The Coffee Mill

An oasis of quiet wonderful

This is an OASIS of quiet adult civilization I discovered by chance today in the more hectic but great beach scene. Fabulous French and American jazz plays in the alley between a real ice cream store (no crappy custard) and fine coffee house with an incredible selection of coffees and pastries.

Had i known of this place, i would have hung here a lot during my week vacation. Next year I will and offered to play solo jazz guitar for free outside as well (I play in the DMV now and then). This part of the alley might as well be in the East Village of NYC or the West Bank of Paris. It serves the only good ice cream I’ve had at Rehoboth and the best coffee.

Best of all, I don’t hear the incessant cover rock and blues from the 1950s through 2000’s. I grew up in the 1960’s but just dont want to hear it over and over. The jazz in the alley offer adult respite from the constant high energy music in a time of stress for everyone. Thank you to the owners for having this. Really!

A great little coffee spot just steps from the boardwalk—laid-back, a bit worn around the edges, and covered wall-to-wall in quirky signs that give it real local character. Loved coming back after a long time away—the owner was friendly and welcoming, and the espresso had a dark, bold roast that’s harder to find these days.

Really disappointing experience. We spent about $30 on two coffees, a parfait, a kids juice, and a donut, and unfortunately almost everything about the visit was frustrating.
When ordering, I picked what I thought was a cinnamon sugar donut. I didn’t see any signage explaining the flavors, so I assumed there were just two options and pointed to the one that wasn’t glazed. I was also grabbing a juice for my daughter at the time, so I wasn’t paying close attention to the conversation at the register.
A man who I presume was the owner then started yelling at me from behind the donut counter about the donut options. Apparently it was apple cider. Totally fine. I picked the wrong flavor. A simple, “Just so you know, the two options today are glazed and apple cider,” would have solved the entire thing. There was absolutely no reason for the tone or for me to feel like I was being scolded over a donut. Even the other customers nearby seemed surprised by how it was handled.
To make things worse, the donut was barely warm and tasted stale. I also wanted to grab a banana for my daughter, but the fruit looked old and badly bruised. The shop itself felt dirty, cluttered, and chaotic.
Then there was the coffee. Both drinks tasted like watered-down espresso with almost no flavor. We ended up throwing everything away and walking across the street to Dunkin’.
It’s especially disappointing when you make an effort to support a small local business and leave feeling like you were treated poorly while also receiving low-quality food and drinks. Definitely not the experience we expected and unfortunately not somewhere we would return.