Believe the reviews about the unfriendly staff!! I came in with a service animal and the man who seems to own the place was so rude about it. I could not even start to state that it is a service animal because the man behind the counter was so busy talking over me to tell me “NO DOGS ALLOWED! NO DOGS ALLOWED! NO DOGS ALLOWED!!”
When I asked for an iced vanilla latte he said he doesn’t have vanilla OR ice in the snootiest tone ever.
DO NOT COME HERE!!! What a rude and mean service staffer.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Quinn Urich
Vibe was terrible
Smruthi
This is not a cafe that will give you the experience of a Starbucks or Tatte. If you value niceness and accommodation from the staff over a serious consideration for good coffee you’d be better off going elsewhere. The owner makes great coffee in my opinion, and there are not a lot of places in the neighborhood that do. The only drawback is that the taste goes downhill for me whenever another barista is working there, which has sadly been pretty often lately. They always have fresh specialty coffee beans though which is awesome. Also lots of cafes do reusable cup only days, some of these complaints are just sounding ridiculously entitled.
Nev
Rude and pretentious service. Coffee is another disappointment. How do you make subpar coffee with MIRAGE? A shame! Give this gorgeous machine some justice!!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Maria Buzina
This place is so fascinatingly ridiculous. Had 5 minutes before work to get a coffee but was denied service, cause I didn't bring my own cup? Like they def have paper cups in the back but for some obscure reason would rather loose money then give me a drink. How am I supposed to even know that? Reading other 1-2 star reviews for this place was the most fun I had all day btw, apparently it gets worse...like way worse. Peace out
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Shreya Johri
First time visiting this cafe. We ordered a large cappuccino to go, but were given a small instead. When we asked about the mixup in size, they simply added more milk and told us that the large had the same amount of coffee, just with extra milk. Coffee obviously tasted too milky. Weird staff not willing to correct their mistakes.
John Harris
Best coffee in Brookline and Boston, very few places come close to the consistency that Fixe has. Yes, the owner is pretentious and socially awkward, but I’d take that over the higher prices and low quality coffee at other places. A lot of these bad reviews are amusing to me. I truly wonder how some of these reviewers survive out there without throwing a tantrum at every inconvenience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
J O (docj)
Excellent coffee and a delicious scone (maple and walnut) with friendly and efficient service. The cafe itself is very cosy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Clara
I’m absolutely stunned at the downfall of this place. The quality of the drinks has gotten terrible. The owner and staff are insanely rude — like another reviewer said, birds of a feather. Overall, a really strange, obnoxious vibe. This place is for people who enjoy a toxic and surreal atmosphere with awful coffee.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Renee Sifri
Both the espresso drinks and pour over coffee are underwhelming and taste watery. Staff was a bit unfriendly as well.
I committed the cardinal sin of asking for an Americano with a double shot of espresso. The owner told me in the surliest tone I’ve ever heard that they don’t know what I mean by espresso, because they only do Ristretto.
Never mind the fact he obviously knows what an espresso is, the staff really need to get over themselves. I don’t expect particularly friendly service, but coffee is such a weird thing to be so condescending about. You’re making hot bean juice, not saving lives.
Service: 1
Hannah Enoy
I encountered multiple red flags getting coffee here as a Brookline local the past couple years but finally stopped supporting the shop when I came in not knowing you had to bring in your own cup that day, happened to have one and was still refused service. I was relieved because I happened to have an unused plastic cup in my car and I was running late to a meeting so I didn’t have time to run home, but because it was plastic, the barista refused to serve me. After acting like I committed a crime and interrogating me about the cup, the barista refused me service and said it was “the principle” of the matter and then tried to sell me a $30 cup from their shop. I suggested that if they were going to refuse me service despite bringing in my own cup, they should at least sell affordable ones, $15 at the most (even that is expensive). she claimed that the boss didn’t make any profit off of the clearly expensive, high end cups that he chose to sell. it was the cherry on top of such a ridiculous experience with out of touch baristas.
