I can’t wait to try this out! Thanks for the great post.

This was really an extra-witty write-up. I certainly enjoyed reading it. Wish I lived closer to this joint, it sounds like a gas.

just there today and really enjoyed myself, although i can tell that seating will soon become an issue what with the free wifi. it will be an apple demo-lot in no time. good for business, but annoying for those of us who, well, want an open parking lot for our apple demo’s.

i had a veggie burger and an iced coffee today. good solid food. service a bit disorganized, but very very attentive.

Hi D.D., thank you, and let us know how you enjoy it!

Hello Maxmillion, if you live in L.A., then I’d say you live close enough! Or, in the meantime you can just live vicariously through us Eastsiders. ;) Glad you enjoyed the post!

MommyCat, why thank you for the follow-up post! I was curious about their quality of food, glad you shared the experience with us.

Nice review — will be swinging by that place the next time I load up on drug-laced artisanal/rare sodas from Galco.

finally a food post bout the eastside. have u tried Antigua in el sereno? prolly my most favorite coffee spot in LA. super awesome staff, very neighborhood-y. frequented by quite a few LAUSD teachers too.

H.C. - hello and thank you! I’m glad you mentioned Galco because at the moment I’m very unfamiliar with Highland Park, so thanks for the heads up!

SHIG_MACBATCHES - Eaaaaaastsiiiiiiide! Though I am a fan of areas east of the 2 freeway I have yet to try Antigua Coffee House, or any eateries in El Sereno (at least to my knowledge and memory), so thanks for the suggestion! I just love to witness how the “forgotten” areas of L.A. that are rich in L.A. culture transform with the times yet creating a container to expresses and maintain the beauty of South-American culture. I think Highland Perk is doing just that as well, except it’s embracing the product from it being a melting pot of sorts.

Went a couple weeks ago. They did an amazing job renovating and redesigning this place….service was pretty bad, took about 20 minutes to get a coffee and bagel with 1 person in front of me. (cashier was blowing it….). But I’m guessing they’re still working out the kinks…will give it another shot.

I went in last week for some coffee and a bite to eat. I REALLY liked the coffee. Rich, robust and STRONG. It was like a good old-fashioned donkey kick.

The food is good and the menu has something for every craving. I LOVE carrot cake and thought it would be the happy ending to my lunch. I went over towards the desserts to take a lookey-loo and something in red caught my eye. They had red velvet cake!!! Yay! I’d never tried it before, but have wanted to since Steel Magnolias. It called out my name…and it was to die for!!! The cream cheese frosting compliments the chocolatey red cake so perfectly. I highly recommend it.

Catherine, this is a really well written piece, by the way.

Hello evryone, I have personally been there and I loved everything about it, from their coffe to their wonderfull paints.

I would love to invite each and every one of you to visit our soon to open Bakery/Cafe located at 5703 N Figueroa LA 90042.
for more information visit
http://www.antiguabread.com

Regards!

Thank you Lareina!

I have to say, since I wrote this article we have been back once for lunch, had a couple of salads, apps, and ice-blended chai latte…unfortunately, I can’t say we enjoyed it. I think we’ll stick to their baked goods and coffees for now.

And thanks for the information Dennis Hernandez! I look forward to the grand-opening of Antigua Bread.

Highland Perk rules! Now they have comedy every Friday night at 8pm for free! Come check it out.

I have to say I’ve been there multiple times and after being open for more than 2 months you would expect them to have their act together. I REALLY want this coffeehouse to survive, but it just continues to have really SLOWWWW service, overpriced NOT-SO-GREAT food (actually not good at all; most of the time it’s not even properly heated), unsavory ice-blended drinks, dirty drinking water, and they’ve recently started playing the crappiest music. For a while, they were playing good indie hits then they totally regressed from there. I don’t know what’s going on; it’s as if the owners have no control over what their employees do in the kitchen or play on the radio. They really need to get their act together or I don’t know how they’ll ever make it. I REALLY want them to make it!

