North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar

October 22nd, 2007 at 08:33am Cathryn Vaulman

Lucratively positioned as the only café in the Auburn-Main area, North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar has many appeals.
 
One, there is nowhere else to get coffee in that area:  We’ve gone to school at Boylan for over three years, and there have many times that we’ve wished for a coffee shop to magically appear at N. Main and Riverside.  Unfortunately, it never happened and we were forced to accept either going thirsty or driving way out of our way.  Since we’ve heard of North End, however, we’ve come to love having a café with such good drinks so close.
 
Two, free wi-fi:  Some not-as-cool cafés (*cough* Starbucks *cough*) think you should have to have T-Mobile to use the Internet, which is a big inconvenience when you have another service.
 
And three, small coffee shops always have the best local flavor.  The service is really friendly, and the drinks are unique and reasonable priced.  Most small drinks are around $2.  Our favorite was the white chocolate mocha.  The chocolate taste was definitely subtle, but that’s not a bad thing, as it complemented the mocha well.  The chai tea wasn’t life changing, but it was still refreshing.  In terms of other chai teas, it had more of a Meg’s Daily Grind thick, spiced taste, as opposed to Starbuck’s more natural, tea taste.  Both of these drinks went well with the pumpkin spice cookie.  It was very soft, more like really flat pumpkin bread instead of a cookie, but the frosting and sprinkles were still a nice touch.
 
North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar is a coffee shop without the frills.  The inside is plain; it has painted walls, concrete floors, wooden tables, and not much else.  However, the coffee is so good that you don’t need fancy décor to make up for it.  The next time you’re in the area, check it out for a warm drink in this chilly fall weather!

[North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar is located at 1408 N. Main St., Rockford.  You can call them at 815-964-4412.]

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