PJ's Coffee

PJ's Coffee on Lafayette is the downtown Baton Rouge outpost of the New Orleans-founded chain, sitting across from a park with a lake view from the outdoor seats. That patio is the selling point. Dogs are welcome inside and water bowls turn up where they should, which puts the location ahead of plenty of independent cafes on the same block. The drink to point at is the Velvet Ice, with a mocha latte and the Granitas as the secondary reaches. The Cajun sandwich is the food order regulars repeat, and the Everything sausage-egg-cheese bagel is the standard breakfast move. Hot chocolate works for the kid in your party. The honest issues at this location are real. Recent visits have flagged disarray and untidiness, the kind of small-stuff problems that come up when a franchise outpost runs short on attention and nobody at the corporate level is checking in. The room is small, the tables are small, and parking can be frustrating downtown during the workday. One regular noted that Magpie and Strands nearby get louder, which makes PJ's the quieter option of the three for whatever that is worth on a given afternoon. If you live in the neighborhood with a dog and you need a coffee with a patio view of the lake, this is the call. If you came downtown for a long laptop session, the tables are too small for it and the room is not set up for camping. Treat it as a quick stop, a dog walk anchor, or a meeting point with someone whose office is down the block, and the location works on its own terms. The lake view and the dog-friendly policy do most of the heavy lifting, and the coffee holds up its end of the bargain. The Velvet Ice is the iced order that makes the rest of the menu look uneventful by comparison. Order one before you walk the dog around the park.