Lux Central

Lux is one of my favorite places to park and work for a few hours! I love ordering a coffee and breakfast or a pastry! Their baked goods are out of this world and they always have seasonal treats! Sometimes, i’ll meet a friend for one of their drinks by dialect (they literally make you a drink based on your favorite ingredients!). I have loved every drink that they have made for me! Their ingredients are so unique and fresh.
Lux has a super trendy/​cozy atmosphere and it is right near the light rail and heart of Downtown Phoenix. I know that i’ll be back soon to park and work for the morning/​afternoon or to catch up with a friend!

Great atmosphere. Great for after dinner location for a date, casual morning coffee, late night tea, you name it.
Always busy so can be noisy! Bring earphones if you want to get work done. So not a place to get-​to-​know-​each-​other for the first time kind of place.
But for beverages –great coffee, tea and fresh squeezed juices.
Awesome breakfast, especially the veg baked toast!
For how busy it is tonight, I still got my drink in a timely manner :) Wellness tea (almond milk) latte! Yum!

want the best coffee in town? how about the best cocktails? GO HERE!!! everything is pure greatness at this place. everything from the pastries to the steak dinner!

I love their selection but the place is super popular if you tend to prefer quiet cafes. Hard to find seating otherwise this place is excellent.

Traveled to Phoenix with my boyfriend and wanted to find a nice coffee spot to stop and relax a bit, so we found this establishment on Unilocal.
We both ordered a hot latte and they were tasty and I would come back for another. Unfortunately, it was rather busy and the music was SO LOUD. Next time, I will just order my coffee to go or go to Be Coffee to enjoy their quieter atmosphere instead.

Great «hidden» place!
My wife and I go to Lux every other weekend to get breakfast and coffee! They serve the best breakfast and lattes in downtown Phoenix in our opinion!
And even though we mostly go there for breakfast this week we stop by to eat dinner and what I had was amazing! A burger on an English muffin that was perfect. For dinner they always change the menu, but I wish they made that burger a constant in their menu!

Lux is the best

I live in the area and have been coming here for years (or at least used to). I tried really hard to like this place, but the staff treats the majority of their customers like they are lucky to be allowed in. They generally act like their customers aren’t cool enough for them to be worthy of their respect, and they would rather have customers take their money elsewhere. It’s infuriating to me as someone that worked in the service industry for years, and I had to stop coming here because of their general disdain for the customer. They would definitely rather be considered edgy than customer friendly. The quality of food and coffee is above average (especially their bakers) but their inconsistent menu is almost as annoying as their website, which is just further proof that their focus is more on appearance than substance.

If your in town must stop by and try their red velvet latte! Their interior is slightly strange to me. However they do have great coffees and pastries!

Delicious savories, and high quality coffee. I love the goods and the creativity that infuses their offerings. Take away even ¼ of the hipsters and posers that literally jam every nook and corner, and I will be a 5 star fan. I live 2 blocks away so I just take my treasures home, but some days I’d love to hang out there. Someday.

Come one, come all to lux for homemade baked goods, coffee, food, alcohol, people watching, music discovering, friend making, life purpose finding.
I’m kinda a food and coffee lover– as in everyday. The homemade baked goods here keep me guessing– the bakers here have passion.
And the coffee! Receiving a to go drink with the lid off is rare in this neck of the woods.
I used to patron lux in high school when it was next to pane bianco in one building. This place has evolved! Trust me it was outstanding then– but just coffee and baked goods!
I am fortunate to be walking distance to this awesome spot.

I love coming here! It’s just a chill place to do your homework and enjoy some good coffee and food. Always my go to spot. A little crowded sometimes, but if you come at the right time, it’s super chill and I enjoy it!

Love love love love their vanilla latte. It’s the best latte I’ve ever had in my life!

Great latte and pleasantly suprising breakfast foods! We had biscuits and gravy and thick bacon, scrambled eggs with garden hash. Perfectly delicious! It was super busy, but it flowed well! We would come here again!

Sure its hip but they have great coffee and tea as well. Tried their eggs with salsa on a bed of hash which was delicious. Substituted the bacon for fresh guac. Plenty of nooks and crannies to seat your fanny. Great place to catch up on work while enjoying great food and drinks. Becoming my favorite coffee shop in Phoenix.

