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I used to go to the Haymarket in the early 90s, when it was still a used book store, smoking was legal and pervasive, and they were still in the basement. A lot has changed at the Haymarket since then, but they are still the best coffee shop in Northampton for hanging out. They make a mean Vietnamese coffee and a deadly chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Even though I don't smoke and don't miss the days when the air was filled with essence of cigarette, I have to say it was cooler back then, if only because the books & pamphlets (which have long ago disappeared) gave the place an additional layer of radical cred that justified the "Haymarket" name. Nevermind, it's still the place to go in Northampton for the best people-watching.
Back in the day, I'd give the place five stars, but I deduct one for the lack of books and for expanding upstairs (I'm sure this was necessary for financial reasons, but still makes the place less fun). The other star comes off because they don't seem to have powerful enough range hoods in the kitchen. . . if you spend more than about fifteen minutes there, your clothes will smell like cooking grease for the rest of the day. However, I add one star back in, because they've been here and great for many years, and so they'll be better (in my book) than the Woodstar.
You know what's crazy? I went to Haymarket way back in high school and then for some reason didn't make it back there until recently. Crazy.
Anytime I can find a place that pleases my mother, my aunt, my vegan lady and myself I have struck gold.
I remember when the Haymarket was the place across from Fire & Water Cafe. I remember when there was a dark and dirty style to the downstairs and the couches were always full of creative, slightly scrubby people. In short, I remember when it was cool.
Nowadays it's still cool, but for those of us who "remember when", it will be forever changed. Still, the food is still good and wholesome, the coffee, good enough to satisfy even the harshest yelping critic. I have the Haymarket to thank for my love of Vietnamese style coffee, and that has literally changed my life.
I've never quite been able to get into the Haymarket like everyone else.
It's a good place to come and do work (free WiFi, lots of tables) but it can occasionally get crowded. It's vegan/vegetarian, so there are a ton of options for herbivores, but we're not exactly starving for vegetarian options here in the Pioneer Valley. They have a few great dishes, but others can be very hit or miss - in fact, I've taken to ordering my favorite (their tomato and mozzarella sandwich with homemade pesto) rather than try something off their menu that I'll probably dislike. (Last night I tried their black bean and banana dish and could barely finish it.) Their smoothies can be really delicious, but also really disappointing. The last one I had there was bland and very milky - it made me wish, fleetingly, that I had gone to Jamba Juice or Robek's.
Oh, yeah, and it's cash-only! Remember that one. Although there are several banks located just down the street, if you forget.
Just under the surface I shall be, all together at first, then separate and drift, through all the earth and perhaps in the end through a cliff into the sea, something of me. A ton of coffee beans in an acre, that is a wonderful thought, a ton of coffee beans, I believe it.
Nothing to be done.
I love the coffee, drinks and pastries (and probably anything else that I haven't yet tried...). Yesterday, I got my first public "Spanking" smoothie and it was deeeee-lish! All of my favorite fruity ingredients!!
For nostalgia sake...I used to go there (as many do) when I was in college to study (aka people watch... and talk to my friend... and take pictures).
I love this place. I can go here and spend hours sipping on some wonderful herbal tea. The food here is amazing and it is an all vegetarian menu which is great. I had a really good soup with chickpeas which was the soup of the day and a tasty salad with beets. It is very healthy but not over priced. I also like the option of sitting upstairs or downstairs depending on my mood. I really dig the staff here they are nice and very down to earth. Great vibes here!!!
this laid-back indie coffee shop slash vegetarian cafe is filled with what i can only imagine is a cross section of the local community: aging free spirits, hipster students, even yuppies with toddlers in tow. we ordered our drinks at the counter upstairs and brought them downstairs to sip.
my chai latte was a cupful of earthy, spicy perfection. the pastries behind their bakery counter all looked delicious, and my apricot thumbprint cookie was exactly that...simple, soft and buttery.
i loved the vibe....a creative, relaxed atmosphere. the downstairs area was full of people buried in books or clicking through facebook. the decor is cozy in that starving artist's living room kinda way-- second hand finds and local artwork on the walls. however, as much as i appreciate a laid-back atmosphere, it's no excuse for uncleanliness. i found the narrow space to be dank and dingy with sticky tables and an unswept floor. next time i'll get my hot bevie to go.
Haymarket's the best cafe in Northampton. Good food, great coffee, great menu.
This place looks small from the sidewalk, but it goes way back and gets wide, and has two floors.
Haymarket is a standout in Northampton, which says a lot.
