My favorite coffee shop/Cafe in D.C. Variety of seating. Some people come to eat, some to grab a coffee or a drink, and some to work on laptops. All are welcome! Staff is incredibly kind and attentive. (It would be 5 stars for food if there were more vegan options or things that could be made vegan!) Overall, great experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Adi Maini
Iced mocha had chunks of chocolate in it, and served in a bar glass.
Lavender latte missing any lavender flavoring and we were told to mix it up as the flavoring may be at the bottom (it wasnt). They were nice enough to give us more flavoring and we mixed it in ourselves.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Carter Allen
very unhappy to write this review of emissary. it’s been my absolute favorite coffee shop for 7 years, through college, new jobs, various friends working there, new neighborhoods, etc. but, the service has always been tricky. management changes fairly often, with it aways new procedures. i’ve been told to seat myself multiple times. when i do, i wait 10-15-20 minutes before someone notices me. i know now to order as soon as someone comes the first time, that works fine. past two times, i’ve sat outside and watched waiters/managers pass me multiple times with no acknowledgment. i go inside, then they tell me to take a seat and they’ll come to me, but they don’t. business hours have fluctuated for years, often with no announcement. many times i’ve come in for tea, told we have no matcha, no chai, no earl grey, etc. quality of food has fluctuated too, popcorn burned, salad underdressed. music oscillates from nice indie rock to blasting rap with no guarantee. for the past three months, they’ve been entirely without a bar or selling any alcohol, told the same thing over three months: some issue with the liquor license. no sign up, no note to customers, no announcement planned for when they’ll get alcohol back either. i will never stop coming to this place because i love it inherently, i just wish it would become a more welcoming, consistent establishment that i can count on.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 2
Brian Galm
New way to order is atrocious. No customer experience. Everything is slower. Get rid of the kiosk and employ humans.
Rachel Whelan
A spacious interior with plenty of sitting, very reverberant (so maybe not great for talking). Lots of outside seating. Unfortunately probably the smallest and most undrinkable six and a half dollar cappuccino I've ever had. I paid extra for a snickerdoodle flavouring, not realising that apparently what that means is shaking and ungodly amount of cinnamon into fresh espresso. Based on the price, I expected 1. a larger drink (especially considering I the final few sips are so dense with clumped cinnamon as to be wasted) and 2. actual flavouring. Also, the only way to order is using a touchpad. This kind of ruins the vibe of a local coffee shop. Though I would imagine this is better during a busy lunch rush?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Mike Sabat
Easily one of the best coffee shops in DC. Great vibes and the people are super nice. The cliental is cool as well. Paolo, the manager, was extra hospitable.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Giovana Godoy
Amazing spot! The vibe is great, the drinks are perfect, and the food is even better. On top of that, the service was excellent—super friendly and attentive. Definitely coming back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Chris Greene
Good coffee
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Molly Cooper
I got a small iced blueberry matcha with oat milk, and it was okay but the total came out to $11.38 + tip. The menu said matcha costs $6-8, I just don’t understand how you can charge that much for a mediocre drink. I was looking at matcha costs in Iceland and Dubai (because those were the most expensive places I could think of) and I couldn’t find a matcha (with oat milk) over $9.50. Why? And the fact that the matcha came from a squeeze bottle bothers me, because if I’m paying double digits for a drink, I would hope it was made fresh and to order. Like I said, it tasted fine, but for the cost it was totally not worth it. Can anyone justify the price for me when I can get a better tasting matcha for half the price anywhere else?
Good food and pleasant environment to enjoy breakfast or lunch
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sunjeev Bery
Great space, terrible service. They make you sit and order your coffee from the wait staff, but the wait staff can never seem to remember to bring whatever else it is you ask for with your coffee.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 1
Brett Kimble
Good, easy, quick. Outdoor area is nice and bathrooms were clean.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
K. S.
The quality of this location has consistently declined over the years. Worse quality cappuccinos, out of cold brew by 9am, inconsistent service, etc. I find myself going to other cafes I would never have considered a few years ago when this was at its prime.