Hello Jay Moripa! I have quite a colorful comment that was left on my blog by the owner of Highland Perk. I think parts of it may have been meant for this comment section here on la.foodbloging since he addressed the issues of food and music. Besides, the readers might be interested in seeing his response. I think he may have had both my blog and la.foodblogging up at the time and mixed up the two so I’ll post his comment here as well.

Actually, we do have a suggestion box. It’s called voice mail or EMAIL THE OWNER! I (the owner) am always implimenting suggestions from our customers. It’s more mature and useful to get feedback in person than an anonamous suggestion box or blogger.com. My business card is right by the cash regester, in a very conspicuous business card stand. Contact me any way you like. We actually do listen to our secret shoppers. I hope those who are dissipointed with the food will give it another try. P.S. we broke $1200 in food sales Saturday. So maybe you’re in the 5% that’s never satisifed ??? I read the blogs and I talk to the money spenders after they finish their food. Of those who purchase regularly, “the food has improved”. As for the music, you’re welcome to guest DJ if you like. And Catherine Please stop and ask for me when you visit next time. :-)
P.P.S: You don’t, by chance have any business interest in a competing restaurant in the imediate area do you ??? I’ve been told you do, by more than one person… posted on 4/18/07

“I talk to the money spenders”

seriously? what kind of bizarre response is that by any owner of any type of business regarding their business? His comments are ladden with bitterness and inappropriate additudes towards the customer base. I’d be interested in going back in a few months to see how they’ve come together, but i’m alarmed by a post by an owner of a business who thinks just because there are customers not having the best experience and speaking out about it, means they are trying to covertly bring the business down in order to promote another one. Talk about paranoid.

I can name a handful of coffeeshops that don’t serve great drinks and/or food, but people love them anyways because the people who work there are awesome and the space is cool.

highland perk has a great space interms of the remodeling and decor is impecible, but that is the least of the equation when it comes to somewhere like a coffeeshop (much like dive bars everyone loves because the people/service is good).

I was talking to somone i randomly met through my brother over the weekend who lives in the similar area, and we managed to talk about perk for 5 minutes because he had an even worst experience than I did with regard to both food, drinks, and service. Plus, he had some not-so-great things to say about how the owner was treating the employees which dampered his experience even more.

In anycase, everyone should be respected for their opinion and I don’t think it’s a fluke that there are people not enjoying this place. Like any new business, they just need to ride the initial waves out and find it’s groove, but at the same time, not be attacked (even gently) by the owner.

Someone above mentioned antigua coffeeshop in el sereno. that place is like a 10 star out of 5 for me. It’s just that good. It don’t matter they didn’t spent x.x million dollars renovating a space and what not: their service is good, the people who work there are good, the owner is amazing when it comes to coffee bean knowledge, and their space is beautiful. It just works for the type of space it embodies and the community it’s in.

Well said Jess. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I agree with you whole heartedly! That reminds me, I still need to try Cafe Antigua.

So I left a comment a while back about the service and music at Highland Perk Coffeehouse. I was driving by last weekend, and I decided to go back in and give them a try. All I can say is that I was very impressed. What a turnaround they have made. The service was very fast, the mocha I got was pretty darn good, and the music playing at that time of the day was excellent. So maybe I had a few bad experiences in the past, but I really think they finally got their system down. I was very pleased….I’m pretty sure I’ll be back!

