Equal Exchange Espresso - Ballard

This place is neat and well priced! While most cafe's in the Ballard area charge something like $3.75+ for a small cappuccino, here it's only $3.00! The various baked goods are yummy too. I ordered a Morning Glory and it was small, but good. The Sea Salt Caramel Latte was good, but a bit too salty in my opinion. They give you a small chocolate which was yummy, so that made me happy! Lastly, I ordered a coconut Affogato which was funny, because I think I might have been the 2nd person to ever order it. It seemed the staff was trying to figure out how to input it into their cash register and then make it. It was pretty decent, the coconut ice cream was rich, but the espresso was a bitter and strong. I think it would have been great with a mocha. The cafe has an area for kids which I thought was nice, as a family came and it helped entertain their kids. One thing I found odd was the lack of music. It's not completely necessary, but it was noticeable. Nice cafe overall, I'll be back.

The new Ballard cafe is lovely. Consistently excellent coffee and espresso, great baked goods and friendly staff. It's my favorite spot in Ballard.

Like their light roast pour over. Great atmosphere, good spinach quiche. Love this place!

An espresso shop that really knows their stuff. The beans are masterfully roasted, the shot crafted with care and precision, and the staff are knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Espresso, specialty drinks, pour-overs, and french press. Soda backs and tasty chocolate with your shot. If you are hard into all things espresso, this is a great place to explore. If you just like coffee, they wont disappoint or overwhelm you. On a sunny day, this semi-underground shop is surprisingly bathed in light. A special thanks to Allison for taking the time to talk imports with me.

Good coffee, but for a company that says they're committed to whole/fair trade that serves organic coffee, all of their baked goods are conventional (Mighty O donuts the one exception, but... donuts... can't eat them.). Also, few gluten free options for those who need them. Disappointing.

Cozy Fair Trade coffee and espresso in Ballard on 15th and Market, in the North East corner building with Target. Same shop you knew from the entryway of Ballard Market. Yummy coffee served with a small EqEx chocolate on the side :) Large community table, several 3-4 person tables, a long area of bar seating with windows facing 15th and a small comfy couch and two sofa chairs. Fair Trade offers ethical and environmentally sustainable coffee products from the farmers to their city coop to Equal Exchange's facility to this retail shop. It's a good business model to support.

Favorite coffee place in Seattle and they have awesome whipped cream. Short caramel latte is perfect and less expensive than many trendy places. Baristas are friendly, and coffee itself comes from ethical practices.

Nice cute place with plenty of seating and good coffee

The staff were very kind and attentive when I wondered in at off hours on a weekday. The woman working brought my food out to me and included all the soy and napkins since they weren't too busy. They had a pretty decent selection of options, including vegetarian and vegan items, which I appreciated too. I got the 3 rolls for $18 special, though it admittedly didn't seem to save me much as all my rolls were $6 each. They were alright for flavor and seemed freshly made. The lavender oats iced latte I had was just ok. There's several large tables and counter areas to sit for big groups but also seems good for smaller groups or solo diners like me. Lots of reading material and some toys to entertain younger guests too.

Affordable sushi in a cute quiet cafe setting. I was the only person dining in on a Tuesday night at 6:30 and service was fine though not especially welcoming. I got the D&D roll: it was 10 pcs and esthetically plated but not too big of a portion. It was cold and the tempura was stale (understandable since it was an hour before closing). The flavors of the sweet unagi sauce and savory fish were okay and on the mild side, and it was just 1/10 spicy since they used pickled jalapeño. It hit the spot but had a slightly fishy aftertaste. Overall, the sushi was not as great quality as Musashi's but fine for the price point.

I came here for a quick spontaneous stop to grab something quick to eat while on my walk and I'm glad I did. I just ordered California rolls but they were really good and the man working was nice and had my California rolls ready in about 5 minutes.

