Atlantic Coffee

My friends and I stumbled into Atlantic Coffee whilst looking for a light lunch when other cafés in the arcade were jam packed. Located on the corner of the St Mary’s street entrance to High Street Arcade, I’ve come across this little coffee shop many times but never stopped by.
At the door, the display case entices you with cakes, home made quiches and pie-​like «torta rustica». I opted for a slice of the chicken torta myself, and a forest fruits smoothie (which only comes in either forest fruits or raspberry).
The torta was served with a small side salad and a sweet chilli sauce. With the drink my total came to about £8.
The torta filling was a little too heavy on the (cheddar?) cheese for my taste, making the whole thing quite greasy feeling. I wasn’t sure what the sauce was supposed to complement — the salad or the torta. I tried it with both but it was a bit too sweet for either!
The smoothies here are made with blended fruit (frozen from what I could tell) and yoghurt. It was so-​so and not too cheap at just under £3.
I didn’t feel inclined to try the milkshakes which were made with flavoured syrup. I’m not sure how other similar coffee shops make them, but when I asked what flavours were available the server just motioned to the flavoured syrup pumps behind the counter, which didn’t appeal to me very much.
The whole venue was rather nondescript. However it was clean and comfortable, with the large window front looking over busy St Mary’s street.
Overall, I wouldn’t make an effort to come here specially. If I was stuck for a place to stop for a coffee and a chat with friends again I wouldn’t mind coming back. Next time I would try their hot drinks and cakes, or perhaps their advertised nut roast.
Note: This is one of the few places that do not yet accept card!

A tiny coffee shop looking out upon the newly pedestrianised High Street, it is almost always impossible to get a seat here. It’s probably only going to get harder now the pedestrians will be out in greater force.
If you turn up off-​peak time though, you might be lucky enough to grab a window seat and enjoy a coffee and muffin for 15 minutes. There’s nothing astonishing about this place, it’s perfectly nice and a good place to take a break. My main reason for mentioning it is to reiterate a point I make regularly these days; it’s SO much better than all the chain cafes, so come here instead.
It can be a nice easy choice to head towards a chain with empty seats, but I promise you’ll have a better time going somewhere else. I get the feeling that every time a cup of coffee is bought in Starbucks or Costa, a small independent café dies. There’s just a better feeling about smaller, independent coffee shops and you don’t feel dirty handing over your money.

This is a coffee shop that is right in the middle of town but that somehow manages to offer a little bit of solitude even on the madness of Saturday shopping.
It’s fairly poky, so it can fill quite quickly on a busy day, but it does do a really good coffee and some great cakes and pastries. It’s also got sandwiches and all the rest to try and attract people on their lunch breaks. But this isn’t another Starbucks or Costa, there’s a personal feel to this coffee shop that can be hard to find in the larger chains, and can be a great place to stop off for a breather during a stress-​filled day of shopping amongst other stress-​filled shoppers. There’s seating both inside the as well as some in the arcade this coffee shop occupies. So the outdoor seating is a perfectly valid place to sit even in the rain, which is somewhat of a novelty, I suppose.

I’m not a coffee drinker, so I’ll have to touch on other aspects of Atlantic Coffee’s offering, although I’ve heard many good things about the standard of their java.
The shop was relatively quiet for a Friday lunchtime, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you require during your hour off. Atlantic Coffee’s cakes were fresh and gratifying, but their range of teas left a lot to be desired. I kind of resent paying £1.50 for Twinings tea I can buy at Tesco for less than a pound a box.
I found the baristas here to be very friendly, even when I decided midway to opt for a peppermint tea instead of my usual green. Luckily there was no one in the queue, so service was quick and efficient.
As much as I hate saying this, I find the Starbucks a few doors down to have a more relaxed and soothing atmosphere (maybe it’s all those couches, who knows). Atlantic Coffee does offer a range of food many coffee chains don’t, such as bacon rolls, quiches, soups, and salads.

Atlantic Coffee is another small café situated in Cardiff city centre, this one positioned at the entrance to High Street Arcade. This is quite a nice location and space which comes across as small and intimate, which is quite a nice surprise to stumbled across with all the chain cafes crowding around elsewhere.
They do a good range of food, pretty much what you might expect (aka the same as everywhere else in the city centre). But their coffee is definitely of a higher standard than most places. A great place to sit (of you can claim a table, the place is quite small) and watch the world go by.
The only problem with this place, and the thing which in my opinion has let them down time and time again, are the staff. There are always male staff members when I venture inside and they can seem a little rude, busy and dismissive. But they make good coffee, so fair game.