Guides Nearby
Muddy Waters Coffee House
(415) 863-8006
521 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110
San Francisco, CA 94110
Categories: Coffee, Espresso & Tea House Restaurants
Mentioned in the Following Guides
.jpg "Coffee and cigarettes: the best dive coffee shops in San Francisco")
Updated 07/26/2008
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What is a dive coffee shop? It's exactly what the name implies. Envision a coffee shop. Now envision a really dirty coffee shop with crap on the floor, horrible coffee, a bum passed out on the bench outside, stale donuts under a class lid with fingerpr...
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.jpg "HAND ME THE CAFFEINE, STAT: The Best (legal) Quick Fixes in San Francisco")
Updated 06/07/2008
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You're hungover. You're addicted. You're cranky. You've got a headache. It's too early. It's too late. Whatever is going on in or around your messy little head, chances are you need a caffeine buzz to get you through it. There's plenty of coffee in San...
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When it comes to ambiance, I am not the biggest fan of Muddy Waters. There are four MW locations throughout San Francisco and they range from grundgy to moderate to straight up lacking in chi. But the coffee serves its purpose for a good old fashioned kick in the pants (I swear, they must brew it triple strength). This makes Muddy’s a great choice for commuter coffee consumers. However, this is not to say that Muddy’s doesn’t serve as a hang-out for some people. As with any cafe, there are regulars who occupy their favorite table out front or in the window. The crowd is generally friendly and it attracts less telecommuters and laptops than most other cafes.
While you can’t actually smoke inside, you can definitely smoke on the bench outside. I haven’t ever walked by that bench without seeing people smoking on it. There is also two outdoor tables, also generally claimed by the smokers’ alliance of San Francisco. People go to Muddy Waters with their notebooks and their angst and listen to slowdive really loudly on their iPods and write poems in their diaries with little doodles on the margins. It’s that kind of place. It’s always drafty in the cavernous old room, and the coffee is pretty generally always bad. There are always tons of people who come through and loiter creepily. Nothing looks sanitary.