New World Cafe

This is our favorite coffee shop. They are coffee snobs in a good way, and their food menu has expanded to where they've got a decent number of options, and it's really good. My go-to is a bacon egg and cheese with red peppers and chipotle mayo on a croissant. Good baked goods too. It's not the coziest looking from the outside (or inside, for that matter), but don't let that fool you. Give it a shot!

First of all, this might only be the second time I've ever gotten on line to complain about a business. Employees have off days. Because this involved the owner and terrible customer service, I feel the need to write a review. I had never been here before and had coffee with a coworker here this morning. Then, after picking up from a doctor's appt, I remembered I saw a drive through so went to swing by to get her a drink and myself a sandwich rather than going to a big box coffee chain. I pulled in the drive through but it had a printed paper saying you have to order online (there is no link so I had to google New World Cafe and it came up with a website to order). I tried to click on the box multiple times and if finally worked, I input my order and paid at 12:25. It said it would be ready at 12:40. I went inside just to wait there and leave my daughter in the car at 12:30. 10 min prior to the order estimated time. They didn't have my name and I told her I was early but she checked and realized I had ordered at another location in Durham. (I didn't even know there were two locations and at the top is showed current location. Admittedly I was moving fast to order in the parking lot and didn't hyperanalyze the order confirmation). She didn't know how to solve the problem and just kind of shrugged (but she said it was her second day so I'll give her grace). So I called the Durham location and they said this has happened before and they can transfer the order but had to call a manager or someone and then would call the Raleigh location. Then it seemed like nothing was happening and the owner (of both locations) called the manger at the Raleigh location to tell her that she could only make me a sandwich and I'd have to reorder and pay for a new coffee. I was shocked. They had been on the phone for at least a min and a half but when I asked her why and how that could be, she just kind of shrugged and said "that's what he said". She didn't seem super customer facing or problem solving. I asked her to call him back. He didn't answer. At this point it was 12:40 and I felt like this was taking forever and it was ridiculous and nobody at the Raleigh location seemed to really care so I decided to just leave and get my daughter home. I called back to the Durham location and asked to have the owner call me. He called me and basically said it was not his problem that I ordered at the wrong place and he wasn't willing to absorb the cost of 1 cup of coffee since I should have noticed it was ordered at the wrong place but he wasn't willing to have them remake my coffee at the correct location because they had made my coffee already in Durham. This is so short sighted. If it was different owners or even a remotely expensive item I would have understood but seriously to be so dogmatic about it and when 1. I'm clearly not the only person who this happened to so it's easy to do and 2.the online ordering system is glitchy and it didn't pull my location and/or give me drop down options. He argued with me (as he looked at his laptop) that it's easy to see but when you are on your phone and trying to order, it's a big blue box and I just thought I had to click within the box to order). For someone new at that business who didn't even know there were two locations I would think being in the parking lot would cue the website to the correct location and 3. the cost of helping get the customer the drink is a little espresso and milk is cheap. It was so short sighted. I would NEVER support this business again because of how poorly this was handled. Part of being in a customer facing industry you'll have to absorb costs for mistakes that happen all the time but this owner is not customer service oriented. I would think a local place would have better service than a big box chain but not so much. Their system would have known the right location and they would have likely been happy to make me a drink and sandwhich even if I did order it at the wrong place.

I got an iced mocha and my husband had an iced americano. Both were fine but nothing special and there are so many great options downtown Durham that I probably won't go back to new world. The inside is very small but they do have lots of outdoor seating. The barista was not super friendly. Overall there wasn't anything bad about my experience but nothing that would compel me to return

My husband has been here without me a few times, but due to my 9-5 job I hadn't had a chance to visit. That changed this past week when I took a half day and went to their new spot by the Duraleigh Library. 10 out of 10 ! My turkey sandwich was fantastic, the spread they added was amazing. My husband had a lovely salad as well. HIGHLY recommend and now I want to go back for breakfast.

For a coffee that's close by, this was wonderful! I got an iced vanilla latte with oat milk. For lunch, I got the fight club sandwich add avocado. Maple bacon spread + Mayo was divine. It was HUGE too. For a side I tried the Asian coleslaw and it was pretty good. Very peanuty. Service and staff were kind

I used to stop by here a lot when I was local. Then I moved. My wife recently "discovered" this cafe/coffee shop and insisted we stop by. Coffee was very good, service friendly and helpful, and the breakfast sandwich (bacon, egg, cheese, avocado, lettuce and tomato with a very good aioli was fabulous. See photo. We lucked out that it was Thanksgiving weekend and surprisingly quiet. Very good.

We worded a few thing and it turned out to be $30.00. The food was ok but it was huge and it was $16.00 for 1 pease of avocado toast. The vibe was good every one was nice but there was no uniform.

I love coming to this place. The food is good quality, the service is always lovely, and the restaurant is well maintained. And of course the coffee is the best!

It's not a place to walk in and order a latte to go. it took over fifteen minutes for one drink. And there were 4-5 people working.

Below is verbatim from my kid:I really liked the food! The avocado bread was really tasty and with bacon and tomato it really made the dish feel like a lot better! Great food! Keep it up!