L A Cafe

L A Café is a great place to eat. The food is fabulous and very reasonably priced. It is always very fresh. It is not a fast food restaurant so it takes longer. Well worth any wait. Service has been excellent each time I have dined there. Highly recommend if you like good food!

I went here for the first time today after hearing about so many people raving about it. I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes, along with a sugar cookie latte. my boyfriend got the farmers aid «scromlette» with a chai gingerbread coffee. Our waitress was awesome. The food and the coffee was excellent. The restaurant has a very «hippie» vibe and has tons of knick knacks scattered around available for purchase. Overall, my boyfriend and I were very impressed with our first time eating here and will be happily returning very soon!

This place is very different but in a good way. My daughter took me here and by the looks of it would have never guessed that they sure great food. Thought it was just another coffee joint. In which they do sure coffee and very good coffee at that. Different flavor you will not see anywhere else.
As food its very cali how they put organic and fresh ingredients. My suggestion is the chicken quesadilla.

I love LA Café. The food is unique and refreshing. An omelette with avocado and bean sprouts mmmmmm. I usually go for breakfast and enjoy every meal. The environment is cozy and friendly. I would go more often except the locations is not great for me. I have taken company here to enjoy. I have not had as much experience with the lunch but will have to give it a try.

They either make their hot chocolate with water, or watered-​down skim milk. Either way, when one desires a hot chocolate one expects something smooth, chocolatey, and creamy. Not Swiss Miss with whipped cream.
I don’t know, maybe the guy that made it was pissed that I only put my coins in his tip jar instead of a whole dollar for my two dollar order. He seemed awfully concerned about what I was tipping him.

This was the first time that I’ve been here in a few years and I wasn’t disappointed. The environment was friendly and comfortable, with a nice staff and talkative customers that sat next to me, along with declarative artwork that fill the walls. My waitress was Denyse who was was wonderful to say the least. She recommended some popular items as well as her favorites. I settled on a veggie sandwich which is totally outside of my comfort zone but was not disappointed. This sandwich along with my tomato basil soup was perfect! The only thing I hated was me waiting so long to come back. This place has it all.

Funky menu with a nice vibe and cool décor. Service is good. Has a hipster feel. So yes I like it a lot. Perfect lunch spot. Don’t miss peace fest every year…

I love the vibe/​atmosphere of this place. It would keep me coming back! Plenty of vegetarian options which is a huge bonus. The honey lavender tea was great but has a very strong flavor, it could be watered down a little bit. I didn’t understand why the hot sandwiches came with a side of chips but the cold sandwich didn’t? Also wished that there was an alternative option to tortilla chips as a side because i am not a fan of tortilla chips in general. My good earth sandwich was good but nothing out of this world flavor-​wise. This aside, I will be back! But i’m going to try something else on the menu. You truly feel like you are in LA! Very kind and helpful waitresses too. The reason i’m only giving it two stars is because honestly the food was just eh.

Alright. More like a 2.5. I got a Reuben sandwich, and they put the wrong bread on it. The lemon grass soup had a weird high viscosity to it. The atmosphere was alright, and we probably won’t go back there. The waitress was nice though.

Stopped by today to have a sandwich and a coffee and was amazed at how good everything was service was good food was great and coffee was perfect the only thing bad i have to say was the menu’s and table tents needed wiping down they were very sticky a pet pive of mine but other than that quite impressed

Food is always good and never had service without a smile. You go ahead and have your Starbucks, I’ll be enjoying a great cup of coffee and getting inspired by some very cool art. Sadie is a sweetheart!