This is what everyone wants everyday: coffee AND sushi without busting the wallet. It's located INSIDE the Target building, outside the main door. Looks like a coffee shop, has the feel of one but you can get a good selection of all your favorite rolls plus spam musubi. The espresso is very acceptable but be warned that they do not add sweetener to the matcha latte by default (which I like) so you'll have to ask! I feel that Ballard/Fremont does not have good sushi - this is the best in the neighborhood. If I had this shop around my apartment area, business would be nuts and I'd be coming in every day!

Pretty disappointed. The miso soup was gross. It just didn't taste right. And the shrimp tempura in the sushi was hard, probably old and definitely cold. Could barely bite it. And they forgot to give us our spam musubi.. they forgot my latte too but I remembered and reminded them. Didn't remember the spam musubi until we got home though /: decent place for quick average food. Service is friendly but not competent. My latte was good though. I'm glad I remembered that.

Pretty decent spot for some cheap rolls! I'm a huge fan of Musashi's so I definitely had to check out this sister location. This a nice modern location connected to a shopping plaza, which makes for a nice meal/snack post-Target run. It's a pretty spacious location, but it's designed more as a cafe than a restaurant. This means you order your food at their cashier and seat yourself. They also serve coffee! I enjoyed the rolls. They're not as good as the original Musashi's but it's a nice change up from your standard sushi restaurant. One thing I appreciated about their rolls was everything tasting healthy and clean. Nothing was overly saucy or fatty. If you're a fan of your sushi being saucy, make sure you request an extra side spicy mayo. My favorite roll was definitely the Cali roll. They make a few tweaks to the traditional formula that I really enjoyed. Prices were pretty cheap too! Rolls are a bit on the smaller side but they're under $10! Lastly, the people here seem very caring and genuine. We forgot last minute to request our sides of spicy mayo and they kindly gave to us at no charge. Nice people here that deserve your business!

Super slow service. I ordered takeout and it took nearly 40 mins for them to have the order ready. It was 3pm and the place was empty. When I did pick it up, the D&D roll was completely doused in mayo sauce.

Got veggie rolls and Cali rolls a few times. Fast service and perfect lunch spot. Good ambiance

Large, filling sushi rolls at great price point ($9.95) Ordered takeout and tried: -Miso soup - ($3.50) decent, no wakame, fried tofu pieces -Variety of rolls: Skyler, Bake Me, Dragon, Miyamoto They didn't have fresh avocado the night we ordered so it was left out of our rolls but it seemed they they were extra stuffed with other fillings to compensate :)

I like to treat myself once in awhile (sushi AND target) and Musashi Newsroom had did not disappoint! I ordered two rolls, Skyler & Spicy Salmon and the salmon pieces were generous. The service is always amazing. The aunty who was working was so sweet and welcoming!!! They also have coffee here, I've had once and it was just a regular latte I could get anywhere, I've purchased some musubis before and it was the perfect grab and go snack. It's a cute coffee shop/sushi cafe all in one!

May have some connection to Musashis with chirashi bowls, but not sure. That being said, I wish this place offered chirashi bowls because those are amazing. It's a place for rolls and drinks. Yohan gave great recommendations to us, shout-out to him! Anyway, the rolls here are fairly large. Lots of rice and presented relatively well. They have nigiri too! It's not shown on the wall menu but there are smaller menus near the cash register that are more up to date. I can't comment too much on the drinks, but they have a fair variety. All of the rolls are similar with small nuances about what's included or what's excluded. I doubt you can go wrong with any of them. Four stars for being above average but not exceptionally "wow"ing. Would be back if i'm in the area. Chirashis like at Musashis would be convincing, however.

Indie/trendy single room cafe and sushi spot. We found the menu simple to choose from and the prices affordable. Service was quick! Our meal arrived beautifully plated and tasted as good as it looked! I highly recommend!

Ordered the gold sushi box, rainbow roll, and spicy California roll. They were all delicious especially the spicy California. Service was quick for takeout even though he hand made each item.

great tasting sushi & service at a great price! got the 3 basic rolls - salmon, spicy tuna, and albacore. i will be back!

