Bring Your Sweet Tooth to MJ Cafe
“Bright and bubbly” is the vibe of the new MJ Cafe in Everett’s Bayside Neighborhood—visitors can expect brilliant colors, cases full of sugary treats and, yes, bubble tea.
Macarons on display // Richard Porter
The new coffee, tea, and sweets shop is located on 23rd Street, between Colby and Hoyt Avenues. For those of you doing mental Google Maps, yeah, that’s a block from Everett High School. It seems like MJ will rake in the after school adolescents with the aroma of crepes, macarons, and purple waffles.
I repeat: purple waffles.
The waffles here are purple // Courtesy MJ Cafe
I went to MJ Cafe earlier this week. The little cafe is built in one of those old Everett buildings that’s recessed and dark. South-facing windows and white marble floors help brighten the space. The owners of the cafe have also installed bright lights. The unventilated crepe smell and bright hot sun and lights made me feel overstimulated.
I’m not much of a sweet tooth guy. I ended up getting a plain iced black tea and sitting by the window. The service from employees was great.
The decor of the building wasn’t really my style. The interior looked, if I may be candid, like domestic baubles selected from Target and stuck on the wall. There were a few “hey that’s cool” carousel horses.
One thing MJ Cafe does well is branding. Their logo popped up everywhere throughout the cafe. And their social media page is lit up with prismatic sweet treats. If part of modern-day restaurant-going is selling the image of food, MJ Cafe might just lure in guests with their digital-visual appeal.
An Oreo cookie crepe // Courtesy MJ Cafe
I think you would like MJ Cafe if you’re into sweet things. For me, it wasn’t my jam. But I like that there’s a small restaurant in residential Everett, a la Zippy’s.
I think there needs to be more places like this.
Here’s how I would play it: go to the teriyaki joint around the corner for dinner, then follow it up with a sweet smoothie at MJ Cafe for dessert.
I wish MJ Cafe well in their new digs.
Go there if and when you dig that bubbly vibe.
MJ Cafe // Richard Porter
Richard Porter is a writer for Live in Everett.