Milano Espresso Lounge Gastown

The next café that I went to was Milano Espresso Lounge Gastown. Located on 36 Powell Street, Milano Espresso Lounge is a bit of walk from central Gastown. This place was recommended to me, so I decided to check it out.

This was probably the biggest café that I’ve been to yet. It’s very spacious and there is a lot of seating room. The décor has a Gastown vibe to it, so the location was perfect. It felt like I stepped into a trendy café in SoHo. The floor and walls had a clean, simple look to it. There was nothing outrageous or extreme. The coffee bar was quite large and offered an extensive choice of pastries. The drink menu caught my eye as well. It wasn’t your typical drink menu and it looked trendy. The colours drew me in.

The service, however, was less than desirable. I stood at the counter for a few minutes, waiting to be attended too. The counter was a bit high but being 5’8” (well,  5’9” with my heeled boots) I was a bit hard to miss. The set up of the counter was a bit confusing, so I moved around for a bit. Finally, the server/barista came to me. He was friendly, but it was the standard friendly. He took my order and when I told him I wanted a cappuccino, he asked if I wanted one shot of espresso, or two shots of espresso. Having never been asked this question before, I was confused. I answered two and he went on to make my medium sized cappuccino. I was still perplexed and asked my friend, who is a barista, how many shots of espresso go into a medium sized cappuccino. She confirmed two. It makes me wonder if it was cheaper to get an espresso with one shot but even if it is, that’s still not the proper method to make a medium size cappuccino. After finishing my order, I moved on to the pick up side of the bar.

Maybe it’s because I was in a rush, but it felt like it took forever for my cappuccino to be made. Maybe the barista was new, but the whole process dragged on. Thankfully when it was made, the barista was kind enough to make eye contact and say “you’re welcome” when I thanked him instead of rushing off, which I have experienced a few times at other cafes. I placed the cap on my cappuccino and made my way back to the streets of Gastown.

My cappuccino was strong. Very strong. In fact, it tasted like an espresso. Cappuccino has milk in it, but I could not taste the milk. My taste buds were greeted with this semi bitter overpowering taste. To me, the perfect cappuccino is a blend of milk and espresso but to me, the cappuccino tasted like pure espresso. To some cappuccino lovers, they may like that. However, I prefer to taste the espresso and the milk, not just the espresso, and not just the milk.

Sadly, I won’t be returning. It makes me wonder if it’s the roasting or style of beans, as I’ve been to Turk’s on the Drive, which is a sister store, and found that the cappuccino was a bit overpowering too. However, I do plan to try the Denman street location, as I heard it fares better. I just hope when I go there, I’m not waited on forever. The silence makes it feel like eternity.