The La La Land Cafe is an up-and-coming cafe that was founded by Francois Reihani in 2019 in Dallas. The La La Land Cafe now has over 20 locations across the United States, including a new location that just opened in Austin. The La La Land Cafe is known for various drinks and food items, and one of its most popular items is the matcha. The Cafe has become popular very quickly for its trendy drinks and unique atmosphere. The Cafe has also become a popular spot for teenagers to take Instagram pictures.
What I like about the La La Land Cafe is its mission. One of the pillars of the La La Land Cafe is being philanthropic, and one way the owners execute that mission is by employing young adults who have aged out of the foster care system, giving them a chance to earn money and gain valuable work experience. I find this really meaningful because several of my siblings were adopted out of foster care, and it is really amazing to see that people are looking out for older foster children. This differentiates the La La Land Cafe from other restaurants and coffee shops, and I think that is really awesome.
The La La Land Cafe is located at 1400 South Congress Ave. and is open seven days a week. The hours are 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, and it closes at 8 p.m. on weekends. The prices range from about $8 for drinks to about $10 to $12 for pastries, avocado toast, and other items.
The atmosphere of La La Land Cafe is very inviting and bright. It is very aesthetic because of the yellow and white color scheme. When I went, it was very crowded, and the line was wrapped around the building because it was a University of Texas Longhorns game day, but they had relatively quick, very polite, and kind service for so many people.
Some of the food menu items included various types of croissants, a lot of different toast options such as hazelnut toast, which has hazelnut spread, strawberries, and banana, and a truffle baratta toast. As for the drink menus, there were different matcha’s like strawberry and lavender, as well as other lattes. I ordered a couple of different items, including the ¨Pumpkin Pie Cloud Chai, ¨ which is a seasonal item, a “Mango Passionfruit Cooler”, the ¨La La Latte Matcha,¨ and an avocado toast.
Their matcha is one of the Cafe´s most popular items, so I was eager to see if it lived up to the hype, but my expectations were low because I am not a big fan of matcha. However, the matcha was surprisingly good, the best part of it was the cold foam on top, because it helped make it sweeter, although I probably wouldn’t order it again due to my personal preference.
The Mango Passionfruit Cooler was really good. I was skeptical because of the tea, but it actually really complemented the flavors and was extremely refreshing. The avocado toast was really good, too, and had a large portion size, even though I ordered the kids’ size. I appreciated the quantity for a good price. Lastly, I had the Pumpkin Pie Cloud Chai. It was good, but it oddly had a little too much spice to it.
The drinks were different from commercial coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. The matcha at La La Land Cafe was a lot better than the matcha at Starbucks because it was easier to pick out something that would taste good due to all the different flavors and cold foam that you could add. The Pumpkin Pie Cloud Chai is comparable to Starbucks Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai and although both were good, I prefer the Starbucks chai because it had a better flavor. Although, the Mango Passionfruit Cooler is comparable to the Starbucks Refreshers, I prefer the one from the La La Land Cafe because it was very refreshing, the flavor was also a little bit stronger, so you really tasted the mango, and you get to pick what tea you want for the base, allowing for a more customizable drink.
La La Land Cafe is quite different compared to grab-and-go coffee shops such as Starbucks. If you are in the mood to just get a drink and leave, then a commercial coffee shop like Starbucks is probably more fitting, but if you want to hang out, take pictures, and you have more time to spend at a coffee shop, I would recommend going to The La La Land Cafe.
In all, the drinks were pretty good, but they weren’t my favorite. La La Land Cafe had a lot of different options for milk and syrups you could use, so you could customize your drink to exactly how you like it. The cafe did a good job of the aesthetic factor, and the cups had uplifting messages such as ¨Be kind¨and ¨Life is beautiful. I also understand why it is a popular spot for social media pictures because the inside was very aesthetically pleasing.
Overall, I would recommend making a visit to the cafe because of its commitment to philanthropy, its inviting atmosphere, and the unique menu options that it is bringing to Austin. Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of all the drinks, it was still a fun experience, but I would recommend going at a time when it is not as crowded, so you can take your time and soak in the atmosphere.
