L.A. Cafe and Java in Waterford

As a result of poor planning and a very small budget, this weekend I needed to quickly find somewhere cheap and nearby for me to dine and blog about. After a quick Google search, the L.A. Café and Java located on Dixie Highway in Waterford seemed like a good place for my first vegan-friendly restaurant review. Usually, I would avoid anything with “L.A.” in its title. I mean, do we really need “A little Los Angeles in Michigan”? We’ve already had enough of that L.A. weather, in my opinion, and I prefer my streets not to be crowded with celebrities and paparazzi. However, the café received generally positive reviews on both Yelp and Urban Spoon, each mentioning that there were vegetarian and vegan options on the menu. So, I thought this would be the perfect eatery in which I could grab some Sunday lunch. Things didn’t go so smoothly, though.

Many times had I passed by this small place, on my way to the local flea market, the bank, or a Redbox location, but it had never really caught my eye. Upon closer examination earlier today, unfortunately, it didn’t look too promising from the road. Although the giant peace sign should’ve been reassuring – right? – the nearly empty parking-lot and shabby-looking exterior gave me a bad feeling. Yet, since childhood, we have all been told not to judge a book by its cover! So, along with my food snob of a brother and my hungry sister, I ventured inside, passing plastic, outdoor tables with dirty plates and napkins on them. Once indoors, I was pleasantly surprised. It smelled like delicious and warm coffee. The walls and shelves displayed crafts, photographs, and other art created by local artists. Upon first interior impression, the L.A. Café and Java was colorful, casual, cozy, and had the capacity to please my taste buds. 

After some short confusion on whether to seat ourselves or be seated by a hostess, we grabbed a tall table near the window and waited. The tabletops in the area we were seated in had collages of photographs of famous celebrities from the 90s on them, which I loved. As you can see, ours had a picture of Jennifer Aniston circa her Friends era, Ashley Judd, Katie Holmes and many more. Once we were given menus from our waitress, we ordered some drinks and pita chips and hummus before deciding on our main courses. I asked the waitress if there were any vegan options that I could order. She looked at me quizzically and asked, “What do you mean ‘vegan’? Like, no dairy and cheese?” And I replied with a “Yeah…”, while giving my brother a side-eye glance. Then, she once again asked, “Okay, so.. . What do you mean?” I pointed out that there was a vegan veggie burger on the menu, along with a couple of other things, but I explained that I wanted to know if there were more dairy, egg, and meat-free options available. She proceeded to take the menu from me and look it over, then saying that I could make things vegan by asking for no cheese.

Now, I don’t usually expect servers to be knowledgeable about veganism. Yet, the vegetarian and vegan options on the L.A. Café and Java’s menu were somewhat advertised on the restaurant review websites I read. Perhaps I had interpreted those reviews wrongly, but I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed that I had to explain veganism to the impolite server of a supposedly vegan and vegetarian friendly restaurant. I ended up ordering the West Coast burger, substituted with the vegan veggie burger and without the provolone cheese. My brother ordered the High Plains Drifter sandwich (a turkey and cheese sandwich) and my sister ordered the Good Earth sandwich (has cheese, but vegetarian). After taking our order the waitress returned to the bar to chat loudly with the rest of the staff. A little while later we received our hummus appetizer, but were given stale tortilla chips instead of pita chips. We decided to let it go because we were all pretty ravenous and were unsure of how long it would take to get the right chips that we ordered. The chips appeared to be store-bought, not house-made. And the hummus was somehow watery and bland, almost as if it had recently been thawed out from a previously frozen state. It took a while for our entrees to get to our table, but I had expected that, after reading the few negative online reviews. When we did receive them, all three of us were, once again, disappointed.

At first glance, everything looked good, except for the possible prepackaged, Dole fruit cup I was given as a side. As it turns out, that tiny fruit cup was the tastiest part of my meal. My vegan burger appeared to be appetizing, but when I actually put it into my mouth, I realized that I could have made a better burger myself, and I am not a good cook. The bun seemed to be a cheap, store-bought bun, which made me question whether it was ‘organic’ or even vegan.  Also, the burger itself was so over cooked, I had to resort to putting Heinz ketchup on top of the small amount of guacamole. I usually enjoy sprouts on sandwiches and burgers, but the alfalfa sprouts put on this burger just made everything unbelievably dryer and more unappetizing. In addition, the slice of tomato did not look or taste very fresh at all. My brother cut himself a piece of my burger and he described it as “almost inedible.” He and my sister barely ate half of their sandwiches, each claiming that they simply could not force anymore of the unpleasant food down. We did not get boxes to take our leftovers home and we only left a tip because we felt bad about possibly insulting the staff by leaving most of our meals on our plates.

Overall, I was not pleased with my dining experience at the L.A. Café and Java. I had desperately wanted to like this place, since it is so close to home and supports local artists. While the menu items were inexpensive and the interior design of the restaurant was quirky and fun, I don’t think I could dine there again or recommend this place to friends. Perhaps I should have tried some coffee or baked goods, since I suspect that that may be where this café’s strong suit, if any, lies. However, I don't believe any of the baked goods were vegan. Maybe my expectations were simply too high for menu items that were pretty cheap. Yet, I suppose I just couldn't help myself from hoping that a restaurant described as having organic, natural, and delicious food would actually be decent. Better luck next time, I guess. Hopefully my ensuing vegan-friendly restaurant experiences will not leave myself and my companions feeling sick to our stomachs.

L.A. Cafe and Java - 2 out of 5 stars