Stopped here on the way through Syracuse a few weeks ago. I got an iced oat milk latte and gluten free muffin - both which were tasty. My only complaint was the line was out the door and the organization of people was a bit chaotic. But it was also a holiday weekend right around when school resumed. I’ll definitely go back next time I’m in town.

Warm and friendly atmosphere with food and drink options for everyone. Espresso chocolate bars were delicious. They offer a nice variety of flavor shots for all of their drinks including a seasonal flavor. Parking may be a problem during peak hours (Friday nights you may have to park on the street and walk). The ramp makes the establishment wheelchair accessible. There is seating indoors, including a private table around the corner from the bathrooms. Staff was friendly and attentive.

Great spot! I got a Turmeric Honey Latte with a hint of cinnamon and pepper (oat milk)… excellent! Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating.

Great cozy little coffee shop. Very relaxing and comfortable, perfect find. Coffee is delicious, and the sandwich I had was on point. I forget what it’s called, but it has the egg, ham, and pesto on a croissant. They play great music as well.Perfect place to sit down and read a book in peace.

We stopped for a quick cup of coffee. Unfortunately so did the rest of Syracuse lol. Quality was great! Coffee was made perfectly and the food we ordered was spot on. My only complaint was that it was busy and the shop didnt feel like it was built to handle that type of capacity. Not entirely their fault and please by no means do I mean to talk you out of stopping by, its definitely worth it.

Cozy coffee shop with tasty bagel sandwiches. Slightly expensive, $6 for one bagel sandwich. Good matcha latte and very kind service!

The coffee is pretty good! The service is excellent. :-)

We sell alot of homes in the university area in Syracuse so we spend alor of time at recess coffee. Its a great coffee shop with the best atmosphere. I love being able to sit outside near all the action. They sell coffee to go and other products as well. Its an experience not just a cup of coffee. Remember to alwaysbsuppoet small and local business in CNY. Procopio Real Estate highly reccomends recess coffee!

Tried to go to nearby Rise n Shine restraunt but the wait was 45 minutes and I had a flight to catch at the airport so we stopped at Recess Coffee. This place is inside of a house that they renovated into a clean coffee shop. The surrounding area is a typical Syracuse neighborhood with interesting old architecture. Service was prompt and friendly. I had a Terminator panini and a vanilla iced coffee. Rye bread was toasted just right and all the ingredients including avocado, cheese, tomatoes, greens, and turkey/chicken was fresh fasting and flavorful. Iced Coffee was also fresh and flavorful. Highly recommended!

I love this place. I dont live in Syracuse anymore but if i did, i would be visiting this wonderful gem often! Chocolate chip cookies are the best. I crave them at least once a month ;D

Great place to get breakfast and coffee and lattes and excellent service!

This coffee shop has some of the best coffee you could ever want, and it has a perfect taste. The location is ideal, so youll never be too far from a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I will recommend this to my friends I am sure they would undoubtedly enjoy it!

They added new furniture and seating so there is better availability. Nice place to do homework or hang out with friends. I love their coffee, its not bitter. Staff is fantastic. There are sandwiches and bakery items to grab. Outdoor seating with coverage is available which is perfect. Free wifi. My favorite place that allows for me to relax by myself and do some work.

Very cute coffee shop. I love how much flexibility I have in customizing my order and that they have vegan options. I keep experimenting with different flavours and add-ons.

I stopped for a couple minutes and got an espresso milkshake before a tattoo appointment. I never get to come to places like this with such a nice atmosphere and the drink was amazing. The seating options were nice too, there was a cute cubby in a corner with a big window that I wish I had noticed beforehand, past the bathroom.If I lived nearby I’d come here probably twice a day for coffee, you need to try this place.

Staple coffee shop of the westcott area, they have great coffee and baked goods. They also have sandwiches and oatmeal, which Ive never had, but seeing other peoples orders make me want to go back and get some!

Good but some of the staff will play heavy metal music and, it ruins the energy for people who come to study and drink coffee.

Far too long a wait (over 30 mins) to place and then receive our order, plus they were sold out of many items. The food was good, but maybe try this place when its an off-peak time.

Delicious coffee with a surprising number of options for brews, milks, and flavors. Charming atmosphere with patio seating. We had our toddler with us for breakfast, and she loved her oatmeal while watching the cars go by. Nestled in a very pretty part of town for a charming sit.