Smoothies, coffee and desserts to die for, and vegan/veggie friendly, to boot!
A lot of kids I know use the Haymarket for first dates and it is definitely a good choice. Lots of people, romantically dim lights, decent prices and eccentric furniture and decorations. For such a crunchy cafe, Haymarket is surprisingly laptop friendly and on any given night you will see quite a few people tapping away intently, but I bet you five they're just updating their facebook profiles, setting their satuts to "So-and-So is chillaxing at the Haymarket, avoiding that paper ; )"
all this, and peanut butter brownies.
I wasn't going to come in here, but then I saw the healthy & veg-friendly breakfast menu posted near the door. I realized that, although I'm not in the market for breakfast, this is my kind of place.
And I was right. Bustling with great atmosphere and quirky old tables and charis, walls painted warm, welcoming shades of green, blue, and orange, this is exactly the kind of spot to make me wish for more time to spend in the area.
On top of that, my mocha is excellent - perfect balance of espresso and chocolate, and the steamed milk aerated just right to give it a nice creamy textre. If I'm ever back in Northampton I'll be back at the Haymarket.
Indeed, I returned several days later for breakfast. I had the tofu vegan scramble, but added gruyere. It was the first tofu scramble I've liked as much as my own! Moderately-sized portoin came on a plate with toast, fruit, and homefries. Delicious goodness (including coffee and super-sweet waitress) for $8.55 plus tip.
When I lived in Noho a few months ago my boss would treat us to whatever we wanted to drink at the Haymarket every morning. To me it was always hit or miss. Some days my cup of coffee was excellent, other days it had a burnt taste to it as if it was sitting there too long. It was never consistent. After a while I got sick of wondering if it would be good or not and just started to get bottled drinks.
I will agree on the atmosphere of the cafe and say they always had great sandwich selections with vegetarian and vegan options. But I felt like I was bothering them when i ordered something. The service was never good at all and they act like it's a lot of effort to crack a smile (I don't know if any of them have teeth or not).
I work in a coffee shop and I'm always nice to the customers, even when it's crowded or busy. It takes a second to smile at someone or tell them to have a good day. I guess they can't be bothered with that.
Every time I walk in there I have the urge to say "I'd like a spanking!" No, it doesn't bring out the sado-masochist in you, that's one of their tasty smoothies. Lovely drinks, really, and I do love hot cider in the winter. Food is also high quality, very fresh. Vegetarian, though, so don't come looking to exercise your incisors. Not a huge food menu, but what there is always good. The desserts are also quite nice.
The atmosphere is perfect for relaxing and chatting, as long as you don't mind the almost-overpowering (at first) feeling that you're not quite indie enough for it. Shake it off, pull out that paperback or laptop (yeah, free wireless!), gossip with friends--the place is great and a lot of fun. Don't be intimidated by the multiple piercings or the dreadlocks. They're quite friendly and flirtatious, actually.
This is my FAVORITE place in Northampton. I love to sit here and study.
I love their hot apple cider, their lattes, iced coffee, vegan muffins and cookies.
and my favorite food maybe ever is theirs. Their baked tofu sandwich is scrumptious. Yeah, I said SCRUMPTIOUS! Their warm brown rice dish is the best thing... ever. It is half a delicious salad with carrots, chickpeas, cucumbers etc. and the other half is warm brown rice topped with baked tofu, zucchini, squash, and mushrooms.
I have also had breakfast here and it was pretty good, servings were a bit small for my liking on this. Once got a breakfast burrito of theirs and that was awesome and well priced.
If you come to Noho, you have to come here.
BEST Hot Chocolate ever, upstairs (coffee/drink/dessert served here).
Baked tofu sandwich, downstairs (soup, salad, sandwiches here).
Great, cozy atmosphere, but often busy, however I've never had trouble finding a seat.
Cool staff.
Good hours, open late on weekends and extended summer hours.
It's no wonder everyone in Noho spends so much time in here and shmoozing out front.
Amazingly good coffee shop which ironically also has employees who really understand juicing!
They have a juice menu, but you can also just name off the ingredients you want. If you ask for something like: carrot, beet, garlic and ginger you won't find yourself having to explain proportions here.
Unfortunately I can not recommend the basement cafe...
They serve the kinda of stuff that gives veggie food a bad name.....
And, some of the staff down there are so crunchy that I think they need to consider a change to using city water and commercial shower gel.
Really good, cheap coffee, but what's with the dirty hippies out on the sidewalk?
