Crema

Now I remember why I stopped going here. Dude with the glasses that runs the kitchen is rude AF! Very temperamental! Came a week or so ago and really almost canceled my entire order. You’d think in the midst of everything going on you’d experience more kindness.

Delicious coffee, tasty breakfast sandwiches, and friendly staff. What more could you ask for!?

Awesome turkey provolone sandwich! Lots of locals here so you know it’s good!

The women running the register regularly rolls her eyes and cops an attitude with people. God forbid you order more than one thing. If you do the staff will roll their eyes and act like they're annoyed that you chose to bring a decent amount of business to them. I will not be going back to this place. Note to the staff and owner....Treat your customers with respect and appreciation not like you're inconvenienced because someone actually showed up to buy something.

FIND ANYWHERE ELSE TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crema is starting to become my go-to place in downtown Raleigh. You can't beat the quality of the food for the price. They offer breakfast, lunch, coffee and even ice cream. The staff is very welcoming and makes an effort to learn your name. So long Starbucks, you weren't that great anyway...

Today was my first experience with Crema and I will DEFINITELY be back. Delicious and fresh, fast and incredible friendly service. What a gem! Perfect for a quick but satisfying lunch.

Good cup of coffee, better than the better known place nearby. Make sure your laptop and phone is charged if you're planning on sitting here to do a little work, I'm not sure if there are any outlets, I didn't see any. Staff is pretty friendly. Clean spot.

Absolutely rude. I asked what soup they had and the guy just pointed and didn't speak. You lost my business. This is disappointing because others that I know love this place. But my husband and I were treated like unwanted trash. I truly hope it wasn't a race thing.

The Cary location is so much better. At this location the coffee and food is mediocre at best and the staff is rude.

There are few places downtown that induce composure in 2020. Crema Cafe is one of them: a no-frills luncheonette hidden in plain sight amid the shuttered storefronts of City Plaza.

I order the cold cut special on a toasted baguette, eat it with both hands on a nearby bench in front of the plaza fountains that no longer work.

The name is probably the fanciest thing about the place. The menu is a modest collection of blue collar lunch fare, from roast beef to reubens. Self-serve coffee in Dixie cups. Homemade chilli. And that’s what I loved most: they had all the essentials, as unassuming as a grade school canteen or warship galley in cosmopolitan surrounds.

The simplicity of my brown bag feast helped tune out the droning of power drills that told me more plywood is going up. A storm is coming.

Before duels, the legendary swordsman Musashi wrote poems to settle his spirit in preparation for battle.

I sat for a while longer with my late-afternoon coffee, poised to welcome the change of pace on a day when everything else felt up in the air.

-Art the Ronin

Raleigh is for Ronin:
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