Menagerie Coffee ★9.3

Philadelphia is a city of roasters, and almost every serious coffee bar here is the retail face of somebody’s roasting business. Menagerie Coffee is the deliberate exception: a small shop in the historic core that has never roasted a bean and instead buys from other people, choosing whose coffee to pour the way a wine bar chooses producers. That decision, taken when the shop opened in 2013, is still the reason to walk in.

Highlights

• A multi-roaster by design — the counter pours coffee from other companies rather than its own, which is rare in a city where the big names all roast.
• Both a local and an out-of-town partner: coffee from a Philadelphia roastery alongside beans from a well-regarded Minneapolis one, so the bar offers two different house styles at once.
• Founded and owned by women — two founders opened it in 2013, and one of them has run it single-handedly since 2022.
• Breakfast sandwiches served all day, not just during a morning window, plus a seasonal lunch offering.
• A split approach to baking: bread and pastry come from a respected local bakery, while cookies, granola, muffins and scones are made in house.
• A second, much larger room in Northern Liberties opened in 2024 — same coffee program, completely different scale and mood.

What’s in the cup

The multi-roaster model is the whole point here, and it changes what the counter can do. Because the shop is not selling its own roasting, it has no reason to defend one profile against another: it can serve a Philadelphia roastery known for lighter, brighter, more transparent coffee alongside a Midwestern roastery with its own distinct house style, and let you choose which conversation you want to have. Over the years the guest program has brought in roasters from across the country, which is why regulars treat the shelf as something to check rather than something to assume.

Preparation covers the useful range. Pour-over is there for the single origins, where a multi-roaster bar earns its keep — brewing two different roasters’ interpretations of a similar coffee side by side is an education you cannot get at a single-brand counter. There is a full espresso bar for milk drinks, and cold brew is treated as a standing item rather than a summer afterthought.

One honest caveat about the future: the business has spoken publicly about eventually roasting its own coffee, which would inevitably narrow the guest program. If the multi-roaster idea is specifically what brings you, it is worth knowing that the model may evolve. For now, the bar remains what it has been for over a decade — a place that curates instead of manufacturing.

Who’s behind it

Menagerie was opened in August 2013 by two founders, April Nett and Elysa DiMauro, at a moment when the historic district had plenty of tourist traffic and very little serious coffee. DiMauro stepped away from the business in 2022, and Nett has run it since — a genuinely independent, owner-operated shop in a category increasingly dominated by companies with wholesale divisions and investors.

The trajectory has not been a straight line, and the owner does not pretend otherwise. A second counter operated in a downtown food hall for a five-year run, and in 2024 the company opened a much bigger room in Northern Liberties, designed in collaboration with a local maker and an architecture practice, with white oak beams, high ceilings and a curved bar. That is the version of Menagerie with room to sit; the original is the version with history.

Who it’s for

Treat the Old City shop as a focused stop rather than an office. It is a small room in a dense historic block, and the realistic visit is a coffee, a sandwich and an hour — a break in the middle of a walking day, a short meeting, a proper cup between two appointments. The shop does not publish a laptop policy, and the honest read of a compact space in a tourist district is that spreading out for an entire afternoon is not what the room is set up for.

For a conversation between two people it is very good, especially outside the morning rush, because the scale that limits laptop work is exactly what makes talking easy. For anyone walking the historic district — and most visitors to Philadelphia spend at least half a day there — it is the obvious alternative to the chain counters that ring the tourist attractions, and it is close enough to them that the detour costs nothing.

If you want the long-session version of this business, take it to Northern Liberties. The 2024 room was built with height, daylight and considerably more seating, and it absorbs a lingering visit in a way the original cannot.

The space

The original is compact, and the shop is upfront about being small and locally owned rather than pretending to be a destination lounge. It sits in a block of restored nineteenth-century buildings, and the room works with what that architecture allows: a counter that takes up its fair share, seating that fills quickly, and a general sense of a neighborhood shop that happens to stand in the middle of the most photographed part of the city.

