Front Porch Café is an OBX original coffee shop chain. The great service and novel community approach make it really stand out. Stop in during your next trip to the Outer Banks for delicious baked goods and your favorite caffeinated beverage.
Outer Banks Original
Front Porch café is a local OBX chain of coffee shops. Locations can be found in Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head and Manteo. We visited the Manteo location but most of these locations are similar.
Parking is always a hot topic for anything near the beach. These coffee shops do not have excessive parking areas so do not be surprised if they are filled up on a busy summer day just like at The Waterfront Shops in Duck. There are only so many local coffee shops on the outer banks and everyone wants to get an picture for their Instagram. These locations are well marketed and easy to locate on these well traveled roads. You will have no trouble finding them.
Local Watering Hole
As the name implies, the Front Porch Café is a classic coffee shop with an assortment of hot and cold beverages. Every location actually has a porch at the main entrance. Something about the Front Porch Café ACTUALLY having front porches makes me happy. The locations have plenty of space to relax and work on a laptop. The Manteo location is probably one of the larger coffee shops which makes me think the building was originally a restaurant.
Front Porch Café focuses on local roasted coffee and some sweet treats. There is some simple merchandise and miscellaneous gifts that gives you something to look at while you wait for you coffee. You will not have to wait long because this crew is fast. We took longer to order than the baristas took to craft our drinks and food. The food offered is a little more substantive than a Starbucks but not quite as robust as a some of our favorite breakfast restaurant like Baker’s Kitchen.
With space being a real premium in the island OBX communities, I really appreciate the having table space to work. Due to various norms and restriction, many coffee shops have almost completely removed all seating. Finding a place with not only space but ample space to work is great. The Duck Cottage has effectively zero seating but offered a robust book selection instead. I wish we could get the best of both seating and books selection.
Visitor’s Delight
We were staying in an AirBNB in Manteo when we visited. Kaitlyn and I tried the local Dunkin Doughnuts in Manteo. Comparatively, Front Porch Café was much better. Dunkin has a truncated menu. On the other hand, Front Porch Café has a full on local coffee shop menu. We waited for about 20+ minutes before we had the opportunity to even START ordering at Dunkin Doughnuts.
I am a middle aged man at heart so I got a cup of black coffee. For local coffee shops I just ask for the cashier’s preferred blend and Front Porch Café hit the nail on the head. Kaitlyn thoroughly enjoyed her cappuccino and we both ordered a cinnamon roll. Satisfactory across the board.
Considering how much real estate they have under the roof at some of these locations, I would love to see them utilize it for more of a book nook of some kind. Similar the Duck Cottage setup would be great. They could also look at making a few meeting rooms that you can reserve. If you are interested, they also offer coffee beans and ground coffee of their custom roasts.
Overall
The Front Porch Café is a classic local coffee shop in the outer banks. These establishments are true to their name with a front porch at each location. Plenty of open space to enjoy coffee and sweets during you OBX vacations.
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