Mesón Cafe

I wandered in to Mesón based on the overwhelmingly popular Unilocal reviews. This place is clearly popular amongst locals coming in for breakfast with their morning paper or scanning the kitchen to connect with the owner and chef, Diego. It had a very nice, inviting feel. I got the hot bowl (faro, chicken, and egg), which was beautifully plated and very fresh. With each bite, the individual flavors could be picked out and appreciated. A touch of salt would have made it even more delicious. The iced latte was also really delicious. A great spot overall. I’ll have to come back and try some more dishes!

I meant to write a review for this place like 8 months ago. Im so glad theres an organic café in Koreatown. Literally everything on the menu is a must try dish. Its a family owned restaurant and Diego the owner makes you feel like fam. He makes an effort to get to know his customers. Obsessed with this gem. Xo

Great place for a quick, healthy lunch! I really enjoyed the Hot Bowl, just the right amount of spice and the atmosphere was very relaxed and homey. I did forget that almond milk lattes are not as delicious are regular lattes — that’s my bad though! I’ll be back to try the empanadas!

Amazing! Visiting from New York and was happy to stumble upon this place. Staff is very friendly and efficient. Food is delicious and the atmosphere is very nice/​relaxing. My husband and I shared the Farmer’s Market Fruit Bowl which was very refreshing and crunchy with he granola and coconut flakes. He ordered the Breakfast Bowl which he loved and I got the California Avocado Toast which was amazing! Can’t wait to come back here again on our next visit to the West Coast.

I am a big meat-​eater (suck it, all my coworkers) and I come here for the veggie bowl (sorry I just told you to suck it, all my coworkers).
The owner, Diego, is so nice and welcoming. I discovered my favorite coffee here: vittoria. Every single dish here is tasty, fresh, and rewarding.
Truly a gem.

We’ve been wanting to try this place and we finally had the chance!
We ordered the Tuna Sandwich and Hot Bowl.
Tuna Sandwich is accompanied by an arugula salad with a light citrus sauce (i think, either way it’s delicious). The sandwich itself has really great flavor. Bread is toasted just right, but still soft that won’t cut the insides of your mouth. The sandwich is accompaned by harissa aioli, alfalfa, and avocado. ($ 9.00)
Hot Bowl come with farro, mushrooms, chicken breast, kale, a fried egg, and topped with arugula. This is a great and healthy bowl for any time of the day. ($ 8.50)
We also got a house black coffee and an iced latte. The latte has a really great, earthy, flavor and the coffee is light and aromatic. Both are delicious!
It’s also a great place to study, eat, and relax on the weekends. You can also bring your well-​behaved dog inside the café as well! They have free wifi, just ask the owner for the password :)
Great place, wonderful food and coffee, this has become a go-​to spot for us.

The café this strip has been waiting for. The selection of food here is quite good, I’d call it a fusion of home style recipes prepared with healthy, delicious ingredients which only enhance the flavor in every bite. The café is Latin in it’s roots but the food welcomes anyone regardless of where you’re from.
Breakfast toast is overlaid perfectly with scrambled eggs, arugula, and fresh salsa. However, the empanadas may be this café’s best kept secret; $ 5 gets you three of these classic Latin pastries stuffed with either fresh chicken, beef, or veggies. I’m telling you, paired with a side they’re perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
As a coffee drinker I’ve been more than satisfied with the cup Meson Café pours. No burnt Starbucks flavor here, just a honest, deliciously hot cup for the discerning coffee drinker.
Overall you just can’t find any fault with this place. If you do, well you might just want to go home and re-​evaluate your life.

yum yum!
This is my kind of grub. Its a total coffee joint with amazing green juices and delicious food. I love the vibe in here. Limited seating, but very local vibe.
The staff is great and super accommodating.
I tried their turkey sandwich and green juice. Boyfriend got the bowl (holy! so good). recommend it all!
Great spot for coffee, mid lunch, computer work.
Rate ⁵⁄₅!

EVERYTHING IS FANTASTIC HERE!!! I have had several items on the menu, not to mention the latte’s and tea. Everything taste so damn good not to mention it’s super fresh. The California Avocado Toast is my Fav as well as the Turkey Sandwich.
The owner and team members here are polite, and really invested in making sure my experience is a good one. Meson, offers a level of customer service I don’t usually get at most places in L.A.
Exceptional all round!!! They just gained a life long customer.

Love this cute little café! Fresh ingredients, good portion, and good price! Very attentive service too. I agree with others that the coffee isn’t the best but food is superb!