Back in the day when I went to UMass-Amherst, my friends and I used to go to the Haymarket all the time. I was totally into beatniks, hipsters, and hippies (still am), and I fancied myself a poet, writer, thinker (since graduation, I've become a professional writer), all dressed in black with black-framed eyeglasses (still wear black, and still wear the glasses). I even saw Allen Ginsberg at UMass in '96 or '97.
At the Haymarket, I'd love to people watch. There were always so many interesting folks there. Lots of crunchy granola freaks, punks, poets, and painters. I loved it all. The artwork on the walls and the cool mismatched tables, chairs, and cups and saucers are also very groovy. It's just a cool place to be. I visited a year ago and took in the funky and dimly lit atmosphere. It's a little more modern there, now that the Internet is even bigger than it was when I was a student in the area.
I always order a cafe mocha -- they are the best I've ever had. Sometimes I paired it with an almond biscotti.
I miss Amherst and Noho. Just lovely and fun communities with so much to offer ... so many eclectic shops and restaurants, and Haymarket definitely fits the hip bill.
All the people looking for cool points by talking about how they remember when it was just in the basement need to get over themselves. Hey, I remember that too -- and what you remember in the air is not cigarette smoke, but the aura of people pleased with how alternative and hip they were. (Not excluding myself from that, btw.)
Now, there are two spaces big enough that you can usually get a table -- no more crouching on the floor by the one chair your friend managed to snag, and unlike some places, they let you linger. Upstairs you can get coffee and chai and excellent hot chocolate -- a little more bitter than the typical American hot chocolate -- and baked goods (hit or miss). Downstairs, soups and salads and sandwiches, very reasonably priced and decent quality.
Hard to find much to complain about, and it's a much more pleasant experience than it used to be even if you no longer feel like the glamor of being in a cramped room with books no one is reading and people with lots of facial piercings has adhered to you.
My friend has told me so much about this place-their hot chocolate is supposed to be the best in town, possible the best ever. But the past few times we tried it, it's been, meh. It either tastes too watery or too milky, but not really a strong cocoa flavor. How disappointing considering I keep hearing all these great stories about how great it used to be and was, but now doesn't seem to be.
The place still is the place to be though. Warm and cozy, no wonder half of the town is in here.
Good coffee and decent food.
The atmosphere and clientele can be a little bit too much on the hippie side, but it's not bad.
You have GOT to try the SwampThing. Trust me. Yummmm!
Great atmosphere. Be sure to walk downstairs where you can spread out and stretch your legs (moreso than upstairs).
Let me tell you how good the coffee at Haymarket is. I live in Boston now and have my friends in Amherst/Northampton send me fresh beans when I run out because I can't find a supplier in the entire city that compares to the delicious roasts of this gem. That's not to mention how many hours I spent downstairs studying, writing, reading, drawing, shooting the breeze, watching people, soaking up Northampton. I mean, this place embodies the spirit of the town so completely--the mix of ideas and apathy you hear in one hour of sitting in this place is dizzying. When I plan trips back to the area, I don't worry about who I'm going to see, or whatever... I just make sure I set aside ten minutes to stop by Haymarket.
The Haymarket Cafe, is located in the heart of downtown Noho. If you live in, or are just visiting downtown Noho, it's a convenient spot to eat. When the Greenbean has a long line of folks waiting to get a table for breakfast, then I usually head over to the Haymarket Cafe.
It's best for breakfast, since their breakfast menu has the most to offer.
I'm partial to their vegan sausages, red roasted potatoes, tofu dishes, and fresh fruit. I also think that their coffee is comparable to Starbuck's, and their fresh-squeezed OJ is pretty good too.
I think that their downstairs seating area, is too dimly lit. Candlelight is necessary, even in the daytime. Another drawback, is their rather slow
service; this is mainly because they're understaffed. There's also usually
too many loiterers hanging out front, which you have to dodge to get in the entrance.
Overall, this place is a good stop for breakfast or brunch, in downtown Noho. Just keep in mind that it does have a few drawbacks.
+really good food.
+pretty sweet service.
=-always lots of people there, but if you know better then you wouldn't have gone in
=decent place to write a paper, but not read because it's too dark.
+they have reallllllly good smoothies.
=fairly priced.
+great cozy atmosphere
+pretty delicious pastries
The coffee at Haymarket is probably the best I've ever had. It's full-bodied, flavorful, and needs nothing but a touch of milk.
