Cafe Bene (Photo: SunnysidePost)
May 2, 2014 By Christian Murray
Caffe Bene, the multi-national coffee giant based out of South Korea, opened its Sunnyside operation on Thursday.
The café, located at 41-31 Queens Blvd, sells items such as brewed coffee, hot and cold beverages, pastries, croissants, sandwiches, waffles, gelato, and so forth.
The café had its official grand opening today (Friday). There were giant waffles and coffee cups walking along Queens to promote the new cafe.
The store was flooded with customers. Many of the customers were impressed by the café and said that they were glad it was in Sunnyside.
Featured Events
Today, 11 am
Today, noon
Today, 1 pm
55 Comments
Click for Comments
They should keep all unwrapped breads abd pastries behind the counter. Gross to see ppl poking ans smelling the croissants or rolls before not choosing them..grossed out.
1 iced coffee + 1 small latte + 2 macaroon cookies = $10.00! I’ll stick with Aubergine’s, thank you.
@Mike
queens finest for the beard trim
skinny jeans 1. Pop up shop on 33rd 2. there is a fall of the truck store on greenpoint near demole (across the street diagonally) Haggle none of the first prices are real. I look white but speak spanish and they give different prices to everyone when you walk in if you don’t look spanish they really try to jack up the prices. or 3.you could try kings men shop
mac? closest now is best buy
Almost 7 bucks for 2 large iced coffees!! Won’t be going back in there in a hurry!!
I had to poop in the street in Bushwick once. I’d been at a warehouse rave all night and let’s just say I shouldn’t have put so much hot sauce on my falafel before I took all that DMT.
Best of luck to Caffe Bene, will get there soon and have a waffle. They sound great. Off topic regarding Chaaange; I suppose one’s opinion is derived by one’s experiences. Asking for change is one thing, seeing this guy drop his pants and take a crap against the wall is another completely. I don’t know, appears menacing to me. I wish he would find another home. Guess I really don’t care where.
Oh, and Mike, I heard that American Apparel is going to be running a pop up store beneath the 7 train near 33rd Street for a few months this summer, so that should cover your skinny jeans needs.
@Mike – I stupidly bought some beard trimmers two weeks before Christmas. Of course my parents got me one for a present. It’s still wrapped up. I can arrange for the person who runs the karaoke at Bliss St. Station to pass it on to you. He owes me anyway – ever since I persuaded him to add Gnarls Barkley to his song list, business has been booming!
This is a comfy place for a morning coffee. A little overpriced for a waffle though.. Flavored coffee that i ordered is like a ticket to diabetes.. I hope that they served my sandwich on my table like what they just did to the lady sitting behind me.. They called out my name and left my sandwich on the counter. Treat your customers equally. No butt kssing please.
Y’all trippin
Anowamus – are you stupid? Mike was trying to be funny. Duh!
Hipsta thugg be funny.
I haven’t seen Squirts in a while, I hope the cafe bene people didn’t blindfold him and drop him off in Lake Placid. Hope the guys alright. Gentrification can be ugly.
preschool, yeah, It would be good to have some kind of covering over that center section. Its only 3 ft high, I can’t eat food displayed at crotch level.
This place is cool though.
I was just kidding. Take it easy. I’m going to call 311 on Monday. That is the correct thing to do.
Lovely coffee shop but EXPENSIVE!!!! $1.95 FOR A BAGEL?!!! That was the cheapest item! Food display in the center seems unsanitary and takes up room for tables. Very nice people. Welcome!!
@Mike
Welcome! I hope you enjoy moving in. Forget about “Kabooky Kid”‘s comment. He’s just sad that there is not enough hipsters. To make moving in easier, here’s a link where you’ll experience the real Sunnyside:
http://sunnyside-chamber.org/visit-sunnyside/
Ah, the comments section of SSP, how I have missed you. It never goes too long without insults or threats to the health and safety of either the homeless, newcomers, old-timers, hipsters, or whoever is the targeted “other” of the week. I’m sure that many of the posters here are decent in real life, and many of the most decent readers probably just don’t post at all.
In other news: Good luck to the coffee shop! I think it fills a niche. I’ve never gone to the Starbucks, but I’ll probably check this out every so often. In general, though, I still plan to buy whole bean coffee from Baruir’s and brew it at home. Also, I’ll buy a breakfast sandwich from the street vendor when I’m in a rush, and go here when I want to relax a little longer. Market segmentation really isn’t a bad thing.