Gave this place a 2nd try. This time for dinner as I went for lunch last time and had issues with the rice. Unfortunately I had the same exact experience as the first time. Same undercooked/hard/dry rice and rolls that fall apart when you pick them up. Rolls overall also just didn't taste like much. Also, I tried the veggie roll this time. Note: tofu in there isn't fried/tempura. It's just plain soft tofu. And there was an overload of pickled ginger for our taste. I ended up using the ginger as a mop for my soy sauce and wasabi. Sadly it's been another miss. Unfortunate bc I have enjoyed the musashi in Wallingford and this would have been a very convenient and frequented spot for us if the food was on point.

Very cute and convenient shop! Got a Skylar roll, Dragon roll, Spicy Salmon Roll, miso soup and a cold brew to split for dinner on a Saturday. The rolls are good sized and pretty good. We had some leftover. I called the order in and easily picked it up on my commute you can park on the right side between Target and the Ballard Market. Don't park inside the target parking garage unless you're planning to spend more than 20bucks at target, or you'll get charged! They do have a combo deal posted on their physical wall that I didn't know about, it's like 3 rolls, two miso soup and two ice cream for a slight discount - I'd get that next time for sure - if youre calling in to pick up, maybe ask if they have a current combo special before placing your order!

I was half hoping these rolls would hit the spot like the Musashi's in Wallingford but the quality of fish nor the amount of fish within roll came close to the OG location. I wanted to stay open minded and review as it's own business but with the continued namesake, I can't help but to try and make some comparisons. Ordered a gamut of rolls that had either spicy salmon or tuna. As you can see in the photos, the amount of fish really makes you wanting more. There was an inside out roll that had the fish donned on top which left me wanting more as it was not only difficult to eat neatly but it just was really lacking in flavor overall. My favorite from the order was the roll with the shrimp tempura but it was difficult to discern whether the spiced fish was salmon or tuna. After being a very loyal patron of the Musashis empire for over a decade, I'd probably order from the newsroom if in a pinch but would likely go to another sushi joint in the area to get the most "bang for my buck" or to satiate my roll cravings.

Hidden Gem, in my opinion. I must've passed this place dozens of times going to Target before deciding to give them a shot. I never saw many people in there but one day decided to stop in on a whim. I honestly wasn't expecting much because it kinda seemed more like a cafe, but the sushi really took me by surprise. The sushi here offers a very nice value to cost ratio, both in amount and quality. I got 2 rolls and they both had their own distinct flavors and textures, which is a big win since I've gone to so many sushi places where there's little difference between rolls. Funnily enough, I actually don't know what I ordered though. The menu situation was a little weird. When I got in there it was a small paper menu that was taped right up in front of the cook and since I was the only person there I felt a little anxious keeping both the cook and cashier waiting as they both just stared at me. So I just picked two things without looking at them too much. This might be the biggest improvement opportunity I see for this place. Looking at the menu on their website I'm not sure I even see the rolls I actually got while there in person. Are they 2 different menus? I also can't speak to the coffee or...cbd? This place has a lot going on. Interesting concept for sure. I could see it being a good place to study for an extended amount of time given the coffee and sushi. Anyways, any quibbles I have are moot given the sushi I had was really good for the price. I'm a sucker for a deal and they nailed it. I hope they can repeat this experience. I'll try to update this review if I go back and it changes.

Rice was undercooked.. This is how much salmon goes into gigantor. I thought it was a veggie roll. :( 1st photo And for baked roll i thought scallop was missing.. there is some mayo and microscopic amount of scallop.

How convenient! I live next door and this is a bit dangerous being so close lol. Once I noticed this turned from a coffee shop to a sushi cafe I had to try the sushi, and thankfully it was great! They still make coffee drinks and sell Equal exchange coffee and tea, they carry some ice cream and Bagels as well. Being outside Target is definitely a big plus as you can impulse buy there and then wrap it all up with some nice sushi or spam musubi

Food is so good! Love going there for sushi and matcha latte. It's also really cute cafe, a bit small but nice.

