Cafe Lorel

This place has suprisingly fantastic food and great staff. They take great care of me with a smile everytime. I find myself there for lunch several times a week. I drive from Pacific Palacades to Irvine for work and save my appetite if I know I’ll be in that area. Nicole (chef) and owner Lorel always put a smile on my face. Don’t be fooled by the Café part of the name you will miss out on great food. I recomend you make a trip over to see them soon.

Forget Starbucks! Café Lorel not only has great coffee but delicious sandwiches too! The lunch specials here are an awesome deal. I’d have to recommend the honey mustard turkey or the chicken avocado. THE POBLANO CHOWDER IS AMAZING ! I love being able to bring my laptop here, sit in a comfortable chair and catch up on business work while enjoying breakfast/​lunch. All of the staff is very friendly and always welcoming. If you’re in long beach definitely give this place a try. You will definitely be satisfied.

The owner is prejudice toward people with a mental handicap. She lied about having to close the shop on time (2pm on Friday), and kicked my sister and I out because we hadn’t ordered right away. We left quietly. Total disappointment!
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I’m editing my review by adding additional information below:
I’m amazed with the older woman’s audacity to send me a private message regarding my initial Unilocal review on here. She sent me a private message only to insult me. This is seriously disgusting! I hope people go to this place and get the same treatment I’ve gotten so this business fails. I feel bad for the other workers, I hope they find a better coffee shop to work at where the atmosphere isn’t as toxic as this place.

I love this place, my daily lunch spot. Check them out whenever you’re in the neighborhood, they make sandwiches to order, salads are always fresh, homemade soups and a very affordable daily lunch special. Coffee of course for a caffeine boost and all delivered by Lorella the owner and her super friendly staff.

These are the kind of small coffee shops I live for! You can’t go wrong with any of their specialties blended. Their baked goods will also feed that sweet tooth craving!

Love Café Lorel. Friendly staff who greats you by name, great food for a good price, and a fun riddle on the white board every day. A relaxing happy place to spend time.

Love the mochas and Cinny Minis! The staff is very friendly too! Wish they were open Sunday’s!

This was my first time coming here and the person making the food was so nice, cheerful and ready to help you but when it came to the older women at the front taking your order it was another story. She was not very friendly (seems like she hated her job) & when I asked for a tomato bagel (bagel with cream cheese & tomato) she said that she didn’t have any when there were clearly bagels in front of her. I ended up asking for what goes on the English muffins and she rudely replied anything. Her customer service is not to great & for that I probably would not recommend this place or be coming back!

Update: Two years later, I’m still loving this place! I’m even living in North Hollywood now!
Homework, exams, and stress keep piling on me lately. I need a place to just relax and enjoy myself. Café Lorel is still THE place to go. I’m still surprised every time I go here because three seasonal/​new coffee blends change! Of course you can order the previous ones (my favorites are the Black Forest Blended Latte and Funky Monkey [I helped invent this drink back when I was exercising at the time!]). I like to custom order my drinks usually, but I’m just so indecisive!
Food’s still as comforting as always. Some creamy broccoli cheese soup to go with a tuna melt today, along with an Iced English Toffee Latte. Then to finish it all off, an almond pastry with powdered sugar melted in my mouth with lemon ginger tea. ahhhh…
If you happen to be near CSULB or are a student there, support Café Lorel! Starbucks on campus is not going to surprise you like this place, I guarantee.

Absolutely fabulous workers. So friendly and they try to remember everyone. So why the three stars. unfortunately the wifi took about 5 – 10 minutes to load every page and VERY few outlets. If you say on your webpage that you have free wifi, it should work, especially at a café in a college town. The food was .as Unilocal would say, A-​OK. I didn’t order a coffee so they may have an exceedingly good brew! If you are looking for someone kind to remember your face and what you order, then check it out. If you are looking for a study spot there are several others I would recommend.

First time here this afternoon. Ordered a plain croissant and a medium iced coffee. I can’t say that the place was good because all I ordered was a croissant which you can buy anywhere or make anywhere. The iced coffee was literally just pumped from a machine and some ice was scooped. I wouldn’t say it was bad but it wasn’t anything special. I didn’t feel like I would go back, which I won’t. Prices are decent. One thing that I did not like was that there was no greeting when I walked in not when I ordered. I feel like first impressions on everything and I didn’t feel too welcomed. It’s a good place of you just want to get something that you can get anywhere.

