The SunBreak
posted 01/18/10 01:10 PM | updated 01/18/10 01:10 PM
Featured Post! | Views: 0 | Comments : 14 | Restaurant

The Many Faces of Watertown Coffee

By Michael van Baker
Editor
Recommend this story (0 votes)

Amy Vanderbeck, her sister Katy, and Daniel Perry, all graduates of the Vivace empire, built Watertown Coffee on the grave of Coffee Animals, on 12th Avenue just south of Seattle University.

They opened in early 2009, and look to have been squirreling away board and video games in the cavernous interior ever since. (After months of "meaning to stop in," I was challenged to a ping pong tournament on their new table. The less said about that, the better, although the bourbon and hot apple cider took some of the sting out of defeat.)

There's Vivace coffee, a real bar, and a sandwich/soup/salad food menu. The "rec room" atmosphere--seriously, besides board games, there's an Xbox--surprises people expecting a standard coffee shop, and people used to Starbucks' consistently genial service are clearly taken aback by the staff's "attitude" and the music volume that's at the whim of the barista. (For better photos of the interior than an iPhone can provide, click here.)

Yelpers and Urban Spooners are divided into love it/hate it, and it's-just-a-coffee-shop-relax camps. However, if you are sensitive flower and need quiet study time, you might want to try somewhere else. That is not the aim of Watertown, which has a clubhouse vibe, and where--if you consistently miss ping pong returns and have to chase the ball as it thwocks and pwocks across the room--the baristas won't glance at you twice.

Save and Share this article
Permalink
Tags: bar, watertown coffee, sandwiches, coffee, vivace, sucks + add tags
savecancel
CommentsRSS Feed
sensitive flower?
The issue of customers wanting music at less than deafening volumes and baristas who don't cuss you out has nothing to do with being a "sensitive flower."

The owners don't just have "attitude." They are hostile, aggressive, and don't deserve anyone's business.

Oh and Yelpers aren't just divided. It's clear from this talk thread that "boycott and tell others" more accurately represents the view of the majority over on Yelp.

Here's a link to the talk thread
http://www.yelp.com/topic/seattle-watertown-coffee-is-anti-y
Comment by van
3 days ago
( +1 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
RE: sensitive flower?
from the reviews ( http://www.yelp.com/biz/watertown-coffee-seattle), about half ones and half fives, it seems very fair to say that yelpers are divided.
Comment by josh
3 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Blame the customer
Sure, it's the customer's fault for getting yelled at, ridiculed, and even STALKED by Watertown's employees. There's such a thing as common decency.
Comment by Yelper
3 days ago
( +1 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
RE: Blame the customer
Hey, I'm not saying they're not a rough crowd. I know Hells Angels who won't walk by there at night.
Comment by Michael van Baker
3 days ago
( --1 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
God forbid we have some verity in coffee shops!
Seattle would be a better place if more establishments yelled at their customers. Most of you need to go back to shaking your cane at the kids on your lawn and not venture into scary places like this.

I’ve never been to Watertown but I live close and I intend on visiting to see if I can endure what seems to be impossible for so many.
Comment by Justin
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
God bless this place
...for serving good coffee, good food, and stiff drinks, and not letting their humanity get sealed into a neat and shiny little box. I'll take the family-owned place with good taste in music (when it's good, there's no reason to keep it quiet). People who want a cookie-cutter coffeehouse can go to Starbucks two blocks away, and leave the place with the soul to those of us who also have one. I work there on my laptop all the time, and get a ton of work done, even when the music's bangin and the ping pong balls are bouncing. Call me crazy.
Comment by Kim
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
RE: Facebook stalking
Okay so perhaps they could have chosen their words a bit more carefully on facebook.

-They said
"Just say it to our face vs. this pathetic YELP bullshit, okay? Quizno’s sounds like a better fit for your needs… it’s quiet… quiet… quiet… You just don’t get it, girl."

-What I think they meant to say was
"First and foremost I’d like thank you for caring enough to post this review on yelp. Second, I want you to know how much we appreciate when valued customers such as yourself take the time to honestly review our establishment with the constructive candor that you have exhibited here. We take suggestions very seriously and I want to assure you that yours are being acted on with all due haste. In the future you should feel free to let anyone of our employees know if you have any suggestions at all, no matter how slight or silly they might be, again we take these things very seriously.

On a separate topic entirely, have you ever been to Quizno’s? I enjoy the quiet atmosphere that Quizno’s provides in addition to the value they deliver. Based on what I’ve learned about you in your time as our customer and our online conversations (which I’ve enjoyed very much BTW) I think you might like Quizno’s if your ever inclined to try them.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to have this chat with us. I know your time is valuable so I’ll let you get back, but let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Kind regards,
Watertown Coffee

P.S. You get it, girl!"

*I don't actually know for a fact that is what they meant to say, but based on the comments I think I'm not far off.
Comment by Justin
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
another link
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/1f22C9npWBm4W9YNlrrHpg?select
Comment by van
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
What's with the obsession?
I don't understand why people have to crusade against businesses that don't suit them. Write a bad review and move on. There is no lack of coffee shops to frequent in this part of the country. Don't like one? Go somewhere else. You have choices. Plenty of them.