Not in the nicest of neighborhoods but typically the best coffee shops arent. Artsy themed and cute. Coffee was superb and baked goods were too. We ordered the oatmeal creme pies which mock the Lil Debbies, peanut butter bar and blueberry muffin. All fresh tasting, moist, and delectable. An iced caramel latte with oat milk, hot turmeric latte with honey, and a hot nutella mocha. If youre in this area. This place is a must.

I will say that my wife and myself love your maple iced cold brew, and it seems to be our go to place during the week and on Saturdays. I am however highly disappointed with the way that the sippy lids fit the iced coffee cups. I have only had one or two experiences where the lid seems to seal properly and not leak my iced cold brew all over my clothing and car from around the lid.

Best bagel breakfast sandwhich Ive ever had in my life! Great value, only $6 and I couldve easily split it with a friend.

Always a great time. I have never experienced a coffee shop for 3 years plus that continues to amaze me and surprise me with new coffee and recipes. Very authentic

Great selection of sandwiches and coffee. Long line on parents weekend but they did an excellent job moving things along

The best coffee and sandwiches in Syracuse.

The violet boregard latte was AMAZING!!!!! Would love to see some vegan breakfast options, even just bagel w vegan cream cheese. Baristas were helpful and very nice.

Cozy and cute ambience. The place is always hot and happening. The almond joy latte is my personal favorite. The hot chocolate served here is top notch. Ideal place for students to do their homework for a change. The snacks served here are delicious.

My absolute favorite spot for delicious Chai lattes and bagel sandwiches. Always the best service even when its insanely crowded!

The coffee here is delicious but the atmosphere is what keeps bringing me back. I love the decor and the outdoor seating. The staff is always friendly as well.

Rad little spot! Ive seriously been missing being able to a coffee shop and do work inside, so it was awesome to find such an awesome place to do it again! Super friendly, and great coffee!

Fantastic mocha. Quaint little spot, I am going to have to come here more often. Friendly and low-key.

Very nice House of Coffee ☕, beautifully decorated, clean and well-maintained, great customer service since you walk in, conformable couches, lots of students 😊, lots of different choices on the menu, our bagel sandwiches were awesome, fresh ingredients, beautifully done and also delicious coffee and hot chocolate.Happy customer 😊 thank you guys for the great service.

I enjoy going to Recess and love their coffee. I like to buy the bag and ask them to grind it. They are as ecologically conscious as they can be. I havent seen plastic straws for a month now. Also, when its summer it has more spaces to hang out because you can seat on the deck area. I have tried their sweets and they offer gluten free options, and I think sometimes they have vegan desserts too. A lot of students go there to do some work or chill. The staff is kind and friendly.

One of the best Mocha Latte I had all my life.They have a nice savory menu to add to that awesome coffee. Free wifi and a good environment to spend sometime. Will be back here for sure.

Their bagel sandwiches transported me to a separate plane of existence. I saw God. She was also eating one of their bagel sandwiches. She winked at me, took a bite, and showed me the secrets of the universe. I cried. Through my tears, I managed another bite of my sandwich. Cried even harder. Buddha showed up, tussled my hair, and sipped the hot house blend in his hand. Gave me a sip. I teleported to Valhalla. Odin high fives me. We embrace. He says its time to go home and sends me back to my house on the Bifrost. Life is good. Im hungry for another bagel sandwich. The adventure continues.

Very cute shop and great coffee! I would highly recommend the dirty chai latte.

This place is crazy; You give them money then they give you really, REALLY, good coffee. 10/10 would go again

Came around noon and they ran out of bagels and croissants. Very good iced coffee.

Smells great when you walk in. Some of the best coffee Ive had.

Very nice people; delicious sandwich and smoothie.

This coffee place is different than many other coffee places in terms of ambience, which makes the experience in it nice. It looks like a house 🏠. The black coffee is average. The latte is nice. The service is not bad.

Nice place for daily dose of coffee.

Perfect coffee! And so many memories specially if you studied at SU

So far so good. The mocha breve is actually amazing and not horribly sweet. Havent tried any food.

Great coffee and hours.

Great coffee. Cool vibe. Nice space. Pleasant staff!! Love it!!

Very cute place and the employees are friendly. Food and drinks are always delicious, but however 2 out of the 4 times i have been there someone has forgotten to put avocado on my sandwich which is extra $$ :/ a bit disappointing but would still recommend this cafe to all coffee lovers

The most amazing coffee and service, I will take an hour drive just to buy it🥰♥️♥️

Excellent coffee drinks, snacks, and atmosphere in funky Westcott.

