Cora’s Coffee Shoppe

Can’t attest to breakfast, but at 3:30 on a Thursday, this was a great spot to sit, grab a coffee, and read quietly; coffee, by the way, which is pretty excellent. I came up here on my way back from the beach. It’s walking distance from the water. Had no problems with service, in fact the waiter seemed pretty attentive to the needs of everyone, myself included. I enjoyed the patio seating on this warm winter day. Come by if you’re looking for a pick-​me-​up after a day on the beach.

my fav place ever! the rigatoni is to die for and the farmers salad is one of my favorite salads in LA! everything i have every ordered is delicious and the service is amazing, def a must try!
Xx

Stopped in for breakfast while staying in Santa Monica. Had great, homemade, nicely-​seasoned corn beef hash with poached eggs. There were only 3 – 4 customers eating that morning, but the three guys behind the counter were keeping very busy, so I imagine they were preparing for bigger crowds later in the day. The service wasn’t «warm,» but I had none of the problems other Unilocalers have reported. Maybe that was because it was not busy at 7 am.
I ate alone at the 7-​stool counter; there are also two 2-​seat tables inside and maybe a dozen tables outside under a clear vinyl canopy covered with vines. That looked attractive for a warmer part of the day. I loved the unpretentiousness of the place – just focused on GOOD FOOD. There is a surprisingly eclectic menu for what looks like a hole-​in-​the-​wall.
No complaints from me – breakfast highly recommended.

What’s really shocking to me about Cora’s is that the reviews are pretty consistent on how bad the service is, yet the management does nothing to correct the issue.
There is no excuse for how horrible the service is at Cora’s Coffee Shoppe. Either the system they have in place is broken or they are severely understaffed. Basic rules of serving breakfast are rarely honored — such as, take the drink order within a few minutes of sitting down and make sure the drinks are served promptly. The servers seem to be like chickens with their heads cut off, buzzing around frantically trying to keep everything together. I blame the management.
The food is OK but nothing to write home about. There are so many good places to eat breakfast in LA, I have no interest in returning to a place where the service is so abysmal.

Ok, so the real truth about this place is… That every item on the menu is a good version of itself. I came here at 5am with my bf after long night of drinking and no sleep. So then we found out they don’t open til 6am, we waited in the parking lot, yes that how much I wanted it. Plus, just a short skip down the connected back alley road puts you front row center for the sunrise over Santa Monica. SIDEBAR– whoa the Santa Monica subway station is almost done and it looks beautiful. One could ride the midnight train from Downtown to Santa Monica and see the exact same sunrise I just described, and the get effin’ food too. SIDEBAR OVER– The layout of the restaurant is so cute with the whole outdoor ovation covered by like a giant arch of ivy.
The smoothies with steak and cheddar covered scrambled egg (custom order) ahh yum
If your extra hungry then add: a plate with sausage, bacon, and bacon lemon ricotta pancakes (also slightly custom) and oh yeah those lil potatoes.
Good yums.

I came here for the second time and unfortunately was not impressed. It’s written up as a romantic Café for brunch on Sundays however the service is average and the prices outrageous for the portion and quality. The salad had wilted brown lettuce and the chicken burger came with a dry bun. It’s a nice interior patio but that’s about all I could say I enjoyed.

Tried to eat here. Sign in sheet for seating. Put in our name. Small crowd gathered also waiting for tables. Waiter brusquely asked us all to wait on the curb side of the sidewalk so we didn’t block the path from the outdoor tables to the restaurant door — path they need in order to serve their guests. A reasonable request, though he could have been more pleasant about it.
Our turn came. The host/​waiter read off our name and the name of the next couple waiting so quickly you’d have thought it was one name — like «David James.» The other couple was in his line of sight and raised their hand so he seated them. I approached and said we were ready (he’d said the names so fast that I assumed two tables had become available). He looked at me, bewildered, and said «you didn’t answer me.» I pointed out that he’d given me less than a half second in which to do so, and he said «you should’ve tapped me on the shoulder.» Um. .. How am I supposed to reach you from over on the curb where you kinda yelled at me to go not five minutes ago?
He copped such an attitude «Do you want to wait, or do you want to go?» while the couple who’d jumped in front of us was not yet even seated and could’ve been called back that we just left.
In short? Really rude, bad attitude from the staff before we even got close to the food. Another breakfast spot is about to earn our business. A shame, too, since Le Merigot was who’d recommended us to Cora’s in the first place. I’ll be in Santa Monica again — and again — and looking for breakfast. But I certainly won’t look at Cora’s.

