Vinaka Cafe

I’m normally in the mood for a hot chocolate but today wanted to «branch out» to suttim different. I decided on the chai tea latte-​warm, tasty, just sweet enough and delicious. Cant go wrong with a breakfast croissant sandwich either. Friendly service, nice background music and enough reading material to keep me occupied and off my phone lol.

Stopped by here for some coffee and wifi. It was a pleasant and I like how it was open with lots of natural light coming in from the outside. The staff was OK. One thing I remember is restrictive signs around the establishment. I don’t remember what the directions were, but they just weren’t welcoming. I guess I’d come back if I’m ever in the area and need a place to chill for a while.

The staff is friendly and the coffee is superb. People play checkers and chess all the time and it’s just an overall cool place to just relax inside of the little strip mall. It’s never overly crowded but there’s always people around. My wife and I think short of going to Fiji, you won’t be treated better.

Wish I could give 5 stars but the staff needs to learn to SMILE and make eye contact! It’s a very «trendy-​non trendy vibey» place with a lot of young adults in retro styles as well as plenty of older folks and in between! Seems to be a locally loved spot!
The food is good! I ordered a bacon, egg, cheese and avocado on croissant and got a TURKEY, egg, cheese and avocado on a BAGEL. So that sucked and if I had opened my sandwich before I was home I would’ve gone back. I also got the iced chai latte with Almond and it was mediocre but I really did love the ambiance and I know if they had just paid a bit more attention and smiled just once I would’ve enjoyed myself more!

Even for a busy day the staff was friendly and the Chi Tea Latte was perfect. I recommend asking the friendly baristas what drink they like to make and give it a try.

Attractive people, good service, good coffee. Plus, they have soy, rice, and almond milk as alternatives, which is great if you’re vegan like me.

I stopped by with my wife and kids after our trip to the Aquarium. My wife had a mocha and a bagel breakfast sandwich. I had an espresso (and a drip coffee), pecan cake and the spicy sourdough sandwich.
The food, overall, was pretty good and moderately priced. I’d eat here again.
The coffee on the other hand was ok. Nothing spectacular. The espresso was actually a little burnt.
The atmosphere is really relaxed, lots of room, though it was pretty full when we went.
All in all, I was happy.

Vinaka’s is the equivalent of «Cheers» for coffee. The baristas say Hello and treat you like a person. Come in a few times and they call you by name. Nice to be treated like a guest and not a number.
Hammerheads and coffee selection are great. No burnt coffee taste here.

Great tea, great BLT. Pretty much a chill spot.
I don’t recommend the pastries, looks like everything is from Costco. Not that it’s a bad thing, just not a smart thing for my wallet.
Yeah I’d come here again. If I had too.

I seriously love this local café. It’s the bomb diggity. And yes, that is proper English.
From the comfy chairs, great coffee, food and awesome staff to the laid back, local, beachy feel, this place scores 5 stars easily in my book.
I recently came and got one of their breakfast special sandwiches (croissant, avo, bacon, cheese and egg) and damn, was it good. I don’t know if it was because I’d just gotten off night and was delirious or what but I highly doubt that had anything to do with it. Totally hit the spot.
I got a regular latte to go and I also got a latte today for «here» with almond milk and the coffe art was great! Very cool because as they say… you eat first with your eyes. Love this place!

I love this open space coffee spot in the village. It’s comfy, spacious, and has a great view. The best part is that is has, by far, my favorite almond milk Chai latte. You have got to try it! I wish I would have taken a photo it was so good.
Also, I love the outdoor seating. It’s really nice to be outdoors and enjoy the beautiful village of Carlsbad.
Plus: the service is great! Although, I will say that they once charged me for a cup of hot water. Who does that?

Any alternative to Starbucks gets the benefit of the doubt in most cased. Vinaka Café (Perhaps stretching the meaning of café), was a nice find on a late evening in Carlsbad Village. The décor is Indonesian /​art gallery. The Barista working this night was pretty friendly, and the chai tea latte was great. They did have a dessert case if that’s what you’re craving.
— With Starbucks just around the corner, try this place instead.
— They need to clean their food case for greasy fingerprints, especially after a long day of customers /​kids «window shopping».

Great place to come and have a nice cup of coffee. They have great little areas indoors and outdoors if you need to do some work, having a chat with a friend, or even grabbing a bite from the selection of food that they have here.
The staff is super nice and are really really great. Be advised that if you do need to use the restroom, you will need to give the workers behind the counter something of value!

