The Novel Cafe

Same cozy location now called «212 Pier Café»… see link:

this was my second home. and now it’s gone :(
i worked here for on and off 5 years. it was my safe haven, and i made a family here.
definitely a locals spot, that catered to all the main st neighbors, but always welcomed guests as well.
i would know everyone coming in and would know exactly what they wanted. plus they became my soulmates. i would walk down the speedway or the boardwalk and see my patrons and they would all greet me with a hug.
sad that this place is gone, but it will always be alive within me :)

Docked four stars for no longer existing.
Replaced by 212 Pier, which does not yet exist but apparently soon will.

It’s a sprawling, rambling coffee shop splayed out over two stories and several rooms. A nice place to settle in with your laptop and be productive. And you can actually work a full day here uninterrupted because of the halfway-​decent food menu.
Some drawbacks are that the temperature can get uncomfortable with the heat of the kitchen and the afternoon sun coming in through the front windows. The kitchen also can get brutal when they’re frying onion or bacon and the perfume becomes eye-​wateringly overpowering.
Otherwise, the coffee is decent and the staff is always straightforwardly helpful. The books are fun to browse through and the tables against the bookshelves in the second room on the forund floor are generally the most pleasant…

If you like your coffee average, your food prepackaged and microwaved, and flies buzzing all around you and your food while you eat, you will love this place.
If you like shelves lined with books rejected from the library donation counter, if you want to peruse the old instruction manual for HyperCard or read the latest self published manifesto by some local street ranter, if you want to try relaxing with your coffee surrounded by people talking loudly about themselves, you will love this place.
If you like to be helped by rude employees with superiority complexes, have your order forgotten and never served, then sit and eat among customers with missing teeth and puffy all-​weather jackets faded from years of sleeping on the Venice boardwalk, you will love this place.
If you like to surround yourself with unemployed writers sitting at their laptops in the coffee shop only to reveal, with a peek over their shoulder, a YouTube video or computer game, you will love this place.
If you like to pay to use a coffee shop’s wi-​fi, you will love this place.
If you like your coffee shops muggy and humid and with no AC, you will love this place.
If you like your coffee shop restrooms to leave you with the feeling of having bathed in a homeless man’s toilet, you will love this place.
And finally, if you like to walk away from having a coffee with the feeling that you now require a shower from the dust, flies, humidity, and clientele of the place, you will absolutely LOVE the Novel Café!

This vividly reminds me of the literature-​strewn coffeehouses of my undergrad days. The food is organic & fresh, the coffee is served in thick, ceramic cups, and the entire place is absolutely swimming in old books.
A haven for the those who love to read.

Okay, I went back to this place two more times since my first visit two days ago. It seems to have some magical power that makes me study a lot more efficiently. I used to hate to study at any coffee shops, but I love to study here. At night, it gets really crowded. I was surprised that I had a hard time to find a table at 10pm.
Some updates and stuff I got here:
1. Large Regular Coffee: Less than $ 2. Not bad, can’t complain.
2. Tea: $ 1.99 It has a wide selection. Although it uses tea bags, but the tea is not bad. Great Deal.
3. Breakfast Burrito: $ 6.00 (I think) Disappointing. Only comes with egg and beans. I thought it would have sausage or some meat in it. =(
4. Breakfast Sandwich: $ 7.00. I like it better than the burrito, but still, it’s only okay. It came with strawberries and some mystery fruits.
5. Wi-​Fi: NOT FREE. If it were free, I would give it 5 stars. It’s $ 2.99/hour or $ 6.99 (not sure) for the whole day. You can also get a 30-​day pass for $ 29.99.
Overall, it’s a great place to study and hang out. I saw people playing chess, writing books (i think that’s what they are doing), and drawing last night. Pretty cool!
Hours: 7am-​Midnight (Not 100% Sure, but that’s the hour for the past couple days)

This is a fantastic hideaway for a good afternoon of reading. The laid back atmosphere is conducive to my studying and it is very relaxing whenever I needed to take a break. I love going there on Saturday nights and Sundays. There’s plenty of foot traffic but the noise level is minimal. I like their pita and hummus and their BLT sandwiches look and smell very appealing. As for drinks, I like their tea list and their vanilla chai latte, americano, and soy latte. Service is always friendly and down to earth. Aside from the beaches, this is one of the few bright spots in Santa Monica where the diverse and inclusive environment gives everyone a genuine sense of peace and belonging.
Unlike their Westwood location, there’s no free wifi. Otherwise this is a 5-​star café for sure.

EXACTLY what I was looking for. (sigh) I moved to Santa Monica recently from Chicago, and have been looking for a laid-​back, non-​corporate coffee shop where I could come and work when I didn’t go into the office. I hadn’t had much luck… until I found this place.
Tall ceilings, chill people, stacks of books, abundance of outlets to plug into, relaxing music (read: NOT musak or soft rock, reggae is playing right now) friendly staff… Sergio was behind the counter and introduced himself when I said I was new to the area. The food looks great, but haven’t tried it yet. I have a feeling, though, that I may become a regular…
YAY!!!

The differences between the Novel Cafes are remarkable. Not to generalize, but Westwood is for the young professional, Ocean Park is for the yuppie, and Main Street is for the Santa Monica-​style hippies and bohemians who think they’re intellectuals because they’ve heard of Jack Kerouac. It’s definitely a lot more relaxed than the other two (combined, probably). The bookshelves are filled with books that were probably left behind by said «intellectuals» (John Grisham, Dan Brown, etc.). I guess they left them behind for a reason.
Each location has a different menu. At this location, they serve oatmeal with apples and raisins. Delicious, in theory, and also the reason why I stopped in here, but the oatmeal actually doesn’t really taste like anything. The coffee is less than decent. And since when do I have to pay for meter parking on Sundays? I know that’s not Novel Café’s fault, but you know how it is.

What an awesome little coffee joint! This place rocks! I’m surprised that I’m already giving five stars to a place that I haven’t even tasted the drinks of yet. But this place is fantastic. My friend and I went there around elevin lastnight to study and it was such a peaceful enviornment. There is a great little section upstairs for people to mingle and discuss whatever, and just a place to be hidden from the stress and craziness of reality. It’s like walking into a book, or something described in a book. Once you go up stairs, you forget you’re even in a coffee shop. There are shevles and shelves of books up there and you can just pull them down and read which ever one you want. The lighting is also very dim, and relaxing. The only downside, is the fact that you might fall asleep once you get there, but that’s great for me! I love sleeping!
The ouside of the place just seems like a small little one-​floor coffee shop, but once you go inside, it’s like someone’s house! It’s great! It’s also very underground and all. It’s a great place to explore. I would love to go there again and try the drinks this time. Plan to see me there often! hehehe

My favorite finds were
The Final Exam: if you fail… you’ll just die! (a horror novel for pre-​teens, of course)
and an intense game of checkers.
My Masala Chai was amazing, as well.
if i ever find myself stranded on Main street, this is my number 1 timekilling destination.
i could drown myself in these books for hours and hours, and still have the internet (they have a couple of computers) to fall back on. and eating… as well. i saw a banana cheesecake in there, and it looked more real than any cheesecake i’ve seen. deliciously real.

Great place to get work done in… BUT WHY MUST IT ALWAYS REEK OF BACON IN THERE? Seriously, that smell penetrates my clothes.
Four stars if it didn’t smell like fried pig — as is, it only gets 3.

I will echo what other Unilocalers have said before me… It’s a good place to work, although it sucks that there isn’t free wifi. It can get really hot and stuffy upstairs. And the crazy Santa Monica people are occasionally bothersome.
Other than these minor complaints, The Novel Café would get EIGHT STARS based on my rating system below. I think I have found my new favorite café! Which is incredible since I was looking at my Unilocal reviews the other day and I’ve reviewed something like 20 cafes in Los Angeles. Christ, it took me long enough…
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I’m a writer who has trouble working in her own home. In my quest for the perfect coffee shop, I have devised my own star rating system for the shops I review on this site. Each attribute below is worth one star, which makes it possible for a shop to lack desirable attributes yet still receive a perfect Unilocal rating. Anything with a perfect Unilocal rating is a place in which I am happy to sit for hours on end.
* well lit
* cozy atmosphere with comfortable seating
* wifi (free or not)
* open late
* serves loose leaf tea
* variety of affordable food and beverages
* interesting people-​watching, whether it be out the window or in the shop
* not too crowded (I hardly ever go on the weekends because I know the odds would be against me)
I understand that my rating system is unique to my own needs but hopefully I will be able to highlight qualities that others may be interested in.