I really like this place but can only give them 3 stars because they are inconsistent. Beautiful space outside surrounded by plants. The breakfast and lunch is usually very good. Good coffee, I am not a fan of the smoothie. They do great chorizo eggs. Their best dish is the rigatoni pasta with truffle meat sauce. Wow, you can smell it from the end of the restaurant when they bring one out. One time I ordered this and it did not have truffle inside, very strange, I told them, and they fixed it. I like the rotisserie chicken, but at random times, it can be very dry. One time I went the service was extremely slow. About 45 minutes before we got out food. We talked to the manager at the end who was nice and took a portion of our bill off.

This is the place! It’s close to home so we have been coming here for years! Like 12 :) food is always great and the staff are really friendly and cordial! My old time fave egg white omelette with burrata cheese. Orange/​blueberry pancakes are yummy… guys the menu has been pretty much the same, consistent there’s a saying «If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it»! Haha I just hear old people say it and yes the dainty restaurant next door is also theirs, it’s more like a formal dinner and wine place at nightwhich I enjoy as well

Holy Schneike! This was the worst service I’ve siren in 17 years living in Los Angeles. The menu on Unilocal says omelettes are $ 9 but they were f’ing $ 15!!! The «breakfast potatoes» were actually a whole half baked potato with no seasoning that was almost raw. We watched 10 staff pass by as our food sat on the counter for over 10 minutes before being brought over.
The «toast» was stale and cold. Thankfully they didn’t charge us for the worm I found on my plate. I wish I could give them negative 5 stars.

My friend and I stayed recently at the JW Marriott Le Merigot and were looking for a breakfast place, close to our hotel. I found Cora’s on Unilocal and thought we’d give it a try, since it was the closest and the reviews looked good.
I’m sorry to say that we were rather disappointed…
We did have to wait about 15 – 20 minutes for a table, which we expected — so that wasn’t a big deal. When our name was called, the guy just handed me a menu and told us to go to the ‘last table down on the left’ — he didn’t even show us to the table! We sat ourselves and waited. And waited, and waited… I think we waited close to 20 minutes before anyone even came to the table to take a drink order.
We ordered our coffee and breakfast and continued to wait… it took forever to get coffee and water. I will say this, the cappucino and mocha that we got were good — we enjoyed them. It took ages for us to get our meals. I ordered the buckwheat blueberry pancakes and my friend got the caprese omelet. We were so hungry we ate what we were given, but we both agreed that both meals were missing ‘something’. The pancakes were bland and very light on the blueberries. The omelet didn’t have any kind of seasoning.
The lack-​luster food could have been over-​looked if the service had been better. It certainly wasn’t worth the time we had to put in to wait for it. You can get coffee anywhere, so I wouldn’t opt to go to Cora’s just for coffee either.

Our story:
–food is ok at best, my burrata omelette was mostly tasteless, had to salt it up to give it any flavor; my wife’s chorizo scramble was ok but not great
–portions are tiny, I left hungry after my $ 15.5+tax+tip omelette
–service is terrible, we had a toddler who was fussy and they did not go out of their way in any way to be considerate or accommodating
–made us wait for 45 minutes to get our food
–they left my plate on our tiny table after I was finished until the very end, making it hard to manage the space, again considering we had a young child who was not in the best of moods
In any other place this would be called a «tourist special», not sure what the locals see in this place. It’s expensive and you don’t get what you pay for in either food or service.

I came here early one morning with my husband who wanted to take his classic car out for a spin. We stopped in for some coffee and a quick bite.
I ordered a latte and croissant. He had a latte and the breakfast sandwich. We took our food to go.
My croissant was buttery and delicious; the perfect complement to my coffee. His breakfast sandwich was an egg and bacon served on a Rosemary biscuit with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It totally fell apart on him as he tried to eat it so he ended up using a knife and fork. I tried his food and thought it tasted great.
The restaurant itself is small inside but there is a nice side patio where most customers sit. It’s pretty cute and the breakfast food was good. I would definitely go back if I’m in the area again.