What a fun spot! The coffee is delicious, and the desserts are huge. I was there at night and saw a few dinners (steak with vegetables) walk by — they looked and smelled great. They also have a bar! It’s the perfect spot for a wide variety of tastes.
Finding seating may be an issue, so good luck!

A hidden gem! Love their coffee their lattes are well made along with their ice teas. I recommend trying out their mac n cheese it cheese galore! Their pastries are really good I’ve tried their apple pie, cherry pie, croissants, and maple donuts. SUPER TASTY! This coffee shop also has a bar yes a bar that serves alcohol! From what I hear their cocktails are to die for! I haven’t had a chance to try one yet, but when I do I will definitely come to let you know if it’s true! The deco in this shop is very unique very urban industrial with a twist of vintage. Love it! The staff is super friendly. The 2 downsides of this place is 1 the menu as sometimes I find it hard to look at and read as it is posted on computer paper I don’t know if they do have other menus anywhere else though. And 2 how extremely busy they get, which is a good thing for the business side of it. It’s just a tad bit overwhelming specially when you’re an indecisive person as i am. Overall I love lux and I highly recommend it!

I believe this is the best coffee in Phoenix. It has a cool vibe and I liked the coffee a lot. It was hard to find but once we did, we knew we were there. Other reviews are accurate that this place is hipster. It reminds me of Dunn Bros in St. Paul, MN. If I lived in Phoenix, I’d probably want to hang out here. I found the staff incredibly rude and had two of them tell me to get out of the way. It could have been a bad day for them but it soured my experience. The folks hanging out looked cool and I loved my latte. My bf enjoyed his regular coffee too. I asked what kind they have and they said, «light» and «dark» roasts. I was looking for a country or some other identifier but never feel like fussing too much. I’m not sure if I’d give it another chance on my next swing through town.

I like this place because it has free wifi and there seems to be always a space to sit down. If I’m in central Phoenix, this is my go to spot.
Coffee is refreshing and the food’s pretty good to. I got the Steelcut Oatmeal and they didn’t skip out on the Pecans like most people do.
The ambiance of this place is very comfy and there always seems to be a cast of interesting characters wandering around. People in general like to share space or make room for you.
Hit or miss on the servers coming and picking up stuff. Also hit or miss on the servers telling you when your order is ready.

I definitely need to revisit this place. It was extremely busy and seemed to be the hangout spot. Across the room there was a full bar that looked like they also made fresh juices or smoothies. The pastries looked great and the chocolate chip cookies were great. I was a bit disappointed because they were out of cold brew!!! I settled for an iced chai that was really lacking chai flavor. It tasted like a glass of milk that someone accidentally dropped a bit of chai into. The baristas/​servers were friendly enough but did not show much patience or personality while I considered my cold brew replacement. If I’m ever in the area again, I’d love to give Lux a second try.

I met my husband here, so I’m a little biased :)
… But that’s exactly why I love Lux so much. It’s very communal, chill and friendly which makes it a great place to meet cool people. When I first moved here three years ago, I didn’t know a soul. So I used to go sit at Lux with my laptop every night. Despite being super shy, I’d always get chatted up by at least one person (many were cute dudes trying to hit on me, but also lots of lovely platonic friend-​types, too). You won’t find a more diverse mix of interesting people on a weeknight.
My Lux ritual helped me make friends, learn about PHX & break out of my shell.
Also: the lattes and baked goods are bomb diggity awesome. And though you wouldn’t necessarily expect to get great eats at a coffee house, dinner is AMAZING too.
Thank you Lux for feeding me, entertaining me & helping me get hitched. XOXO

We came here on Saturday night around 8pm for dinner with a large group of friends (10+). There was a long wait on the coffee side, but you can also order food and drinks at the bar side. We really wanted to try the Yorkshire pudding burger but they were out! Instead I ordered a brown rice dish with chicken and vegetables, jalapeño bacon mac & cheese, and a squash soup. Even though there were about 10 of us, we were able to find a spot on one of the benches.
The interior design was really trendy, hipster and retro. It was as though I was in someone’s basement. The table was adorned with baskets of oranges and functional old-​school type writers. You can also sit at these chairs with tables stacked with books. A very unique vibe. It reminded me much of Valley Bar.
The food came out fairly quickly. I ordered way too much food, but it was really tasty and delicious like comfort food. Everyone that works here is super friendly which is a huge bonus. I also enjoyed watching the cooks prepare their food right in front of everyone. Totally candid, unfiltered.

Lux was pretty hard to find at night. The place isn’t well lit from the outside and I could not find any large signs to locate this place easily. The parking lot is small and is located at he back so you’ll be entering through the back. There are two fairly large dips going from the street to the parking and back to the street so lowered cars should park on the street. It was even hard to clear with a standard car going at parking speed.
The place was packed with lots of students when I visited. There were no empty tables or seats. The line for drinks was about 6 ppl deep but it moved fast. This place serves a wide variety of food and drinks from coffee to wine and from cakes/​pastries to cooked meals. This place is a one stop wonder. Get your breakfast lunch or dinner at the same spot. The handcrafted coffee drinks selection is bigger than many places so you get lots of interesting choices. I had the velvet latte drink in a large size. I love the fact that you can pick larger sizes for a little bit more as opposed to other shops who don’t give you that option. The velvet was fairly sweet tasting. I think it’ll be better with a little less sweetness or probably an additional shot in this drink would do the trick. The drink tasted ok, not among the best lattes I’ve had but it was good enough.
3 stars for the drink, 1 star for parking, 5 stars for a wide variety of offerings, and 5 stars for opening real real late. No other places gives you high quality coffee at midnight. Overall 4 stars.

Coffee is very good as well as the baked goods. Their vegan products are great. I’m not vegan nor need to eat vegan. The stuff is just that good.
Atmosphere is not desired by myself. Very crowded and it’s a community sharing type of environment. Nothing wrong with that, I’m just more of a «need my own space» kind of guy. So I just stop by for coffee and leave the hangs to everyone else.

I used to work in walking distance to Lux so I’d frequent it often to grab my morning coffee. Mornings are insanely busy there and sometimes the line would be long but they keep it moving. I’ve only had a few of the bakery items and they don’t disappoint. A bit on the pricey side but still worth a try.
Other Unilocalers have mentioned this place being «hipster» and yes, it’s soooooooooooo hipster — it’s intimidating. Like I said, I have frequented Lux, almost daily, yet they have not offered me a «punch card» — the only reason I knew about it was a co-​worker told me about it (buy 10, get 1 free, or something along those lines). Kinda bummed me out cause I like saving money and I’ve been a frequent customer… I also order the exact same drink every time yet they don’t remember nor do they remember my name (or how to spell it correctly) — which is cool, I get that they aren’t mind readers or are supposed to remember who you are or whatevers but still, maybe more customer engagement would be nice. Just sayin’.

I am upgrading my review of this place after having a caramel latte that was excellent and finding a pink leather couch. Not hot pink, but the color pink of the Caddies that Mary Kay «winners» drove back in the day.
On top of that, the baristas are really nice even if they might be laughing internally, they never let their emotions be seen on their faces, just genuinely sincere baristas.

Perfect place to launch into the workday morning! I would totally pass this place up if it wasn’t for the Unilocal Universe and raves from Cheryl B., thanks, woman! Located opposite Central High, and a bit tricky to get to, but worth the effort.
My dear daughter and I would meet for coffee a few times a month, closer to home, but NOW, we meet more often and drive further just to enjoy the ambiance and perfectly brewed Joe! We usually arrive soon after they open, which we’ve learned, beats the morning rush between 7:15 and 7:45.
The morning goodies, from what I gather, are made fresh on site and worth sampling every muffin, cake, scone or pastry! Its hard to decide what to order, unless the cranberry orange muffins are available. Not a big frappé or latte drinker, so I get the dark roast house brew in a to-​go cup, so when we leave, it’s easier getting our refill on the run out the door… don’t be shy, just belly up to the front o the line and the great staff will take care of ya!
And remember their tip, they deserve it!
We sit way in the back, past the restrooms, where it’s a bit more conducive to conversation and very comfy couches. A great place to study, or get a bit of work done, too… free Wi-​Fi. This is our hang out for Father Daughter time, thanks, Cheryl B., and LUX!!.

Adore.