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Category: Coffee & Tea [Edit]
Neighborhood: SOMAMon-Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
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Conveniently near to where I work.. Cento makes v good Blue Bottle coffee.
Being next door to little skillet is a bonus, especially if you are hungover so you can go for the Breakfast Po Boy sandwich with your coffee.
Only downsides are the slightly vacant aloof hipster staff serving your coffee and the fact that they don't get the milk hot enough.. by the time you get back to the office the coffee is luke warm.
Had the iced coffee to go with my fabulous fried chicken/mango chutney waffle/perfect sunny day. Disappointing...it's not the real stuff...it's just regular coffee with ice. It's supposed to be this milky creamy chickory goodness.
It might be just the staff...both girls were kinda woohoo...I looked at other people's coffee, they are nothing like blue bottle's standard craft.
Awesome coffee, well considering they do use blue bottle.
Cute little downtown alley spot.
The only complaint was there was absolutely NO line and we still sat there for 5+ minutes and got a little attitude when we confirmed that this was where we were supoose to order. (come on, there was a window right next to it for phone orders....)
Would definitely return, but with keeping the wait and slight attitude in mind.....
Date & Time: Thursday June 25, 2009 @ 12:30pm
Location: 330 Ritch
Company: Michael & Jack
Crowd: 20-30 Something SOMA Professionals in B&R Business Casual
Vibe: Chill
Decor: Coffee Window
Service: Nice Hipster
Imbibe: Mocha & New Orleans Style Iced Coffee
Total: $7.50
best coffee shop outside of the hayes valley blue bottle. Perfect for a curb life.
How I've gone 4 1/2 years working across the street without ever knowing this place existed is a mystery. Nevertheless it is now my go to coffee shop. They're fast (as fast as freshly dripped coffee can be served), friendly and the coffee is like heaven for your taste buds.
If you've never experienced Blue Bottle Coffee do yourself a solid and try a cup today. Start off with a simple cup of drip coffee ($2) so you can really appreciate the complexity of their bean's and drip process then move on to their latte's or mocha's or the New Orleans iced coffee on a hot day. Simply delish!
If only they opened before 8am....
Blue Bottle coffee. Nonfat milk. Next door to Little Skillet. Friendly service.
Perfect.
I work across the street, so this is just my average hole-in-the-wall (no, literally), coffee stand, and for the longest time I couldn't understand why it was so praised on Yelp.
I'll tell you why - their lattes pack a punch that kept me wired for a solid 4 hours. Effing great, man. Bonus: on warmer days packs of cute hipsters (usually at least two bike couriers among their ranks) flock about the place. Strong coffee AND eye candy? Even if you weren't 15 feet from my building, I'd come back.
To call this a coffee shop would be an overstatement. It's more like a coffee stand. But what it lacks in size (or seating), it more than makes for in the quality of its coffee and friendliness of the staff. They brew with Blue Bottle coffee and I've never had a bad cup here. I used to work in the building across the alley from Cento, and it was really nice to come down on a sunny day, get the regular drip (brewed by hand, by the way) or the New Orleans-style ice coffee, and chill out outside. The place is popular in the neighborhood, especially with moped- and scooter-riding hipsters. I miss having this so close to work.
Oh, they also serve decent panini sandwiches during lunchtime.
before i worked a block away, i used to drink coffee once a year. no joke. now i drink a new orleans iced coffee once a week. yum! for the coffee, perfect! for the location, hooray! for the owner, and bonus! when little skillet opened up next door....
It's amazing that for essentially the same price as Starbucks ($2-3), you can enjoy coffee that was thoughtfully produced from the Blue-Bottle roasted beans to the cup-at-a-time brewing. The lattes are wonderful and they do that cool leaf thing in the foam. The foam is perfect and the milk is sweet (not too hot) and light all the way through. A cup of pure joy!
Oh--- and if you're in an "I don't care about calories" mood, the croissants are to-die-for.
