Great coffee and vibes. The owner is really kind and is a great barista. It is loud and sometimes busy, but is a great place to hang out and socialize or study if you dont need the quiet.

Drinking the Bono (latte with Irish cream) with listening to beautiful bass sound was a great time for break.

Friendly owner, great music, and delicious latte! Loved everything. :)

LOVE this place!! I brought my friend here this past weekend since Ive been dying to check it out, and Im so glad we went. Theyre just starting to make coffee again but the owner, Blake, let us come in and look at all of the vinyl they have. We ended up staying for about two hours just talking about music! Definitely will start going on a regular basis!

Great owner, knows what hes doing, usually the guy making the coffee.

Vinyl Cafe is back! After being closed for the past year, this place is back to regular hours with lots of vinyl to peruse and the best coffee on Main St. Plus, the owner is super friendly and always fun to talk to.

Great assortment of used LPs and pretty good coffee.

Service with a show! Great environment and great people.

The best part about this place is the atmosphere and the coffee. The record selection isnt expansive but throws a few surprises at you now and again. Try the Barry White!

Great record & coffee shop

The best barista in town! Delicious drinks and the ability to create your own flavor combinations. A great place to catch up with friends on a Sunday afternoon. If you havent been here, you need to check it out!

Great coffee, great atmosphere, great barista. Wonderful place to get work done or meet with friends.

Great coffee, friendly staff, awesome vibe/atmosphere.

Great little privately-owned coffee shop. Prices are fantastic. If street parking is unavailable, you can park in the lot behind the building. The place sells vinyl records and coffee, its that simple. The walls are frequently decorated with local artists. The owner, Blake, and all of the people he hires are always super friendly, love music, and love coffee. I highly recommend it. As far as I know, the current hours are 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. & Im not sure about Sundays hours.. But I know theyre open.

Awesome little place. Julia is absolutely amazing. We stayed there for only 5 minutes and she made us feel at home. Coffee is delicious.

The absolute best latte I have ever had. Great vinyl finds. Great atmosphere as well! I will for sure return.

Menu covers the basics needed for a coffee shop. No real frilly specialty drinks. Limited seating so can be difficult to get a table if theyre busy. I had an Americano and it was excellent. Ill definitely be back.

Cafe is simple. The laptop friendly tables are complimentary to the coffee selection menu. Perfect spot for focusing on studies, writing essays/books. Customer friendly staff 🤗🤗😁😊😎

Small-intimate cafe excellent for the Student for studies, album extroidnaire looking for Just THE Album for collection. Side-room with sofas for the ambience of your home den. 🤗🤗😎

Best coffee shop Ive ever been to! The owner and staff are always friendly and helpful, and the coffee cant be beaten. You cant go wrong with anything you order. Its a great place to hang out, work, write, or add to your music collection. Vinyl is also incredibly supportive of local artists and musicians, and hosts weekly all-ages open mics that are always fun to attend.

Fantastic coffee. Good atmosphere. Definitely a place to relax and enjoy a beverage

Great atmosphere! Inviting, happy, and courteous barista! Cool and comfy and delicious coffee and beverages! Must go! Relax and enjoy!

Such a warm environment! And some of the best coffee Ive had! Very wide selection of records as well! Ill for sure be returning!

Very cool place! Blake is a fun guy to talk to. Cool and casual atmosphere and I found a few LPs that I wanted for a reasonable price. Ill be back. Its great to have a place like this in Ames

A very fun and friendly place. We received pretty quick service too. The quality of coffee is very low. The drip coffee was old and very weak. My mother ordered a latte with an extra shot, and she also felt that her coffee was weak. I wouldn’t recommend it to you if you’re looking for good coffee.

Live right by this place and it is my favorite by far! Great coffee and a super chill owner who obviously knows his coffee. Off the record, the vinyl selection is pretty good. Anything from orchestrated classical to modern alt. If this is a place youve heard about and never visited, its time you vinyl-ly checked it out!

Best coffee Ive ever had. Consistently. Owner is an amazing person. Super friendly and welcoming.

Just moved to Ames and was looking for a nice, local coffee shop not overrun by corporate advertising. Vinyl Cafe is an awesome spot downtown to grab a tasty cup and look through vintage records. Reminds me of my favorite coffee spots when I lived in NOLA and Athens, GA. Owner was super friendly.

Owner was extremely friendly and very helpful. One of the best coffees I have had, as well as great music and atmosphere. I will definitely be visiting again.

Absolutely amazing coffee and the owner was the best! Very quick service and a great place to curl up read a book and have a great cup of coffee!

Owner is so sweet. Has everything you want and much more. Cutest and best place in town for a quick morning run or to relax and listen to music.

Nothing but love for Blake. Good coffee excellent atmosphere good people.

Coffee is awesome. The owner/barista was very nice and friendly to me. Gave me a card for a free drink next time I come in. The vinyl selection sucked...mostly 70s/80s pop and soft rock. At least the part that I saw. I wasnt able to get into the back room because there were a ton of people in there just socializing, not even looking at records. The space is very small and cramped feeling. I overheard the owner telling someone that they just got a huge shipment of records to add to the collection this summer, so hopefully there will be better selections soon. The reviewer who said the owner and his friend were being loud- same thing happened when I was there. They were talking about eating their wives placentas. Very obnoxious while I was just trying to find some good records. Ill probably come back, but only because I want to see the new additions.

One of the best iced coffees Ive ever had... And an amazing and really well priced record shop. Super cool place!

Best coffee around, and Ive been to them all between Ankeny and Story City. Seriously, why even consider Starbucks when you can get better for less here? Great selection of old LPs. Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. Small place and there is sometimes a bit of a wait. Quirky, fun, eclectic, locally owned little shop.

