Café de Camacho

I’ve been here 4 times in the last 4 years, despite the fact that I live about 45 mins away. I’ve had the churro sundae, the mocha ice blended something and then there’s the café de olla. Good Lord Almighty, that is some AMAZING café de olla. It’s this perfect blend of a strong coffee (definitely full bodied but not acidic or bitter at all) sweet piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar), warm cinnamon and happiness and sunshine that would be perfect if served in a tazita de barro. Anywho, it’s the best café de olla I’ve ever had in America. Just trust me. I don’t write reviews, but here I am. It’s amazing! I usually like my coffee drinks sweet and toffee colored but I take my café de olla black with just 1 or 2 packs of sugar in the raw. And the reason I don’t go often is cause… I really don’t know why, I don’t really have an excuse except laziness, I think I’ll go tomorrow actually. Maybe.
Aside from the café, the sundae (or at least what I remember about it, this was few years ago, cut me some slack!) was pretty good, very sweet but it’s a churro sundae, what do you expect?
The décor is awesome, I always wish I could take one of their chairs, cause they all have cool unique hand paintings.
Prices are a bit high, but understandable, they’re in Placita Olvera, I’m sure the rent is insane. I think that’s why I don’t go often.

This place is currently closed for renovations.

The food is somewhere between meh and yuck.
I think the bulk of positive reviews may be coming from folks who come by to get a cup of coffee. I came to get a late breakfast, and was not pleased. Not a lot went right. They keep the utensils hidden in a cabinet and don’t bring them out until you ask (what’s up with that?) The guy tried to give me someone else’s order twice — though my order number was clearly displayed on the table, and of course my order was not completed: I had to go up and ask for my cup of coffee (this just after hunting, then asking for the utensils, with another baffled customer right behind me).
Then there’s the food itself: so greasy I felt like asking for a sponge. As I’m typing my draft of this with by blue-​tooth keyboard, I’m struggling to see my text through the multicolored smear caused by the grease on the phone’s display. I ate less than half of my order and, frankly, wish I’d not been so persistent. If you’ve ever wanted to become a vegan, but lack the motivation, I suggest ordering the breakfast Quesadila with Chorizo; honestly, I feel like eating nothing but grapefruit for the rest of the week.
Two stars because it’s clean, nice, pleasant music, free WiFi and the coffee is good; also, servers, while not totally proficient, are very nice.

Good stuff. Not sure why people aren’t here. People probably think that it’s not as «authentic» as the other spots on Olvera Street but I really liked the food. It was fresh and great healthy options.

You know, at $ 5 for a strawberry smoothie, you’d think it’d be real fruit. Apparently not. When I saw the barista pull out a huge jug of red syrup, I really couldn’t believe it. Syrup and ice make for a great treat, but you could get that up the street in Chinatown for a third of the price!

Very clean, very neat, usually very empty.
Attended a meeting of Los Aficionados de Los Angeles, and was there for a presentation – usually go to El Paseo Inn (booked).
Had buffet for $ 20 – cheap? salad fresh (dressing from a jar), refried beans (not bad), rice (dry), tortillas (none), chicken fajitas (OK)-$ 11.95 anywhere else. Flan (OK), ordered espresso (in a paper cup??? ni madres).
Service was polite but not used to a group it appeared – meh!

I was on my way to Union Station to catch the train back home, this was the only restaurant in the Olvera Street area that was not jam packed, in fact it was almost empty. I ordered the Tacos Al Carbon Combo, cost: $ 8.95. It consisted of Two small tacos (I ordered One Beef & One Pork Carnitas Taco) and it comes with Mexican Style Rice & Refried Beans, and a small drink. The food was okay, not great but not bad either but a bit overpriced in my opinion.

This cute café is at the end of Olvera Street and a nice little haven if you need a place to sit down and enjoy a bite to eat. I was on a tour that took us to historic El Pueblo, and I decided to step in and get a burrito.
My friend and I split the beef burrito (apparently the carnitas is a little on the fatty side), and it was prepared quickly and cut in half for us. The burrito itself was good — stuffed with refried beans and pico de gallo — but nothing amazing. There seemed to be more beans in it than anything.
We waited a little long for another friend who simply ordered the chicken chipotle sandwich, but other than that, they were prompt and courteous.