Call me crazy, but I really want to quit my job and work here. There is something so Bohemian cool about working at a coffee shop; and while this coffee shop is lacking the shop portion of the criteria (would be described more accurately as a coffee hole-in-the-side-of-a-building) it makes up for it with Blue Bottle coffee and a staff that is incredibly friendly without being creepy like the Cheshires over at Starbucks.
Cento is cash only. However, the lovely staff will let you into their mother building, 330 Ritch, to use the ATM so long as they aren't too busy.
Lines before 9 AM are barely existent, however, to my dismay, they close at 3, right when I really need them for an afternoon pick me up.
Also, while their paninis are pretty hittin' (my favorite among them being the "Flower Child"), I really wish that they'd start stocking some more coffee friendly carbs behind the counter.
While I've heard their espresso drinks are very good, I consider it blasphemous to come to a Blue Bottle establishment and not order a drip. They rotate roasts so things stay exciting! Add honey and cream for best results :)
It took me having a day off to even know this place existed...
YESSSSSSSSS! Blue Bottle in my neighborhood!
Blue Bottle coffee + friendly barista + no line = a happy Cat.
I end up here about once a day. It's definitely a cafe for people who like coffee and have taste. The beans are from Blue Bottle, so you can go wrong with a drip coffee (which is made to order.) But the espresso drinks are good too.
For everyone else, there's a Starbucks inside Border's down the street.
If you're going to sell anything out of a window or a truck it needs to be 25% cheaper or 50% more delicious or both. Cento serves Blue Bottle coffee which is indeed better than most at $2.00 a cup (about the same price as other coffee). I wish they were a bit cheaper like the place in the caltrain station ($1.50 a cup).
They've got a cool vibe going and serving coffee from a window makes them inherently dog friendly. They also have a little bench if you want to sit down and relax with your coffee. Cento is located in a low traffic alley so it is a bit of a break from all the noise of the neighborhood.
Something about buying coffee so strong it will make you fail your drug test, out of a loading dock, in a back alley, that makes me love it even more.
SOMA alley dwellers step right up.
If I'm within the 10 block range, I will wind up here ordering a cappuccino.
Surprisingly I have nothing bad to say about this place... wait. No. I know!
I liked them better as 'Lambretta', and located 4 blocks from my apartment.
I knew I could find something wrong!
I rock!
And Cento rocks too.
Whoever that handsome young fellow with the dirty, raunchy-looking moustache is.... oooh-wee! Such a coffee slingin' stud!
Cento serves the highly-acclaimed Blue Bottle Coffee with each cup individually prepared to perfection. With that, comes a wait-time (usually less than 3 minutes) which might turn people off. However, it's hard to get mad at the friendly, warm-loving, hard-working staff. Each employee, yes including John Q., the manager, satisfies the customers' needs with an excellent level of product knowledge, presentation, quality, and speed of service.
This place is great. Recently had their "Cento" filled with smooth caffeinated goodness, highly recommended. The best is that I sipped it in the warmth and sunshine. How much better does life get? With great drinks and super-friendly staff, Cento is highly recommended!
The baristas at Cento serve amazing latte and cappuccino. Their forte is their milk. Its perfectly steamed, creamy and the perfect drinking temperature.
The espresso is a little thin and bright for my taste. A macchiato is a nice compromise if you just want a small pick me up in the afternoon.
Your wait will be somewhat long, the staff is somewhat disorganized, and you will be bandied about by skinny-jeaned dot-com hipsters while you wait, but they get the coffee right and that is what matters most to me.
Oh. My. God. One sip of their latte and I'm in heaven. It's as good as it gets.
Latte, $3
Drip Coffee, $2
The fact that it's not Starbucks? Priceless.
I'M A FAN!
It's right next to where I work and I enjoy my morning walk there to get my cup of coffee. I really don't mind the wait since I invariably end up talking to another patron or get the low down on what's going on in the work world around me... and hey! life need not always be about instant gratification.
There is something to be said about waiting for your coffee to brew and really enjoying it when you get it... you know? like the good old days?