A lot of ingredients aren’t specialized and from Wegmans. Have heard a lot of negative talk about employees who have disabilities working full-time at Recess. Have heard there has been reform in pay scale...before former employees were being paid so little that people would return bottles and cans to get to work.

The best coffee by SU.

Not at all impressed by the iced latte with mocha swirl.

Amazing staff and even better food!

Great coffee and great service I will be back.

Skilled baristas and a great selection. Tasty treats to accompany your caffine.

Great food and coffee, staff are always nice

My favorite cafe in Syracuse! The location in Westcott has a much better atmosphere than the one in downtown. It can get crowded during the semester but there are a variety of seating areas including a front room, a back room with a large couch, a few little nooks, and a covered porch. There are a few vegan options for food including baked goods, avocado toast, bagels with vegan butter, peanut butter, avocado, or jam. There are traditional coffee/espresso drinks, smoothies, and tea. They also have the best thai iced tea in town, and a lot of fun syrups to try. I recommend getting a latte with lavender syrup and oat milk, a latte with hazelnut syrup and oat milk, or a London fog with oat milk.

Very good coffee. Sad they didnt have the variety I love when I stopped by today.

I am fromUpstate NY and returned to the area six months ago. What an improvement! They were already fabulous but now, they offer nitro brew on tap (I’m an iced coffee aficionado) and the baked goods are otherworldly (they hired a new baker from Caz). His chocolate cake is the best I’ve had and the berry crumble is phenomenal. I have yet to meet a dessert that didn’t exceed my expectations. They foster local artists work and are amazing humans. Don’t miss out and don’t forget buy a bag or three of coffee to bring home plus pick up a cool graphic t or hoodie !!!

Wife went here she says its good

Kind of on the pricy side, but as a treat they are wonderful! I particularly love their dirty chai, it has a bite that is great! They also have good dairy alternatives and are very friendly.

Worst experience. Ordered coffee at 6pm to get pickup at 6 25pm. When i reached there to pick. It was too cold. Wastage of money. It seems they prepare it too early

Great coffee and atmosphere. Also has outdoor seating! Right next to a parking lot, super convenient

DELICIOUS and not offensively priced! A bit of a long wait but we could see why! Nice breakfast sandwiches and smoothies! Will visit again!

Definitely worth the 30 minute wait. Best nitro cold Ive had. Outstanding breakfast sandwich

Always love visiting. Great local coffee house with their own roasted beans, relaxed atmosphere, and very vegan friendly, if thats important to you!

Best coffee in Syracuse!

Hip little coffee spot serving up great lattes. Solid breakfast sandwiches. For a treat, make sure and try their Almond Joy Latte. On of my top 5 coffee drinks from anywhere.

Recess is my favorite place in Westcott. Great coffee and a nice selection of light fare and baked goods. Really friendly staff. Lots of really comfortable seating in a unique and inviting space. Pretty fast internet, but this is a popular place so sometimes you will encounter a bottleneck. If you are used to chains, fancy coffee drinks might take a bit longer then you are used to. Suck it up, its worth it. Recess is a place to relax and chill. Sit back and enjoy. Front deck is great for people watching and stranger judging.

Great coffee, hot chocolates with fun flavors (Im a big fan of the Nutella hot cocoa), delicious smoothies, and tons of yummy food!

I stopped at this place for afternoon coffee. I tried the running max panini and house blend coffee, strongly recommend 🏃🏻‍♂️

Quirky locally owned hip place. Good coffee and snacks

This place is amazing. Your quintessential college coffee shop. Beautiful, well lit interior. Gorgeous front porch sitting area. The staff was friendly and fast. I love that their default is whole milk for their drinks. So many places are going skim...or soy... And you cant froth those right. Also theyre open until midnight so great for late night coffee cravings.

Excellent coffee, food and service. Top notch place!

Service good. Place clean, coffee was cold.

It’s really frustrating. I’ve been here several times in the past year and the quality of the barista service is extremely hit or miss. I ordered a red eye with soy milk, he did not put that in, then when I told him about it he put regular milk in! Not good for people with intolerance/allergies! What’s sad is that the actually coffee itself is incredible, so I’ve resorted to only buying the beans and making my drink at home because at least then I will get exactly what I ordered.

Delish baked goods and marvelous fresh roasted coffee, any way you like it.

Great coffee and amazing breakfast sandwiches. Whether youre craving a quick coffee or sitting down with a delicious croissant this is the place for you.

I love the drinks here. Prices seem on par with other coffee shops. The atmosphere is really laid back and they have a nice food selection. Definitely a good place to chat with friends or do some work.

