Coffee Cartel

I want to like this place. I really do. My inner «hippy earth child» loves the idea of a warm cup of chai, sitting in a cozy chair and tuning the yellowed pages of a much loved hand-​me-​down book.
I’ve been here at least 6 or 7 times now, hoping to experience that «ahhhh» that comes with an independent funky little coffee shop, but instead, I leave feeling like «ewwww.» Seriously, you need a shower after sitting inside here.
First of all, fabric couches and coffee shops don’t mix. Especially couches that are older than you are. They are stained, lumpy, and gross. I wouldn’t sit on them before (opted for a wooden chair — at least I could wipe it down), and with all the bed bug reports, you couldn’t pay me to sit on one now.
The vases have trash stuffed inside from God knows when. Dead bugs in the window sills. Cobwebs in all the corners. Dust. Tons of dust. There are these things called dust mops, maybe someone should give the staff one. Tables are often sticky. And the couches? Oh, I already mentioned those? Too bad, they deserve a second mention. The couches are gross.
What’s good? The chai. They make a nice spicy chai tea. That’s all I can say for it.
It’s a shame that this funky little coffee place hasn’t figured out how to take the «dirty» out of hippie. If they could clean it up it’d be a wonderful hidden gem. But as it is? Just avoid it and go elsewhere.

Not bad at all. There’s tons of words to describe the place… like strange, odd, weird, eclectic, funky, interesting, creepy, nostalgic, peculiar… but bad or unworthy are not proper adjectives.
The line was a bit long on a Sunday around 11am. But it was mitigated quickly. You get to whittle the time away waiting for coffee by looking at weird stuff on the walls, and a mish-​mash of odds and ends and curiously placed «art» pieces. Like a couple antique pieced-​together «robots,» or a life-​sized poster of Boba Fett. Yeah, strange stuff like that.
The almond milk latte I got was pretty good… nothing too special, but was made to my liking.
There’s tons of old couches and seating areas to work, gather, or just take a load off.
If you enter by the seating area entrance note that that side of the patio allows smoking (?!?) I didn’t know that even allowed anymore in CA, but if you want to avoid smoke, choose the coffee bar door entrance.
The people working there are nice, answer questions, and seem to have their collective shit together.
No real complaints… in, ordered, out with coffee, and on to the rest of my day.
I’ll be back.

Great spot to read and write. This place has been here for years and maintained its original counter-​surf-​literarti vibe throughout. However, it is dated. An ode to an older time when coffee shops were for the unique and hasn’t updated its service, offerings, and certainly not its furniture to keep with the growing coffee lounge scene that provides coffee and space that inspires creativity and productivity for all.

What kinda place sells coffee for $ 3 and has a $ 5 min for debt cards? Ever heard of Starbucks?

love the place… vintagy and cool… the coffee is really good, i got a short latte with almond milk. i like the décor and the looks of it. oyee…perfecto

Delicious coffee. I’ve been coming here since high school and I’m 30 now. Every time I come home I make a point to visit. I love the used books, the lax décor, the fish tank, and the community feel of the place.

A very interesting, pleasant place! Nice and spacious, with lots of couches and couchy chairs. It has a homey, cozy feel to it. There was also a Filipino band playing beautiful music one time that I came here on a Saturday night. It’s pleasant overall, and a nice place to get work done.

I’ve been here now 3 times as of tonight. The coffee is great, always interesting blends. The pastries are ok. Had the apple crumble pastry, meh.
My only complaint is the people who work here. Every time I’ve been the cashier (different every time I’ve been here) always acts as though it’s an extreme inconvenience to take my order.
Keep your coffee the same. Offer warm pastries and for goodness sake hire some people with some social skills.

Not the cleanest place because there are a lot of old crusty couches on the inside. It feels like a thrift store.
So I prefer to sit outside which was very nice. Image matcha green tea latte ordered was great! Drank it fast!

It was my first visit to the café and I ordered the kona mocha frappé. Sweet and cold, it was perfect for a hot summer day. The space is large as cafes come; there’s plenty of seating that comes in an odd assortment of arm chairs, sofas and stools. While I saw some people working, I think it would be a difficult place to concentrate as there was a lot of conversational noise around. Other than that, the décor is that of a vintage store and there are books and board games available for use.