I need to come clean. I love bringing up a mentally ill homeless man on nearly every post on this website because it makes me feel like I am a better person than he is and actually makes me feel better than I truly am. I love to mock him because he can’t defend himself. I never ever try to help him or treat him like a human being. I’m too busy coming up with juvenile nicknames for him on this website.
It doesn’t really matter to me that with the flick of a switch, I could end up on the street. Who has time for humanity? I’m absolutely positive my little posts mocking him are hugely popular with the readers of this blog. I’m sure everyone thinks I’m a genious – well, almost everyone. All those bleeding heart liberals get mad but what do they expect? That I’d show compassion? Sorry, it’s all about me.
Hey Mike:
Welcome to da hood. You’re the type of guy that we want in Sunnyside. Bring your friends!!!!!!!!!
I had a waffle with banana and whipped cream. It was good but overpriced. The food seems to be good but overpriced. The stores in a neighborhood are a reflection of its residents. You have a mix of cafés, restaurants and 99 cents stores. We have a mix of residents here.
The “change bum” obviously has mental problems. I am going to see if there is some social service that can help him. It is easy to pile on the poor guy.
i just moved here from williamsburg, glad to be here. anyone know a good place for a beard trim? How about buying skinny jeans, flannel shirts? Also my Mac could use a tune up, its a real chore typing my screenplay into it.
Personally I like my coffee grown where the pickers have a decent standard of living and where the soil is low in toxins – I will have to look google it before I enter this place.
Who’s this squirts guy? Sounds like its someone I should know
Thanks
Mike
The place does look good but I have to say that the colorful advertising for the food and the fake food makes it look a little busy/trashy. Also to the owner: it will seem better if you hire people that are not just Korean or if you want to be ethnocentric then write your menu in Korean too and cater only to Koreans. Lastly please let have the milk out so we can put as much as we like in our coffee.
@doge
Are you trying to stereotype longtime residents?
@Anonymous (May 2, 2014 • 9:19 pm)
Relax. I can understand. Some changes have been good and bad. To me, I think this new change is in between. You’re not the only one that thinks the changes aren’t good.
NO NO NO NO NO NO! We Sunnysiders like to buy our coffee from the e-coli and feces laden food cart under the overpass. We don’t like ambiance, we don’t like to enjoy our coffee in nice surroundings. The ONLY place we Sunnysiders like to drink coffee is on the 7 train and when some of it spills on our shirts, it just adds to the fun.
how does Anonymous’ comment get passed but mine don’t ?!?!?! I see plenty of people here talking about the Change bum, I was the FIRST to talk about him and you all mocked me. I told you this would happen, I told you all and you mocked me and said I was the worst on here, look at some of those comments!
anyway… This coffee place looked good until they tossed up that balloon mess in front of it. It looks stupid now, gaudy and cheap.
Anonymous- you are the biggest asshole. Your time has passed. Go somewhere else.
I heard they hired Squirtz to be the dancing waffle.
this place is great, glad to see crowds inside and a line to the door and cake slices sold out…. I had the waffle with a banana and whipped cream, warmed up…. nice. People behind the counter were going crazy from the amount of customers tho.
Good luck and welcome to the neighborhood!
Went into Caffe Bene Friday evening around 7:30 and it was very busy. Everything is nice and clean, food is well presented and the bubble tea I ordered was delicious. The manager told me wireless will be available in a few days. The service was a bit slow, but that’s to be expected the first several days. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu items. They need to relocate the order station/cash register deeper into the store so the line is not out the door and onto the sidewalk, competing for space with the sidewalk repair shop next door. A big negative is that with the front door open and close to Maggie Mae’s, there’s a cloud of cigarette smoke coming into the seating area but it’s not as bad as the smoking haze hovering over the street bench/window ledge outside Starbucks. All in all, a big plus for the area of Queens Blvd west of 43rd Street.
Reading these comments , I say the following with 100% sincerity:
You ALL seem like a bunch of assholes.
I grew up in the neighborhood many years ago. And I see that it has changed. Not necessarily for the better.
While I don’t like seeing sparks flying on the sidewalk (and have made 311 complaints), I do note that the e-bike store is always busy. The person there seems extremely hard-working.
