.  If coffee and tea are not your thing, there's still something here for you, although everything runs a little on the pricey side. But for prepped snacky food with a coffee or tea, you can do a lot worse.

Comments

[Jay]

Wow...I've never even heard of this place! I'll have to check it out.

[Linda F]

Has changed its name to Lakeside St. Coffee House. ("St." seems to be the official spelling, judging from the logo on the website, which is bothering me.) It is only a name change, I'm told. Does that mean you don't have to do a re-review?

[JmSR]

New name, same theme and ownership: we consider it renamed and revisit, e.g. Ken's Cafeteria/Hunky Dory or Nifty 50's/Maid Rite (BAZ - Before A to Z), or sister restaurants such as Mi Cocina/Laredo's, Atlantis/Plaka, Copper Top/Bavaria. An exception is if the renaming does not change the venue's position on the List, as was the case with the East Side Business Men's Association/East Side Club.

Source.