The contrast with the newer sibling is instructive. Northern Liberties gave the business what the historic core never could: high ceilings, large windows, timber beams and intimate seating arrangements the owner has said were inspired by a trip to Albania, all organized around a curved bar. Same coffee, entirely different experience of sitting down — worth knowing before you choose which door to walk through.

Beyond coffee

Food is more substantial than the size of the room suggests. Breakfast sandwiches are served through the day rather than cut off at some arbitrary hour, which is a small mercy for anyone whose day does not start at dawn, and there is a seasonal lunch offering alongside them.

The baking is split, and the split is worth knowing. Bread and pastry are bought from a respected Philadelphia bakery — a specialist supplier rather than an anonymous wholesaler — while cookies, granola, muffins and scones are made in house. Smoothies round out the board for the non-coffee half of any group. It is a sensible division of labor: bake what you can do well in a small kitchen, and buy the rest from someone whose entire business is bread.

When to come

The doors open early, ahead of the working day, and the morning stretch belongs to people who work in the district. The historic core has a distinctive daily rhythm — the tourist wave arrives later than the commuter wave, which means the middle of the morning can be busier here than it would be in a residential neighborhood, and the quietest windows tend to be the early hour and the later part of the afternoon.

Weekends follow the visitors rather than the offices, so expect the room to be at its fullest in the middle of the day when the historic attractions are at theirs. This is a daytime business that winds down well before the evening, so it belongs in the first half of a plan, not the last.

Getting there

The shop is in Old City, a couple of minutes from the buildings that most people come to Philadelphia to see, in the grid of galleries, restored warehouses and small businesses that fills the blocks between the historic mall and the river. It is close enough to the main attractions that it works as a coffee stop in the middle of a sightseeing morning.

By transit it is simple: the Market–Frankford line’s Old City stop is a short walk away, which also makes the trip from Center City or from Fishtown a matter of a few stops. Driving into Old City is possible but rarely rewarding — narrow historic streets, limited parking and heavy weekend footfall make the train the better choice.

Good to know

Know which Menagerie you want before you set out. The two rooms share a coffee program and very little else: one is a small, historic, walk-and-stop café, the other is a spacious, designed, sit-and-stay one. Visitors who arrive at the original expecting the photographs they saw of the newer space are the ones who leave confused.

Beyond that, the shop keeps a low public profile — there is no long manifesto on the website, no elaborate sourcing narrative, no published rules about laptops or seating. What it publishes is the essential fact: small, locally owned, specialty, since 2013. If you want detail about which coffees are on the bar this week, the counter is the place to ask, and the multi-roaster model means the answer changes often enough to be worth asking.

Questions and answers

Do they roast their own coffee?

No, and that is the point. Menagerie is a multi-roaster: it buys from other roasting companies and curates what goes on the bar. The business has said it may start roasting in the future.

Whose coffee do they serve?

Recent programs have featured a Philadelphia roastery alongside a Minneapolis one, and over the years the guest roaster program has brought in companies from around the country.

Who owns it?

April Nett, who founded it in 2013 with Elysa DiMauro and has run it alone since her co-founder left the business in 2022.

Is there food or only coffee?

There is food: breakfast sandwiches served all day and a seasonal lunch offering, plus baked goods.

Is the baking done in house?

Partly. Cookies, granola, muffins and scones are made in house; bread and pastry come from a specialist Philadelphia bakery.

Can I work here with a laptop?

The shop publishes no policy, but the original room is small and best treated as a focused stop. For a longer session, the larger Northern Liberties location is the better choice.

What is the difference between the two locations?

Scale and mood. Old City is the compact original in the historic district; the Northern Liberties room, opened in 2024, has high ceilings, big windows and far more seating.

How do I get there without a car?

Take the Market–Frankford line to its Old City stop; from there it is a short walk through the historic blocks.

Opening hours