This past snow day (bless up that we’ve had so many), I woke up and NEEDED breakfast food in my mouth as ASAP as possible. Was I going to go to Off The Ground for their bagels with under-allocated cream cheese portions? No! Was I going to the buffet? No! The fools at Redifer never serve breakfast anyway! There was only one place I could think of other than The Waffle Shop (which I’ve already reviewed), and that place is none other than Irving’s.
Located up College Ave towards the Hammond building, Irving’s is whipping up coffee, sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, pastries, bagels, breads, and fancy drinks almost all day every day! It’s convenience is second to just about any other coffee shop that I can think of, but that is not why I’m here today. I’m here to review the establishment as a whole.
To start, Irving’s has a GREAT atmosphere. It’s not the typical coffee shop where everyone has their macs out and is writing screenplays, nope. Irving’s is the coffee shop of the people, if you can even call it a coffee shop (we’ll get to this later). At almost any time of day, Irving’s is poppin’, at least the upstairs is. At times, it’s hard to move because it is so hectic up top, but that is 100% a testament to how great the food is, not how small the place is. Downstairs, however, is much more of a quiet space that is PERFECT for studying. The entire place is mostly wooden on the interior, which is a great feel for me. I’ve always been drawn towards the semi-rustic look, and Irving’s is just that.
What makes Irving’s so great, other than their top-notch decor, is that their ingredients are absolute HEAT. While I can’t confirm this at the moment, I swear that they bake everything fresh. I could eat 5 pounds of their food and not feel fat because it doesn’t seem fake or processed at all. The last time I was there I had a ham and cheese wrap which was, like all of their fresh (maybe) ingredients, absolute FIRE. It was dripping with gooey swiss cheese and packed tight with ham in what I thought was a tortilla wrap, but I’m not 100% sure about the wrap’s classification. I also had a chocolate chip muffin, but I was not a fan to be frank. The muffin was pretty moist, which was good, but I wasn’t really getting down with the flavor at the end of the day. I think it all comes back to me not really liking chocolate-flavored food items outside of the classics like chocolate cake and ice cream. Anyway, I still will ride for Irving’s until the end!
I can’t recommend going there enough to get their wraps. Their selection is massive and the ingredients are incredible. While I hate the taste of coffee with the passion of 10 thousand suns, I hear good things about their coffee which I assume pairs nicely with the wraps as well. Also, I haven’t had their bagels yet, but apparently that’s what they’re known for. I’m going to have to head back over soon to get a BEC (bacon egg and cheese) which is really a staple of my diet since I grew up near a place who had banging BECs.
Anyway, I hope I could recommend another great place to you guys up at PSU because the places (sadly) are far and few between. Let me know if you have any suggestions for me too!