Nice local café in the Riviera Village section of Redondo Beach (south end of Redondo Beach bordering Torrance and Palos Verdes).
Good alternative to your commercial chains (e.g., Starbucks and Coffee Bean, both of which are nearby). Coffee drinks are good, made with care, and the snacks have a similar homey, hands-​on feel (e.g., mini carrot cake muffins and lemon tarts).
Indoor seating is a mix of regular tables and chairs plus sofas and coffee tables (think a slightly more used version of Central Perks from the Friends sitcom), with various books and board games scattered about. Outdoor seating is limited to small tables and chairs.
There’s a small lot for parking, but ample metered parking.

Got the Kona Mocha Frappé. It’s a good frappé, a little watery though.
The drinks here are pretty standard. I think what makes this a good spot is the vibe. There’s a lot of space, a lot of books, a lot of comfortable coaches to hang out, & lots of cool people to talk to, play music with, etc. The baristas are cool too. The lighting is nice & there’s a lot of natural lighting with huge windows.

The man who made my specialty drink really knew what he was doing. I asked him what his personal favorite was and in two seconds he responded with his favorite. He also reassured that the drink he wanted me to have was the best. And indeed the drink was delicious. He even said he would make me a different one if it wasn’t to my liking.
The seating situation is probably the best around. Comfortable chairs and couches with electrical outlets. Great place to go study if you can find a good seat (although there are a bunch of seats it can still fill up on the weekends).
Overall, I would recommend this coffee shop to everyone. Definitely my go-​to coffee shop for studying when I’m in town.

Drinks are very good. For a hot drink, I always get the White Mocha Bianca. For a cold drink, I get the Kona Coffee Frap. They have hot cider, which I would like to try but never got around to it. They also have boba drinks on their menu, but don’t know if they’re any good. I’m very picky with boba so I never bothered.
There are only a few treats but none have ever really stood out to me. There are muffins, croissants, cronuts, etc. and even some candy bars, like Snickers, Almond Joy, Twix, etc.
I personally don’t like sitting on the couches. They are a bit dingy and don’t feel very clean. Outside, people are usually smoking cigarettes and vapes during the evening so beware.
I’ve come here on several occasions to get some homework done. Ask staff for WiFi code as it changes every time. But I think it’s a better place to sit with friends to talk and catch up.
Staff is friendly but can be a little weird, almost socially awkward. One worker assumed my mother didn’t speak English just because I ordered for her, and asked her if she wanted whipped cream by imitating the sound of whipped cream coming out of the bottle. I didn’t appreciate that at all, jerk. I hope he felt stupid when she responded in perfect English.
Parking lot is small. Metered parking is available. Parking is free at meters after 6pm.

To make this simple, here’s a pros & cons list.
Pros:
1) Comfortable/​homey atmosphere.
2) Decent drinks. (Not good coffee though.)
3) Decent/​good parking.
4) Mini library with interesting finds and interesting décor. Great for photographs.
5) Open late. Good place to end a long day with a drink and conversation.
Cons:
1) Encountered some rude staff. I’ve had multiple experiences where employees have sighed their way through orders, or was having a full blown conversation with another barista while I’m making my order. I’ve been here multiple times and I’ve had okay experiences with some (smiles on their faces, actually taking my order), but theres always this guy who always has a «too-cool-for-school”/“I-knew-that-band-before-anyone-else-did» attitude. You can just imagine my face after hearing the way he would respond to me lmao. I’m sure there are other employees at the café who are great, maybe I just got unlucky the times I’ve went.
2) As «homey» as this place is, everything seems a little worn in and dusty. I’m not one to mind that much but I can see many people being put off by that. Everything seems a little ancient. I’ve read some reviews about bed bugs? Not cute.
Am I going to come back?
Maybe. Never the first choice though.

