I went to Cartel on a Sunday morning and while it was fairly quiet, they had steady traffic. The coffee was really good and I loved how they explained the flavors of each type. Friendly service, and they had really cool merch plus a lot of indoor and outdoor seating. Really cool vibes and in the heart of Old Towne!
Bad energy flowing from this joint … Been coming her about 8 years approximately.. other cartels as well. This dude is not cool... A double espresso is $3.50 maybe $3.75, to up it to a quad espresso should be $5.25 or $5.50. But this dude working maybe David..? always tries to charges me $7.50 for a quad espresso even after I point out it should only be like $5.25’ish. Other Cartel locations charge $5.25-50. I wouldn’t care but I get this drink daily. It’s very sneaky/misleading and it says a little about his character. It’s not what I expect from this place because they theme seems to be “let’s be cool”, but He does this every time and I think just to increase sales. It’s the only drink I get anywhere. He forgot who I was because it had been like 6 months since I saw him so Today he talked me into “separating” my quad into 2 orders so as not to taint the flavor. So if you order a quad, some dude named David tries to charge you double for the extra sparkling water and add on shots, tell him “Milo said to freaking chill and just add on 2 shots for $1.75 like you would to any other espresso based drink. Not returning… Dude is ridiculous. Bad energy or I wouldn’t waste 10 minutes writing this.
I popped in here for a small snack and coffee. Great atmosphere. There is wifi so you can work a little. Great spot with some huge charm.
Wayyyy overrated. The coffee was terrible. My wife and I threw ours away. It took them about 20 minutes to make our drinks.The good:If you like hipster vibes, they have it. Very grungy atmosphere. If you consider that a good thing, they nail it. We ordered their coffee cake and it was tasty, but very sweet. We also got the poblano burrito, which was decent but small.The bad:The staff seemed in confusion and had no process to work through orders in an efficient manner. They made lots of mistakes. The main barista pulling shots was letting them sit way too long, which ruins the shots. The shots they were pulling were not good either, almost pure black. And he was constantly touching his mask and then touching people's drinks. Pretty gross. It would've been better if he didn't have a mask at all.The coffees took about 20 minutes to get (and all we ordered were Americanos, nothing fancy). There were many other customers waiting in line who were visibly agitated at the long wait. Another customer asked how long it would take to get their drink and the barista said, "Long."Finally, our order was over $25. They don't have any prices listed, and we were pretty shocked at that plain Americanos could be so expensive. These were not frilly drinks or anything extravagant.We stopped at several coffee places in Phoenix, and this was the worst experience. They seem to be banking on their hipster/ultra-cool vibes to stay in business rather than on quality or customer service. We would encourage you to try other coffee shops nearby, which are within walking distance.
Great original and pour over coffee and espresso classics as well as special drinks. We loved the CCL. Unique and tasty pastries such as homemade apple butter pop tart. Somewhat difficult to find in 5th Avenue shops area of old town Scottsdale but worth the stop!
Most delicious, and beautifully served coffee!!! Varities of different types of sitting inside and outside were nice.
I am very confused why this coffee place doesn't take names with orders. Waited about 10-15 minutes for our order, which it was a pretty busy day, so not a big deal. Then the barista called out an "oat milk latte", a fairly common drink, and what I ordered, but someone else grabbed it. I wasn't going to accuse the person of taking my order, likely they had an oat milk latte too and just thought it was theirs. Continued to wait another 10 minutes and eventually asked the cashier about my order. They asked what the name on my order was, which was confusing since they didn't ask for my name originally and hadn't called out a single name with an order the whole time I was there. Gave them the name regardless. Eventually got my order after 40 minutes since placing my order according to my credit card time stamp. The latte tasted good, but their system makes no sense. I like to think I am a reasonable, patient person. Maybe they were new and had never worked in food service. I understand their is a labor shortage, but it seems like a terrible system to not take names with orders that I can't imagine it is their actual policy. 12/24/2021 at ~11am.
Delicious coffee, matcha and gluten free + vegan donuts. Great ambiance as well. The only downside is that they charge $1 for oatmilk, but other than that love this place!
The Cartel Coffee Shop is a great place to buy delicious Americanos or to just hang out. It is in Old Town Scottsdale on the north side of 5th Avenue. Give it a try and support a local business.
Solid coffee roaster with multiple locations. When we went here the crowd wasn’t too much and we were able to discuss coffee and get some delicious drinks to enjoy. Certainly one of the few reputable coffee shops in the area to check out.