Ladybug Organic Cafe

The Ladybug is officially closed as of July 2010. They have moved out and the store is empty.

I came to Ladybug a few days ago with a friend to have a somewhat serious talk over coffee. You know how coffee shops lighten the mood. :P Well I was pretty impressed with my experience! I had a white mocha, which was by far the BEST tasting mocha I had ever sipped. I also had bread and jam and it was pretty good as well! Didn’t care so much for the bread, but the buttery biscuit was INCREDIBLE! I love how clean this place is and the napkins that they use to wrap their silverware in. A bit spendy compared to some places, but everything is Organic, and you just can’t beat that…

When ordering a coffee, I don’t want the barista/​whatever they are to be on the phone. Y’know, that could lead them to mess up my order, plus it’s rude. I went back to get the correct coffee and it was OK, but really. If that phone call is that important, get someone else to take my order.

interesting menu items… rather tasty, but more importantly –
smoothest. latte. EVER.

Great neighborhood café. They have good food at reasonable prices. The service is friendly, although sometimes just a little on the slow side. I imagine if you said you were on a time frame they would accommodate you though.
The coffee is fair. It won’t knock your socks off but it’s not horrible either. It’s too bad it’s not better. It’s large and open with nice ambiance, they don’t have a staff that is too cool to interact with you, and they have good food.
The atmosphere is nice. They have a little ‘living room’ area with couches and chairs around a fire place. I love their napkins. It sounds silly, but they are wonderful. I believe the owner makes them… they feel nice and are really cute. It seems like a funny thing to notice, but it adds such a nice little touch IMO.

I’ll start with the coffee. I’m a bit of a coffee addict, which means I’ve sampled around. I love americanos since they really bring out the full flavor of the coffee. I would recommend you get something sweet and mixed, since it might taste better. My wife said she liked their Chai, and as teas go, it was superior to Starbucks, but the flavor of the coffee just wasn’t right. I’m not sure if it was the beans or the brew, but it didn’t come together for me.
The food is what has bumped up the joint from a two star in regards to coffee. I’ve sampled a bit of their menu so far and have liked everything I’ve tried. If your in the neighborhood and don’t want to wait a half-​hour or longer for a traditional breakfast place this could be your ticket. Just don’t expect 5 star service or the worlds best biscuits and gravy. It would be a good place to grab a bite or a cup of coffee if you don’t have time to wait.
The ambiance leaves a bit to be desired. It feels like a coffee shop that spent it’s life looking up to it’s older sibling the «funky diner with a sign-​in waiting list» and is now in those awkward teenage years trying to emulate that. The cups are Ikea (and I know since their Swedish cousins reside in my cupboard) but the napkins are funky reusable cloth. The folks who work there seem pretty genuine, which is nice to see in Portland (not too hipster), some are spacier than others however…
All in all, worth a trip to check it out for yourself, just don’t expect too much or you might be disappointed.

Service was nice. Really kind folks behind the bar.
Coffee was not so great.
The cookie I had was good and basic.
Wifi was a little non-​existent, but others were browsing. Guess it was just me.
Would maybe try this place again for their food, but most definitely not for a good cup of coffee. It’s just so necessary with something sweet! :D

I want to give this place 5 stars, but simply cannot.
This place has a great location, great space, comfortable seating, laid-​back atmosphere, free wifi, friendly staff, and delicious bagels. I read some other reviews that mentioned the bagels being bad, but those people must have got them at a bad time or something. The bagels have a prefect thin crunchy exterior and chewy interior. They are a bit small by east coast standards, but far better than other bagels that I have had in Portland.
The coffee, however, was another story. I agree with several other Unilocalers that point out that the coffee was just okay. And by «just okay» I mean that if this was the free coffee at the office, I would drink it. I will not be ordering it again though. I am not a big coffee snob, but theirs is just not good. The cashier told me the coffee is roasted in Seattle, and that the owner of Ladybug is friends with the roaster. This explains why they sell this sub-​par coffee in a city full of great options. Perhaps (since they have a local and sustainable focus) they should consider switching to St. John’s Coffee, which is roasted a few hundred feet away and is some of the best coffee in Portland. Anyway, bad coffee at a coffee house loses them two stars no matter how much I liked all other attributes of this place.