If a place sucks as much as commentators here and on Yelp make it out to, it will close. Many restaurants have failed from bad reviews. However, Watertown seems to suit a number of people because the last time I was there it was packed. If anything, I think a mix of one- and five-star reviews demonstrates a business is doing something right: It's serving a niche market that doesn't appeal to some people and strongly appeals to others. We need more of those. One-star reviewers have hundreds of other places to choose from. Why not go out and find and review some shops you like instead of spending hours hating on ones you don't?
Comment by Amy
2 days ago
( +2 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
I really liked Watertown AND was stunned enough by their facebook comments to boycott
To set the record straight here, the kind of people Watertown essentially kicked out were queer, punk types, not Starbucks repressed polite types.

Van turned me on to Watertown, which she does a lot for places that are cool, and since I do a lot of work (and spend money) in coffee shops - I was excited to find a new cool place run by what seemed like hip local people. Our friends would come too... by word of mouth, we'd have four, five, six different people in a day.

But are y'all aware of what happened? (this is not about the volume of the music!) My friend posted an overall highly positive review on yelp with a couple of suggestions, and whoever runs the facebook account of Watertown posted a really rude comment on HER FACEBOOK WALL - not in response to yelp, but on her FACEBOOK WALL, and then defriended her.

This is not about variety, this is more like WTF??? Not looking for fake sweet customer service, just a place where you're not likely to be assaulted - verbally or otherwise - by the owners. Even though it's further and parking is a pain in the ass for me, I'd much rather spend my money at Cafe Vita, Online coffee, or Cupcake Royale - where there is also loud music, and punk, queer vibes.
Comment by Rebecca
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
WaterHead Coffee
Wow, this article and these responses! They're just so...Seattle! I love the heck outta this city but it's riddled with places like Watertown. People here seem to be quite willing to validate rudeness, dismissiveness, even outright hostility in the name of some sort of warped counter-cultural "hipness". There's a bit of perverse nature to Seattle that appeals to me mightily (being perverse by birth) but which is taken to such extremes that it doesn't appear to have an outer limit. I believe, if there were a bar at which the servers arbitrarily whacked patrons over the head with trays, it would quickly become the Flavor of the Month. I spent two days in Denver last week and, after five visits, it finally began to dawn on me why I get such a positive vibe off the place: everybody there is NICE! Even the Goth kids and the pierced/tattooed folks ENGAGE with others, smile, do and say helpful things! After being here for 18 years, it was almost suspicious, at first. But there's a genuine warmth there that I just don't find here. And that's refreshing. Luckily, I said my piece about Waterhead (on Yelp) and I never have to go back there again!
Comment by SteveBody
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Extraordinary
Watertown Coffee is not for those who value "attitude," or conversely, those who need everyone to be "nice" to them; it is for those who just like something different, something extraordinary - it's for people who like their baristas to be real people not robots. The fact that a small, family-owned coffee shop can elicit such strong passion from strangers - shows that they have something going on. You want ordinary, run of the mill, like every other coffee shop in the world -- go to any one of the 1000's of Starbucks in the city - you will get your cookie cutter "nice" service. You can pay for one cup of coffee and camp out all day - hey, the corporation can absorb you and your cheap ass. You want to support a family-owned small business? You want something different? Go buy a drink (or a couple) and chase a ping pong ball at Watertown.
-----------
“You know that when I hate you, it is because I love you to a point of passion that unhinges my soul.” - Julie de Lespinasse
Comment by Lisa
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Yawn
I, for one, really like Watertown and think everyone I've ever dealt with who works there are funny, super nice and inviting.

If you people really want to be petty (are your lives really that boring?) and boycott the place because of what one person (who seems to be a naturally angry person in general) says s/he experienced (which may have been an isolated incident of someone having a bad day... maybe their cat died or their bike got stolen) - fine... it'll definitely be more fun without ya.

I suggest you go paint a picture or smell some flowers or hold a baby or help an old person across the street. Do something more constructive and nice with your day!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gots me a hankering for a Watertown Mac n Cheese (best in town - http://www.seattlemacncheese.com/2009/11/watertown-coffee.ht) and a Dirty Laura Palmer!!!
Comment by Allison
1 day ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Van's Yelping
I hail from New York, but travel regularly to Seattle.
A friend of mine introduced me to Watertown not too long ago, and I must say I love the place. The food is great, as are the drinks and the coffee. The people there are quirky and wicked funny.
By the time I left there -which was many hours and many, many ping pong games later- I felt like I was a regular... on my first visit. I went back the next day to just as inviting a place in the morning as the evening.
I definitely will be going there any time I am in Seattle.

I stumbled upon this big drama that this Vanessa Potty-Mouth is stirring up, and must say that it's all really rather silly to be wasting readers' time with what's clearly a chip on her shoulder. (And I needn't even bother addressing her friends' feeble attempts at fueling the fire.)
If you're reading these comments and reviews right now - I would suggest you not listen to bitter banter of someone who clearly has something personal against the people (or a single person?), and just check the place out.
It's run by people who are working really hard to make their own dream come true in a bad time for all small businesses, and give the community a great place to hang out and play.

Hey Vanessa A., tell me something - what'd you do to prompt a reaction from Watertown to begin with?
From what I gather from your posts, you were about to give them a better rating. Are you saying that Watertown just... picked you out? What? Five stars wasn't enough, so they decided to respond to you in demand of that additional star?
You had to have done or said something ugly to get under their skin enough to warrant a reaction from them.
Comment by Vaduz
1 day ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Add Your Comment
Name:
Email:
(will not be displayed)
Subject:
Comment: