intro

starting in the spring semester, i have had more time and have felt more comfortable in my environment to go out and explore outside of UCF. in this my quest for the best study spots has been a number 1 priority. i will be rating each place i have tried and tell you as indepth from what i remember, at some point i will add pictures maybe, it will all be 1-10 and be based off 5 ratings, price/menu, location/parking, atmosphere, wifi

here is how rating will work:

Place (Score)

Price/Menu:

Were looking at the price and menu spread, options, what we got etc.

Location/Parking:

Location is important, its heavily rated on relative distance to UCF and my apartment/s. Second highest factor is parking, mainly availability and how easy it is to get in/out. A smaller weight but still important is surrounding locations/area.

Atmosphere/Environment:

This is rated using the noise levels, comfortability, architecture and design, people and staff, and ambience set by all that. In that order

Utility:

We are looking at outlet availability and wifi, wifi has a heavier weight then outlets by far.

Would i go again?:

self explanatory

Ranked list

1 Luminescent (8.5)

2 Craft & Common (7.9)

3 Barnies (Downtown) (7.8)

4 Shokupan (7.5)

5 John C. Hilt Library (7.5)

6 Chiffon Culture (7.5)

7 Muddy Root (7.0)

8 Ice & Bites (5.3)

Ratings

Muddy Root (7)

Price/Menu: 6

Personally, i dont mind kava, if your really into cava or energy drinks. Then Muddy Root is for you imo.. No food, but there is Shokupan, The pizza place, AND Dough Show. So although the place doesnt have food itself, the food outside (ive had all 3) is good. From Muddy Root ive only had their kava, and im not a huge kava person, its okay.

Location/Parking: 7

The location itself, is a 10. i mean you cant get any closer to UCF and/or the spots to live But the parking is highkey a 3 or 4, hence the 8, personally, ive really never had any trouble parking, but its a small lot for the amount of places in that plaza, theres construction, and the exit is all rubble. you can have troubles getting out the lot. personally cant say i have but it is objectively bad

Atmosphere/Environment: 6

OKAY heres where it gets controversial i think. PERSONALLY, its extremely hit or miss, i have gone with a friend or two somedays and the ambience is perfect, good music, chill, not super crowded. but somedays ive walked out or we spend the whole time laughing at the music. NO OFFENSE I REALLY MEAN NONE YOU LIKE WHAT YOU LIKE but... One of the bartenders has the worst taste in music i have ever heard and they love blasting that shit. Sometimes its extremely crowded and more often then not you will not find seating. Especially at night. But it is a small store and they fill alot of dead space so i dont blame them nessecarily. Everyone for the most part is chill and actually pretty talkative, one of the bartenders, Christian bumps the rating up 3 points by himself. He the goat, hes chill, very commited always there quite literally and defintiely makes muddy root. That being said, as you can imagine from a kava bar, there are your typical weirdos. Ive heard stories of some awkward ass encounters from regulars so i just keep my head down ngl.

Utility: 9

wifi is actually really good for one of these places, youll see from the rest of the list. Only issue is that you have to pay for the password. Which i mean i totally understand, and the cheapest item on the menu is like $3-$5 so i personally dont find it a huge deal. some will though. Outlet situation is a super redeeming quality ALSO a huge problem at these places, its great here there is probably a 3:1 outlet to person ratio.

Would i go again?: yes we love muddy root

Luminescent (8.5)

Price/Menu: 9

Drinks, food, coffee, regular drinks. A bunch of hits. Very well rounded good for everything type of place. I didnt eat but Amira did and she liked it. I had an espresso and they have multiple beans, Im not a fan of that arabica bean espresso that is super acidic that has been trending lately. I actually extremely dislike that taste. But everything else was a hit and they have darker espressos. The only downside is that they dont serve alcohol before 5pm. Which is a bummer. L responsible drinking

Location/Parking: 9

Being right off Colonial is extremely close to UCF and especially to the apartment i had and will have. The parking situation is great as it has its own lot

Atmosphere/Environment: 9.5

We have been once but i have friends that are regulars. The actual Atmosphere was amazing i thought, it was very clean, comfortable, great ambience to work. Not super loud but enough life to not feel stale. Its not overly packed theres always a bar seat open, which makes it seem productive and not overcrowded. Not really a problem for me as I just turned 21 but after 6pm they card. I am pretty sure that they dont kick you out super easily after 6 but im not sure.

Utility: 6.3

The internet situation is good, the only issue is the OUTLET situation. The situation is so bad that it tanks its rating. It wouldve been the perfect place, but i run a linux beefy laptop. I dont have the mac battery life so I need an outlet. But its more likely then not that you will NOT have an outlet so thats good to note.

Would i go again?: YES i will

ShokuPan (7.5)

Price/Menu: 8

The menu is vast with lots of asian and french pastries and a huge drink menu. If your into extremely trendy bakeries, this place is partnered with Chiffon, whos also on thelist, that is also known for its pastries. The price... ehhhhh. I mean its a trendy bakery so it does get alittle expensive. But overall I mean the prices arent TERRIBLE. Everything I had was good.

Location/Parking: 7

The same exact plaza as Muddy Root and was mentioned in the muddy root review. Location is a 10, parking is a 4. Solid 7.

Atmosphere/Environment: 7

This place is tiny, smaller then the rest. But it is always EMPTY. I think the most ive seen is one other group there. Absolutely Chill. If you like quiet, then perfect. The only sound you hear is the rock playing from the kitchen. Which honestly, I fw that. Its tuff. For me the actual vibe is extremely modern, minimalist, and white. Which ehhh for me im more of an earthy tone ambience typa guy. So not a superfan but its okay. The chairs are tolerable. Not for long work sesions but you can definitely be there for a couple hours.

Utility: 8

There are like 4 outlets, but like i said. Its dead, unless my review ungatekeeps it. You will have a full table, and atleast an outlet. Only two though, Also the bench they added covers the 2 slot outlets. Which deducts another point.

Would i go again?: yes, good place in a pinch

Ice & Bites (5.3)

Price/Menu: 9

Okay, this isnt a study place ngl. The menu, GOOD. Everything was amazing, I got strawberry sno. Amira got a drink and one of the fish waffle chicken things. They were GREAT. It was also cheap. Think we paid less then $20 for 4 things. Absolute W there

Location/Parking: 7

The location is also on university just slightly more down, but this plaza is STACKED. Kyuramen, First Watch, City Pho, a Millenial Burger place. I mean this plaza is popping but its small. There was one parking spot, which i took. But I can imagine i couldnt have been so lucky 5 minutes earlier or later. The location is great, close to UCF, great surrounding, just the parking.

Atmosphere/Environment: 3

Alright this is where it starts to suffer. The place was extremely cheap looking inside, like they did an overhaul but way too early. I dont know if it was intentional, but the deeper you go into the place, the more cyber theme it gets and it has this really weird transition from nature modern to old cyber aesthetics that i did not enjoy. It didnt seem interntional and wasnt executed good. Its like if they rebranded but only went half way with it. Nothing fit, it was pretty ugly. The floor mixed with the plastic ceiling, the grass wall clearly for photo trapping next to two white gacha ball vending machiens. With a TV in the middle and menus that look like they missed the rebrand. This was not compensated for in the ambience. Place had one other person in it (no problem). But it was deathly quiet, you could hear a pin drop in the kitchen, I had to ask the cashier to play some music, and the audio quality was bad and just through youtube on the tv. The cashier was sweet about it though she asked us what playlist. Personally if you tell me you have all kpop playlists and only 1 non kpop playlist. I want to hear what you guys would usually play to keep the atmosphere authentic. So i dont really get why she tried pushing the nonkpop playlist onto us. Maybe she hates kpop, who knows.

Utility: 2

As i mentioned, this place was dead. But the real reason we left and the real reason this place is getting a bad rating is not because its quiet, some like that. Its the wifi. I mean this wifi was terrible. I couldnt even open a google search of don toliver. It was REALLY BAD. Its pretty sad that the rating is this low it feels criminal because of the menu but this place can easily be a 9 if they fix some very fixable things.

Would i go again?: Most likely not

Chiffon Culture Bakery Cafe (7.5)

Price/Menu: 6.5

Okay, this is the largest bag we dropped. The company card got hit with 4 pastires, and 2 drinks. It costed north of $50, and honestly, was it good? My response is it wasnt bad. The best thing was the mango little thing, then the korean donut. Amira really liked the cheese cake wheel thing. For the price, definitely not worth it. The drinks i remember being good though.