other red flags prior to this - when another barista was skeptical about my dog being a service animal, which is literally against the law but okay. and one time the owner was visibly uncomfortable and judgmental about a radical/revolutionary shirt (in 2025 mind you) that I was wearing. you guys really need to get over yourselves! people only continue to go here out of convenience, and in my case, have loved the Barrington coffee they use since I went to college in western mass and can rarely find since the Barrington coffee shop closed on Newbury years ago, but it’s literally not even worth the bad vibes here to get it.
if you want good coffee served by kind, unpretentious people I recommend Sultana’s, Clear Flour, Cafe Weekend, Arwa, Brothers and Sisters Co, Knight Cafe, Maruichi, etc. so many good shops in the Brookline and Brighton area that deserve support over this one!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Blake Muraskin
The coffee is great here but I’m honestly afraid to order anything. The owner is the rudest and most condescending person I’ve had to interact with to order a coffee. All the other reviews pointing out how rude the owner is are spot on. Before my wife and I walked into the cafe today, we were both wondering if the owner would make a condescending remark to us about our coffee order. I walked up to the counter and said can I order two flat whites please? He looked at me and said “we call that a latte here”. Great, thanks for letting me know. Go look at your own menu. It says cappuccino or latte in big font and then aka cortado and flat white in smaller font underneath. If I said can I have two lattes please, would you have given me two flat whites? C’mon dude. Be nicer to people. No one wants their first interaction of the day to be with someone who is rude.
*I’m assuming the man who took my order is the owner because otherwise he wouldn’t still be working at the cafe. See all the other negative reviews.*
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 5
Service: 1
Kara PE
The only good thing about this place is laughing at all the one star reviews
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Todd S
Cafe fixe is one of the best coffee shops in Boston if the quality of the coffee and attention to detail are what you are after. I especially like the rule where there are no disposable cups on Tuesday. I really appreciate that level of commitment to the environment as well as preserving the culture of a high-end coffee as a pause during the day to be enjoyed with a proper cup instead of a throwaway piece of paper or plastic which would ruin the taste/experience anyway. The employees are always really nice and have genuine rapport with regular customers instead of fake kindness. It reminds me of coffee shops in a classy neighborhood in Europe and I’m happy to have one here in Brookline.
Believe the reviews about the unfriendly staff!! I came in with a service animal and the man who seems to own the place was so rude about it. I could not even start to state that it is a service animal because the man behind the counter was so busy talking over me to tell me “NO DOGS ALLOWED! NO DOGS ALLOWED! NO DOGS ALLOWED!!”
When I asked for an iced vanilla latte he said he doesn’t have vanilla OR ice in the snootiest tone ever.
DO NOT COME HERE!!! What a rude and mean service staffer.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Vibe was terrible
This is not a cafe that will give you the experience of a Starbucks or Tatte. If you value niceness and accommodation from the staff over a serious consideration for good coffee you’d be better off going elsewhere. The owner makes great coffee in my opinion, and there are not a lot of places in the neighborhood that do. The only drawback is that the taste goes downhill for me whenever another barista is working there, which has sadly been pretty often lately. They always have fresh specialty coffee beans though which is awesome. Also lots of cafes do reusable cup only days, some of these complaints are just sounding ridiculously entitled.
Rude and pretentious service. Coffee is another disappointment. How do you make subpar coffee with MIRAGE? A shame! Give this gorgeous machine some justice!!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
This place is so fascinatingly ridiculous. Had 5 minutes before work to get a coffee but was denied service, cause I didn't bring my own cup? Like they def have paper cups in the back but for some obscure reason would rather loose money then give me a drink. How am I supposed to even know that? Reading other 1-2 star reviews for this place was the most fun I had all day btw, apparently it gets worse...like way worse. Peace out
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
First time visiting this cafe. We ordered a large cappuccino to go, but were given a small instead. When we asked about the mixup in size, they simply added more milk and told us that the large had the same amount of coffee, just with extra milk. Coffee obviously tasted too milky. Weird staff not willing to correct their mistakes.