Highly suggest the spot invest in a few trained baristas and managers.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2
Josh Eastern
Good spot and vibe. My chai tea latte I ordered was just okay. I enjoyed my egg sandwich too. The reason I went was to do some work and the WiFi didn’t work. The waitress told me it would probably be slow based on how busy it was. TLDR: good food, okay drinks, slow WiFi
Takes like 20 minutes for them to notice you ://
My favorite coffee shop/Cafe in D.C. Variety of seating. Some people come to eat, some to grab a coffee or a drink, and some to work on laptops. All are welcome! Staff is incredibly kind and attentive. (It would be 5 stars for food if there were more vegan options or things that could be made vegan!) Overall, great experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Iced mocha had chunks of chocolate in it, and served in a bar glass.
Lavender latte missing any lavender flavoring and we were told to mix it up as the flavoring may be at the bottom (it wasnt). They were nice enough to give us more flavoring and we mixed it in ourselves.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
very unhappy to write this review of emissary. it’s been my absolute favorite coffee shop for 7 years, through college, new jobs, various friends working there, new neighborhoods, etc. but, the service has always been tricky. management changes fairly often, with it aways new procedures. i’ve been told to seat myself multiple times. when i do, i wait 10-15-20 minutes before someone notices me. i know now to order as soon as someone comes the first time, that works fine. past two times, i’ve sat outside and watched waiters/managers pass me multiple times with no acknowledgment. i go inside, then they tell me to take a seat and they’ll come to me, but they don’t. business hours have fluctuated for years, often with no announcement. many times i’ve come in for tea, told we have no matcha, no chai, no earl grey, etc. quality of food has fluctuated too, popcorn burned, salad underdressed. music oscillates from nice indie rock to blasting rap with no guarantee. for the past three months, they’ve been entirely without a bar or selling any alcohol, told the same thing over three months: some issue with the liquor license. no sign up, no note to customers, no announcement planned for when they’ll get alcohol back either. i will never stop coming to this place because i love it inherently, i just wish it would become a more welcoming, consistent establishment that i can count on.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 2
New way to order is atrocious. No customer experience. Everything is slower. Get rid of the kiosk and employ humans.
A spacious interior with plenty of sitting, very reverberant (so maybe not great for talking). Lots of outside seating. Unfortunately probably the smallest and most undrinkable six and a half dollar cappuccino I've ever had. I paid extra for a snickerdoodle flavouring, not realising that apparently what that means is shaking and ungodly amount of cinnamon into fresh espresso. Based on the price, I expected 1. a larger drink (especially considering I the final few sips are so dense with clumped cinnamon as to be wasted) and 2. actual flavouring.
Also, the only way to order is using a touchpad. This kind of ruins the vibe of a local coffee shop. Though I would imagine this is better during a busy lunch rush?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Easily one of the best coffee shops in DC. Great vibes and the people are super nice. The cliental is cool as well. Paolo, the manager, was extra hospitable.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amazing spot! The vibe is great, the drinks are perfect, and the food is even better. On top of that, the service was excellent—super friendly and attentive. Definitely coming back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Good coffee
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
I got a small iced blueberry matcha with oat milk, and it was okay but the total came out to $11.38 + tip. The menu said matcha costs $6-8, I just don’t understand how you can charge that much for a mediocre drink. I was looking at matcha costs in Iceland and Dubai (because those were the most expensive places I could think of) and I couldn’t find a matcha (with oat milk) over $9.50. Why? And the fact that the matcha came from a squeeze bottle bothers me, because if I’m paying double digits for a drink, I would hope it was made fresh and to order. Like I said, it tasted fine, but for the cost it was totally not worth it. Can anyone justify the price for me when I can get a better tasting matcha for half the price anywhere else?
Restaurantji Recommends
Good food and pleasant environment to enjoy breakfast or lunch
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great space, terrible service. They make you sit and order your coffee from the wait staff, but the wait staff can never seem to remember to bring whatever else it is you ask for with your coffee.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 1
Good, easy, quick. Outdoor area is nice and bathrooms were clean.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
The quality of this location has consistently declined over the years. Worse quality cappuccinos, out of cold brew by 9am, inconsistent service, etc. I find myself going to other cafes I would never have considered a few years ago when this was at its prime.
Highly suggest the spot invest in a few trained baristas and managers.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2
Good spot and vibe. My chai tea latte I ordered was just okay. I enjoyed my egg sandwich too. The reason I went was to do some work and the WiFi didn’t work. The waitress told me it would probably be slow based on how busy it was. TLDR: good food, okay drinks, slow WiFi
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
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