Although the decor of Buon Amici's is tolerable, nothing else in this coffee shop is inviting or enjoyable. As an Italian, and a coffee expert myself from Portland, I was excited to try Buon Amici's. My first visit: The coffee is decent, not good--but adequate. Certainly not worth the hefty price tag. I tried a cinnamon bun (rubbery and processed-tasting) and brought home blueberry muffin with me (very greasy, very heavy, and nutritionally void). My latte was made by a young girl who was all smiles and she did a rather nice job. I'm assuming that the owner is the 40-something fellow that patronizes his employees and dictates while he was doing very little himself. The table I sat at was very wobbly, and had crumbs and dried milk spots scattered on its surface. Maybe it was a bad day for them? I came back about a month after this initial unpleasant visit to give them one more shot...hoping that this coffee shop could live up to its potential. I came at lunch and it was very busy with only a few seats left. This time the presumed manager served me--he was abrupt with me and kept turning around to boss his unfortunate employees around, as they were clearly very busy themselves, flustered and trying to cope with the seemingly small space behind the counter. I ordered a "god father" grilled sandwhich and soup ( i forget the variety). I took a seat at the bar facing out the front windows and patiently waited. 10 minutes later my food arrived (at least the service was fast enough) and the food was foul. The soup was obviously some sort of "campbells" premade, oversalted glue. The sandwhich bread was soggy on the inside and the ingredients inside must have spent at least 3 days sitting between the slices. I paid nearly $10 for this and ate only about one quarter of it before I began to feel sick.
I gave it two chances: terrible management, awful food, drinkable coffee, and passable atmosphere. What a waste of such potential.