Here’s the skinny on the Ladybug. Don’t expect any type of resemblance of what you think of as «Service» at this fine coffee house. I can put it to you this way, the guy that took my order there was just so utterly stoned to the point that he was barely functioning enough to take my order and then bring the correct order to our table, wait no, he did bring someone else’s coffee first, but I swear it’s the only viable explanation for the very poor semblance of what might be considered «Service» and that is strictly by definition only.
Now that we got that out of the way, Ladybug Organic Café is one of the most beautiful, comfortable and pleasurable places I have ever just hung out and drank expensive coffee drinks. Hands down this place is wonderful to sit at and read, talk, or just watch the world go by through their lengthy walls of windows. It’s colorful & tastefully decorated plus they have a comfy sofa and plush chairs around a fireplace, let me tell you that rocks!
Truth be known, I have had better cappuccino and served with great service at many a coffee house but none of them came close to being as nice as this place décor-​wise. I wear my heart on my sleeve in this regard when I say I am a sucker for ambiance & décor. Yes I have touted the tenets of «Quality of Food, Service & Price» all being in equal balance, and so that is why they only get four stars. It’s a really nice place and if the décor alone cannot disarm any apprehensions you may have about having to deal with shitty service then move on to the next place which is probably directly across the street in this town because we sure do have a great variety of coffee houses don’t we?
Enjoy

Coffee is okay, atmosphere is nice, people are super nice, but the best thing about this café, the thing that keeps me coming back, are the chocolate cookies with sea salt. Not too chocolaty, just the right amount of coco, and really nice salt on the top. The cookie melts in your mouth. So good.
I’m sure other things are good too, the breakfast always looks amazing. Can’t help it though, I’ll probably only ever eat the chocolate cookie here.

This is one of the few coffee shops in Portland that actually does the whole ‘coffee shop lounge’ thing properly. Airy space, lots of comfy couches and chairs along with plenty of tables for singles, doubles, and groups alike. Decent music not playing too loudly, a huge stack of newspapers (with some helpful clippings taped to the windows) and a fantastic staff. Then they had to go and add deeeelicious coffee, teas and pastries, all of the organic variety.
To top it off? They do breakfast, and their homemade hot sauce is a sultry, smoky, incredible topper for eggs with biscuits and gravy. And yeah, Daniel Reed is spot on when he calls them the best biscuits + gravy EVER. period.
One note to those looking for the artificial in their beverages: you won’t find it here, so don’t ask. My friend came with me once and made the mistake of asking for a 16 ounce cappuccino with Splenda, and she got a mini lecture on why they could not make her what she wanted.
If you remember not to ask for the little pink/​yellow/​blue packets and you stick with ordering from their menu, this place is awesome.

Everything is on a grand scale here, including the large seating area in the front, the wide corridor and even the mammoth restrooms.
Lady Bug was mostly empty when I stopped here to get a three-​shot latte around noon. My latte was smooth and somewhat distinctive in flavor. It was packed with caffeine too.
I know that Lady Bug dedicated to «green» practices, which is highly cool, but the cup (containing recycled paper, I presume) they gave me emitted a mild cardboard/​Camas paper plant odor.
I almost ordered one of the peanut-​butter sticky buns from the display case, but after a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch earlier, decided to pass… but it did look so good!

Big sighs.
I haven’t been back to Ladybug in a while. It’s likely that I won’t go back ever. Why? They served me and my housemates inedible garbage. We ordered biscuits and gravy. Not charred lumps of dough covered in wrong sauce.
But things slip through proverbial cracks. And I’ll put up with some shitty damn food. (I’ve eaten at Yorgos, okay?) It’s how the staff at Ladybug chose to handle this sitch is what makes me facepalm.
We show the server our food and tell him that it’s. .. not right. Try this: Go out into your street right now. The next random person that walks by? Go up to them and start babbling about biscuits and gravy. That look they give you? Bewildered yet completely uninterested? That’s the look we got from the server. Mumbles something about telling the cook. Do we get more our order corrected? No. So we order more food. That we pay for. Cause we are still hungry. And then they promptly forget our order. YAY! No apologies. Nothing. The best part: The owner, who apparently requires her staff to write a fucking thesis to get hired is milling about the whole time and does NOTHING. Maybe you hire some people who know less about conjugating verbs and more about gravy, eh?
I’ll be spending my dollars where people actually give a crap.