Haymarket is great for many things. You can get a coffee or a juice and sit in the smallish, cozy upstairs area. You can get a substantial and delicious meal downstairs for far less than it would cost you in Boston and sit at a table. Either downstairs or upstairs, you can putter about with your laptop for a long while in a comfortable chair. The atomsphere is pretty much perfect, the wooden floors make me think of this general store in the middle of nowhere Colorado that I once bought rock candy at, and if you are single, I have found that there are many cute people here at a given time who often are looking to make conversation, just sayin'. Also, since this is Northampton, Haymarket is clearly friendly for your hippie no-meat eating needs.
"If this is a vegetarian establishment how come all the patrons eyeball me like a piece of meat?" This issue aside the tofu sandwich is my favorite sandwich in existence. Apparently some of the haymarket workers engage in insufficient ass-kissing for some of the people on Yelp but they are all actually nice. On busy days it can be a bit noisy but it is still a comfortable place to do some work and even when it seems packed you can usually find a table quickly.
I normally hate salads, but man, are there days I would kill to have a Haymarket salad. One of my favorite places to get cheap food that sates you like whoah.
It really is laid back. I love the chai and coffee upstairs. I got a lot of work done here tonight and had a great salad with noodles downstairs. My salad was under $6 and in Boston or a lot of other places would have been twice that amount. Mostly I love the place itself. For instance, there is a nook and cranny everywhere, and there are individual lights at some tables you can turn off or on. I'm not a hippie but I love the Haymarket all the same.
When I was here for last year's New England Popfest! I went to Haymarket Cafe. Friends and I ate downstairs where they have a great deal to pick two: soup, salad, or sandwich for I want to say $8. I got a salad and a soup and was pleasantly surprised. I love little places like this that are so cozy but so progressive. I got a cookie from upstairs as well. So good!
i never miss this place when i'm in noho- even if it means being late for work in rochester, ny!! me and my friend grabbed breakfast on Monday. vegan scramble...yummm... she also ordered a pancake which they accidentally put blueberries in (a fine accident, and one they made sure was alright with her before bringing it out)... it wasn't cooked all the way through :( they of course offered to remake it but by then she was full and they took it off the bill. very satisfactorily handled. we zoomed up to grab dessert for the road and the guy at the counter wouldn't take our money-- saying he'd heard that our dining experience was less than ideal and they hoped this would help make it up. how sweet! that's customer service!!
Haymarket is the hippest coffee shop in town, offering an excellent variety of coffee drinks, tasty vegetarian specials and first class people watching.
Love the smoothies and milkshakes! Two floors and comfy place. The desserts and pastries always look amazing.
An eclectic atmosphere with a great side show! Northampton is great for people watching and all walks of life patronize this place. I love getting spanked here! LOL. If you go here, you will find out what I am talking about and I guarantee that you will love it. The most delicious smoothies I have ever had with truly creative names. Fun to order. The staff is fun too. The downstairs offers an amazing vegetarian selection of freshly made unique dishes.
The sandwiches here are from fresh, prime ingredients and meats. Pastries are truly fine, both at the pie and cake level and for cookies. I agree with previous a reviewer about atmosphere. I prefer to get take-out. Casual and unpretentious are fine, but a more frequent once-over with the mop and sponge would do no harm.
my two meat-eating guy friends and my meat-eating boyfriend were dismayed when my friend's mom suggested we try this place for breakfast. but what an awesome decision! it's completely vegetarian but not totally vegan (the boys ended up getting breakfast sandwiches with soy sausage and egg and cheese, which they all grudgingly admitted they liked). it has a cool/weird decor with lots of religious stuff on the walls but the rest of it was kind of stereotypical western mass lesbian-chic (i.e. dar williamsish music, only cute women working the coffee bar, women at adjacent tables making eyes at each other over their julia alvarez books..). which i love. i had this great vegan scramble (veggies, tofu, soy sausage) that came with a piece of bread slathered with olive oil (so greasy & delicious), potatoes, and some fruit (kiwi, melon, and strawberry). and it was only six bucks! i would pay TWICE that in boston. i'll definitely be back next time i'm in town!
p.s. it's cash-only.
downstairs --- "arroz a la cubana" or whatever they call it? amazing. rice, beans, spicy, fried egg, fried banana. with a reed's ginger brew. life is beautiful. eat here.
Great cafe. I wish they would fix the sometimes-slow wireless connection, but other than that it's perfect.
Northampton, MA
Category: Sandwiches
Northampton, MA
Category: American (New)
Northampton, MA
Category: Coffee & Tea
Northampton, MA
Category: Coffee & Tea
Northampton, MA
Category: Seafood
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