Cafe Review: Hell Cafe

“Hey, does anyone wanna go to Hell with me on Sunday?”

massive table with a neat line of fresh cut flowers down the center, with a very interesting angel/devil tapestry in the background

Located on Itaewon’s Antiques and Vintage Street, Hell Cafe is certainly a unique cafe, one whose vibe I can’t exactly put my finger on.

For starters, there’s the hot pink Slayer espresso machine, which is bad-ass. There’s fresh flowers along a massive wooden table that takes up the majority of the space, beside one corner with a worn-in sofa and one small table that seats four.

I was the first person in the cafe that Sunday, and instantly put the innocent barista on edge. Looking around, I realized that I had picked the wrong kind of cafe for a group of what was expected to be 8 people. The first problem was that massive wooden table.

The second person to come sat beside me and we had a very lovely conversation, but as the rest of the group started filing in, it became apparent that this was not a cafe for big groups. It also didn’t feel like it was an intimate cafe, either, where couples could order iced americanos and snuggle. (In fact, there was a note at each seat telling you that you must order one drink per person and leave after a certain amount of time.)

The massive wooden table just made me think of a science lab back in the day. I could easily imagine a cadaver just laid out on the table with a bunch of medical students surrounding it. I … I don’t think that’s what they were going for.

The coffee was nice. I forgot my lactase pill so I had to suffer through an iced americano, but it was a decent iced americano, with excellent espresso (there’s a choice of two). They pour cappuccinos and lattes at the table, which I thought was really interesting and made that aspect of drink-serving very intimate, as the barista stood there while their guests took their first sip of their beverages.

At one point, we were shushed to be quieter, despite there being only one other family in the cafe at the time. I got the vibe that this was more of a locals-only spot, but even that I’m uncertain of.

I’m looking forward to ordering their coffee beans and trying them. I’m not sure if I’d visit the cafe again, as I didn’t vibe with whatever vibes they were going for. Maybe it’s just a spot to swing by when you have an hour to waste in Itaewon.