Basing my rating strictly on their vinyl offerings. We were going to stay for a coffee, but wanted to get to a real record store to shop on our trip. (Unfortunately, we had to Des Moines to fill that need.)

An unbelievable local establishment that serves delicious coffee an unbelievable hospitality great record collection s Wallace records for sale.

Great coffee shop. Always love the music selection.

Fantastic little coffee shop, awesome service, and great music. Not to mention the downtown atmosphere that comes with being just down the street from Main.

Great coffee, great place and the owner is super friendly.

Great service and very good espresso drinks! Cozy spot on cold days.

Always a good stop for tunes, coffee (sooo well made), and quality record looking.

This place is amazing. Not only the perfect spot for an amazing cup of coffee and some Wi-Fi but theres dope jams and even more dope people. Blake Delaney is a gift to humanity, along with many others who frequent.

Popped in on a whim while in Ames. The barista, Julia, was delightful and helpful! Got an Italian soda and an espresso, both of which were delicious. Snagged a couple great records too. Good selection; great drinks.

Definitely one of the best coffee shops in town and its locally owned.

Great atmosphere. Great owner. Great coffee. Love this place

Love this place. Amazing coffee, super positive vibes, great music, and some of the best people in the world.

Cool little cafe hidden underground, plenty of vinyls to look through as well

Blake makes one feel like another piece to the puzzle that is the Ames community. Great coffee and great place to get a few records.

The service is great, the coffee is great, the music is great, the staff is very friendly. What more would you want?

Cool little coffee shop and record store. Quiet and great to do a little work.

Good music! Cozy space

Awesome service, great choices for coffee! Very friendly environment!

Very cool place, good vibes!Great coffee!Owner is cool!

The coffee I had was out of this world. Will come back soon!

Great cozy place with a friendly atmosphere. Good coffee and has outlets so you can work there for a while.

This is great place to dig thru classic vinyl and to get coffee or a smoothie. The owner and staff are the best!

Delicious coffee, good tunes, and a cozy space. I wish Id known about this place while I was living in Ames.

Great place for coffee! One of my favorite shops, and be best coffee and vinyl selection in Ames. I get my coffee here most days!

Saw it on Public TV. Good iced latte.

Friendly staff and great atmosphere! Coffee is great.

My favorite spot to stop in Ames and check out old Vinyl! Take some time and have a great cup of whatever java you like.

It has a great atmosphere and great coffee. Blake is also really awesome to hang out with!

Coffee and a great selection of vinyl records

The owner Blake, is awesome and I love the quirky mix of old school vinyl records, local art and dynamite coffee!

Browse a wide variety of vinyl while enjoying a delicious pour over in vinyl cafés wonderful ambiance. Great casual place to read or grab coffee with a friend.

Nice place, hard to get to and the prices are going up.

Love this place! Great atmosphere and very accepting

Nice little hidden cafe right off of Main St, small and cozy on the inside, great coffee too!

Proprietor Blake gives great service and the dark roast hits the spot.

Cute place in downtown Ames. Nice atmosphere

Mean cup of chai. Great help finding just the right gift.

Nice

TL;DR - Good coffee & great staff, but horrible vinyl retailer.The coffee is great, the staff is hospitable and very friendly. The Vinyl Cafe also has helped develop and support the music scene in Ames. They are a blessing to the community in that aspect.I have no complaints when it comes to The Vinyl Cafe as a coffee shop. I do, however, have an issue with VC as a record store. As an avid record collector, the up marking prices on the albums they sell is horrible and it prays on the naivete of less educated collectors/consumers. While they primarily focus on used albums, most of them are often in FAIR or POOR condition. Torn jackets and scratched up records are usually being sold for $20+ for well known artists like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and other albums/artist considered by new collectors as must haves. Its pretty rare to see album worth their salt in GOOD or VG condition. I understand having some higher than average pricing, they have to make a living and supporting your local business and all, but 2-5x the average selling point is ludicrous, espically for the condition they are typically sold for. I would rate the place 3 stars because of this, but I can easily skip albums and get them else where if I really wanted to, and the coffee and people are great.

Amazing place, wonderful coffee and the friendliest staff. Great collection of records to boot!

Friendly service and good classic rock.

Great cozy place for a hot drink and good conversations. :)

Friendly and welcoming staff & clientele!

Best coffee in Ames. People are friendly and the place is also really cool. Good music taste, I have yet to hear a current pop song...

Awesome place! Way better than Starbucks!

Lovely staff and atmosphere

Coffee was good, but this is definitely not a place you can concentrate / get work done. Owner / barista and his friend were talking really loudly the entire time I was there.

Love this coffee shop. :-)

Great vinyl to peruse, local music, a great selection of gourmet tea and coffee. Looking forward to my next visit.

A nice, but not huge, variety of records and stereo equipment, plus incredible coffee!

Great coffee, cool atmosphere, great selection of records!!

Neat little coffee shop.

Great little place, good coffee and good music

Someone took a lower level location in a 75 yr. old building and turned it into a gem of a place to get great coffee, brunch, vinyl. great place to do some laptoppin. I drive from Des Moines just to look for records. Dont chance a thing.

Fantastic coffee and a great, friendly atmosphere.

Good coffee and chill place.

The coffee here is one of the best in town

Neat ambience and good coffee.

Great coffee and cool atmosphere

Great coffee and fun conversations.

Blake is the man. Great coffee, and some cool albums.

Decent place, records priced a little high.

Constantly great coffee and excellent, super friendly service

Quaint, friendly coffee shop, large record selection

The coffee is amazing! I like that you can purchase local music here too!