I like this place. I’ve dropped by five or six times since they’ve opened and like the decor and coffee. But the service is very, very poor. The employees are young, inexperienced and aloof. They clearly don’t care to be there. They have to ask each other how to make the more esoteric drinks on their own menu. And they have no idea what’s going on in the kitchen. I understand it’s difficult to get good help. But this can sink an otherwise perfect place. Please address!!!

i moved to highland park a few weeks before highland perk opened its doors. having come from the silver lake area, i had frequented silver lake coffee, and was eagerly awaiting the opening of an independent coffee shop with free wireless. now, highland perk has been open for several months and management still seems to be trying to decide if they opened a coffee shop or a restaurant. intitally, in a very large space, they had like 6 extremely large tables that could fit 8 people, but more often than not, would be occupied by one or two, wasting a great deal of space. now, they have come full cirlce and have twenty or so tiny circular tables that can barely hold a laptop and a coffee, and that teeter precariously on a rather uneven floor. they frequently run out of soy milk and bagels. they decided to stop opening on mondays, a fact which i discovered only after driving out of my way to patronize their business on my way to work only to find the doors locked. a little “we will now be closed on mondays” sign would have been greatly appreciated ahead of time. they have events at night (comedy on friday, private parties on saturday) and do not, as is SOP at any restaurant, make the place ready to open before leaving, so that when you come in on saturday or sunday morning to get a coffee and write a bit, you find all the tables pushed helter skelter against the walls.

as far as product goes, the coffee is good (lamill) but the staff is a bit inconsistent in preparation. management appears to have changed the name to la casa blue hosting highland perk coffeehouse. whatever that means. my advice to ownership is: if you are going to transition to a restaurant, you’re going to need better food than breakfast burritos and burgers. the la area is chock full of good places to eat and you need to set yourselves apart. if you want to stay a coffee shop, stop treating your repeat customers like they owe you something. they’re your bread and butter, man.

I’ve been to Highland Perk a couple of times, and I have to say, they have a powerful combination of the worst food and worst service for any place in the Highland Park / Eagle Rock area. I’ve gotten Thai Iced Tea that was water, a tea bag and half and half (bbbarrrrfffff) (and given attitude when I asked them to fix it), burritos that were, well, not that warm, terrible coffee, and much more. But the real capstone is the owner, Scott. Every time I’ve been in there, I’ve heard him complain about how they aren’t doing any business, and that people won’t buy enough stuff, and he does this in front of customers. I once saw him ranting about (no joke) how the people of Highland Park were such “Idiots and assholes for not coming here and spending money. I mean, what is their problem? Don’t they know a good place when they see it?” etc… Well, this rant was heard by about four customers waiting in line, who promptly left.
As one who has lived in Highland Park for some time, I feel that Highland Perk has opened its doors without any consideration for the neighborhood in which it operates, and treats the customers like they are lucky to have such a nice coffee shop. Since there is nothing really that good about the place, I felt no real need to go back, and after hearing the owner essentially cuss out the neighborhood, I always tell people never to go back there, and discourage people from trying it at all. There are many other restaurants and coffee shops in the immediate area that are much better– in terms of quality, service, and price– and I would happily see Highland Perk replaced by a more community friendly business.

^ Wow. Sense of entitlement, much? (I’m talking about the cafe owner.) I was thinking of trying this place, but I would much rather hear from you (Elric) which local places you think are better and more worth my while.

mochafan & Eric & Jacob: How ironic! You give La Casa Blue your very bad reviews. But you failed to tell the people that you are the 3 band members that I pulled the plug on mid performance because you played live music with a hellish wall of sound (not in a good way) usical artistic masterbation of ugly acid jazz and drove every paying customers out of the restuaruant. Plates still full of hot food. You auditioned with a normal jazz CD but when I let you Play tuesday night. you played “nails on a chaulk board” crap. You said “I don’t like you “west siders” coming into my highland park with your west side money and chainging everything” Your Highland Park??? So YOU are responsible for the gang controlled, drug dealer streats with the graffitti covered vacant store fronts??? Give me a break. By the way, we just sold our 100,000 espresso drink in the 6 months we have been open. Wow. Thanks to all the Average Highland Park Residents who actually come in every day. you know… Thoese who live in the real world of La Casa Blue, not the blogging alter ego world of the internet…
Cheers,
the wacky owner of La Casa Blue
P.S.: look for us on Chanel 34 Univision They did a feature on us that I love! The Spanish speaking communitiy is our Pan Y Montequieeo