The Library

Love this place. My favorite is the cheesecake crème Brulee. It is the best hands down. I can wait for my next visit.

I have been to the library before and haven’t had a problem. This last visit I was pretty annoyed with the service given to me by an older Vietnamese lady with short hair. I tried a different syrup in my iced tea I have never tried before, realized it was too tart, so when I realized I wasn’t drinking it, I went back to the counter to ask if I could get an iced tea with a different flavor syrup. Before even saying anything she was looking down at me and the cup in my hand already expecting me to say something about it. So I told her my situation and she said, «well what do you want me to do about it?» And I told her I would like tea but with a different syrup. She had this look on her face like she was reluctant to help me until I told her I’d pay for it (which I shouldn’t have to, since any business would be happy to help an un satisfied customer). On top of that, she said, well if it’s too sour why don’t you just drink the tea? Without anything? I was quiet and didn’t even know how to respond to her. So she made it with a different syrup and I paid her for a tea I didn’t drink and a new tea in the same cup I gave her, and left. Just makes me so angry. I hate crappy customer service and she gave just that.

Forever one of my favorite spots.
Fruit, desserts, pasta, sandwiches, take a book give a book. Mix matched seating with dimmed lighting & outlets in nearly every corner. Free wifi with purchase.

Great coffee, space, location, décor, tables, atmosphere, # of outlets… But wifi is absolutely terrible. Minus 2 stars.

Perfect spot to study, great location and ambience. The only reason that I hesitate to give 4 – 5 stars is because some of their furniture stinks and feels uncomfortable /​old. Maybe a good cleaning and upholstery would help… or heck buy new furniture & wow this place would be the best!!! Oh oh… I forgot to mention… wifi is horrible, what a downer. Have your hot spot ready as back up. If you plan on using their wifi best of luck. My friend and I both brought our own laptops and both couldn’t connect. We wasted a good amount of study time just waiting on their damn wifi to work

Preface: I have never been interested in Unilocaling anything in my entire life. I am usually a very considerate and polite customer. I tip well, I clean up after myself and I usually demand very little.
I just moved near The Library and was excited to have a local coffee shop with yummy desserts. Wifi was terrible but that’s not what this is about. This is about. .you know who. George.
I like chamomile tea with honey and a splash of milk. Its my favorite tea. My GF and I order two and a slice of carrot cake. Barista says I need to spend 5 buck so I grab some other to go snack. Then, I realize he never billed me for carrot cake so we had to order again. Carrot cake was 4 bucks so again I had to get something else I didn’t want to meet minimum purchase. No biggie. I got a big ugly orange.
I ask for honey. Barista looks annoyed but gives me honey. I notice no milk on the counter where it usually is. I wait in line again, and politely say «im sorry to bother you again, but don’t see milk out, do you have some? «. He asks what type, annoyed. I say «doesn’t matter». He grabs a gallon of milk and slams it on counter. I am surprised at how rude he is being because he scoffs at me. I say «dude, its fine. I dont need milk that badly» and he says «im not a vending machine», which doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons. I have never seen milk in a vending machine. Dafuq? I walk away but decide I wanna say something. I tell him I just wanted a splash of milk… I wasnt being unruly. He says he set it out but that I didnt want any. I come home and check Unilocal and almost every negative review is about him.
I go out of my way to support local business. I pay more to help keep them in business. I dont demand much and am overly polite. I dont deserve shitty treatment like this. They lost a good customer, but my kid does like going there so I may still go but not if George is working.
I gave 3 stars cos everyone else is nice and their desserts are very tasty.

Great study location! Lot of outlets so the majority of customers can get electricity access, if needed. Also have available wifi, with purchase. Friendly staff. Yummy sweets. Normally quiet enough to study in. Sometimes the smoke from the smokers inside can waft in a little bit. That can be a little annoying, if you are a non– smoke, like myself.

What a good place. One of those places where whoever designed it didn’t have a large budget and ended up buying tons of mismatched couches, chairs, tables, etc.
The best thing about this place is that it feels like a comfy/​cozy study lounge first and a coffee shop second. I end up grabbing a table and studying for hours. It’s very easy when you can keep myself satisfied with anything from coffee, ice cream, veggie trays, cake slices, cereal, whatever!
Reasonably priced and very comfortable atmosphere.

Had the raspberry scone and Vanilla Goddess (mocha) the mocha is very good! The scone, was a tad cold by the time I ate it. No biggie. It’s pretty big! Didn’t finish it all. The atmosphere is perfect. Came in around 9 and it was empty and I love it that! More people came on around 10 but it was never crowded.
Service was great! Helpful as it was my first visit.
The only reason I give it 4 stars is because they didn’t have all the flavor scones as listed. No biggie but I wish they had blueberry or the lemon grass flavor a instead of raspberry and chocolate chip.