Wayyyyy over priced for such small portions of food. Luckily, the food doesn’t taste that bad, but it’s sooo not worth the prices. I was so shocked at how small the dishes were!
I tried the…
1. Breakfast bowl ($ 7.75) — it had scrambled eggs, avocado, black beans, arugula, and some kind of mayo sauce. It’s a healthy bowl and it’s perfect for a healthy lunch/​meal, but I don’t think it’s worth $ 7.75. The bowl is pretty small and portion is way too small for it to be $ 7.75.
2. Grilled cheese sandwich ($ 7.50) — it had toasted thin sour dough bread, yellow tomato, and grilled cheese. It also came with arugula salad. Surprisingly, this was pretty good, but WAY TOO SMALL. It was super tiny I was so shocked. You can see how small it was in my picture! It was like half a normal sandwich. So not worth $ 7.50!
3. Beef empanada ($ 5.00) — it had beef and potatoes mashed up. It comes in three small pieces and a peachy colored mayo kind of sauce on the side. I’ve never tried empanadas before so I can’t say if it was the best or worst I had. I think taste wise, it was decent. Average. I think this was the only item on the menu that was worth its price.
Overall, the place was pretty expensive and small and I don’t want to come back hahaha… But servers are friendly! So for that and «ok» tasting food, I’ll give 2 stars.

Great small spot for coffee and some good food.
Hubby and I ordered the avocado toast and the farro chicken bowl and both were pretty good. We ordered a regular iced latte and it wasn’t good at all. We tried drinking it but it was very bitter. I’m not sure if it was a one time thing where we just happened to get a bad batch or not.
The owner of this place was very nice and attentive. He came to our table to ask how we were doing and made us feel special. Food is good, coffee not so good. I’ll come back and give the coffee another shot!

Lovely caffe! Delicious food and great staff :)
Got a chicken sandwich with avocado and their iced latte! Very satisfied with the food and the service.

Ok, so was looking to try a new café with food and found this gem!
This is not your typical coffee shop etc, they have food and their items are made to order. I don’t always go on Unilocal reviews when deciding to try a place but I did come to this place having high expectations and at the same time not knowing what to expect. Well they lived up to their great reviews and rating.
I had the chicken faro (which was my first time trying Farro) bowl and it was just amazing, very well made and good combination of taste with the overeasy egg on top. I also decided to go with the avocado toast and that was tasty as well plus it went well for a side dish with the chicken bowl. I would highly recommend this place.
The service was good here too, the owner (who is the cook here as well) was friendly and very informative and wanted to make sure we enjoyed our meal.
I did have one minor issue, i ordered an ice coffee and mind you, i have tried many and understand they can all have different levels or bitterness etc, but the coffee i got just taste bad completely (i feel like this is a by taste coffee so didnt bring my rating down). I meant to ask what type of coffee and brew it was to know in the future not to order it.
Either way, i really enjoyed this place and would definitely visit again.

Excellent, original food, great music & conversations with friendly people. So glad this café is here!

I love this place it’s really cute and the food is so good! Im just in love with this restaurant!

Awesome neighborhood spot! However, when I went on a random Saturday for a to-​go order, they seemed to have a catering order so all the workers were backed up. Hence, I waited forever for my order but in the end, it was very well worth it and they were really apologetic.
I ordered the turkey sandwich which everyone was raving about and it was one of the best turkey sandwiches I’ve ever had in LA. Alfalfa, avocado, and harissa on a baguette. The baguette was toasted perfectly. A very simple sandwich but I guess simple is best when you have all the right & fresh ingredients. 5 stars!
The reason for my 4 star rating is due to the iced latte i ordered. It didn’t taste like anything. It tasted like watered down milk. It was horrible.
I will definitely return to try some of their other food but make sure to pass on the latte.

A great café shop!
I loved the yogurt parfait so much! It’s healthy and hearty.
The fruit bowl was quite large portion, love it!
The price was reasonable.
Really good place for taking out too.

Geezus… How many things can go wrong?
First off, no one acknowledged me as I was waiting at the counter, ready to order. The girl finally walked over and seemed very blasé. I asked for avocado toast and a green juice to go.
Ten minutes go by. An older man comes by my table and hands me an orange juice. I let him know I actually ordered a green juice. He apologized. No biggie. He brings a green juice five minites later. It is pretty tasty.
THEN. I kept waiting and waiting. There were only a few other people in the café already eating their food. So… What’s the hold up? Did they drive to the nearest avocado farm and pick some avocados?
In total, I waited half an hour for the last half of my order.
I come home and discover the girl gave me scramble toast instead of avocado toast. And one toast was upside down. WTF MAN.

