Inkwell Coffee House – serving you the best coffee topped off with whipped cream and drizzled with hippie-ness in a mason jar.
Located on 665 Second Avenue only minutes away from the University, Inkwell Coffee House takes you back in time to a place where life is relaxed, everyone is calm, nothing but positive energy encompassing you – and oh yeah, lots of food.
Inkwell is unlike your ordinary restaurant. This coffee house is located inside of an actual house. You walk on the porch, loop around the house, and enter through a side door located on the right.
The walls are a little raggedy, and there’s graffiti shouting at you, and for a second, you might think you mistakenly ended up at a haunted house; but then you are reminded by the lovely hostesses that you have entered one of Long Branch’s coffee house landmarks.
You are then seated at a table and handed a menu listing approximately 100 items, ranging from the famous mac and cheese bites for $6, to a buttery, buffalo-y chicken wrap with extra kick to it for around $10.
The menu at first can seem overwhelming, and for someone with a never-ending appetite but a starving wallet, it can be a debacle. But nevertheless, whichever option you choose, both your belly and your bank account will thank you over and over again.
Julia Olsen, a junior English major and Inkwell worker, feels Inkwell has been so consistently successful over the years because of this atmosphere in addition to the elongated hours that differentiate itself from other local restaurants in the area.
Olsen said, “We’re open after the bars close. At the beginning of the night we get the teenagers who don’t feel like going home but can’t yet hang out at bars, and then at the end of the night we get those customers dying for some fried food and coffee after a long night of drinking.”
Inkwell Coffee House is open Monday through Friday from 11:30 am until 2:30 pm, then reopens from 7 pm to 3 am.
On Saturday, Inkwell opens up to its fans at 5 pm and stays open into the late hours of the night until 3:30 am. Even on Sundays when most people tend to close restaurants early, Inkwell manages to beat out the competition and open 5 pm to 3 am.
“Every type of person comes to the Inkwell,” Olsen said.
Jessica Ketch, a junior psychology student, just visited Inkwell Coffee House for the first time as a University student this year. When asked what made her delay her cherry-pop of the Inkwell, she joked, “Because I am an idiot apparently.”
Ketch described her initial reaction of Inkwell, “When I first walked in, I was in awe with the decorations, especially the graffiti in the bathroom, and the relaxed atmosphere. The entire place gives off a cool, calm vibe which makes you feel at ease.”
Ketch ordered a peanut butter inkachino, which is a combination of iced coffee, peanut butter, dessert and sweet goodness that makes your taste buds tingle and jump up and down.
Unlike Ketch, Trevor Lastella, a freshman at Brookdale Community College, has been going to Inkwell Coffee House for approximately five years.
Lastella loves the food, but most importantly, the Dutch coffee, which seems to be the most highly raved about item on the menu. Lastella described the Dutch coffee as a rite of passage into the Inkwell family.
Lastella said, “Basically, the Dutch coffee is a caffeine infused gulp of heaven served in a mason jar. Inkwell’s food and coffee has their own unique taste and I love every second of it.”
Olsen feels most people are compelled to order the more renowned items on the menu, and fail to recognize the hidden beauties of Inkwell. “Our chicken salad is honestly a hidden gem. I don’t even like chicken salad and I absolutely love the Inkwell’s,” she said.
“If the awesome art on the walls, graffiti in the bathrooms, board games, take a book/leave a book section and crazy fun staff aren’t enough to make [a newcomer] want to check [Inkwell] out, I would probably tempt them with our ridiculously extensive menu options,” Olsen said.
Inkwell is a step-up from a diner and focuses mainly on comfort food paired with amazing coffees. The ambience is dark, cozy and young-spirited, making it the perfect place for a group of friends to come and spend a few hours talking about life and indulging in rare delicacies.
If you go to Inkwell, don’t go in a rush. Make sure you want to spend a few hours embracing the uniqueness of this coffee house that has been around since the 70s. The service can be relaxed at times, so go on a day where you are ready to camp out and take a breather from life.
If Woodstock somehow got bundled up into a time travelling machine and warped into 2014 and ended up in Long Branch, that would be Inkwell Coffee House.
Olsen said, “The Inkwell is more of an experience than a restaurant.”
IMAGE TAKEN from www.panoramio.com
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