I first heard of Coffee Cartel about 6 years ago from a couple people that I met in school. Fast forward 6 years and I finally tried it out. I thought it was pretty funny since I’ve been in the area a couple times before to get food or dessert, but I never saw this place.
For some reason I was expecting a small little coffee shop with just a couple tables so I was pretty shocked when I saw that this place was pretty large. The inside had plenty of seating with your choice of chairs or couches. They also had a decent amount of outdoor seating. You can seriously fit about 50 people in this place. I really liked how they had several different board games and a portion of the wall was covered with books. This place just had that neighborhood coffee shop feel to it.
/​/​DRINKS /​/​
White mocha: I thought the flavor was pretty good. It wasn’t too sweet like the white mocha from Starbucks so I enjoyed that part.
I forgot the name of the other drink, but it was basically like a hot chocolate with shots of espresso in it. The drink has a really strong flavor to it, but I did enjoy it a lot.
Overall, I liked the feel and the drinks from Coffee Cartel. It’s slightly out of the way for me so I wouldn’t come here too often, but I will definitely be back if I’m in the area.

Coffee cartel is the bomb!
Good energy good drinks and good people. They have great coffee and are willing to make u whatever you want.

I am always in search of hipster coffee shops. Ths is definitely my go to place for a coffee fix, hangout with friends, and studying. I have been coming to Coffee Cartel for about 6 years. I repeatedly see the same faces here. Most people come here to do work, study, or just hang out. It’s definitely a pretty quiet ambience during the day. The service is great the people are very friendly, though I give it four stars because I wish it was a little bit cleaner. For example, in one of their decorative large vases near the couch, people have thrown their trash inside and it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned out. I know it’s not to the fault of the people who work there, but still.
Their boba is very fresh and very soft and chewy.
If you want a light-​sweet tasting, cold, espresso fix I recommend getting the morning hammer. It tastes amazing with cinnamon and honey and nutmeg, you can’t go wrong with it!
Or if you are a chai fanatic like me, I would recommend their Mojave Chai which is ½ Chai and ½ Coffee.
Their teas are about $ 2 with free hot water refills.
Also, they accept credit card, but minimum of $ 5 or you pay cash. They also have a rewards card where you use your credit card to put money on the reward card and earn points on it while also being able to not use cash.
You have to be a paying customer to use the wifi. They have a lot of books on bookshelves for anyone to read. I have managed to pick out a few books for myself while here. There is outdoor seating where people smoke and have their dogs. The only problem is that there is about 10 parking spots. If you come after 6pm the meter parking in Redondo is free. Or, what I do sometimes, is park in the residential area where there are no meters.
This place has about 7 tables, but a lot of couches with coffee tables.
Every Tuesday night, they have a poetry night. The first Saturday of every month they have Jazz night, which I highly recommend to those who like listening to Jazz.
Also, I know this sounds weird, but definitely check out the bathroom. There is a lot of art and quotes inside. Go get inspired. :)
Sometimes I bring a friend here for a drink and we walk over to Redondo Beach to just hang out. Each friend I have brought have all liked Coffee Cartel as much as I have. :)

ok I tried REALLY hard to forgive this place. I love the atmosphere, the group it attracts, almost everything about it. I even brushed off the bedbug incident over the summer, not letting it tarnish the reputation of this place. However, this was the last straw. I ordered some madeleine cookies today and I found bugs living inside the cookies. INSIDE. I don’t think I can comfortably eat here anymore. That is disgusting. That is actually revolting. I can’t actually think of anything more terrifying than discovering the existence of a parasitic relationship between a cookie I paid for and a small insect.
ALSO, there was a man harassing another woman inside and noticing staff did NOTHING.
nice!

Stopped in here for some much needed coffee and was not disappointed.
I had some plain coffee, and at the counter there’s a nice little display of what types of regular brews they had made up. All of which were organized by strength. A small touch, I know, but a very nice one. I enjoyed a medium strength Guatemala Antigua roast and it certainly did the trick.
My girlfriend tried one of the specialty cappuccinos called the «Clovamochaccino.» Which was very kind to her sweet tooth.
The staff was a little offbeat, but VERY friendly. The prices were also incredibly reasonable. Under $ 2 for a big coffee and under $ 4 for a specialty drink? That’s pretty crazy low for this city.
Also, this place is great for relaxing, reading, and getting some work done on your laptop. Nice little tables, overstuffed furniture, and plenty of books and cool décor made us feel right at home.
Overall, it’s just a great café in a great section of town. Can’t sing it’s praises enough. Will definitely be back!