Tried Mesón Café today for lunch based upon it’s great Unilocal reviews. Bottom line, it lived up to it’s expectations.
I ordered the Ham Sandwich (Dijon, Gruyère, & Ham), Green Drink (Kale, Cucumber, Celery, Pineapple, Spinach, Ginger, Apple), & the Vietnamese Iced Coffee (Double Shot of Espresso).
The sandwich was on a baguette & quite delicious, tasted very fresh. Came with a «side» salad, which was size wise more between a «garnish» & a «side,» but it was enough. One could consider the salad a Euro style portion compared to the massive continental quantities to which we’ve become accustomed. Light lemon vinaigrette dressing (?) was quite good. The green drink was on par with any juicery in LA. Fresh tasting ingredients.
Décor was clean and minimalist with a touch of local artists and French influence. Temperature (even on a HOT February afternoon) was cool inside. Ambience of classical orchestral music was not overpowering and added a calm and mellow demeanor even as the cars whizzed by outside on the busy «main» street that is Western.
They have TWO WiFi channels, which would be huge if there had been a larger crowd (Monday afternoon). Place was actually empty when I came in, except for one lone man enjoying a coffee at the bar. Thereafter a local couple who strolled in and was greeted in a friendly familiar tone by the owner. One other man passed through for a coffee in the 45 minutes I was on location. I’d imagine, when it’s busy the 2 channels of WiFi would be helpful, unless they splice off the same feed. Down/​Up speeds were 8.03÷0.89 & 7.66÷0.88, which is pretty standard for a home line in LA. No complaints unless a ton of people were streaming video concurrently.
Parking a motorcycle was no problem, but it could potentially be a pain with a car. Try a side-​street & (shocking) try walking… I lucked out & got a place 2 spots South of the locale.
When I’m next in the area or passing through I would definitely come back without any hesitation.

Just happened on this place while furniture shopping. It looked very plain from the outside, but the inside is surprisingly cute. The menu includes coffee drinks, but also a moderate assortment of food items.
1. Latte: Very foamy and well-​made.
2. Hot bowl: This is a combination of stripped chicken, a fried egg on top, and farro throughout. A perfect mix of various savory flavors, but surprisingly light because of the farro and some fresh greens on top. I would highly recommend this dish, but it seems like many of the other dishes are also delicious.
Prices are very reasonable and service is friendly.

I like this place so much that when I came by on a Sunday and it was closed, I was pretty bummed out.
Street parking is rare but worth finding to come by and get some coffee and their delicious turkey sandwich. Otherwise find a meter.
I enjoy the ambience and the aesthetics. I understand the limitations of space to get work done if you end up in a small round table to share space w food and your laptop. But I’ve been lucky to always get the big picnic table at the front of the café, which I can share w others if need be.
Service is kind and professional.
A little gem, and local business worth supporting.

This café has everything I would want in a work environment. It’s quiet. There are plenty of outlets. The wifi is fast. And although small, the space feels open and is not cluttered. The only negative would be the size of most of the tables. However, there is prime real-​estate in the form of one big picnic table. I came here at 10am on a Thursday, and I had no problem nabbing the large table for myself.
The drink and food menu is solid. They have your typical caffeinated beverages, as well as fresh pressed juice. My turkey sandwich had sprouts in it, so you know it’s rill. It was v good.

Really clean and nice café! I got the Vietnamese iced coffee and a blueberry Danish looking puff pastry. All tasted great. The vibes are calm and relaxing. I’ll definitely come back

Really great chill spot. Great coffee delicious food and great service. Tried the Scramble on toast and the Avocado
On toast. Both were delicious and well balanced. Great place will return and try more of the great food here.

Really quaint little café in the area. I briefly felt like a local walking here for breakfast… from my AirBnb before i went to Universal Studios in an Über.
We ordered the Turkey Sandwich per the worker’s suggestion, some coffee, and a last-​minute Parfait. Boy did we make the right choices!
–The Turkey Sandwich was toasted to perfection, nice and crunchy with lots of smooth creamy avocado, alfalfa sprouts for a crisp, and meaty turkey in perfect proportions. Would highly suggest this. Also came with an Arugula salad that I didn’t really eat (salad for breakfast, pass)
–The parfait was definitely a highlight, my girlfriend was so amazed that there were persimmons in it, one of her favorites. The combination of fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, and honey was heavenly. She liked it so much we came back the next morning for another. One thing however is that the menu board said there was Chia Seeds but I didn’t really notice it.
–Also tried Chicken Empanadas, I liked them cause they were huge and the chicken and potatoes were filling but definitely the weakest out of the three things I had.
Overall; while I rarely go to cafes for food, I think this place has opened up my mind on the idea.