I’d give 6 starts!!! I love their food, service (excellent stuff).
I live in SF Bay Area and every time I go down to LA, Cora’s Coffee Shoppe is a must. After that, we go for walk on the beach…
It is a little pricey but I take it as a special treat when I visit SoCal.

Going to have to agree with another Unilocal review that said «Pricey food, mediocre taste, uninspiring meal.»
Came Saturday morning at 10:30am. Boy wanted hash. They didn’t have it. Erase it from your giant blackboard, then. Boy got pancakes. They brought it without syrup. It wasn’t until we asked that syrup was brought over.
Grapefruit juice was $ 6. Fine, whatever. But at least serve it in a glass and not a wobbly plastic cup.
Highly disappointed by the eggs benedict. The eggs were so overcooked that there was no runny yolk at all. I might as well have been eating toast with boiled eggs.

It wasn’t a long hike this morning, but somehow I felt like I deserved a burger. The menu said it was organic so I felt like making a dietary splurge.
The burger had the best of intentions. Brioche bun, beautiful aioli, quality cheddar, and thick generous leaves of butter lettuce (not the cheap stuff) heaped up. Looked good. The meat patty itself was ok. I wish the beef itself was medium, which I ordered, rather than well done. But everything else was solid– potato salad side and a fresh unpickled cucumber. Five hours later I’m still full. And I’m going out to dinner for Italian food in a bit. Yikes!
My boyfriend loved his short rib tacos with a side of cannelloni beans.
Environment is rather pleasant — under a viney greenhouse style patio — with well meaning servers. There’s even a parking lot in the back.
The three stars come from the burger being overcooked, the patio having no fans on a 90 degree day (the plastic wrap around the patio truly made it feel like a hot greenhouse) and the waiter constantly touching my arm everytime I asked for something, which also included a «sure honey.» The waiter was a he. It was a little gross. He didn’t «sure honey» my male dining companions. It’s an opportunity for improvement.

The rigatoni bolognese. Never had any other pasta like this in my life. You will not regret.
Also enjoyed the VERY fresh guacamole and chips. Ordered more chips and didn’t realize they physically deep fry their own chips.
Great service, phenomenal food, and half the price of Copa, their sister restaurant!

Bit of a deceiving name. Had I not been recommended to go here, likely would have walked on by. Glad it came recommended.
Biggest complaint: Was a little bit lacking in figuring out the host/​seating/​wait situation. We ended up going inside and asked if we could sit as there were open spots. Got a table and our menus.
Great menu.
Ordered the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Damn. That’s good.
Saw someone get some type of smoothie drink. Asked about those… They were blueberry banana something or others. Yep, better give me one of those.
Damn. That’s good too.
Ordered the smoked salmon benedict. The spinach really set off the whole dish and made for the perfect bite. Really enjoyed the preparation and taste of the potato as well.
My friend had a prosciutto egg panino that was excellent as well — but my benedict was the winner.

Right at the tail end of Ocean Boulevard, where it intersects Pico, one will this bit of a throwback to a bygone area — a place with a 1940s sort of vibe where men in grey suits suits and hats probably had their morning breakfast. I sat in the small inside area, right at the bar, where you can see all the cooking occurring and listen to the music of a bygone era (the 40s and 50s of course!) — though there is outside seating in a covered area next to this small establishment.
I had the BLT with goat cheese for breakfast and it was wonderful — lots of crispy bacon and this wonderfully fresh ciabatta bread, along with coffee served in a classic thick walled diners mug. I will say the prices are a bit on the higher side but worth it for the ambiance and location so close to the beach — if nothing else, go here for food that is pretty decent and experience a bit of a bygone era in this lovely small diner from the era of wise guys and snappy dressing. :-)
Personally, I think this is a great location for a meal if one is visiting Santa Monica and I look forward to eating here again. :-)

Really good breakfast/​lunch spot in Santa Monica. Menu has something for everybody, but they also have creative daily specials. Everything tastes fresh, and I think they make it a point on the menu to say they get things from the farmers markets and local artisan bakeries whoever possible.
Can be a wait on the weekends, so go off-​peak on those days. Would be good if they had a coffee available while you wait. There is parking in the back though. Prices are average for the area, so slightly above average.
Give it a go!