Coffee Couture at Royal at the Biltmore, Fashion Park

Since the demise of the Coffee Plantation at the Biltmore Fashion Park a few years back there was no coffee shop with good coffee at this mall. That's not to say that Coffee Plantation had good coffee, they did not, but what they had was a place for people of all sorts to meet, sit and lounge about while discussing topics from local to international. I loved that place as much as I disliked the coffee, but I still drank it.  

I met some great people while sitting about reading or draining the battery on my laptop. Amongs the languages spoken were, Spanish, French, Polish, Russian, Serbian etc. Yes, there as a heavy influence of Europeans who so much enjoy the type of cafe culture this place provided. 

When it died and closed none of these people came, they were gone, but so was the old Biltmore Fashion Park which started it's renovation and killed its charm.

Now from the ashes of this remodel came some good, not the architecture though.  It was inevitable that someone coffee shop would open and hopefully it would not be a chain like Starbucks.  For a while the only player was Paradise Bakery where people still eat and meet, though I don't know why - the food is (not so good) and coffee leaves much to be desired, but then again it's not meant to be good right?

Then I heard some rumors that Royal Coffee is opening up at the Biltmore. It was a quiet opening and it still remains kind of a quiet thing. I don't know why. 

It's located, oddly, at the netrence to the Red Door Spa, making it, probably, uncomfortable for macho men to enter, but I  think it's rather cool.

I'll start off by saying that the coffee is awesome. It may be me or not, but I think it's better then the Phoenix Market location.

My only quible is the cups which are hard and odd to handle. You'll see when you go there.

The things I like most about this place is the chick, clean modern design and furniture which is a break from this grungy trend we see in other palces like Lux or Lola which by the way works well and is awesome, but we don't have to have it everywhere.

It's not a big shop, but it feels large due to the high 2 story ceilings and huge window in the front.  You can't fit a crowd in there, but I have have yet to have issues finding a palce to sit, inside or out. 

Where:

2502 E Camelback Rd
Suite 193
Phoenix, AZ 85016