One day I was down in St. Louis Park trying to find a way to kill time while waiting for my ACT tutor, I found a cute little place called Penny’s Coffee on West 44th Street. Penny’s Coffee has three different locations: West 44th, downtown Minneapolis and Wayzata.

Getting to the shop is slightly difficult since this particular location is in a pretty busy area and doesn’t have a specified parking lot. Luckily, there is another street that’s about a two-three minute walk away so I decided to spare myself a parallel parking accident and park there instead. 

When I walked into the shop, I immediately liked the atmosphere. It is extremely inviting with a lot of natural light. They have multiple cute neon signs lit up around the shop which I also enjoyed. The seating varies from up-high barstool seating to comfy booths. The shop is two floors since it does get pretty busy at certain times. They also have meeting rooms if you were to go with a larger group and want some privacy. 

The workers there are all really nice and answer any questions you might have about the menu or make customizations you may want to a certain drink or food item. Another great thing about the shop is that after 2 p.m on weekdays there is a discount for students on any drink or food purchased. They also have free wifi, which makes it a great place to study. One downside though is that they have very few outlets, so if your computer dies you are basically out of luck. 

I ordered the Penny’s green tea, since I am not the biggest fan of coffee, and Banana Nocciolata crepe, which is banana, chocolate and hazelnuts. One of the reasons this coffee shop appealed to me so much is because I saw it had crepes, and crepes are one of my favorite foods ever. The shop has breakfast and lunch options, both which are served all day. 

The service was relatively fast, and when I got my food and tea I was really excited just from the way it looked. The crepe was decorated with lots of powdered sugar and chocolate, and the tea was in a clear infuser where you could see all of the leaves. It was essentially an Instagram perfect look. 

The crepe was great and had the perfect amount of chocolate, so it was not too sweet or overwhelming. I also loved the tea. It was pretty bitter, but that’s exactly how I like it. Since they have free water I was also able to refill it multiple times. This specific location also offers soft serve ice cream, which tempted me, but I decided against it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Penny’s Coffee W 44th street location. I have gone back multiple times since and had the same good experiences. Despite minor inconveniences such as parking and outlets, the shop itself and the menu outweigh the negatives. Penny’s is a great alternative for someone looking for a more up-to-date and trendy coffee shop rather than just going to their local Starbucks. Penny’s Coffee is a place to study, get in a quick snack or meet with some friends.