Allegro Coffee & Beer Bar

This place was adorably antique and moody, I loved the homey chill energy and relaxed expressive essence. It was in an ally way with spray painted industrial garbage cans but I feel it added to the old seattle, college town vibe ♡ The worker was fun and chatty and super nice, they have you poor your own cream- which I haven't seen done much- and have cream and honey on the table, plus you put on your own lids and straws. Both our americanos came out very watery and my caramel drizzle was extremely sweet so 2 star coffee but 5 star experience ♡

I was super surprised that this coffee joint is still in business! I found this place in 1976 after backpacking Europe and getting hooked on real coffee. Cafe Alegro was the only place I found in the greater Seattle area that knew what espresso was so it became a meeting spot for me and friends to play hearts or cribbage for a few years...until I moved north and bought my own espresso maker. It still has a great vibe and I enjoyed my latte. It makes me happy they are still hidden in the alley dishing out coffee🩷

if I could, i would leave 4.5 stars. Latte was good but not great, but I would say the atmosphere largely makes up for it. The price was pretty okay for seattle (kinda high objectively, but on par for the area and i’ve seen much worse). Two things that I did really appreciate: they have ceramic mugs and don’t default to paper cups and they served the latte very hot. Good things! Service was friendly when I went. there was plenty of seating and no wait when I came around 10am on a weekday. my cup was kind of oval shaped 😅 not bad just interesting. but you can’t tell from the picture.

In my quest of finding the “oldest” establishments (buildings, bars, schools, cafes…) I found Café Allegro in the U-District, which was opened in 1975 (What?! 1975?!) making it the oldest in Seattle. I have no memory of it from when I attended UW. The cozy café is tucked away in an alley in the U-District near campus. I ordered a double espresso and found a place to sit. The coffee was good and the serve was ok. I loved the atmosphere with its multiple rooms. This was a great find!

My favorite cafe to study at. It looks small at first but there is seating upstairs and in a room right of the counter. It has the best vibes, featuring a cozy atmosphere and alternative music. Every barista is nice and fit the energy of the cafe. The food is good, I recommend the pesto tomato roll. The coffee is also amazing, I like that each espresso drink has a minimum of two shots. I tried the house blend drip coffee and it’s super good too. Make this your next place to study !