Despite the touch and go reviews, I was hoping /​wanting to really enjoy this place. But alas, my first visit today left me deflated. My son and I were on our own for the weekend so I wanted to do «local, new, and different». Been meaning to visit the LA Café for a number of years now and after a long stint working up an appetite at Indian Springs Metro Park, we popped in. I came ready to EAT!
The initial start on the service end was not happy, smiley, or welcoming, but it got better throughout for whatever reason. Overall the pace was normal except towards the end when I wasn’t sure if I was going to be brought a check so I went up to my server by the register to ask what the procedure was. The restaurant was about half full on a Saturday in the early afternoon.
When you walk in there are tall glass retail cases on either side hawking kitschy /​arty /​cool /​sticker /​Michigan wares, along with a bunch of freebie mag shelves and such. Sign says to seat yourself. You can go right or left. To the right there is a small amount of counter seating, some loungy seats, and a small mix of high and low top tables. To the left was 4 or 5 high & low tops. No booths here. There is another large glass case selling more artsy stuff on the lefty side on the way to the bathroom. You can score a «super cool» COEXIST sticker and Peacefest t-​shirt at the front if you’re so inclined. Photo and art hanging on the walls are up for purchase as well. There is also outdoor, umbrella-​ed picnic table seating across the front and towards the back there was a small gazebo and 2 uncovered picnic benches near the small body of water (a lake? river? didn’t register exactly what). A peeling sign on a table said to place your order inside.
Onto the food. In the name of «new and different», I started off with the house specialty of a glass of lavender infused honeyed iced tea. The tea was perfectly sweet and almost super refreshing, except that I guess I am not a fan of consuming lavender. My only real experience with it is using Yardley’s Lavender Soap and, unfortunately, that’s what my brain kept coming back to with every sip. I would say, if you’re curious about it, see if they will let you do a sample taste 1^st before investing $ 3 in a tall glass of it. They do have other, more normal sounding flavored teas.
For my the starter I got the lemon rice soup. I said a cup, but I got a full bowl. It was an okay gut-​filler. I had to add some salt. The packaged saltines it came with were on their way to stale-​ville. For my main, I ordered the Hermosa sandwich ($ 5.95), made it a meal, and went with the Cowboy Salsa which, as another reviewer said, only had the black beans. I am not sure if the pickle that came with was part of the meal or just the sandwich, but in any event was large, whole, and pretty good. The Salsa side however was not a good value as about only 2 tablespoons of it came in one of those small dressing-​on-​the-​side sized cups you couldn’t even really dip the (too many) commercial bagged tortilla style chips that were on the plate. The actual taste was not exciting. I should give them my SO’s mom recipe for Cowboy Salsa with actual black-​eyed peas. I usually hate B.E.Peas, but hers is the shite!
Anyway, the sandwich meal combo deal brought things up to just over $ 10. I asked for sour dough bread for the sandwich, but it seems I got white. Also, while the slices were thick, they were not super fresh on the way to dry stale-​ville as well. I wished I would have asked for it to be toasted hot after the fact. The sandwich price/​value as it related to serving size was there, the actual taste was good/​decent, the lettuce was the dark green kind (yay), but it was so hard to choke down the plain, thick, dryish bread.
My son had the kid stack of buttermilk pancakes (2) with chocolate chips. They were large, thick, and good. Syrup comes in another small dressing cup. The chocolate milk he wanted was the bottled Quik kind. The kids menu is on the coloring sheet they bring out with the crayons. Didn’t notice it at 1^st. Apparently you can create/​color a version of the special house character that has a weird name for them to post up on their wall. You can also buy the actual toy version in one of the cases for about $ 10 or so.
I would have been propelled to order one of their special coffees and/​or desserts, but couldn’t justify spending another several dollars after an already mediocre and semi-​dissapointing meal (that totaled just over $ 22 before tip). They had some other interesting selections on their main and specials menu that I would like to try. There was a Jitters premium coffee drink that had something like 4 shots of espresso and cost $ 7(!). Again, I wanted to like this place and I appreciate what they are trying to do community/​art-​wise, but I wasn’t jazzed. Maybe breakfast might be a better bet.
Till we meet again, LA Café…

The one time I went I really enjoyed it. The service was good, the food was good, and the coffee was great. I love the decorations and the overall atmosphere was great. However, I’ve heard from several friends that the times they went the food wasn’t prepared properly and the service was subpar so I’m hesitant to give it more than three stars.

