02/18/09

A Unique Hollywood Hangout

by mwt

I have to laugh at the reviews that criticize Chango for having too many "hipsters." This is a hipster cafe in a hip area of town -- a totally unique, one-of-a-kind hangout in Los Angeles. Alternative Hollywood local color. If you aren't enchanted by gloriously hot tattooed art chicks, there are an infinite number of of bland, cookie-cutter Starbucks and Coffee Beans around where you'll feel right at home. Now run along.

PS - the coffee, drinks, food, and service are excellent.

02/17/09

A Real Dump!

by jj125869

What a dump! - the attitude just really s$$$. The prices are inflated. The service is the worst and their stuff tastes like $$%%.

Paid 3 dollars for rank plain coffEe. The nimrod behind the counter pretended we where invisible when we asked for a pastry.

Corner is just very cool but these silly hipsters ought to learn to respect the neighborhood. This just to be a neighborhood where

everyone knew each other and said hello. Now these arrogant hipsters have taken it over. In a few years they will be gone to

orange county or santa monica...so what are they so arrogant about...they don't even care about the place..it is just something they can

tell their buddies back in the burbs: "wow dude. i lived in LA..."

• Pros: The corner is cool
• Cons: Service, attitude, drinks are rank

This laidback neighborhood corner caffeine joint anchors Echo Park's boutique row.

by Kim Cooper

Former Herbert Gallery owner Parris Patton brings an art-lover's eye to his coffeehouse (which literally means "monkey" in Spanish) from monthly exhibitions to a front counter mosaic featuring paintings of poultry leftover from its former incarnation as a grocery. Bright and welcoming, there are acid-etched concrete floors, exposed-brick walls and long benches. Coffee drinks feature micro-roasted Costa Java; loose teas are brewed to order. There's also daily packaged salads and sandwiches, Dandy Don's ice cream, soups and Italian sodas.

07/06/08

hipstered out

by snogger

far too many tattoos and slinkly hipster chicks. amazingly pretentious and over-styled clientele. but on an quiet day it's amazing, when all the little hipsters are sleeping off their late nights and hours of posturing. sleepy little corner, good mint lemonades.

• Pros: great corner
• Cons: too much attitude

02/21/08

I like it

by ortensia

Love the selection on tea's. Good Coffee. Good vibe. Good Mixture of people not too many hipsters. Great music. And super friendly staff, cute lad's and ladies working. I didn't get the art work.

• Pros: tea, coffee, tunes, WiFi, dog friendly
• Cons: parking

01/30/08

I love it!

by Orion44

I can say this is my favorite coffee shop. Unlike others, I find the staff to be friendly and helpful and the cleanliness of the location to be up to par. I have had coffee there nearly every morning since they've opened, and it seems to me they have been incredibly consistent with their brew. Such vitriol from the critics seems misplaced. The love is still there. Hope to see you back.

• Pros: Great place to chill
• Cons: None

01/29/08

What happened?

by genagenie

I'm back in LA and visiting fave places, one of which is in my boyfriend's 'hood, Chango Coffee. After a year, I'm shocked at what's going on w/the place! We loved the coffee and my BF warned me when I wanted to go back...it's just not the same.

The service I got was rude and quickly dampened my excitement to be back there, or to pay for my coffee and food. It was like I was either invisible or the barista just had better things to do than deliver good service. OR a good cup of coffee, for that matter.

The Americano I got was weak and I even asked for "room for cream". When I took it back and said it was weak, the barista said, "Isn't that what you ordered??" Well, yeah, but they obviously don't know how to pour a good espresso. I just walked away and dumped the coffee out.

Later, we went to Intelligensia--yum!! This place is much more relaxed and casual and CLEAN!! The service was great, the baristas made eye contact and were polite and seemed happy that they had customers. The pastries looked good, but I didn't order anything.

I say if you want a nice cup of coffee with pleasant service in a clean environment, make the trek to Intelligensia. The gelato place also serves I-coffee, but it's more of a scene there. Sorry Chango, although I've returned to LA, I'm not returning to your coffee shop!

01/17/08

Not an anchor anymore!

by Thebent1

This place used to be cool, but it's gone down the toilet. I chalk it up to all the good managers leaving-the manager now is totally not motivational and it's reflected in bad attitudes, bad service and really awful coffee at times. I can't say that I get a good cup of coffee consistently when I go here and I am not a regular anymore. I used to stop every morning (the morning baristas when it first opened were great! and the weekend people were awesome!!) I can't justify spending the money here--I've actually dumped cups of coffee in the trash before I even make it back to my car!! The other thing it really NEEDS to improve upon is the cleanliness--it's had problems, but neve to the degree it is now. Geez, someone sweep once in a while and clean that bathroom!! It's damn scary!! Overall, this is a 'skip it'...I heard the owners are in with the Madame Matisse owners now. I wonder how much of this is going to carryover because MM isn't that great now either. SKIP, SKIP, SKIP IT!!

• Pros: it's in the neighborhood
• Cons: just about everything

06/07/07

Gone down hill

by katyyyyy

Yikes, what happened to the friendly funky place that served decent coffee? We used to go there all the time, they had great cupcakes, decent coffee and helpful people. Now it's hard to get eye contact, much less a smile- We have defected to Delila's up the street- It's way cleaner too.

03/18/07

Great Sandwichs - Quick Friendly Service

by dinahtalks

I found Chango to be a pefect place for a quick and tasty lunch. Stopped in there with a friend last week. It seemed a typical coffee house at first, very Echo Parkish, (meaning could possibly be too relaxed where they get to you when they get to you,) but was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't. The guy behind the counter was great. We got a couple of sandwichs and drinks and it was all really good and quickly served up by a funny guy who really did seem to care if we got all we wanted and were satisfied, (I realized that maybe it's not so Echo Parkish.)

We enjoyed ourselves there. The current art display was interesting. As I wrote it ended up to be a perfect place for a quick lunch. We will be back.

• Pros: Great food, quick friendly service
• Cons: couldn't find any