After coming here for the first time a few days ago, I now understand why the overall Unilocal rating for the one in Westwood cannot even compare. This is the real café deal. It’s old, rusty, funky smelling, and I love it. This café totally resembles an old bookstore, and even has some old typewriters sitting on top of a few of the bookshelves. There are two wings, lots of tables to study at, and no A/​C, only fans. All in all a great place to read or study.
In terms of the food they serve here, I’ve only had their lemon bar, which kind of tasted like cleaning products. Having glanced at the other Unilocal reviews for this place, however, I’m determined to try their coffee and other assorted pastries.

I spent a lot of time here while studying for the bar exam, but I still think it’s a great spot aside from that one bad association. The lattes and pastries are tasty and their sandwiches are good if you’re really craving some sustenance after 4 hours of staring at mostly useless California law. Definitely one of my favorite places in the Venice/​Santa Monica area to get some work done.
So why the three stars you ask? Minus one because it stinks of bacon, I mean reeks. I leave there smelling like fried pig, inevitable because of the small digs, but I’m not especially fond of stinking like pork. And the other star is deducted for no free internet! I’m not a fan of those pay-​per-​hour services that some cafes use… just one of my selfish prerequisites for the makings of a good café.

Very nice atmosphere with bookshelves filled with old books covering all the walls around you. They have upstairs seatings with more books!!! I LOVE IT!!! Something about being surrounded by old books makes me feel relaxed and at ease.
The place is small, cozy, and warm. Too bad they don’t offer any couches and sofas, but if they did, nobody will ever leave this place and that’s just not the way to carry the business, I guess…
They offer various tea and coffee, as well as some easy café type of food and pastries. The perfect place for having afternoon snacks with your good friends and catch up. Minus one star for their mocha tasting like hot chocolate. (Where is caffeine???)

This is another place I’ve spent many hours with my nose in books or behind a computer screen, with my big headphones on. This is another great place because of the people who work there and hang out there. I’ve made a few friends here. The food is good, the tea is good, the lattes are good, the cheap coffee is not worth the money you put into it. The pastries and deserts are nice, and exceedingly tempting, but luckily expensive, so I’m deterred.
The things I don’t like about this place: paying for internet and the dirty bathrooms. People: flush the toilet, and aim at the toilet! Booh to paying for internet! Booh! Oh yeah, parking is tough.

Do you like to eat at the library and you’re tired of hiding your food and water behind books?
Then you should check out this café. The interior reminds my of a library, but its filled with the smell of coffee, tea, and yummy food.
This spot is laid back like Berkeley, but in santa monica. This is a great place to hide away and study. the people that work there are real nice.
BUT, the bathroom needs some fixing up — that’s the berkeley part too.

So I needed a new place to hangout and write in Santa Monica. I thought I would end up in at least a week long search to find the perfect place. The one place I could be comfortable in, order some Mateo Friendly Food, and grab a mocha to-​go on my way out. I found this place on my first day out.
Today I ordered some food and it was so good. Very fresh and well made. Someone took there time. The girl taking my order was very friendly and the place was clean as well. Some cool jazz music was playing, but I still opted for my iTunes.
Best part about my day was that I spent almost three hours there and not once did I sense that I was taking tables away from new paying customers. There seemed to be plenty of space for everyone. Inside, outside and upstairs.
Two drawbacks that don’t really bother me — CASH ONLY and Meter Parking Only — Bring some quarters if you plan on staying long.
The dessert display looked great also. And they serve Breakfast!
I should be here everyday I can find a spot. I hope this doesn’t jinx me XXXX