Kate and Steve recently relocated from Santa Barbara to the Santa Ynez Valley. I’ve only spent a day or two in the area, so when Kate gave me the chance to dogsit for 10 days, I jumped at it. And one of my main activities was trying out a variety of coffee shops in Santa Ynez Valley. Here are my quick reviews for the ones I tried out.
I was dog sitting three dogs- Lolly, Zoe and Cheddar. Every morning, all three required a good solid walk so they would drive me nuts for the rest of the morning during my Zoom calls. Add to this that they enjoyed waking me up around 4am. You can see why coffee was a big part of my visit to Santa Ynez Valley!
One thing I need to mention is the topic of tipping. Every coffee shop listed uses Toast or Square to process payments. And everyone of them asks for a tip at the end of the transaction. The coffees I ordered ranged from $4.25 (Holy Grounds) to $6.50 (Pony Espresso). I’m really of mixed feelings when it comes to tipping and I was all over the place- from a $1 to the 18% default to nothing. Sometimes I get weary of being asked to tip all the time. Anyone else feel the same way?
And for consistency’s sake, at all the coffee shops in Santa Ynez Valley that I tried, I ordered the same thing. A large non-fat, no foam latte. I checked out the pastries and other breakfast offerings but did not indulge.
Good Seed Coffee
My first stop was Good Seed Coffee in the heart of Solvang. Good Seed is one of those coffee shops in the Santa Ynez Valley that is quite well known. Apparently you can spot the bigwigs of Solvang there. Of course, I have no idea who is a bigwig, so that was completely lost on me 🙂
But I would say that the coffee is a bit too fancy for me. Yes, they have plain old lattes, but I detected that the barista was disappointed to be making one. When I should have ordered the turmeric latte. Hmmm, no thanks. Despite that, the baked goods looked excellent. They sell sourdough bread by the loaf and offer some delicious looking toast. I do love a good toast.
Good Seed, 1607 Mission Dr, Solvang, CA 93463
Queen Cup Coffee
Someone recommended that I try Queen Cup after my review of Good Seed as “too fancy.” Despite having a menu entitled “Fancy AF” :), Queen Cup was a bit more down to earth. Parking was easy and I got my coffee fast- I was the only one in the shop. The baked goods were pretty sparse, though, if that’s your thing.
Queen Cup, 1095 Meadowvale Rd, Santa Ynez, CA 93460
Holy Grounds
This one was a wildcard. It’s a coffee shop located within a nearby church and it benefits charities. I stopped in twice and the coffee was good, reasonably priced at $4.25. The cheapest of all the places I tried. And the baked goods were plentiful and looked very homemade. There was a particularly delicious looking caramel brownie on offer.
Holy Grounds Coffee, Santa Ynez Presbyterian Church, 1825 Alamo Pintado Rd, Solvang, CA 93463
Pony Espresso
Love the name and it’s perfect for the location in the town of Santa Ynez. However, it was the most expensive at $6.50, and it turns out they had no non-fat or low-fat milk available. Seems like a big miss- shouldn’t you have all the milk types? And for $6.50, I definitely wanted exactly what I ordered.
Baked goods looked fine- I recall some doughnuts.
Pony Espresso, 3558 Sagunto St, Santa Ynez, CA 93460
The Coffee House by Chomp
My final stop was the Coffee House in Solvang. Two pluses here: they offer VERY big 20 ounce lattes and the baked goods looked excellent. I do love a good muffin from the oven. And there were 2 big dogs sleeping in the cafe when I stopped by- love that. If you want a big coffee, this is the place to go.
The Coffee House by Chomp, 1693 Mission Dr D103, Solvang, CA 93463
The Coffee House also had a fun chalkboard wall, where I wrote a little message for Kate and Steve. Til next time, coffee shops of Santa Ynez Valley!