Ohh Amado L. if I had only seen your review before I went.
I bought a Chinook Book and well this year I will use the coupons! So on our way out of town we decided to hit this place for some good old BOGO free coffee.
I love the idea of a wholely organic business with compost-​able take aways focusing on sustainability. The idea is great it’s the execution that is lacking. YUCK does not cover it! I require my food to be edible & coffee to be drinkable.
The lady that ignored me seemed to be the owner or manager what an effing B*TCH! Plz let me wait 5 min to order some coffee and premade danishes. When a lady from the back finally took pitty on me she had to wait for the effing Queen of Fricken Sheba, or whoever she thought she was, to make my coffee & ring it up. After listening to the effing lady berate the woman trying to help me I was told to «wait over there, I need to get to these people». … what the …
Alright lets get down to brass tacks hows the grub … We grabbed a cinnamon roll, bagel, hazelnut soy latte, & a drip coffee to go. First off the cinnamon roll was good, I wouldn’t crave it or anything but good. Now for the bagel, to be specific I did not ask for a day old or rotten or anything like that. I asked for an everything bagel plain no toast no noth’n. On top the flavor was great, and by on top i mean ~ when you lick it cuz you could NOT take a bite out of it! We tried several times throughout the day to eat it but no joy. Tried to give it to the birds NO DICE! Oh and the coffee I spat mine out it was SOOOOOO nasty — the drip wasn’t as bad I was told but not that good either.
I say stay away!

A fabulous little coffee place — obviously their eco-​organic credentials are top notch, but they don’t rest on their laurels — the service is great, they dealt gracefully with our huge unruly group moving their tables around, and the food was pretty tasty, although for my money they could stand to refresh their pastry selection, but that’s getting into the realms of nit-​picking.
Good job!

First time visit to this place and wasn’t too impressed. It took ten minutes to get my tea served. Meanwhile, five other people got their drinks before me. Apparently they steep it prior to serving it, but there’s no excuse for someone who came after me getting their tea first. They seemed to be slightly busy but not busy enough to make the coffee house employees confused and bewildered. Thank goodness I wasn’t dying of thirst.
The set-​up is nice enough but quite sterile. There was only one couch in the corner and it was as inviting as a room full of bees. They have a nifty fireplace but just enough seating for two people. It may be more romantic that way, but it has an adverse effect here. All the rest of the seating were bistro style. The large, open space would’ve been better served subdivided into multiple nooks and crannies. Instead, it felt cavernous and awkward.
And I don’t know what the hell was up with their wi-​fi. It stated I was connected, but I kept getting that dreaded error page whenever I opened any browser. After several tries of this, I packed things up and decided this environment was not worth sticking around to even just enjoy a cup of tea.
This place might be great for the Golden Girls/​Empty Nest crowd and the occasional displaced student. Other than that, there’s Anna Bananas down the street that offers more culture, better coffee/​tea, and more reliable wi-​fi connection.

My favorite café on Lombard. The owner is incredibly friendly and makes each customer truly feel welcome in the establishment. Ample seating and comfy sofas make it a perfect place to study, and free wi-​fi makes it a perfect place to procrastinate!
I’ve had a number of their soups and pastries, never to be disappointed. Each soup has been hearty, filling and delicious. My last treat was a delicious vegetable barley with a roll that was able to tide me over well into the night.
Oooh…I must mention their tea selections are fantastic! Over a dozen loose-​leafed teas to choose from make each visit unique. I highly recommend the twig tea. Take a whiff!
I haven’t tried their new weekend brunch yet but WILL very very soon!

Stilly my favorite coffee shop, with some new additions: did you know that the Ladybug is the first Green-​Listed business in Oregon? I think that’s pretty darn cool.
Also, the Ladybug has started serving breakfast! That’s right: breakfast 7 a.m. until noon on weekdays, and 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on weekends. The dishes I’ve had involved eggs done perfectly, crispy flavorful potatoes, and the best homemade (and organic!) biscuits I’ve ever had.
One issue only: brunch on weekends is very popular. Which means that one might wait a while for a table to free up (since there are usually half a dozen die-​hard campers using the wi-​fi and refusing to budge). C’mon, people! You can take your single cup o’ coffee on the road… those of us with plates full of breakfasty goodness, however, need to sit down!

I absolutely love Ladybug Café. The owner is one of the sweetest people and seriously cares about people and the community. They are so «Green» I go in just to get ideas on how to be a better Portlander. The pastries and foods are really unbelievable and taste like grandma made them. I live 4.5miles from there so we try and go as often as possible but I just want to encourage you that if you live in the neighborhood, check it out.
The only negative is the coffee is good but it’s not as good as some of the snobby coffee shops.

What in the magical hell is going on in St Johns? Is this a real place, or did i cross some threshold into magical-​time-​warp-​dream-​world? Am i really holding a .99 cent t-​shirt that says «pizza club»? What?
Say «peace-​out» to the wack starbucks across the street, and opt for a independent café so precious you could see your self moving in. The pocket pies are the pastries dreams are made of. Flaky, moist, sweet, light. It’s like eating an angel.
The coffee was awesome too, but i really had to focus on the pocket pie. It commanded my attention and respect. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m getting one tatooed on my chest. I want to put a picture of it in my locket.
I’m composing a symphony about it.
If I’ve convinced you to try one, do yourself a favor and buy two.