great coffee, even better food. thefrothymonkey, located in the heart of 12th avenue south, is everything you want your neighborhood coffee shop to be. and then some. it's clean, cozy, efficient and eclectic; overall, it's a very comfortable place to spend an afternoon.
the monkey has a spacious outdoor porch, one long sunroom-type area off to the side, and a large main room that has a truly adorable spiral staircase over the bar. [side note: don't try to go up there. it's actually the manager's office, and as friendly as the staff members are, the patrons might laugh at you if someone has to ask you to 'please stay out of the office.' i assume. not that that's happened or anything…]
speaking of the staff, they're definitely the type of people i know are dressed about ten times more hip than i am, but they don't seem to notice. as a person who is often completely mainstream to an uncool extent (see for evidence: my usage of the word "hip" in the previous sentence), i always appreciate it when the more stylishly dressed among us ignore my obvious lack of funk. and they did. they were courteous, friendly, and conscientious without being smothering.
as far as food and drink go, i have to call out thefrothymonkey here a little bit because i would assert it's actually more of a café masquerading as a coffee shop than anything else. i know that will make the baristas shudder with anger, but i'm sorry: if you want your coffee to be the main attraction, you'll need to fire your chef and go back to serving the standard microwavable blueberry muffin other coffee shops push as "food."
as coffee shop fare goes, the menu is pretty extensive yet very affordable. for just over $10 i got a full sandwich, a cup of soup and a side of chips, and i topped that off with a solid chai tea latte for $3.35. the sandwich was "the pmp", a popular choice that features prosciutto, mozzarella and provolone with basil, mayo, and avocado on toasted sourdough. the prosciutto was salty and perfectly portioned, and the natural creaminess of the avocado and mozzarella balanced the sandwich in a satisfying way.
the soup of the day was cream of mushroom, and it was smooth, tangy and garnished with pieces of sautéed mushrooms which gave it great texture. to be honest, after that, i really didn't even care about the chips (which were tortilla). actually, i don't even think i was supposed to get chips, and i'm pretty sure they gave me a bowl of soup instead of a cup, so go ahead and add "generous" to the heaping pile of compliments i'm doling out to thefrothymonkey staff today. finally, there was the latte: it was piping hot, not overly sweet, and finished with a good kick of spice. but as i've already said, this show was seriously stolen by the goodness of the grub.
in general, the atmosphere is lively without being loud; it was very busy at breakfast and lunch, but the 5-person line i waited in to order was dispatched with in less than 5 minutes, likely due to the fact that most people there seemed to be regulars. (always a good sign - you don't have regulars if you're no good. simple as that.) it can be hard to score a table, even at 3:30 in the afternoon when people with "real jobs" are supposedly at those jobs, but the attitudes in this place were so darn good that that wasn't even a problem. i watched 5 people approach a large table with their laptops one-by-one and ask if they could sit down, and they happily ate and worked alongside each other all afternoon.
so basically i don't know what they're putting in the water at thefrothymonkey (or in the odwalla, tazo teas, or simply ades to name a few drinks from the huge selection they have there), but i know that it's working. from the surprising array of hot sauces to the interesting art to the decidedly non-standard music they pipe in at a very reasonable decibel - it ranged from loudon wainwright to van morrison to michael jackson the afternoon i was there - thefrothymonkey is doing it right. go there and see for yourself.
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thefrothymonkey
2509 12th avenue south
nashville, tn 37204
615.292.1808