Capital Espresso

Any non vegan coffee shop that has at least one vegan sweet wins my heart because I am so tired of espresso or Americano with something to soak up the jitters. I would have preferred a muffin, but the fact that this place regularly has vegan pb and chocolate cookies labeled visibly from the street is awesome! I only stopped in once, but the coffee *and cookie!!* was great!

Good espresso and nice atmosphere to drink it in. We might be morons but we could not get the wifi to work either on our phones or mini laptop. Everyone else was typing away on their wifi-​connected devices though, so probably it was just us :(

First time in the neighbourhood and I was desperate for a caffeine hit this morning. I expected to not like this place as there was a line of hipsters to the door upon arrival, but was pleasantly surprised. My latte was made well, with care and expertise, and served up hot within good time. The espresso itself was fresh and delicious. My friend said our almond croissants were probably a day old as they were a bit hard, but I think I have lower pastry standards because I found it to be pretty good. Would go here again if back in the area… It seems like the local spot for good coffee.

Parkdale hipsters are spoiled with the best of Toronto, and the coffee at Capitol is no exception. Conveniently placed at my Eastbound streetcar stop, a toonie for a medium cup of craft coffee to go is more than reasonable on Queen West, which tends to ask the highest prices for anything in Toronto. Good luck finding a place to sit though, the place is always packed, which is only a testament to the quality of product they dish out. In the summer you can always find folks chilling outside on the church pew maybe smoking a joint in true parkdale fashionc… Good vibes all around. Give it a try.

The best.
Perfect spot to sit down with an Americano and a book, especially if you want to catch up with all of the Parkdale locals.

It really shines as a place to go and have a cup of coffee. I had the latte which was rich and sweet from the perfectly steamed whole milk and the use of Social Coffee espresso; a favourite of mine.
Atmosphere benefits from an amazing instrumental and experimental music selection that supports both chatting with friends or working alone.
The real stand out is the freshly baked muffin which shares flavours and textures with other traditional breakfast baked goods. It’s crusty muffin-​top all around a light and fluffy mid section with a moist English muffin/​pancake like center.
Will enthusiastically return to try the solo espresso and another muffin.

Great coffee, great place to hangout and chill for an hour or several more. Likely the best coffee shop in Parkdale so far.

Slow and sometimes rude service, mediocre and overpriced food. It’s unfortunate the area doesn’t have many other options for coffee shops.

Great wifi café. The coffee was delicious and so was my veggie croissant sandwich. I got plenty of work done while bopping my head to their music. Also nice and cozy and a great location on Queen St.

I was really underwhelmed by Capital. The service was fine, but the coffee was mediocre (even though they serve 49^th Parallel) and the music was kind of awful.

Tucked away in parkdale, this coffee shop is pretty good. The coffees are well priced and decent. its probably one of the most well priced lattes I’ve had in the city. Its got a hipster vibe to it with lots of people on their laptops, which may case difficulty finding a spot.

An interesting find in this up and coming area. I have only recently started to explore this area and it seems to be up and up in terms of good cafes/​dessert spots.
This place fits right in. I was immediately taken aback by the Epic roast bags from 49^th Parallel of Vancouver. This being one of my fav espresso blends I was already looking forward to my drink. This is a complicated roast and once one gets it right it can do wonders.
Here is the verdict for the cappuccino
Espresso: Medium
Crema’: Good
Milk: Frothed well
Latte Art: Decent.
4 Stars for the drink. Now for the other items they didn’t look appetizing to me but one can easily resolve that by just walking across the street and getting a decent dessert fix.
3.5 Stars overall.

My go to place for a great Americano! Only $ 3 (taxes included). I love the décor, art, and hipster feel of this place!

My fav coffee in the west end! And their muffins are too delicious (aka too dangerous)! Totally love it!

+Good coffee
+ Okay service by aloof waifs
+toy/​book corner and platform for kids (huge bonus) .(if you feel comfortable letting your kid actually play amidst stern looks by hipsters on their Macbooks)
+cool, laid back vibes
+great because there’s a flat surface at the door for strollers!
+like the seating arrangement and view of Queen St
— The Abbott café on King and Spencer staff team is much friendlier and has more of a community vibe than Capital, which is important because we are humble Parkdale, not snooty Queen West. ;) It feels so West Queen West in there…

This place makes me love Parkdale so much. The aroma of good coffee being brewed– I could smell it from inside the streetcar on cold mornings when I had to continue past, eastbound on Queen. When I am lucky enough to go in I often order the cortado. Great space, good people, good vibes and an art vending machine! Make sure you hit this place up.

The coffee here is good, there’s free wifi, and a generally good vibe.
I like how they put the ice coffees in mason jars in the summer. Only complaint is that its a crapshoot as to whether you’ll get a seat on a weekend afternoon.

This is a gem of a coffee shop in parkdale. The staff are super friendly and open to conversation and helping you with a product your wanting to find. I love the communal long wooden table In the back creating very friendly and open environment. The Americano was amazing flavour and very fair pricing. Extra points for being open on New Year’s Day :) best café in parkdale in my book,.will return.

I started out liking Capital, but I finally came to my senses once I started going regularly and spending some time there.
The baristas are very pleasant and the coffee is fine. But you can never get a seat and the internet is horribly unreliable. The bench seats are uncomfortable. It’s hot in the summer. The crowd can be loud and obnoxious too. They once had a great big sign in the front window that read: «Long Live the Working Class». What a joke. The working class don’t noodle around on their macbooks sipping $ 4 lattes all day. maybe this was some sort of art installation and I missed the point. Whatever. Still a bunch of knobs in my books.
It has suddenly become hard to find a good café in Parkdale. I miss The Mascot. Parkdale needs a Starbucks.

It wasn’t bad my any means, but I don’t think I’d return.
I had a decaf cappuccino (I’m off caffeine atm) and a berry muffin. The cappuccino I liked, it wasn’t very foamy but the quality of the espresso was undeniable. The muffin on the other hand was just okay. The actual space itself I enjoyed, especially the art they had on display, but what really ruined it for me was the vibe. When my friend and I walked in almost every single person sitting in there had a laptop open in front of them. Nothing takes the coziness out of a place faster than a room full of stressed out university students with empty coffee mugs writing essays. It might as well have been a really good internet café. It reminded me of those irritating hipsters in Starbucks who sit around all day with a laptop out pretending they’re writing a novel. Baristas weren’t friendly at all either which is a shame as that’s a big part of the café experience for me.
So all in all: really good quality espresso, average staff, average muffin, nice décor, bad atmosphere.