It's a sushi/coffee shop and it's in the same building as target, right next to the concierge. I was craving sushi and found out that this was actually musashi too so I thought I'd stop by and give it a try! I ordered 3 rolls: D&D, shrimp tempura and tuna met sally. I think all of them are good. Portion is not big but for the price and location I think it is ok. If you are in the area and wanna do take out especially, this is a good spot.

I just had a really beautiful premium veggie roll here. Very tasty and the service was great too.

Casual spot for some good sushi and coffee+tea based drinks. I was surprised by how good the rolls were for a casual spot. The prices are good and the quality makes this spot a new go-to in the area. Plenty of room for seating at tables or comfy chairs. Only downside is they don't have a restroom and neither does Target. The closest place would be the Ballard market which means I wouldn't stay here for very long. Nonetheless, give this spot a try. The Skyler roll was my favorite and the chai tea was delicious!

Split three rolls with a friend: Inside out, Miyamoto, and Dragon rolls. We liked what we got. They each tasted pretty similar, which is not to say they were bad. To be fair we ordered fairly similar rolls. But not much variety in flavor between the rolls. Each roll was big and this turned out to be plenty of food for us. I felt that there was plenty of fish in each roll (as opposed to too little, a complaint I saw in other reviews). Getting full off of better than average rolls for $15 per person is a win in my book.

Cute local sushi spot! Service was great and fast. Sushi was delish and matcha latte was yummy.

-It is different from Musashi the restaurant in Wallingford- Musashi Newsroom is located in the same building as the Target. The only sell sushi rolls and coffee here. Their rolls tastes wonderful but of course it is Seattle overpriced. With tax, it is around $10 per roll. We ordered the Inside out roll and waited for 15mins for it.

Found this spot on Yelp and was excited to try it because the rolls looked amazing and it didn't disappoint. My new favorite spot for fresh sushi rolls. Can't wait to come back and try some other items on the menu.

This place is very hit or miss. I've had good sushi here, but also times where I ordered it and the fish looked off. I still ate it after the smell test -- didn't make me sick, but didn't taste amazing either. Honestly, the sushi here is similar to what you will get at grocery stores.

Always wanted to try musashi but luckily they have this small location nearby! I was able to park at the target parking lot for free (20minutes). The service was good and the food and portion size was excellent. One roll is perfect for one person! Lots of flavor and good meat to rice ratio. I would come back!

This is not a review for the coffee. It's a review for Musashi's sushi. What we have here is one step-up from grocery store quality sushi. 3 rolls were ordered: Shrimp Tempura, Dragon, and The Canvas. The Shrimp Tempura and Dragon rolls tasted about the same. The Canvas roll with seared tuna lacked the smoky char flavor you would expect, although I was able tell it apart from the other two. Everything was a 3 star type of OK. Kimchi musubi was on my list, but they didn't have any kimchi. New business, and out of stock already? Frowny emoji. They should order kimchi from the Midnite Mart in Magnolia. 3 rolls set me back 30 bucks (with a decent tip). Is it worth the trip past the grocery store? See the pictures, give Musashi a try, and decide for yourself.

I'm so happy I found out that this space is now a sushi spot!! This used to be equal exchange espresso inside the new target building in Ballard on 15th and Market st. I've had Musashi sushi before and now I'm even more excited that they're here in Ballard! This spot has a cafe vibe but with a full menu of sushi. They even sell flavored syrups (which they use in their drinks) I will be back to try some of their drinks! If you follow their Instagram @ballardmusashinewsroom you can sneak a peek at what they serve. But going to the main reason why I'm writing this review is because the sushi was AMAZING !! (As per usual) and I love that al the rolls are $8.50! Everything was sooo fresh and made to order. We ordered 5 rolls and each of them were delicious. The one thing to note is that they don't have a fryer yet so we weren't able to order the Musashi (fried chicken) which is understandable since they just opened! But I will be back the customer service was amazing and everything tasted soo good!