I’ve gone here so many times, each time being extremely pleasant.
The guy that is mentioned on bad reviews is actually a nice guy. I’ve never had a bad experience, I mean unless you’ve worked in customer service you’ve got to give people the benefit of the doubt. They put up with so many unpleasant characters for a living. They deserve medals! Next time I stop by dollar tree I’ll purchase a certificate of achievement and award our awesome batistas with the certificate of honorable work «Putting up with assholes and asshole Unilocalers» leave them a big tip too.
That being said, the library is a coffee shop suitable for all ages and characters. I find myself sitting in a couch in the back with my phone in my hand and a lemon bar contemplating me on the table beside a large fork. I try not the abuse the system and use my own data for which I’m billed for monthly, and not hog the free WiFi.
Couches and furniture in general have been used, yes. It’s a small business so don’t expect corporate to ship out new furniture anytime soon. As long as it’s comfy and available you should have an enjoyable visit. What more do you expect from a coffee shop?
Don’t pass on the lemon bars

George the Barista strikes again! The kicker is that the owner allows his behavior. Nothing wrong with the products or the environment, just George. I was called «a fake ass victim» because I questioned why my eat-​in slice of cake was put in a paper bag, instead of on a plate like the customer that was purchasing a cupcake directly besides me. I was told «since you are acting like a fake ass victim that you need to leave» I had already payed for my food, that I was planning to eat in. Now that I was asked to leave, I was returning the never touched, in the bag food. George first refused, then came to his senses and returned my money. When leaving I snapped a picture of George so that I could show his face to the owner and he shot me the «bird». No way will I patronize this establishment. I’ve read some previous reviews of this guy going off on customers and it just a’int cool. Too many coffee shops in Long Beach, I won’t miss them, and they won’t be getting my money.

Awesome study, grab-​a-​pastry, have-​some-​ice cream kinda spot.
When Viento y Agua closes early and I have a pressing paper to write-​which I can’t write at home because of my very distracting cats-​I come to the Library.
This place is a little dark, that is my only complaint. Keep in mind, sometimes they’ll have artists (musicians, comedians) come thru on certain evenings.
Hazelnut hipster (I think it’s called) was a good drink.

Beautiful café that offers an array of decadent sweets and various coffee and tea options. I really only came to get a project done and from some of the photos I saw, this spot seemed perfect.
From the minute you step inside, you immediately notice the warm, inviting atmosphere and dim lighting. There are plenty of seats and sofas starting from right near the door.
Walk straight and right ahead is the café counter where you can order your beverage or snack of choice (aside from cakes and biscotti and muffins, they also have small salads and sandwiches, but I wouldn’t recommend it… tiny portions with big fat prices).
To the left of the counter, there’s a small entrance to the next room — a large, cozy room with antique-​like décor mixed with modern artwork. There are small round tables for those who don’t want to be disturbed, large round tables for groups, comfy chairs, sofas, and a piano in the corner which I thought was pretty cool (even cooler if we could play it).
Another thing I noticed — they take reservations!
There’s a single person bathroom that you need a key for — you can retrieve this from the café counter. Thank God — a public restroom that has Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper .
I had to minus one star because the menu is sooooo expensive… boo. I’m a broke college student, I’m sorryyyy.

I was a regular of this coffee shop, I loved it! The atmosphere and décor are very hip and chill. It’s a great place to hang out and do homework and I enjoy the coffee.
What I don’t enjoy about this place is the wifi. Like most people my primary reason for going there is to get work done, study, and drink coffee and relax. They require you buy an item to receive the wifi password which changes daily and that’s completely understandable! I am completely okay with buying something for the wifi password but when you purchase an item to receive the Internet and it’s completely unusable it is a huge disappointment. The wifi at best is snail speed IT IS SO SLOW!!! Most of the time you can’t even connect to it and when you do you’re sitting waiting just for pages to load which takes a lifetime. Streaming music or videos is impossible so forget about that.
As goofy as it sounds that I’m complaining about the wifi it is actually a major factor to my experience there. I live in seal beach but I drive there to study, when studying requires using the Internet it becomes virtually impossible to do there. I don’t go to there anymore because I know I’m going to have to buy something just to risk the Internet possible working but more times than not I’m disappointed.
I would give this establishment 5 stars as it was my favorite coffee shop in the area but I haven’t gone since my last few experiences caused me to leave frustrated and seek out other coffee shops. Hopefully they fix it soon because I loved going there!

Like this place. Coffee not bad, a lot of choice of bakery and salads. Place comfortable and beautiful inside, not crowded. Perfect for business meetings and come and work with your computer or read book.

