After months of construction, Café 47 inside the John F. Kennedy Library is finally open! I went with Her Campus contributor Nico Triunfante and this week’s profile, Matthew Gonzalez, to check out campus’s latest food option.
Located on the first floor, the café has its own entrance on the north side, and has a door connecting to the actual library on the south side. Tables were added for people to sit at. Inside, Café 47 has a clean modern look with a large study table and plenty of counter space for students to work.
Instead of ropes dictating the line, Café 47 opted to use a row of snacks and drinks to show students where to stand. It’s a convenient trick, as it separates the people studying from the customers, but when rush hour hit, the area got crowded and packed in a way that resembled a music festival.
A big plus of Café 47 is the pastry area. The display is gorgeous, comes right before the cashier, and rivals Starbucks, making me tempted to get a dessert of some sort. In fact, the entire place felt like a combination of Starbucks and the school bookstore, mixed with the waiting around of the food court.
We had decided to come for lunch because Nico said they had half off pizzas on Thursdays, but when I looked at the menu, only drinks were listed. Color us confused. When we asked Nico about how he heard about the pizzas, he pointed to the sign at the window advertising them. Good news: there are pizzas but you just have to ask for them. Whether there were more food options, I have no idea because of the lack of dedicated food menu.
I ordered a pizza, an iced white chocolate mocha (on the suggestion of the cashier), and a blondie brownie. When waiting for the food, we had to crowd around the side counters, which felt intrusive to the students studying. They were taking orders faster than delivering them, leading to a lot of students waiting around for their names to be called. While waiting, we were impressed to see that the counter had outlets for phone chargers. I went out through the south door and into the library and found that the noise from Café 47 didn’t follow me. Both are big positives for students.
We got our drinks first. Nico and I both got iced drinks, but when we sipped them, they were lukewarm. Neither had enough ice. Afterwards came the pizza. My box was lowkey falling apart, so I had to take a few minutes to put it together. Matthew’s order took a little bit longer, especially since they ran out of the pizza of his choice.
Verdict on the food: subpar. The pizza was large for what it was, but tasted microwavable. Nothing about it seemed fresh. For $3 I wasn’t surprised, but if I had to pay the normal priced $6 for it, I would be annoyed. The drink was heavily syrupy but the coffee really kicked in later that day, a bonus for anyone that needs that caffeine. The blondie was mediocre but by far my favorite part of the meal. Nico and Matthew were also not crazy about their orders.
While Café 47 has a wonderful aesthetic and provides a cool hangout spot for students, the quality of food is disappointing. Hopefully we will see more of a variety in the menu soon, as well as healthier choices.