Great place for an informal meeting, because:
1) Large space that never seems to be crowded with lots of tables you can pull together.
2) Typical Olvera Street slightly-​higher-​than-​it should-​be prices, but at least food is decent. I personally like the carnitas torta sandwich.
3) Free wifi.
4) Nice décor and artwork.
5) Sometimes they have champurrado. Mmm… champurrado.

I had the café de olla and it was delicious! Just the right fixin. The menu looks amazing. However, I was there around 5 or 5:30pm and it was near closing time so the kitchen was closed. Nonetheless, I appreciate the ambiance of the café and the generosity of the workers. My friend and I were on a quest for nachos so the cashier provided suggestions for other restaurants on Olvera Street that had nachos and were still open.
There are plenty of tables to sit down and do work. The café is spacious and you do not find yourself sitting uncomfortably close to strangers, unlike other cafes. The wifi network and password is printed on the receipt but outlets’ availability seems limited. I can’t wait to go back and try their food!

I really like the environment of this café for many reasons:
1. It’s inside Olvera Street and a nice short walk from work.
2. WI-​FI
3. It use to be a bank, so the door to their kitchen is a vault!
4. Good natural light, very spacious, and each chair has a unique painting on it… and some are quite hilarious.
It’s a great place for a casual lunch, meeting, or laptop work/​study. The food is not cheap nor expensive. The carne asada taco combo was pretty good. On my second visit, I ordered the chicken burrito bowl and was not too thrilled (I thought it would be more of a salad, but there were no veggies… just meat/​beans/​cheese/​rice). I plan to visit for lunch again and try their Churro ice cream sundae (what the heck? sounds so good), and I hear their guava empanadas are delicious.

A good alternative to the more expensive joints that line Olvera Street. Good coffee. Friendly service. I like their burritos.

«I need a coffee, where is a Starbucks?» — me.
«Oh, there is a little place here you can get something at.» — my friend.
Cute place, long wait for them to make an ice blended coffee. $ 6.95 for a freaking «large» which was smaller than a venti at Starbucks, iced chocolate coffee. It was good, but not $ 6.95 worth of good!

I would give the place 5 stars but I only had a cup of coffee, so I’m only doling out 4 for now.
But what a cup coffee! I had café de olla. I heart café de olla. The coffee flavor is strong and totally enhanced by the piloncillo and canela. I put cream in mine because sometimes I drink like a little kid, but its strong enough to stand up to the cream.
This is a really open, well placed coffee spot. I went to Olvera Street to shop and grab some taquitos with my favorite OG Angeleno (my dad) and we stopped for some coffee before we hopped back on the Gold line. The space has wifi and lots of windows. They have some artwork from Self Help Graphics which was interesting and cool because helping the community is always cool. I’m thinking about buying one of the prints actually…
I hope to go back soon to try the food. They had a chipotle bbq short rib sandwich as a special that sounds just my style.

Café de Camacho is amazing because they help the community. Last year they contacted my school asking us to join forces and paint the chairs for the establishment. The kids had a fantastic time and still talk about it a year later!
I have now been back a half a dozen times since the opening and I think the best thing is the fancy ice coffee drinks (and my students’ artwork!). Haha I love this place and always will its on its way to becoming an LA institution.

The ambiance here is what makes this place. You walk right on to the Los Angeles Plaza Park and it’s right next to Olvera Street.
Try the Café de Ollo if you’re a fan of Mexican style coffee drinks. Café, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Baaang!