Best coffee in Brookline and Boston, very few places come close to the consistency that Fixe has. Yes, the owner is pretentious and socially awkward, but I’d take that over the higher prices and low quality coffee at other places. A lot of these bad reviews are amusing to me. I truly wonder how some of these reviewers survive out there without throwing a tantrum at every inconvenience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Excellent coffee and a delicious scone (maple and walnut) with friendly and efficient service. The cafe itself is very cosy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I’m absolutely stunned at the downfall of this place. The quality of the drinks has gotten terrible. The owner and staff are insanely rude — like another reviewer said, birds of a feather. Overall, a really strange, obnoxious vibe. This place is for people who enjoy a toxic and surreal atmosphere with awful coffee.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Both the espresso drinks and pour over coffee are underwhelming and taste watery. Staff was a bit unfriendly as well.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Restaurantji Recommends
I committed the cardinal sin of asking for an Americano with a double shot of espresso. The owner told me in the surliest tone I’ve ever heard that they don’t know what I mean by espresso, because they only do Ristretto.
Never mind the fact he obviously knows what an espresso is, the staff really need to get over themselves. I don’t expect particularly friendly service, but coffee is such a weird thing to be so condescending about. You’re making hot bean juice, not saving lives.
Service: 1
I encountered multiple red flags getting coffee here as a Brookline local the past couple years but finally stopped supporting the shop when I came in not knowing you had to bring in your own cup that day, happened to have one and was still refused service. I was relieved because I happened to have an unused plastic cup in my car and I was running late to a meeting so I didn’t have time to run home, but because it was plastic, the barista refused to serve me. After acting like I committed a crime and interrogating me about the cup, the barista refused me service and said it was “the principle” of the matter and then tried to sell me a $30 cup from their shop. I suggested that if they were going to refuse me service despite bringing in my own cup, they should at least sell affordable ones, $15 at the most (even that is expensive). she claimed that the boss didn’t make any profit off of the clearly expensive, high end cups that he chose to sell. it was the cherry on top of such a ridiculous experience with out of touch baristas.
other red flags prior to this - when another barista was skeptical about my dog being a service animal, which is literally against the law but okay. and one time the owner was visibly uncomfortable and judgmental about a radical/revolutionary shirt (in 2025 mind you) that I was wearing. you guys really need to get over yourselves! people only continue to go here out of convenience, and in my case, have loved the Barrington coffee they use since I went to college in western mass and can rarely find since the Barrington coffee shop closed on Newbury years ago, but it’s literally not even worth the bad vibes here to get it.
if you want good coffee served by kind, unpretentious people I recommend Sultana’s, Clear Flour, Cafe Weekend, Arwa, Brothers and Sisters Co, Knight Cafe, Maruichi, etc. so many good shops in the Brookline and Brighton area that deserve support over this one!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The coffee is great here but I’m honestly afraid to order anything. The owner is the rudest and most condescending person I’ve had to interact with to order a coffee. All the other reviews pointing out how rude the owner is are spot on. Before my wife and I walked into the cafe today, we were both wondering if the owner would make a condescending remark to us about our coffee order. I walked up to the counter and said can I order two flat whites please? He looked at me and said “we call that a latte here”. Great, thanks for letting me know. Go look at your own menu. It says cappuccino or latte in big font and then aka cortado and flat white in smaller font underneath. If I said can I have two lattes please, would you have given me two flat whites? C’mon dude. Be nicer to people. No one wants their first interaction of the day to be with someone who is rude.
*I’m assuming the man who took my order is the owner because otherwise he wouldn’t still be working at the cafe. See all the other negative reviews.*
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 5
Service: 1
The only good thing about this place is laughing at all the one star reviews
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Cafe fixe is one of the best coffee shops in Boston if the quality of the coffee and attention to detail are what you are after. I especially like the rule where there are no disposable cups on Tuesday. I really appreciate that level of commitment to the environment as well as preserving the culture of a high-end coffee as a pause during the day to be enjoyed with a proper cup instead of a throwaway piece of paper or plastic which would ruin the taste/experience anyway. The employees are always really nice and have genuine rapport with regular customers instead of fake kindness. It reminds me of coffee shops in a classy neighborhood in Europe and I’m happy to have one here in Brookline.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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