Palo Alto's Ralph's Coffee institutes time limit on tables

Ralph's Coffee opened at 9:00 a.m. at Stanford Shopping Center, with a small but growing line outside the shop before opening. Customers waited about 20 minutes, ordered $7 lattes, and left shortly after. The coffee flavor matched expectations because La Colombe beans are used, but the drinks were lukewarm, likely due to rushed preparation during peak demand. The shop has attracted crowds since opening in mid-April and has expanded to more than 40 locations worldwide. Its presence in a high-end mall is explained by the surrounding luxury brands, including Hermès, Neiman Marcus, Chanel, Cartier, and nearby Ralph Lauren retail space.

"It was 8:55 a.m. on a recent Sunday, about two hours before the stores at Stanford Shopping Center opened for business. The parking lot was fairly empty, as was the open-air mall itself - with the exception of the two dozen or so folks lined up outside Ralph's Coffee. My husband and I queued up behind a woman who filmed her walk-up to the buzzy coffee shop, which is part of the Ralph Lauren empire and the first location in Northern California."

"By the time the Ralph's signature hunter green doors flung open at 9 a.m., another dozen people had joined the line. Fifteen minutes into our wait, the trio behind us gave up and went to long-standing mall bakery La Baguette. (I admit: We considered going to Blue Bottle Coffee.) We ended up ordering our $7 lattes at 9:20 a.m. and left with cups in hand 10 minutes later."

"While the taste was to our liking (Ralph's uses La Colombe coffee beans), the drinks were both lukewarm (perhaps because it was so busy, the barista felt rushed and didn't steam the milk properly). Ralph's has been attracting crowds since debuting at Stanford in mid-April. There are more than 40 locations worldwide, including those on the fashionable thoroughfares of Madison Avenue in New York, Bond Street in London and Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris."

"For its latest, a mall 35 miles south of San Francisco might seem an odd choice - but only to anyone unfamiliar with the high-end shopping center. "I'm not surprised," said Pamela Hornik, who has lived in Palo Alto for 24 years. "They are across from Hermès and Neiman Marcus! The mall is like a world-famous avenue." Indeed, a Chanel boutique is coming soon, between Hermès and Cartier."

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