Since I had to be at Union Station by a certain time, I came with a good friend to Café de Camacho due to its close proximity and free Wi-​Fi service to keep me productive for an afternoon of work. I’ve been here previously but only had their iced tea. This time I decided to get a few things to keep me company while I worked towards an important deadline that very afternoon. My abbreviated description paled in comparison to the actuality of the décor as the beautiful venue is situated on the back end of Olvera Street with a spacious, well lit, and very sensual wooden interior and muted flat screen TVs right by the large windows. There is a set of art collection from Self Help Graphics & Art, a nationally recognized center that nurtures emerging artists and offers free events to engage youth in culturally relevant activities, and in the display case is a limited selection of pan dulce, panini, tortas, and other colorful pastries.
According to the server, the Grilled Chicken Panini ($ 6.95) is the best item on the menu and it came with mayo, spinach, sautéed onions, and chicken breast that didn’t have any seasoning. The whole grain bread they used was not typical for panini but it did arrived nicely pressed to crisp. The side of salad wasn’t fresh while the chicken tasted too bland to stand out in the midst of all the other ingredients. What was challenging was the generous set of half cooked onions embedded in the panini that tasted very awkward especially with the equally peculiar gooey chipotle mayo.
My small cup of Chicken Tortilla Soup ($ 3.95) was a little better as the red tomato broth was stacked with shredded chicken, mixed veggies, chunky avocado and strips of fried tortillas. The soup had a healthy spicy kick to complement the mix of sweet veggies that came with good texture. My small cup of Café De Olla ($ 2.50) was cinnamony with decent strength, but they also charged me $ 2.95 for my friend’s bottle of water which I considered highway robbery.
Service was aesthetically friendly in each of my visits but for some reason the food took 20 minutes to arrive even thought the café was never busy. In addition to my disappointments with the food and prices, their Wi-​Fi service also failed to work which completely defeated the purpose of my visit. As I contemplated about the looming deadline, they didn’t seem to act with a sense of urgency to correct the problems which led me to suspect their internet to be down for quite some time. This café has so much promise given its location and gorgeous venue, and it’s sad that the ownership has not done much to make it competitive with the other cafes nearby. Considering the numbers of things that went wrong with this visit, I won’t be coming back.

Stopped by on my way into the office this morning for some breakfast. It’s just a stone’s throw from Union Station. I walked in and immediately smiled — this café is cute! Upon walking in to the southern entrance, one is greeted by a colorful chalkboard menu of the day’s specials. The ambiance is homey, with wooden chairs in different colors.
I ordered a traditional mexican coffee (with cinnamon and sugar syrups) and a pan dulce. It came out to just under $ 5. The prices are competitive to starbucks, I would say, a bit pricey but worth the splurge once in awhile. There’s free wi-​fi with purchase. I recommend checking it out at least once. Support local businesses!

my hot chocolate was somewhat a dissapointment since i’m picky with the ingredients they use. for the hot chocolate here, they use powder so that was kind of a let down. but the red velvet cupcake they had from delilah was amazing!!!
still, it’s a new place so hopefully it’ll get better, cuz i really DO want it to.
i would also like to say the interior décor was really cute! it’s located at the end of olvera street, right where it connects to the open-​space park where the musicians play.

***Update 08/​03/​11***
They have a deep fryer and an expanded food menu which now includes breakfast and carne asada nachos. On the dessert side they have daily pastries as well as a hot churro sundae. My usual drink orders are either the spice chai latte (hot or ice blended depending on my mood) or the arnold palmers. I don’t eat there much but the managers and staff are really nice and I go there often enough that they remember my name, which is always a plus. =) The décor is also still one of the big pluses of the venue, bright airy artfilled and the adorable student-​decorated chairs. It’s a nice place to take a break in the afternoon or to have a lunch time meeting.
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The long awaited opening of Café de Camacho finally arrived on February 1, 2010. The Café is currently housed in what was formerly one of the earliest Bank of America buildings in Los Angeles. The only remnant of the bank is a steel vault door with a plexiglass back so you can see all of the cool locks and gears.
As for the food, I went almost every single day for the 1^st two weeks to try out their pastries and drinks. I’m not a big coffee drinker so most of my orders consisted of hot and ice blended spice chai lattes and their very thick mexican hot chocolate, which was great on a cold rainy day. They’re still in the beginning stages of opening their café and are planning on having soups and sandwiches and such later on, but so far they’ve got a well-​trained and efficient staff, and decent barista drink and dessert offerings. The real plus to this place is the amazingly bright, clean, and open space with lots of windows looking out into the plaza and the church and free wi-​fi with purchase. They’ve also got beer and a flat screen tv for game days if you’re so inclined. Come by and check it out next time you’re near El Pueblo.
*Landmarks nearby are Olvera Street, the El Pueblo museums, Chinese American Museum, Union Station, and Chinatown.