Location/Parking: 6

Being the farthest we went too at the time, its in winter park. Its not close enough to be a reasonable study spot, but not far enough that it cant be a nice study day out lets go to chiffon type experience. Also being in the winter / baldwin park area, theres lots of nice stuff around so it can be ideal for a day where you want to study then have a nice date out at downtown winter park. The plaza is very nice aswell and parking is available

Atmosphere/Environment: 8.5

The atmosphere in the best description was like a slightly more alive shokupan, theres clearly a community built on chiffon, with regulars walking in and having chats with the staff, which were all friendly. The interior architecture has a more modern rustic look which honestly, i can get behind im a fan. The plaza is also nice as mentioned

Utility: 9

From what i remember, its mostly people going in and out, average customer is there for less then 15 minutes. But they get traffic which makes it feel alive. So not really many complaints here, wifi was free good. No real complaints, other then there isnt MANY outlets, enough though since you can sit where ever it would be a problem if a couple people came to study alongside us.

Would i go again?: Not in the forseeable future but mostly location

Craft & Commons (Oviedo) (7.9)

Price/Menu: 8

Food was good, this is completely my fault but theyll take the blame because customer is always right but the drink i got was this sparkling espresso raspberry thing as ts was ASS LOL. it was an interesting taste but the serving is too much for that. Thats a great experimental flight drink. The sandwich and Amiras drink were great but some points off for price think i was just around $30-$40, the sandwhich i could make at home ngl. It was good tho

Location/Parking: 9

The plaza is a very nice plaza in oveido, its not far about 10 minutes. No troubles with parking. Some great spots nearby notably Handells Icecream. Point off because it is 10 minutes, location isnt it focal point.

Atmosphere/Environment: 6

I mean this place was POPPING, extremely busy but it wasnt too loud. The interior was another rustic modern. It looked nice but i mean this place was filled, It could be hard to find seating and did feel alittle claustrophobic especially with the long bench setup.

Utility: 8.5

Honestly for some reason i swear i always look at this the most but i cant remember, i know we had outlets so maybe its not a huge issue, the internet was good enough too, I can see outlet problems if we didnt get lucky though

Would i go again?: ehhh could take it or leave it, would go to the downtown location next

Barnies (Downtown) (7.8)

Price/Menu: 9.5

Barnies is cheap, pastries are great and they make them i believe. MY ONLY COMPLAINT, is that they dont do shaken espresso, which is weird because UCF library does, but they do iced lattes.

Location/Parking: 7

personally, i think downtown winter park is peak. I love that place its so chill, but for studying.. it is far, not the farthest but i think it could be a good day out if your up to it.

Atmosphere/Environment: 8

I am bias, i love the downtown winter park area, its so nice. but the ambience and environments fit for sure. Its lively, not super packed 90% of the time I love the open view and lighting situation. Very natural. Also modern rustic.

Utility: 6.7

The outlet situation is lacking a little, its meant for small study or if you have to do something but also want to go out. Its OK, you CAN find an outlet its not like theres none but its also not the most common thing. Great for reading

Would i go again?: Yes

John C Hilt Library (7.5)

Price/Menu: 8

Barnies is chill, theres vending machines, its enough, also you have the breezeway close by so its really not a huge issue.

Location/Parking: 9.8

after 5:30pm its a 10. but im taking .2 for parking. On a bad day, its a walk, after 5:30 you can just park in the secret spots (i have to gatekeep here) and be 2 minutes and a nice walk.

Atmosphere/Environment: 6

I mean its a library, I will say its one of the more productive uni library environments, they do a great job of having a place for everyone, they have floors for very specifc levels of noise and i can appreciate the 4th and 3rd floor depending on the day. Honestly everyone complains about seating, it can be a problem getts like a super nice table, but honestly, i just be asking if i can sit there and people usually say yes. Seating and obviously abunch of college kids is the rating though.

Utility: 6

IF you get a table, the outlet situation is good. The wifi however, is hit or miss. Its ucf, not expecting anything spectacular but holy sometimes i just go home

Would i go again?: Yes...