The folks behind the counter are friendly and quick as they can be.
Nice, nice, very nice!
YESSSSSSSS!!!
Today is the best day EVAR on so many levels.
1. Blue Bottle is now amazingly accessible one block from my office!
2. the sun was gloriously shining as i sashayed there in flip flops and white linen pants from 2005 (which still fit thanks to recent gym visits tank yew!)
3. they have a new orleans ice coffee which is pretty darn refreshing!
4. the folks behind the kiosk are super nice!
5. and finally i am the first to yelp this super rad joint!
life is good and i'm going to celebrate it with blue bottle to start my work day and happy hour to end it! you should too!
PS. fyi - as i said before, blue bottle has the best espresso in all of san francisco, with lattes as good as italy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ok so slight correction here, blue bottle is actually storefront CENTO, but who would even know that they sold blue bottle? looks like a blue bottle kiosk to me??
Excellent work by the baristas. Nice to be reminded just what a mocha can be about: ecstasy.
Enjoyed the cuban sandwich today. Served on focaccia bread, yet it worked. Delicious. Upcoming daily specials sound yummy. I may be permanently adding Cento to the lunch rotation.
New Orleans Ice Coffee? I'm jumping out of my skin right now, it's awesome. The $3.50 price tag was a little ridiculous. Ok, you "slow roast it for 24 hours." Ok it's Blue Bottle and it's "Trendy." But is that any reason for it to cost twice as much as your hot drip coffee?
Just had Blue bottle coffee for the second time ever. It's perty damn good. Unlike the Hayes Valley location the line was extremely short , but I'm sure this wont last for long.
I'm just glad there's a new place to take more and more business from Starbucks.
Damn the man!
This place is the opposite of Starbucks; thats why I love it.
Great coffee, and beautiful cappuccinos. Hint, the ice coffee is actually cold brewed = extra caffeine.
Beware of hipsters looming in the alley...
Blue Bottle Coffee in south-SoMa, need I say more?
The baristas know their stuff - esp how to foam up Soy, which is an art in itself (I hear you have to be trained by Blue Bottle in order to buy their beans wholesale for cafe retailing).
My only negative (and thus not 5/5) is that once again it's a Blue Bottle establishment (albeit franchise in this instace) that has elected for the kiosk approach rather than full cafe. I find it slightly pretentious given that that get away with charging full cafe prices without having to deal with the overhead that comes with running a full cafe setup.
Coffee is a drink that should be enjoyed in a relaxed (seated) environment, plus the lack of 'proper' cafe prevents them from incorporating up the vespa/lambretta/scooter/mod concept more deeply into their business.
one star for using good coffee beans.
this place is ridiculous. it takes at least 5 minutes for them to make your coffee because they do it the prehistoric way with a bonfire and a strainer woven out of grass. its served scorching with major spillage, make sure you get napkins and a lawyer.
yeah yeah yeah, everyone else loves this stuff just because of it's strange hipster cult following but i drink my coffee black and this crap is overrated.
It's like I discovered a secret alley passage way to get my coffee fix. It's a cute and friendly kiosk which seems to share a kitchen with 330 Ritch. At $2 for drip coffee with blue bottle roasted beans, skip Borders across the street. Lattes are also very good. Looks like they serve lunch takeout food as well. Too bad they aren't open during the weekends!
Hooray for yet another coffee shop serving good drinks out of a loading bay! Stopped by here for the first time today, and it was a totally great cup of single-brew coffee.
I wish this place had been here back when I worked in SOMA, but it gives me a reason to hop on my bike for a little fresh air in the afternoon!
You can't go wrong with Cento. I recommend the New Orleans iced coffee on a hot day.
Update: Ben + Kylie are officially the king and queen of Ritch St. Come pay your respects!
