Deepika N.
Yelp
After seeing that Pangolin Cafe was ranked a top 5 coffee shop in the U.S., I knew I had to try it. This place deserves all the hype and much more! Since the pandemic, most coffee shops I've visited have been somewhat disappointing and not at all worth the money. Pangolin Cafe reminded me why I used to love going to coffee shops.
I visited on Easter Sunday and there were a decent number of people in the cafe. Regardless, service was fast. Pangolin Cafe does many things right, but the customer service is the best I've received in years. The folks working were warm and welcoming and you could tell they wanted to be there. All three employees working went out of their way to greet every customer and make sure everyone had what they wanted. I would come back to Pangolin just for the customer service, but the food and drinks are great too!
First of all, I am confident Pangolin could charge much more for their food and drink, but the fact that it doesn't makes me like the place that much more. I got the Pistachio Latte, which is the most expensive thing on the menu at $5.25. At most other places, $5.25 is the lower end of coffee prices! We also got a Cubano Breve. Both drinks were delicious and weren't too hot when they came out, which I really appreciated because we were able to drink them right away and not have to wait for our drinks to cool down. The Pistachio Latte was unlike anything I've ever had before.
We also got a jalapeno cheddar bagel with spicy cream cheese and a spinach and ricotta pastry. They were both good, but the bagel wasn't anything special. The pastry was great and unlike any other pastry I've had at a coffee shop before. I was really surprised to find out that every drink comes with a free Turkish Delight. We had the vanilla rose and tart cherry Turkish Delights, which were also both good but of the two, I liked the tart cherry one more.
On top of all of that, Pangolin Cafe has really nice decor. It feels very welcoming and I can totally see myself working from Pangolin during the week when it is (hopefully) less busy. The decor (maps of Reno, Portland, and Istanbul and a topological map of Tahoe) and plants in the cafe are some of my favorite things I've ever seen and I now want similar decor for my home.
Overall, I highly recommend Pangolin Cafe. I will definitely be back (probably more than I should) in the future. There are a lot of coffee shops in Reno, and particularly in Midtown, but Pangolin is hands down the best option.