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Starting today, Great Lakes Midtown coffee bar is trying out a new dining format. Rather than ordering and waiting at the counter, the cafe is turning to a full-service dining experience complete with a hostess and servers.
"We've just really been wanting to manage and use our space better," says general manager Andrew Hansen. "It's been a long time coming."
The bar now features new tables and a lot more space, according to Hansen. He hopes customers find the new layout less intimidating than the long communal tables of the past.
"We've had one or two people kind of go, ‘Oh, you think you're a restaurant,'" he says. But, "it's not that we're trying to change our soul," the company is trying to better serve its customers.
Great Lakes offers a wine tasting series every Thursday, but is also joining in with Third Thursdays art events beginning tonight with artist Everett Dyson. "We've always felt we had a greats space for art that we've underutilized," Hansen says.
The wine tasting at Great Lakes takes place between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. tonight, with Dyson's artist talk at 7 p.m. Great Lakes Coffee Roasting offers coffee, fresh roasted coffee beans, a full bar, and a other products. The café is open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to midnight on Friday; 9 a.m. to midnight on Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