Mesón means Inn. There is nothing ‘Inn’y about the place. The café is clean. Walls are white and bare with the exception of one lonely unused nail in the middle. Floors are rustic. The tables offer a mixture of metal stacking chairs and backless wooden planks. Inns remind me of fireplaces, stone chimneys and cold weather; and this space looks like an unused art gallery.
All the vegetarian options are capital V vegetarian have some type of farm animal excrement in them. I mean excrement as in an egg and cheese kind of way, so I decided upon their vegan sandwich.
The vegan sandwich offers avocado, pepper, sprouts, tapenade, oil and perhaps balsamic with something that offered type of extremely mouth-​burning lemon-​y taste. Not sure what that was. It is about the size of a half-​sub at All About The Bread and half as packed with delightfully fresh vegetables. The vegetables made the bread taste slightly more stale in comparison, which threw me off. I am so used to a good sandwich being composed of very fresh bread and everything else secondary and forgettable, drizzled with lots and lots and lots of oil. I can believe that there is a farm on the roof and everything was freshly picked that morning.
The arugula salad here was either so bitterly fresh or freshly bitter that the purple jicama-​tasting thing almost looked deceptively sweet. (Oh, how it wasn’t!)
All in all, they are probably so considerate and gracious to their hens and cows that all of their eggs and cheese taste extra good with their bitterly fresh vegetables.
Unilocal check-​in deal deceptively must include a drink (doesn’t say that before checking in, only after) so I didn’t save 70¢.

First of all, I’m not a local but I was in Koreatown for a short stay. This café was just around the corner and my first visit was so pleasant I came back again on my last day in LA. It’s a very cozy and homey café with cute interiors.
Me and my boyfriend got the following:
Turkey sandwich — a must if you come here! The bread was well toasted with just the right amount of crunch. Meat was fresh and plentiful for the size of the sandwich. The avocados were delicious!
Yogurt parfait — delicious. Filled with seasonal fruits, mine had persimmon, apple, plum, and pineapple. You’ll find Greek yogurt and granola layered into this yummy treat, with honey drizzled to top it off.
Coffee — decent, comes in a big cute cup if you’re sitting in and free refills.
Vietnamese coffee — what makes this different is the condensed milk, and it was not too sweet which was good.
Chicken empanadas — comes in threes with pulled chicken and potatoes inside each pocket. Good but a bit dry, comes with spicy mayo on the side.
Service is attentive and very friendly!

This place is an awesome, low-​key/​high-​quality surprise. I just popped in for an hour to kill a bit of time and knock out some emails before a k-​town dinner. They fresh-​squeezed me what may have been the single best glass of orange juice I’ve ever had. I guess it’s the fructose talking, but I actually feel a little bit high. :-)
I’ll be back.

Came today for the first time, tried tuna salad, and love it! So satisfying and so delicious: D

YES! Was in the area and Unilocaled for a café and this little gem showed up. (and I’m stoked:)
I ordered a veggie sandwich. Avocado, alfalfa sprouts, radishes, olive tapenade, grilled orange peppers on a French baguette with a side salad of arugula and thinly sliced radishes in a lemon vinaigrette– that is most heavenly to the taste.
DELICIOUS.
The décor is «at home comfortable» and there are tables and bar seating provided.
I definitely will be returning again as the food quality and service is A+++

Found this place on accident and was a very happy accident! Fresh banquettes ham, cheese and Dijon with a side salad was worth a repeat for sure. My friend got the curry chicken with arugula and he was impressed. Iced and hot coffee were top notch and the owner was a total rock star.

TL;DR — I didn’t even get to try the food…
We walked in on a Saturday afternoon (around 3?) and I had my eyes set on the farrow bowl… unlucky for me. They were out. I didn’t want to sit there and watch my boyfriend eat since that was the only dish I wanted from their limited menu. There was no indication that the bowl was out (its a chalkboard menu, you could at least cross it out.) But what really sucked was that she didn’t suggest anything else. The girl just looked at me and kinda sarcastically asked, «well… do ya want anything else?»
After that awkwardly cold interaction, I actually apologized (for wanting an item they didn’t have?) and the just left. It was especially awkward because the shop was empty… but they were sold out. Maybe its the hanger-​y feelings talking… but I don’t feel like the customer service went the extra mile (to sell or to make us feel welcome).
Kinda want to go back, but kinda don’t. That bowl does look awfully appealing though…

Matutinamente siempre vengo ha disfrutar un delicioso desayuno saludable y disfruto un rico jugo de naranja orgánico acompañado con café colombiano que sabe riquísimo!

Adorable little unassuming place in Koreatown.
And exactly what koreatown needed besides only Korean food.
Their menu is short and sweet.
I tried the tuna sandwich with salad on the side and the green juice.
They make everything fresh and I loved all of it.
Can’t wait to try all of it.