I have lived in the area for years and would come in often when I was in college and it was a great place to hang out.
Now, I work at home sometimes, so thought I would stop by to see how it may have changed.
What’s changed is me! I now drink soy and almond milk– so, I recommend the chai latte– delicious!
The service and atmosphere are still a great place to work, or hang out. Some great things don’t change.

I love it here! The interior makes me feel like I’m Belle in the Beast’s library. My vanilla latte and tea came out to about $ 5 and tasted great. Pretty quiet environment so perfect for a study date (:

I wanted to love this place… the décor is cozy and food is decent… except the furniture has passed boho worn and plummeted into no support/​awkward/​wobbly but the dullest part is the coffee is… not even really coffee.
Mind you… I drink black coffee/​iced and sometimes I add a little half and half if I am feeling fancy. So those who have reported the vanilla goddess… or chai. thai…or whatever it is… is delicious. they may be right cause they like that sort of thing. Those thing are void of any coffee flavor. To me, it is really important that the core coffee. the BASE​.be good… and instead it is bitter and watered down.
It would be helpful if they provided coffee ice cubes instead of dumping extra ice in the storage plastic
:(container that they have it. making it like dirty water.
I am a block away from this location and stay home for my coffee or go to another shop out of the way. Really unfortunate because I would be here daily if the coffee was good.

Since I work from home, I try to work in coffee shops on occasion just so I don’t forget what it’s like to interact with other human beings. Sometimes I do it so I can wear jeans instead of pjs, but anyway…
Came here on a weekend in the late afternoon and was able to find street parking a block away (it was as if the parking gods were smiling down on me!). Because the universe never allows me to be so fortunate, my luck was balanced out by the fact that I had no idea where the door to this place was and spent a good 20 seconds trying to open a door that was not meant to open. What I realized was that the actual door to the Library is located to the right of said non-​door-​that-​looks-​like-​a-​door.
I had an Italian soda and skipped the pastries (although next time I think I’ll try one). Their menu seemed pretty extensive. No complaints about customer service — the woman was nice enough. Free wi-​fi, although you need to be a paying customer in order to get the password.
The place wasn’t crowded and I was able to score a table with a nearby outlet (jackpot!). There were a few other people hanging out, but they were spread out and generally all pretty quiet. It’s not library quiet here, but definitely quiet enough to get some work done if you can concentrate. I dig the shabby chic furniture and old bookshelves. The place is dark and cozy, perfect for a «winter» afternoon of work.

This place is rather interesting… I’ve been here a few times, now. One thing that I am finding with some of these local coffee shops is that many of them are shabby, but I think that they mean for the shabby to be comfortable and homey. This shabby is a bit much. They have all kinds of random and mismatched furniture like they got it from donations or Good Will. There’s nothing wrong with that except most donated furniture needs to actually go in the trash and that is clearly represented here. Some of the seats are missing springs in the middle, so you sink. Others are full of mysterious stains, others look like it won’t hold your weight or they are so thin that they look uncomfortable.
They have all kinds of trinkets and junk throughout the shop. It basically looks like your klepto grandmother’s house. There is shit everywhere, but it works for the space and the vibe, I guess. They just need to clean more. It smells old when you walk in there, in fact, you can smell it still standing out on the curb in front of the door and I am guessing that a lot of that is due to the dirty furniture and undusted trinkets. The Library is the perfect name, because it smells like an old library that has had its doors closed for the last 60 years and it just opened.
Just like any other restaurant, I think that they should revamp the store and change the furniture. When you have people sitting in those chairs all day and all night and they’re all stained and smelling, it’s time to throw them out and get new ones. Everyone who comes in there isn’t the cleanest, either. So you’re torn with dealing with their funk and the funk of the furniture.
I have had a caramel macchiato there and I agree with Jenna C… it was nasty. I tried my best to doctor it, but it was so nasty that I couldn’t even get it down and usually I can hold my nose and chug it. I couldn’t…that says a lot. I don’t know what was up with that coffee, but it was awful. Since then, I only get the hot tea. Now, they have a very nice tea selection and there are many to choose from. You have to ask for the honey, since they don’t leave it out on the counter. The water is majorly hot, so be careful! It took awhile before I could even take a sip, but no complaints on it. I like when it’s really hot.
There are also all kinds of cakes and pastries to choose from and I believe they have small wrapped sandwiches. The prices are reasonable and the barista this last time around was really nice and friendly. In all, I would go again. We only stepped in here because we were waiting for our table at the Attic and they were going to text us when it was ready. It’s a cool place to sit and wait, just watch where you sit. ;-)

Good coffee and wonderfully flaky croissants!