I’ll give it a four for now, but this was my first time. I needed a place to do some homework and I didn’t feel like making my own breakfast. I got the veggie breakfast bagel and added veggie sausage which was actually good. Later I tried the roasted pablano soup which was great! The sandwiches looked amazing, but I didn’t have one. I got 1 free refill of coffee during my 3 hour long stint at writing a paper. I liked the cross room doors to let in a breeze, but could be messy if you have papers scattered about. The place is very bright as well and lights up the room. The only downfall is I could only find one outlet if you need to keep your POS laptop charged and the WIFI is kind of slow. The staff was friendly, except one has resting B face, so I’m not sure about her. Good price$!

Love this place they have great lunch specials and also provide me with dairy free options. They are very friendly and this place is a hidden.

The sandwiches are decent. The owner/​manager that was on that was on duty was extremely rude was asked about refills for iced coffee. When asked, out of curiosity and for knowledge sake, why coffee shops in general tend to offer refills for hot but not iced coffee, owner/​manager responded in rude way. When she was informed that the question was not a complaint and was purely out of curiosity, she simply respond in a unwarranted and snarky manner «I do not think that I have to answer your question.»
The rest of the staff was very pleasant. However, the owner’s unwarranted demeanor toward a customer in response small talk about the coffee shop business is enough for me to recommend passing in this coffee shop.

It’s a little quiet place near my workplace. It’s not bad, but I won’t say it’s the best either. Most of their items are very simple items: sandwiches, coffee, pastries. They deliver to my office all the time, so that’s a plus. If I have to order from here, I like the skinny bagel which is almost like a veggie sandwich with bagel bread.
I like that they do have free wifi and its not too busy for a café.

Love this small little place. Great for breakfast meetings and I love the catering they do for our office. Always friendly staff and they know what I want when I walk in the door.

Had 5 $ breakfast special. pretty good deal, especially with the amount of coffee refills I get. The coffee is okay, they have a little variety in flavors so that keeps it interesting. The service was very friendly to my friend and I who tend to study at places for a long time and they were great with it. Just about everyone who came in was on a first name basis with the owner and this place seems to have a lot of regulars that love the lunch special so next time i come I might get that too.
The prices are good! I’m so tired of panera charting dang near 10 $ for anything so it was a relief to walk in and see breakfast items for under 5 $.

Great little café! It’s very mom& pop style. The atmosphere is very home-​y with a friendly staff. All their foods are made fresh! The lorella’s cookies are a must try if you like soft and chewy cookies. I usually get the specials because there is a student discount, so 7 $ (5 $ student discount) for half a sandwich, drink, and soup or salad. Pretty good deal.
I love coming here to study because there is always seats, free wi-​fi, healthy food

Good, fresh coffee, and the mini cinnamon rolls are a must try.
This unassuming coffee shop is in a strip mall facing Pacific Coast Highway. The owner a great baker, so don’t leave without trying her mini cinnamon rolls, a steal at 70 cents. They’re sticky, not gooey, and the chewy sugar ‘crust’ lends a unique texture (don’t worry, there’s a clean bathroom to wash your hands).
The $ 7 daily special is another great deal — a drink (coffee or soda, pick the coffee), a filling, fresh ½ sandwich, and a small cup of good soup. The chicken avocado sandwich was dense and flavorful.
There’s plenty of indoor seating, and the shop definitely has a ‘sit down and hang out’ atmosphere.

Overall a three and ½. Ambiance is coffee house with food and coffee/​tea drinks. Went here for lunch today. Some of us ordered the lunch special with a grilled cheese sandwich, salad or soup and a drink for $ 7.00. Very good deal. My daughter tried the tomato basil bisque and loved it… very flavorful. My husband ate the submarine sandwich on Squaw bread With a coffee and really enjoyed it. I had the Chicken and avocado salad. The salad also had cucumber, croutons and tomato on it. It was fresh but a bit plain. There was a mix up with our order but we well definitely be back to try some more items on their menu.