Edible Food Find: Madhouse Café

Photos by Xana Turner-Owens

Recently named Best New Café by Boston Magazine, Madhouse Café is generating a lot of buzz and has quickly become a neighborhood favorite. Located at 24 Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury, the café is bright and open, with a sense of thoughtful curation and comfort that meets you at the door. It’s clear that a lot of care and attention went into designing the space, with hand-painted murals, lush plants and a cozy seating area that feels like a friend’s living room.

Positioned directly next door to its sister company Madhouse Motors, a motorcycle repair shop, the café offers a contrasting softness that feels immediately welcoming. Although the original concept may have been to simply offer a cup of coffee to folks waiting for an oil change, Madhouse Café has become much more than that.

In just under a year since opening, the café has become a preferred meeting and work space for the neighborhood. People gather in corners or work solo on laptops, organically engaging with the space and one another. The café feels equally comforting and cool, with an energy that encourages you to stay a while.

Shop and café owner J Shia knew the location could provide an open community space that the neighborhood desperately needed. Currently the only coffee shop in the area, neighbors and locals have welcomed it with open arms. Boston native, business owner and now regular Armani White (of Reclaim Roxbury) couldn’t wait for the café to open, describing it as “an oasis in a desert.”

In addition to serving as a neighborhood hub, Madhouse Café continues to expand on its mission to support and foster community by partnering with local food businesses. Their current partnerships include Broadsheet Coffee in Cambridge, MEM Tea in Somerville and Bay Sweets in West Roxbury. Shia’s mom makes the homemade baklava and lemon cake using family recipes and the savory menu options include meat kibbeh, lamejun, spinach sfeha and za’atar bread.

For beverages, the menu offers a range of classics from mocha and matcha lattes to cafe au lait. The sweet tahini latte stands out as a favorite among guests for good reason—it has a uniquely nutty, sweet profile that balances perfectly with Broadsheet’s coffee. The menu is reflective of Shia’s Arabic-American heritage, and there is a palpable sense of respect for tradition in the care taken in their food and beverage program.

A picture window opens up along the back wall of the café, revealing the adjacent motorcycle work and showroom. This window into Madhouse Motors provides an element of transparency between the businesses, with work-in-progress bikes and tools offering contrast to the colorful throw pillows and ornate gold details that decorate the café. As Boston’s only motorcycle shop, Madhouse has built an impressive network that extends far beyond Massachusetts, with global clientele and acclaim.

Shia has fostered community in each location Madhouse has found itself in, eventually landing in Roxbury in 2020. Since then, Madhouse has identified itself as an essential community space, bringing worlds and people together.

Now, with the latest addition of the café, Shia has given this opportunity to connect a home—one that offers you a great cup of coffee and invites you to stay.

Madhouse Café
Madhouse Motors
24 Blue Hill Ave., Boston
madhousemotors.com

This story appeared in the Fall 2023 issue.