Centro, meet Cento. While I'll always have love for South Park's Cafe Centro, the news that there's a new cafe SERVING BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE just off the loading dock of my building just made my month. I can handle anything May has to throw at me now that I can get BB again right outside of work. And in keeping with BB tradition of alley service (like the original location, or G'Vanni's), Ritch St. is ideal. You're welcome to sit on my loading dock and enjoy your java. Hallelujah.
John's "American-style" macchiato is unassailably perfect.
This place just opened up around the corner from my office (literally) and their timing could not have been any better.
Trendy Blue Bottle Coffee? Check!
Proper New Orleans iced coffee like at CC's and PJ's? CHECK!
Tiny little place that will confuse hipsters since they can't sit around posing angrily? CHECK!
Simple syrup readily available? Check!
Blazing hot weather that reminds me of Nawlins down in my cockles? Mother nature check!
Coffee with chicory? Check!
These guys really lucked out with this hot weather and their rather expensive iced coffee product. It's a small serving and they're selling it for tree-fiddy! Monstah, I aint givin you no tree-fiddy! Well, I did give it to the owner of Cento.....I just wish it were larger. For $3.50 back in NOLA we'd get something 3x the size. Still, you pay for convenience, and Cento affords the me convenience of living in SF while still dreaming of NOLA.
I used to live around the corner from the owner's old coffee shop on Polk and missed him when they have to leave. I'm glad he landed on his feet and opened up Cento -- the nabe definitely needs it.
Today was such a scorcher already at 8am that I decided to try the New Orleans iced coffee, a slow-roasted beast with chicory and milk, leaving it to the discretion of the coffeephile to add as much sweetener as they want. Kudos to places with simple syrup for cold drinks!
This place is in an alley, so I don't think it's going to be a hang-out for anybody, but the staff is really friendly. In fact, I was "warned" by the gentleman behind the counter that the iced coffee has more caffeine in it. Since I am immune to the powers of caffeine, I laughed; I'm just in it for the flava.
Since it's close to work, I will be back.
The individual drip coffee of blue bottle is an interesting product, kind of the PBR of caffeinated drinks. It's ironic for us who typically value complex understanding of the refinements of their wines, beers and food, to appreciate this basic drink. Now SOMA has another consumable to meticulously dissect and critique; the individual drip coffee.
Yes, it's good coffee that doesn't require dairy. No, you don't need to hold up the line asking all about your coffee so you can finally hit the pro coffee drinking circuit and impress your coworkers. Can't the taste of coffee simply be it's measure of how easily it caffeinates us with the pleasure of drinking it?
"Oh, I think I can really taste the Sumatra in this cup! Tastes like fairtrade!"
I can't believe it's taken me this long to write a review about this place. It's definitely my first stop in the morning before work, and it's only a block away, tucked in Ritch alley. I wouldn't call this a cafe or coffee shop so much as a hole in the wall that serves coffee and espresso drinks, but appearances can be deceiving. I've never been to such an unassuming, friendly coffee joint that serves such awesome coffee. Seriously, this coffee IS awesome. Although I have my Blue Bottle bean preferences (thanks to this place), you can never get a bad cup of joe here, and I hear the lattes are excellent too; I know for a fact that at least the latte art is!
Pick it up team. You're slacking. I know you can put more effort into every cup you pour, and I want to support you, but you continue to let me down.
No one asked, but $2 cups and two-stroke Italian mopeds are not why I like Blue Bottle.
I did not want to give Blue Bottle, aka Cento, yet another 5-star review if I didn't have something to add. Now I do: they use nearly a cupful of grounds to make each little cup of coffee! It is stunning. I also love their New Orlean's [sic] iced coffee and I hope they never fix the apostrophe. One negative is their total lack of organization when distributing coffees, but for now the customers are all happy despite the confusion. For now.
If you're looking for quick, affordable, consistent drip coffee, this place is good. Food is no where to be found early in the morning, but they definitely scratch your caffine itch. They play music as you wait. There's something cool about a no frills coffee joint located in an industrial alley that is appealing. They have a full menu for lunch that I yet to try, but judging by the crowd it attracts, I've got to assume they're doing something right.
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