Review: The Wormole Coffee
Hello friends!
Here is part two of yesterday's review.
Please enjoy!
*
*
*
*After our brief visit with Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, we were ready to get something warm in our bellies with the wind howling outside. After taking a quick peak at Google Maps to see what cafes were nearby, we decided on a place called The Wormhole Coffee when we realized two things: 1) It was 80s themed and it had a Dolorian inside, and 2) It was right across the street.
A quick jog through traffic across Milwaukee Ave later and we were stepping inside The Wormhole, which is an interesting name choice to be sure.
Originally this was NOT a location I had been considering for the EGL Aesthetic Midwest, namely because there was nothing about it that inherently reads "lolita fashion" to me, but I hadn't considered that its use of pop culture from the 80s does in fact correspond with early proto-lolita, gothic, punk, and what we now refer to as "Old School" styles. So with that in mind, I decided to add it to the list.
And let me tell you, if there is any cafe to visit when you want to bust out your chunky Meta platformms, this is the place to go.
At night the lighting is dim and relaxing, and none of the seating is uniform. We chose a spot along a counter set into the wall with some bar stools, but I really wanted to try the currently occupied window seat, with two leather chairs and a wooden barrel filled with nuts and topped with custom-cut glass for the tabletop surface. Buried inside were various retro game cartridges--I mean come on, the setup was MADE for bloggers and Instagrammers in mind. Unfortunately those seats were taken so I couldn't get any pics, but you can see plenty of images of it in the Wormhole's tagged photos on Instagram.
We didn't get any food as we'd actually had some sliders at the Devil Dawg prior to Jeni's, so we just grabbed nice hot drinks. I tried their chai latte, and my partner got some good ol' drip coffee.
My chai was gorgeous and tasted just as good, a good blend of sweets and spices.
As is typical in cafes, the other patrons were there largely to do their own thing and be left alone, absorbed into their own laptops and tablets. The staff were pretty chill, and stylish I might add--I like places that don't force ugly uniforms on their employees and allow them to dress to their own style. They certainly didn't give me any hard time, but I also wasn't the one who spoke with them, since I was getting our seats and my partner gave our orders.
I was wearing the same outfit as my previous review, so forgive the repetition.
Admittedly it was a tad chilly, but that was also probably because we were by the door and the big windows, and my shoes weren't exactly MADE for warmth so I think that was less the cafe's fault and more my own.
Overall we quite liked it in there; as 80s buffs ourselves (with my partner having grown up with only 80s pop culture due to his older siblings) we really appreciated all the little nods, jokes and references hidden throughout the cafe. From the posters on the wall to Janine's Macintosh desktop for all those high tech Ghostbusters appointment bookings, it was a really fun place to just be in. But there was one atmosphere killer--for an 80s themed cafe they weren't playing any 80s themed music. Like, at all.
I wasn't familiar with it, but the artist they had playing was a woman (assuming it was all from the same artist, because the tracks all sounded exactly the same) who made me think of some strange mix between Paramore and Grimes. It definitely was not our thing. Perhaps it was just the choice for the manager on duty that day. But considering the uprising of synth and vaporwave over the last three years, it certainly didn't boil down to a lack of new content for them to feature, it was definitely A Choice. A choice that gave the cafe kind of a moody and dreary atmosphere, which some people might be all for but for me it just made me feel melancholic and kind of depressed, particularly when paired with the cold, damp and windy weather outside. I'd like to go back and see if the music is different next time.
TLDR:
-Chill staff.
-Lowkey atmosphere.
-Fun decor with multiple options for photo ops if you're creative.
-Great and gorgeous coffee.
-Music was subpar.
Thank you for reading my review, and I'll catch yall on the next one.