Caffe del Doge -- 3.5/5

1. Food -- 5/5 Less food, more coffee. But very good coffee. So flavorful and smooth, very easy to take black. They're also very creative, with everything from Americanos to fancy concoctions served in martini glasses with chocolate layers, exotic spices, and all kinds of foam. They also make a very nice pear tart -- dense and not too sweet -- and the mousse was quite tempting. Many varieties of coffee are also available in bulk, a perfect gift for your favorite non-materialist coffee gourmand.
2. Service -- 5/5 The girl behind the counter was so sweet! There was no one behind us in line, and we got to talking. She actually graduated from Stanford last year with a degree in Anthropology (just like me! except I also do Archaeology). Before you get all cynical and make the post-hoc fallacy of assuming this means my degree will amount to working in a high-end cafe, take into account the facts that
1. It's Palo Alto, and she probably has a lot of student loans to pay off (financial aid wasn't as good then).
2. Sometimes, the last thing that a girl who's just completed four of the most academically and organizationally rigorous years of her life wants to do is jump straight into the professional version thereof. Burnout is bad.
3. Price -- 2/5 More expensive than Starbucks. Certainly better coffee, but definitely a splurge.
4. Location and Setting -- 3/5 It's a bit far down University, and customers are all rather squished in together. Not a very good place for exchanging confidential information, I think. Nice atmosphere and music, though, as well as a television that's constantly showing (silently) artsy French and Italian films.
5. Good for... high-end study sesh, dessert with girlfriends after dinner at Pasta? or Three Seasons, or maybe after an old movie at the Stanford Theater.