Cafe Allegro is an independently-owned coffee shop, that didn't used to be across an alley from a giant condo building blocking a beautiful view. It is currently located across an alley from a giant condo building blocking a beautiful view. It's still alright in my opinion, though.
The View Before:
and After:
The cafe is open until 11pm every night, and the bathroom can be used free of charge. The place has two doors (to the main floor anyway, which is the reason why we're here). Going to the toilet via the main entrance will require passing the counter, but the baristas don't give a fuck about you taking a shit. If this bothers you anyway, the north entrance will lead you directly to where you need to be.
Allegro's main flaw is availability. One bathroom. That's it. One room, one toilet, and two floors worth of people, all of them drinking coffee. If your timer is running low, Allegro can be risky - having to wait is not uncommon.
Once you manage to get inside, the bathroom is clean and provides all necessary amenities, as well as interesting graffiti to help pass the time. During your visit, some other poor bastard may tug on the door to see if anyone is inside, but you locked it, right? Enjoy your well-earned serenity and tell them to go fuck themselves.
Besides the highly usable toilet, Allegro is noteworthy cafe, though tough to characterize. If Espresso Vivace is J.S. Bach, Cafe Solstice is M.I.A., and Starbucks is Miley Cyrus, then Allegro is Tom Waits. It isn't pretty, but has no shortage of charm. It couldn't be any less commercial unless it gave away the coffee for free. The fiercely loyal clientele define Allegro as much as the building, and are brilliant if occasionally surly. And seriously: always there. Always. While any decent coffee shop or bar has its crowd of regulars, Allegro has perpetuals. Seriously, go there during business hours, and I promise you that this guy
will be sitting right there, in that exact same spot, smoking.
Don't let them scare you off, though. They're mostly friendly, interesting people, provided you aren't a total douche. If you aren't sure if you're a douche, employ this tried and true personality test: calculate the number of syllables in your typical coffee order. If it's more than 10 (e.g. double-ristretto grande organic-soy half-caf maraschino latte (extra hot)) then you are a douche. You probably won't like them, they probably won't like you, and I definitely don't like you. Go take a shit somewhere else.
i hate going #2 in public. can't do it.
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