Iris Book Cafe - Cincinnati

The food and drinks here are excellent! However, the service was lacking. It took quite a while for our order to arrive, and the staff was not very helpful.

The atmosphere is welcoming, with friendly and knowledgeable staff. They really encourage you to take your time and appreciate their collection of books and photo art. The location is convenient and easy to access.

Our dining experience was quite disappointing. My partner ordered a vegan corn dog, and after a 25-minute wait for food, I decided to order a soup. Unfortunately, it took a while for the soup to arrive too. Meanwhile, my partner only received his corn dog after a lengthy delay. I was feeling frustrated, similar to how long it took for me to leave the restaurant to get some fresh air. While the food itself was decent, the staff’s attitude completely soured our experience. My partner spoke to the girl at the counter about the slow service, and she seemed completely indifferent. Having worked in a vegan café for the past four years, I find their lack of concern for customer service both frustrating and upsetting. I will not return, nor would I recommend this café to anyone. Update from previous review dated 2017-09-24.

UPDATE: Iris has way more vegan options now! A Mexican Bowl, a peanut noodle bowl and drum roll: A vegan cheese coney with field roast dog and daiya chz! Whoa. Pro-tip: Ask them to melt daiya on top. It's not good cold. I heard they have tofutti cream cheese if you ask too. This is one of my favorite coffee shops. The owner bakes vegan chocolate chip cookies and vegan raspberry oat bars. Sometimes she makes peanut butter cookies. I like the coffee, too. It's from a local roaster. Books line the walls as well as an art exhibition that rotates every month. They have a small selection of food that has some great vegan options. There's the hummus sandwich and the tempeh salad sandwich. The hummus sandwich sounds boring but it's not. It's served on local bread baked right down the street and loaded with fresh veggies. Even the salad is good and I never say that. I don't know how they do it. It's just a tasty salad. They offer smoothies but I don't get them because I make mine at home. I've heard they're good. And can be made vegan. The menu gives you a choice of milks and fruits and then you just tell them what you want in it. I am also glad they offer GT's kombucha because sometimes I just want a kombucha and there are only two places (Park+Vine is the other) to get them in the inner city. There's also seating outside which is nice. And there's ample sitting spaces inside. Updated from previous review on 2015-11-02

Popped in for a vegan bakery treat and walked out with 4 a muffin, a bar, a cookie, and a piece of pumpkin bread. I'm impressed