It must be in the application that you must be rude to work here. The coffee is a great product, however the staff is atrocious.

Super cute coffee shop near Syracuse. Its a great spot to study and people watch. Comfy, colorful couches, casual college vibe, and lots of outlets (the most important part!) The iced mocha and omega egg sandwich (bagel, egg, cheddar, avocado) were both great. They have some unique drink options and all the standards too.

Great selection of coffee, house blends are unique and interesting flavors. Not much in the way of food but the breakfast sandwiches are cheap and filling

I’m from Saudi Arabia, I visited this coffee shop 3 time when I was living in USA. I was living in a town 2 hours and half from this town. I stopped to sleep because I was driving to Niagara Falls. I can’t forget how was the atmosphere at this coffee shop. I love the place. I went back to my country in 2018 but I usually check this cafe on Google map to remember my trip passing by your town and having coffee at this wonderful cafe ♥️

Great service

The food I ordered(a hot chocolate and bagel with cream cheese) was great and the service was quick and friendly. The restaurant is comfortable and relaxing. Really enjoyed my time there.

Great brew, friendly service! Good place to get computer work done, though sometimes a seat is hard to find and it does get loud - bring headphones. If they had more gluten free options I’d be there every day!

Fantastic COFFEE!!! Great STAFF!

Mediocre bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwiches with the nerve to charge 6.50 for them. They’re lucky to have a monopoly over the westcott area as the only convenient cafe. They also make u wait 15-20 mins for these dry, stiff, microwave-looking excuses for a sandwich. It should be ILLEGAL for a shop in New York to make such an awful B.E.C. SHAME

I dont understand why this is the only long-term cafe in this area, there could be so much more potential for Westcott. Theyre overpriced for the quality of their food and coffee. I could get a better BEC at a two-star bodega in the bowels of manhattan at a faster pace, and everyone knows manhattan is trash. If you have places to be, dont rely on recess to take that into consideration. The average time I wait to receive my bagel has been 20 minutes or more, which I believe the process of making the sandwich is to blame for. These ho*s be taking too much time on each component of the sandwich instead of doing it all together at once the way every other place does. Dont toast the bagel separately, slap that ish on the grill man. Cook it on the grease while the egg and bacon are together. Dont do each thing one by one. Cuz that sandwich comes out limp and lukewarm and inconsistent in flavor. And results in me being late to my class. Give the people of Syracuse the BEC it deserves.

One of the best coffee Ive ever had. The staff members are always great to tall to and ask questions. The vibe is always fantastic

Nice little coffee shop. Has food, coffee, tea and smoothies. The service was great the people were friendly and we enjoyed our time here. Vegan and vegetarian friendly.

Ordered vanilla coffee and got strong disgusting 🤮 coffee to hot to sip ...Tried when I got home not happy and wasn’t turning back . I can’t even doctor it enough to drink...... ☕️ Not a fan

Yum

The food and coffee was incredible. I accidentally spilled my coffee and the employees were very understanding, cleaned up the mess very quickly and also made me another coffee!! Great place.

Really nice place to have coffee, nice people and nice interiors. Love it.

Always love stopping here when were home. Great coffee and tea, delicious pastries and breakfast sandwiches, and theyre always chill there. And we love hanging out on the porch with our dogs. Doesnt get any better than that.

The have very good coffee, but they also have a variety of vegan pastries and genuinely good Tofurky sandwiches. Their wifi is not bad, about 50mbps Verizon FiOS behind a PF Sense router. Its the most prominent staple of Westcott. They also do coffee deliveries to workplaces and sell their roast nationally. Definitely worth a visit.

Always love the taste of their coffee ☕

I came back to the Syracuse area to visit and on my last night in town I decided to go here with my friend, I had ordered a tea and figured it would take a little bit for it to be made so I waited . I sat there and watched all the workers converse and not really do any work at all, and I was sitting right next to the counter area so I figured once my tea was ready someone would say it was done or bring it to the table like every other coffee shop Ive been too.So after about 10 minutes I decided to get up check on my tea and saw a tea sitting on the counter and I said something like is that my tea ... And I was told by a worker well did you order such and such tea and did I have it and I said no she then said well then its your tea all snide and rude . I just grabbed it left . Im never going back to this place its a joke apparently when you dont fit a certain demographic you get bad service.. gotta love being singled out and treated differently

Excellent local coffee! Nitro cold brew, Americano, or iced yerba matte (if you really need a jolt) are my go-to drinks. Great vegetarian and vegan food options too.