We have been regulars here for over a year now and we still love it. There is a good variety of different rolls here and they are in a decent portion. Our typical combination is 4 rolls: skyler for tuna and salmon, D&D for tuna and tempura, bake me for scallops, and spicy salmon for salmon and tempura. This combination gives us the most variety while having a good amount of fish. We feel the fish to rice ratio is a good balance. The toppings they have, like marinated jalepenos, also separate their rolls than ones from other restaurants. Only complaint we have is that the price has raised quite a bit over the last year. When we first started coming here, we got 4 rolls under $40 and now it's almost approaching $50. I would feel much better coming here if we could get rolls around still $40 because the quality isn't the "best" and this is more of a casual sushi spot anyways.

Fabulous service with kind and gracious employees. Cappuccino was excellent and spam musubi was the best I have ever eaten! This speaks volumes because I have many relatives who live in Hawaii. The restaurant is clean and very comfortable.

Food was good, but gave me and my friend food poising a few hrs later. Wouldn't recommend

Got takeout sushi from this place and all I have to say is - DANG! I did not expect the sushi to be so good for this price point, but it was amazing! The Skyler and the inside out were definite highlights. Will absolutely be coming back here for any takeout sushi needs. You simply can't beat $10 a roll for this quality.

I love the idea of this place, but if I'm being honest the execution just wasn't there for me. First, let's talk about paying $17 (including tax and tip) for a regular iced coffee and one Tuna Met Sally sushi roll. This was pushing $20 for essentially a snack. More detailed reviews below. Iced Coffee: Tasted burnt and stale, like bad diner coffee poured into a cup of ice. I drink my coffee black, and maybe this would have benefited from cream and sugar, but no coffee should need it. I dumped 75% of it because it was that bad. Sushi (Tuna Met Sally): If you look on their menu, they don't list the heaping amount of imitation crab with mayo in this roll. That's not a minor ingredient and thus a pretty inexcusable omission, in my opinion. I can't stand that stuff, which is precisely why I ordered this roll, so you can imagine my frustration after I got home and opened the box. So faced with the choice of wasting my money and throwing food away, or sucking it up, I chose the latter. The tuna on the outside of the roll had no flavor, and the texture makes me think this was previously frozen fish. Inside, in addition to the imitation crab and mayo, were cucumber and avocado. The rice and nori were fine, but overall it was all just bland...and light on substance. Customer service was great, no complaints there. The person who took my order was friendly and made sure I felt taken care of. Maybe others have had better experiences here, and I do wish the restaurant success, but I have to create a review based on my visit. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'll return.

Really rude staff member today. I was excited to check this spot out and grab a tea because they marketed Equal Exchange, a great brand. There was no one in the cafe/shop and I asked what type of green tea they had. The employee looked at me with much frustration, pointed at the far wall, and said only 'over there' in a mean tone. I decided I would rather get a tea at Target next door. Please try to be nice to people/customers going forward.

Great sushi, horrendously rude staff member. I've had a couple experiences with the same person being unfriendly. Today's experience was a bit baffling. I received two soy sauce packets with my two person order and asked for a "few" more. The cashier gave me one additional packet. I asked if I could get a "couple" more, and she responded that there were already four in the bag. Never mind that the cost of a single soy sauce packet must be on the order of a couple cents. At this point I had to wonder whether it was worth it to push for the two additional packs or to just cut my losses. Ended up very confused by her dedication to minimizing the amount of soy sauce given away at the cost of a (somewhat) regular customer.

Looks like the roll prices have increased to 8.95 from a flat $8. I had a mid-work day sushi craving (when do I not?) that I knew Musashi Newsroom could help me quash. I got the InsideOut and Extravaganza. Rolls were big and so was the fish inside and fresh ingredients. The Extravaganza was meh, reminded me of a Kimbap, but the inside out was pretty bomb, I'd get that again. Server chef girl was friendly and I hope they can be consistent with rolls like she makes 'em cuz I see other yelpers post pics from here where the rolls look like all the rice.

Wow! I called in an order to go and pick up on my way to work tonight and it was great!! Same price as grocery store to-go sushi but WAAAAYYYYY better and WAAAYYYY more food. Freshly made and really tasty. I had the spicy salmon and the Miyamoto roll. The spicy salmon was fresh and tasty, with a lot of fish, not too heavy on the sauce as a filler. The miyamoto had a wonderful crunch, you can tell it was freshly made as the tempura wasn't soggy and whatever sauce they put on it was really good. They also don't skimp on the ginger, wasabi, and soy packets, which was awesome. If you're looking for a great deal on fabulous take out sushi, this is the place!