I used to go here all the time but it’s really gone downhill :/​Our waitress was sweet but the service was extremely slow. The coffee was terrible and had CHUNKS in it (was the syrup old, the cup was dirty??) and my good mother (previously my favorite meal here) was soggy, the veggies were all wet and mushy and the bread was stale. We were one of 2 occupied tables so I wish I could blame the quality on someone being rushed in the kitchen but it was downright awful. For our 2 sandwiches and drinks our bill was over $ 30… Will not be going back.

This place is definitely overrated to have 4 stars. Probably the worst café I have ever tried. Lacked in Flavor, Service, and enthusiasm. The service was horrible. Had to keep asking for something every minute.
And overpriced. Spent over $ 57 and probably had two bites of my food.
My friend ordered a veggie chili and ugh it looked so gross. The hummus, no flair at all so bland.
I’m so disappointed because the ratings made it sound great. I ordered a veggie egg white omelette and I think it was the worst omelette I have ever tried.
I wish I can get a refund for the price I paid. I am so bummed.

Come in for the coffee, stay for the Scromlette. Imagine an omlette, with your pick of add ins cooked and rolled in burrito style. Choose your own or from their inventive list of tasty combos.. The Popeye is my fave, while my hubby likes The Anthony Quinn.

I love this place! I can always feel good about eating here because I know the ingredients used are quality and organic. There’s no other place like l.a. café. I hope they never leave

Great find for food libations and conversation! I’m back here again 8-​20-​2914, this time for lunch w Ethyl Rivera for Macomb County Commissioner, and I’m loving it from home made ginger ale to a vegetarian sandwich much like Seva’s old Persia (per-​see-​ah) sandwich plus there’s an outdoor eating area by the water outback.

Best coffee in town!!! L.A. Café uses quality beans, so they don’t have to burn roast them to get flavor like some over priced Seattle based shop does. There are many different flavors and styles of specialty coffee drinks to choose from (salted caramel latte, chocolate kiss, honey lavender latte and many more) as well as flavored soda drinks and specialty shakes or malts.
The food is great and made fresh to order.
(Your food isn’t sitting in a warming tray getting dried out hoping to be ordered) and the potatoes are fresh cut in the kitchen, not a shipped bag of processed frozen spuds. (So these take a little longer to fully cook). All the soups are homemade (the vegetarian chili and gazpacho are AWESOME!) and the sandwiches are delicious and a good size! The hummus is great, fresh and made from scratch in house.
As for «Service» people need to understand, when the place is busy, it’s gonna take some time. There is only one cook in the place and it’s a small kitchen and again, it’s made when you order. So if you have a table of 4, and the place is busy. it may take some time to get all of your orders ready to come out at the same time.
Before you leave, I urge you to get one of Heidi’s homemade brownies! They are large and delicious!!! (I think the peanut butter brownie is the best!) she also makes all the biscotti, scones, cakes and cheesecake herself too.
(Call and order a full cheesecake for your next special event. There are MANY flavors to choose from. They’re better and less expensive than the CC Factory)
There are several items on the wall and in display cases that feature LOCAL artists work and are for sale.
Every June, L.A. Café’ holds «Peace Fest»
art & music festival featuring regional artists who display and sell their works and wares as well as several local music artist who play throught the day. THE FESTIVAL IS FREE to attend. If you’ve never been to the Peacefest, I urge you to gather the family and check it out.
(I don’t work at the Café’ but I am a regular, and I love this place!)

So I am timing them this Sunday morning 3−9−14. I read a few reviews that say they are excessively slow. We shall see. I ordered a latte. That was about 5 minutes. It’s now 11:45 and we just ordered breakfast. A garden omlette for myself and a Good Earth sandwich for my Wife. Tic tok…
They are busy. Most tables are full. Small cute place. Funky California inspired design.
So. 21 minutes for food. So far so good. Look and tastes very good after 2 bites.
21 minutes was not too crazy. I was happily reading the current issue of Metro Times as our 2 year old was drinking chocolate milk and coloring. I never started wondering and looking around anexiously.
Over all I give LA Café 4 stars and will return again when we are in the area.