Friday, January 20, 2012

Demolition Coffee

215 E Bank
Petersburg, VA 23803
(804) 732-2991


  as a restaurant


 as a coffee shop hangout



            With my brother leaving to go back to school, I wanted to take him out to lunch one last time so we could hang out. I was planning on bringing him to Saucy’s Walk-up BBQ, one of my favorite places to eat in the Tri-cities, only to find out that it is closed on Sundays. After driving checking out a few different places we decided to eat at Demolition Coffee. I had eaten there a few times before with Amanda and was never really impressed with their food but Alex had never been there so I figured we’d try it out.

Demolition Coffee is not located in the real downtown area of Petersburg but is a just a few blocks away. Inside the place looks awesome. It is extremely clean with a mixture of brick and vintage wallpapered walls and a wooden ceiling. It is really impressive looking but it does have an air of hipsterness, that comes off as if it may be trying a little too hard. Of course Alex, a sort of hipster himself, loved the décor and ambiance but did agree that it was trying pretty hard to pull off the look. The menu matched the overall vibe. There were fancy coffees, mochas, and cappuccinos along with simple sandwiches, wraps and Panini, many of which were vegetarian, and a variety of different cakes, pies and pastries.  We were immediately a little disappointed that they did not have chocolate covered bacon that day, they usually don’t.

At Demolition Coffee you order everything at the counter. It only took Alex an I a few minutes to decide what we wanted, there really is not that much to choose from, and all vegetarian items were a no go, because we are meat eating manly men,  so our choices were even more limited. I decided to go with their special of the day, The Duke for $7.95. The Duke, I would assume named after John Wayne but why I have no idea, is a wrap with strips of baked chicken breast, bacon, cheese, and ranch, it is then pressed in a Panini press to warm it up and give it a little crunch.  It came with a pickle and the choice of a side, I chose pasta salad. Alex ordered a Panini with sliced deli meat, cheese and mayo.

It did not take long for us to receive our food; I wish that it had taken longer because the cheese on my sandwich was not completely melted. Yuck!  Over all the wrap was not too bad, the chicken was well cooked and not dried out, the bacon was nice and crispy and it was complemented with the thin layer of ranch dressing spread on it. I was glad it was a thin coat because sometimes too much ranch on a sandwich can ruin it. I will say though that I was disappointed with my mostly unmelted shredded cheddar cheese, I felt that this was a missed opportunity because a nice slice of a more high quality cheese would really have made the sandwich. I did like how the wrap was pressed on the Panini machine because it gave it a nice crispy outside which contrasted well with the moist inside. The best part of the meal though was the pasta salad; I would classify it more as a macaroni salad with more of a mayo base than I typically associate with pasta salad. The pickle spear on the other hand was limp and did not have the crunch I enjoy in a good pickle.

Over all, Demolition Coffee left a bit to be desired in terms of food. The prices were reasonable but the selection is rather small and nothing on the menu had what I would call the “wow factor” meaning that it made me drool just reading it. The place is beautiful and the atmosphere is pretty neat; I was extremely surprised and the very diverse clientele that were there. I imagine that they probably have awesome coffee and it would be fun to hang out there while searching the internet or listing to a band, even though they do not serve the hard stuff. I do not recommend eating at Demolition Coffee because I think that Longstreet’s has a much better selection of sandwiches. With that being said, you may very well see me there from time to time because Amanda loves the place and it's a pretty cool place to just hangout

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