Guests enjoy dinner at Hampton Coffee Company in Water Mill.
When it comes to dining on the East End, locals and visitors alike often have to make a choice: do they want to go someplace beautiful with amazing food, or do they want to keep it casual and maybe bring along the kids? Thanks to Hampton Coffee Company, they no longer have to make that choice. The newly renovated dining room at their Water Mill café—now serving dinner—offers and delivers it all.
“We offer dinner Tuesday through Saturday, from 4 to 9 p.m.,” says Hampton Coffee Company’s Edythe Collins. “We started our dinner menu, because we wanted to give our guests a place to gather, eat and socialize all day—not just for breakfast and lunch.”
The cafe’s dinner menu is ripe with Mexican specialties, a Gourmet Burger Bar, and so much more.
In that mission, they’ve certainly succeeded. The café’s new dining room is beautiful and cozy, with a long, copper-accented bar; each of its taps locally-focused, currently serving beer from Brooklyn Brewery, Montauk Brewing Company, and Twin Forks. It is the kind of space you’d like to linger in all day long—for breakfast, lunch, a quick (or long) drink after work, a first (or thousandth) date, or a casual, delicious dinner with your family.
Take one look at the cafe’s dinner menu and you’ll understand exactly why it’s been such a success. The menu is ripe with Mexican specialties like Tequila Shrimp Nachos, Sizzling Fajita Platters, and Tacos al Carbon; a Gourmet Burger Bar with excellent beef, poultry and veggie options; an entire section devoted to lobster locally sourced from Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett; and more.
“Parents can come and enjoy a delicious fresh-made Lobster Roll and a glass of Rosé, while their children enjoy Chocolate Chip Pancakes,” says Hampton Coffee Company’s Edythe Collins.
“A really great aspect of dinners at Hampton Coffee Company is that parents can come and enjoy a delicious fresh-made Lobster Roll and a glass of Rosé, while their children enjoy Chocolate Chip Pancakes or Chicken Tenders for dinner,” says Collins. “It’s really all inclusive! It’s the same menu they’ve been enjoying for years, now at dinner time too.”
And soon, diners will get to enjoy that same, delicious menu with a gorgeous, outdoor view overlooking farm fields.
Hampton Coffee Company has so much more to offer than coffee—but the coffee alone is worth a trip, too.
“We’re really looking forward to the summer,” says Collins. “When it gets warmer, our patio will be open and guests can enjoy outdoor seating with our beautiful backyard view. We even make our own homemade sangria using produce from Green Thumb directly next door.”
In speaking with Collins, a couple of things become immediately clear: first, she really loves working at Hampton Coffee Company, and second, Hampton Coffee Company really loves providing for their customers and communities. To do so even better, they recently developed an app.
The app, HCC Perks, allows Hampton Coffee Company customers to earn points with every purchase; it also gives them access to exclusive deals and surprise rewards.
A guest uses the HCC Perks app while enjoying a latte.
“The Rewards Program is set up to offer customers a variety of surprise rewards,” says Collins. “We took a lot of time developing them. They can be anything from a free homemade dessert to a free lunch sandwich.”
Not bad for a free app in the first place.
“We’re constantly asking ourselves what our customers want,” says Collins.
“We’re constantly asking ourselves what our customers want,” says Collins, “and we’re constantly asking them, too! We have such a diverse customer base—people of all ages; solo diners, families—and we really work to serve them all.”
Hampton Coffee Company also works to serve them all sustainably. The company uses green appliances and recycles at all four of its locations—in Water Mill, Westhampton Beach, Southampton and Aquebogue (Riverhead)—and uses only cage-free eggs.
“Jason [Belkin, Hampton Coffee Company co-owner] really cares about the community,” says Edythe. “We all care about this place and the people that work and live here, because we are all a part of the community ourselves.”
Hampton Coffee Company serves dinner every Tuesday through Saturday, from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m.
I have no doubt that she’s telling the truth. In the dining room around us, five sets of diners are enjoying lunch, many of them laughing in the room’s bright, open space. In a few hours, for dinner, the space will fill with the light of the magic hour and a new set of guests will take their place.
“There’s a seat at our table for everybody,” says Collins, smiling. “We’ve built it that way.”
For more on Hampton Coffee Company, please visit their website.
