Urbana Coffee at 1033 Bay Street does not have a website that I could find. That’s odd because they do offer free unlimited high speed internet access between 7 am and 11 pm. While it may be odd that they don’t have a web presence, there’s something exceptional about a café in Toronto offer free internet access. Neither Starbucks nor Second Cup do (while both have WiFi access, they charge for it).
The rest of Urbana is less exceptional, but is comfortable and unassuming. The drink menu includes the standard fare of delicious espresso and smoothie drinks. The food menu varies, but there are sandwiches and cakes and muffins. There are no surprises, but what you get is consistently fresh and of a high quality. The décor is also standard, with one side set up with plastic chairs and dinette tables, and the other side set up for surfing the internet. A large Klimt reproduction decorates a dome in the middle of the room, with yellow and golds reflecting the palette of the rest of the décor (yellow columns and brown and black furniture). Large shopfront windows let in the sun, so the place is always bright, with a view of the park across the street. Along those same lines, the baristas are bright and cheery, helpful and polite in the proper proportions.
For many businesses, such a keen adherence to the middle ground would be a liability. The middle ground often means mediocrity. Not so in the case of Urbana. The feeling is one of comfort, where the only thing missing is the hipster airs other places tend towards. Urbana is not the type of place to sit around drinking lattes and discussing arts and culture. But if you’d like a nice place to read a book and drink coffee, or surf the net without being surrounded by gamers, Urbana might be just what you’re looking for.
Urbana Coffee is World Class. ~ robis
