Ok, I officially have a new method to writing coffee shop reviews. And Chango Coffee, near Echo Park in LA, is the reason for my sudden change in both personal – and this coffee blog’s – beliefe about what a coffee shop should be. But more about that below.
As for rating Chango’s review, I wasn’t impressed with their drinks at all. I was told about Chango from my friends (the owners) over at the amazing Cafe De Leche – a place that somewhat consistently serves great drinks. But Chango’s own drinks were a bummer, I thought.
The cappuccino was (to be polite) not enjoyable.
Their scones (the only food I ordered) are ok. Not worth $3something in my opinion. I’ve heard their sandwich type food is great. But why offer ‘ok’ scones, & ‘great’ sandwiches? Why not just offer sandwiches?
The ambiance though, is well – awesome. It’s hard to know what people look for in a coffee shop really. But I’d say this place would make most people happy. It has lots outdoor & indoor seating, free wifi, great music, a super friendly staff, etc. It just ‘feels’ like a great place.
Would I recommend it to friends though??
The phrase is really a cop out here – but valid none the less: it depends. It depends on if you like ‘great coffee.’ If you consider yourself a wannabe, fledgling, or serious coffee connoisseur – you’ll be super disappointed. The coffee just isn’t up to par yet. But if you just like caffeine and want a good place to meet friends or do work on your laptop – this place might be perfect.
And that brings me to my last point. The reason I haven’t been posting many reviews recently is because of this combination of rules I have: 1) don’t post places with bad coffee, & 2) visit a place at least 3 times before reviewing. The point of this blog isn’t to bash places, its to help visitors find great coffee shops, so in the last 5 months I’ve visited probably 15 or 20 new places that I didn’t really think visitors would be interested in. But when I visited Chango, read its reviews on Yelp ( with tons of random ridiculous reviews as always ), and remembered that my friends as Cafe De Leche like this place – I realized that visitors might want to make up their own mind.
From now on I’m planning on only visiting a place TWICE before reviewing, and posting no matter what. If the coffee is bad but ambiance is good – maybe that’s useful to someone.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Chango Coffee Inc
1559 Echo Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
(213) 977-9161
Popularity: 41% [?]
“The coffee just isn’t up to par yet.”
Give it maybe another 4 years? I’ve always thought it a shame that the owners of Chango landed this prime spot. The cafe since it’s conception has featured selectively friendly service and poorly prepared coffee. I could tolerate a little attitude if it was serving me something of distinct quality. Chango deserves little credit for the great local community that patronizes them out of convenience.
Not sure if they still do it but the coffee across the street at Magic Gas is surprisingly better.
I have boycotted that place since the beginning. They destroyed the finest folk art mural in Echo Park. There was a beautiful mural of fighting cocks on the north wall. That’s why it’s called Chicken Corner. When they were building it I begged them not to damage the mural and they assured me it would be fine. The next thing I knew it was demolished. I think they saved a couple of pieces of it but it just isn’t the same.
So I never went there and never would. They could have the best coffee in the world for all I know.
For those new to the area across the street where the condo debacle is now was a farm. Yes, a real farm. They even had a cow for a short time (but I think code enforcement shut that down pretty quickly). They had chickens, rabbits and goats. The goats were out in plain sight for the longest time but at some point they got “warned” and then they were pent up in the back behind some corn they had growing.
They even had a slaughterhouse with an upside down horse shoe over it.
Ahh, Echo. I don’t live there anymore but I sure do love it.
Cheers
@Guy “the coffee across the street at Magic Gas is surprisingly better” …. HILARIOUS!
@Former Lemoyner – thanks for comment.
I really wanted to like Chango but I’m disappointed every time I go there. The coffee & food is mediocre at best & the clientele annoy me.
Fix is much better but I’m hesitant to tell too many people because I don’t want it to be taken over by hipsters. But maybe they won’t want to pedal their fixed-gear bicycles through the hills…..
LOL – don’t want to tell people about Fix. That’s hillarious. I like Fix too.. & owner is super nice.
I felt the same way about Jones Coffee near my house, & tried to keep it a secret for as long as possible, but finally had to admit it to people. Ha.
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