I've had their sushi before, and it's fine, but good god you guys are rude. Do you not want business, or something? I came in for a simple to go order, and the two ladies in there made me feel like I was there to rob the place or something. I didn't even feel like ordering after that because I was so put off. Do better, y'all.

Tried this place on a Saturday at lunch. Orders through doordash for pickup - couldn't find them on doordash directly for some reason and had to go to their facebook and use the link there. Got two things. anvas roll was average - didn't really taste much flavor. Inside out roll was great and I would get that one away. Both rolls were surprisingly big - not like the little ones you get served at some restaurants. The packaging was compostable and the food was well packed. The place is clean and nicely lite. I would probably try it again if I were in the area.

I love Musashi's for their tasty and affordable sushi. I was happy to find they opened this location in Ballard, in the same building as Target. In addition to the traditional cafe coffee menu this location has a small speciality sushi menu of rolls, for $8.50 each. My favorite is the Skyler and my husband likes the Bake Me. All of the rolls are made to order and they use fresh ingredients. You can call or text to order ahead and there's free parking in the garage. The staff was friendly and they have a nice casual cafe setting if you want to dine in. I'd recommend it if you want sushi or a quick bite to eat!

for the sushi and atmosphere- genuinely the worst vibes ever, exclusively playing loud MGK music, there is also no one here yet i have been waiting 20 minutes for sushi and still have not gotten my 3 rolls. i will update on the quality of the sushi but as of now, i would absolutely avoid this place so i have now tried the sushi and it was actually so much worse than i expected. the rice was tough and chewy. but honestly what did i expect from a sushi coffee shop that was blasting machine gun kelly music.

Wow it's just terrible! We came in at 6pm for takeout dinner. Cashier said they ran out of rice and it will take 15mins. We said alright we could just walked around Target. 45mins later, we got our 4 rolls, Gigantor, Bake me, Skylar, and Dragon. We were so hungry by the time we got home and to find that the rice was uncooked! All 4 rolls had raw crunchy rice. How terrible for a sushi roll place to mess up on sushi rice! One of the roll barely has anything in it. I'm super disappointed. Waste time and money. I called to let them know that rice was uncooked and they offered a do-over but not sure we want to go back! I give 1 star for staffs being nice.

Grabbed a latte here after a quick Target run. Newsroom is in the same space where Equal Exchange Espresso used to be and you can access it through both entrances on Market and 15th. Much of the interior has stayed the same, but I was surprised to discover sushi on the menu. Coffee and sushi is not your usual combination, but I love it! What makes this spot even better are the employees themselves, who are lovely and committed to excellent customer service. Shout out to the pair working there today--you made my latte just right (and my day)! Thank you! :) I didn't have the time to sample their sushi, but I've been meaning to try Musashi's anyway so I'll be back soon and I'll update with my impressions.

The sushi here is pretty trash, not fresh and I ordered one time and there was a bone in the sushi I almost choked , that was the last time I got sushi from them, haven't tryed the coffee but did try some seltzer raspberry drink they had it was decent. There's also this guy who works there he's got glasses and long hair, he is a complete a-hole I think the business would do better without him, the rest of the staff is extremely kind but this guy has a real problem he shouldn't be serving the public. I would give a 1 star but the spam musubi they sell is pretty good and probably the only place in the area that offers it. Just remember what I said about the sushi for the price they are charging the sushi is mediocre at its absolute best.

This place is worth a go and I'd recommend it if in the area. Parking is okay, I parked at Target which was a reason to shop there too after. Service is friendly and helpful, food was good and portions were big! I think they are on the more affordable end for sushi ranging from $8.50 for decent rolls. Fish is fresh and I think they can do better on fish to rice ratio (more fish less rice please!), but for the price and quality, I'd come back for lunch!