Great coffee! The blended mocha is to die for! I am from Carlsbad and live in Seattle and crave this amazing blended drink.
Went the other day and well. The girl forgot about my order! No, big deal I let it go and she made me my blended mocha. She made me a small it looked like I ordered and paid for a large but I had my toddler with me so I didn’t have time to stand there for another 10 minutes for her to make me another one.
Went back yesterday and ordered two blended mocha’s. Well. fifteen minutes later I finally got my drinks, not because the place was busy but because little miss chatterbox had to talk to the guy who was getting off his lunch break and the other girl behind the counter. Very slow I watched her grab the can of whipped cream and it took at least 2 minutes because she was talking. I understand this is a laid back, go with the flow kind of coffee shop but come on! 15 fifteen minutes for two blended drinks with nobody else in line that’s a great way for me to just suffer and go to Starbucks at least they can get two blended drinks out in under 4 minutes.
I love this place please do not get me wrong! I just don’t have all day to wait for my coffee.

Cool eclectic vibe with a Tahitian angle.
Usually some interesting folks about, and the scent of toasted bread!
Great location in the heart of the village.

So many good memories here! Love this little place :)
Whether it be coffee, ice cream, pastries, etc, it’s yummy!
Great spot to come catch up with a friend over tea, do some school work, or just catch up on reading!
Their blended mocha is my personal favorite, so delicious. Order it :)

Cute atmosphere, tables for chatting and sipping coffee. Polite staff when I called and stopped in, not over friendly, but certainly not unfriendly.
I love that they offer almond milk as an alternative, however I was a little sad my latte didn’t arrive with a special design on top as I had seen in a few photos. Perhaps that’s due to the almond milk, rather than regular milk. My latte was good, but nothing super special. They give 10%off for bringing your own mug. Bonus!
Quite a few gluten free options as well! There was a flourless chocolate cake, few cookie choices and they also have Bobo’s Oat Bars. I’d return if I’m in Carlsbad area, but I’d probably try a chai tea next time.

Coffee, ice cream and snacks? Yes please…
The coffee is good and not brewed incredibly strong like the big chain types. The ambiance is really laid back, a throwback café that oozes Carlsbad charm. It sits on the 2^nd floor near the Crossings and Submarina. They have seating inside, but spending the day outside is always better on a sunny Carlsbad day. There is only a small food menu, just enough choices for a quick lunch.
The best part of Vinaka has to be the ice cream: This might be some of the best ice cream. E-​V-​E-​R. No joke, I have had about 10 different flavors here, and they are all awesome. Favorite is the peanut butter variety, which I wished they made a permanent fixture. The good thing is that they will always have at least one that you will like, I promise.
An awesome spot to get away from the bars just yards away, cram some last minute studying in, or meet up with friends to catch up. I’m a fan.

What an awesome place. Friendly waitresses. Free internet. Awesome coffee I like the day old scones for &1 and gluten free muffins.
There is nice seating outside under umbrellas and the back wall on the inside is darker so you can work on your PC
This place is right above the Coyote Bar, my fave calendar weekend hangout place

Vinaka epitomizes the laid back, casual coffee Carlsbad atmosphere. This café is filled with people on laptops studying, reading books, playing chess outside, and others catching up with old friends.
Although coming here on a Monday afternoon, most seats were pretty full and the kitchen was going full blast! I’ve been here once before, but I only got coffee. This time I got the Garden Burger and Iced Coffee. Their card system was down, so I opted to hand over some tangible monetary while I heard a whisper in the crowd say this happens quite frequently. Although everyone says it’s a free Wifi, you have to ask for the Wifi password when you’re done ordering.
I fixed my iced coffee to my pleasing and waited outside until our orders came. We weren’t terribly starving, but we were craving some nomz! My Garden Burger had a veggie patty with avocado, onion, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and mustard sandwiched between two toasted wheat buns with a side of Sun Chips. It seems like lately, I ditched meat for a plentiful amount of leafy greens and with a sandwich like this, you will not be missing meat!
I definitely want to try their breakfast sandwiches and desserts! All the food looks amazing!
Cons:
I’m a bit apprehensive when it comes to someone writing down my debit/​credit card information on a piece of paper, so that they can charge you later for your meal. I’m not implying that the staff will do anything with that information other than charge me correctly for my order, but I’m afraid of what other strangers will do once they see my information thrown in the trash can or on the counter or etc. I suggest bring cash with you because cash is always best! Hopefully they get a new updated system for people paying with their cards!
Also, although they gave me the wifi password and prompted me it was case sensitive, I entered the pass code multiple times and still didn’t work. I just refused to go up and ask because I wasn’t going to be there that long anyways.