Lets all get together and see if we can talk to the chaaaaaaaaange guy. Maybe we can reason with him and ask him to leave the neighborhood. He seems like a nice enough guy. If not we can beat the crap out of him. Just kidding.
Adam, are you new to this area? The situation with the mentally ill man asking for change has been discussed here for years. Legally, there is nothing you can do. Some people feel compassion and concern about this guy; others are angry and want him “eliminated.” I’m not convinced that he is a menace, but he is a mess. What would you like to see happen, that he goes to another community and begs there? Legally, what do you think can be done?
Are you offended by the e-bike garage? That situation is pretty gross, and we’ve seen welding and grinding right on the sidewalk, which could certainly be considered a public menace. Nothing is being done about that situation, and it’s around two years now since this began.
Complaints are a dime a dozen. Come up with a viable solution and we’ll listen.
All of the bold commenters who go here should walk over to the greasy garage next door and comment. Ask about the motor oil stains on the sidewalk. Tell them how you feel about the ugly mess he is creating in the very heart of our community. It’s easy to “speak out” with a computer, but not so effective. How about voicing your concerns in person? Here’s your chance.
what can we do as a community to get rid of the CHANGE bum?!? he’s gross and a public menace!!!
The CHAAAANGE bum is now back down on 40th st outside of Pure spa. I don’t think the owners of Pure appreciate him hanging around outside of their business.
Welcome change to the usual crap stores that pop up. The cheese cake was great!
I guess it is great if you like the violent stomach pains and vomiting that came after drinking 1/4 cup of I Ed tea on the first day it opened!
@Chaaaaaaange!: You’re the imposter. Off my turf!
Many? Great headline. No interviews, even?
SSP
a heads up – if someone’s name is “anonymous” which is the default name for this site anyone / everyone w/ the same default can view the comment while it is “awaiting moderation”.
I agree with Michelle. Many bikers here in Sunnyside not to mention the city since the Subways can’t seem to get us anywhere at a reasonable rate. I think his business is definitely a necessity.
I am claiming eminent domain, this is my turf!!
Bring it on, Caffe Bene. Finally, some progress in this nabe. I’ll stop by for sure.
The best part about this is that the CHANGE bum is gone!!!! woohoo!! hope he’s gone for good, what an eyesore!
Best of luck to them , I am excited to try it! And I don’t see why the bike shop should be forced down a side street, if he can afford the rent he deserves to be on the blvd!
Marc, that bridge is dangerous. I walked over it recently with all the traffic whizzing by me. Just one idiot looking at his iPhone for 2 seconds and he’d be up on the walkway. I felt like a sitting duck the whole time. Put guard rails on it.
I went there and it was great. Had a chicken teriyaki sandwich. Will have waffle with whipped cream tomorrow. I saw the hipsta thugg there. Actually a nice guy. Wasn’t bitter at all.
Marc let’s be open minded to some diversity in the neighborhood. Although a locally owned place like baruirs is great, they’re not open till like 9:30am and they are not seating friendly. This is a great OPTION if you wanted a quick coffee snack and some wifi access. The guy that owns this place is probably not a multinational CEO of bene, so take the occupy qbld angst elsewhere.
Crane, that bridge is not at all dangerous, what are you talking about? If you are concerned, just hop on a bicycle and ride over. Coffeed is the best.
We do not need more stores like this. We DON’T need a multinational chain in this neighborhood, what we need is more independent shops that can help give us character, rather than some crap that tourists can find near Times Square.
Haven’t been inside yet but I do like the facade. So glad to see a business open that doesn’t have an ugly, yellow awning.
Marc, make sure not to get robbed on the way or the way back hike to Northern Blvd over the scary bridge. I wouldn’t go to Coffeed even if topless girls served free coffee, ok maybe not the topless ones, but I wouldn’t go there for free coffee. I don’t get you guys, if anyone is into real actually good coffee, just buy your own machine and make your good coffee at home, much cheaper and tastier, fresher.
This is a good thing for the neighborhood, I hope more stores like this one opens. Remember to support the yogurt stores too.
I hate to see that electric bike there, though, how the heck does he afford blvd rent with those crappy bikes, I dont get it. We need to push him back to some side street or back down to LIC area, he doesn’t really belong there with his repairs in the middle of the sidewalk.
Forget this trash, take a walk over to Coffeed or Queens Kickshaw for some real coffee.
Best of luck.