Downbeat Cafe

Dude, it’s a coffee shop, not Dave and Busters. Please stop blasting Jack FM and go back to your Jazz and Blues roots. Trust me, radio just cheapens the experience.
I still love the coffee and snacks but this radio thing has got to go.

Nice place to get some work done! Not the largest café but it’s nice and cozy. The owner (?) is super nice too, so that helps! He makes you feel very welcome. I got the café latte which was good. My friend and I wanted to try the peanut butter cookies but they didn’t have any :(How can they not have any??? Isn’t that their specialty? At least it is on Unilocal… hehe

This place is all right. Very good scones, I’ve got to give them that since I usually find most scones to be crumbly and dry. But the place kind of smells like butter and cleaning chemicals, and the bathroom looks like a gas station bathroom. Maybe the owners should buy a mirror? The front seating area is cute, I like the diner looking tables and chairs, and the girls working were playing nice ambient music.
If you live in the area, give this place a try, but don’t come out of your way to make a trip here.

This place advertises that it has brunch, but I don’t consider eggs & a bagel legitimate brunch. In addition, the service was horrible! The girl in the front seemed to be on something and I had to remind her that I ordered a coffee. However, the place does have a nice vibe for sitting with your friend over coffee and chatting about how you want to change the world. Overall I doubt I’ll come back, but if you’re in the area I only suggest getting a coffee.
P. S. their sandwiches are catered by another company, which makes them way over priced.

Best mom and pop coffeehouse in echo park! Owners are super nice, solid coffee and THEE best peanut butter cookie sandwich in town! Great place to work out of with FREE wifi.
Oh! They also have jazz music every wednesdays which makes a great weekday date night!

Loved this place, but probably won’t be back. Used to be pretty chill and food/​coffee was exceptionally good so worth the price, but today ended that. Heard there was new management, and maybe that’s the problem.
First, they don’t make Americanos like they used to. Second, the sandwiches were missing about ¾ of the ingredients. $ 18 for two pitiful sandwiches and two coffees… we feel burned.
About the ingredients that were there: Bagels were hard and rubbery. Where did the good bagels go? Salad was wilted and pretty slimy. Maybe used about ¹⁄₅ of an avocado between both the sandwiches. $ 1 for each additional ingredient, when there’s barely a slice of tomato (dicing it smaller does not count), a smear of avocado, and a tiny cube of onion. Didn’t put cheese at all.
Service was rough. The two there seemed reluctant to help at all. It used to be really easygoing and not weird. We miss you, Downbeat Café.

I love this as an alternative spot to meet up with writers, thinkers, locals who need a place to be quiet, and creative.
Great coffee and morning bakery — warm out of the oven scones are worth waking up early and getting in the door first thing in the morning!

My friends call this place «hipster coffee» which seems appropriate from the two times I’ve been there.
I paid $ 4.something for a bagel with cream cheese and a small coffee. The coffee was pretty good, a bold (probably French) roast that tasted pretty fresh. They offer half & half in a mini fridge below the self-​serve coffee dispenser, but no milk or soy are in there. Not sure if that’s in a special fridge or if you’re expected to just deal.
The bagel was weak, seemed like something you get in a drug store or grocery store, one step up from Sara Lee but not something I’d want to order again. I’m sure I’ll be back, but just for coffee and people watching.

Completely out of cream,
No coffee at 9am
No apologies
No thanks

I got a salad here one night and though the atmosphere is cool, me paying $ 13 for about $ 5 worth of lettuce and toppings didn’t really sit right with me.
I wouldn’t go back as I’m not one who likes to be ripped off, which I feel I was.

This is a cute quaint little coffee shop in the Echo Park area. Its cool because they have free wi-​fi. Mostly everyone that comes through has a laptop and are writing or searching away.
Its a decent spot to frequent especially since the library that is a few doors down is closed on Mondays. If you need to get a quick drink and log on, then the Down Beat Café is a good look. The sandwiches are made to order, but the menu does not have a wide variety.
They could use a maid to come and dust since it looks as if the floors have not been swept in a few weeks, but its no Starbucks w/​all the glitz and glamor. There is on street parking but the street is fairly busy to try and cross. They have live jazz every Thursday from 7:30p-9:30p. The highlight of my experience was seeing the celebs that pass through. There are a lot of creative folks that live in this area so you are bound to see someone from your favorite show or movie.

This is the most real Echo Park café in Echo Park.
Most of the customers who go there seem to have actually lived in the neighborhood since before the American Apparel store moved in and signaled to scared yuppies from the West Side and the Valley that it was okay to enter Echo Park.
Pretty good soy lattes, nice seating, and great sandwiches made-​to-​order.

Super down to earth café! Its like a little Crave in Echo Park, except they aren’t 24 hours =P
I had the café au lait with soy milk, about $ 4 which is a lil pricier than I expected but still worth the taste, friendly service and environment. I love the inside décor, 50s style chairs and tables plus clean restrooms.
I got their famous peanut butter cookie, which is pretty much like a homemade nutter butter! So good and made fresh daily!
My friend got the vanilla-​mocha latte, super sweet for me but definitely good! House coffee also great and average price plus $ 1 refills.
Wi-​fi available after 2pm only — I think its cool too because you can definitely get in for a cup of joe early in the morning and actually work on homework. reading, writing, etc without being distracted by going online. And they have outlets all over the place!
I will definitely come back for more cookies and maybe try some of their food which looked delicious!
Limited curb side seating, street parking and I heard there is a live jazz band on wednesday, also need to check that out! =)

I love any coffee shop that lets folks work for hours without hounding them to buy more, or hassling them for tables. Sometimes I get Downbeat’s [pricey but delicious] sandwiches, but today I spent four hours getting through a massive batch of photo-​editing here, with just an iced tea and one one-​dollar refill. No questions asked, and I wouldn’t even call myself a regular.
There was free WiFi and it wasn’t silent, either — one of the things they played was Nina Simone, whom I love.
This is exactly the kind of place every neighborhood needs.

I’ve felt the effects of the recession a lot at this place. They no longer have free wifi, no more Splenda, and I haven’t seen their famously delicious peanut butter cookies around in the mornings in a while. This place is so cool though. I love that there’s consistently good music on (you can’t really go wrong with Jazz), I love the retro furniture and the ever changing artwork display.
Downbeat makes me feel so sexy. There’s just something about this place that does it for me. Maybe it’s because I usually come here with my boyfriend on a lazy Sunday morning, grab an iced coffee and peanut butter cookie and do some reading. The staff is friendly and there’s always an interesting crowd who are very respectful (you won’t get anyone having an obnoxious phone conversation in the café). All these things help one immediately settle down and feel at ease.
It also helps that their coffee is great and their chai amazing.

I live close by and finally went by to check this place out. I didn’t stay… just came in early one morning to get a cappuccino to go. No one else was here yet except for the barista. The cappuccino was pretty good. I liked the 50’s retro-​style décor and the wall of framed DownBeat Magazines. Would like to come back and hang out sometime. I think I stayed away this whole time because of all the hipsters who frequent this place! I’ll get over it.

Came here on a Wednesday night! Free street parking. =) There was only one other table besides ours. Love the live jazz band, there are supposed to be four musicians but there was three that night… somehow the singer was stuck in Europe?! Who knows, but would have to come back to listen to the complete ensemble. The guitarist was crazy good, getting carried away and playing crazy riffs, the drummer had the same level of energy and it seemed like the more mellow bass player puts up with the antics of the other two.
Cute 50s diner feel to the place, we sat at a very cool retro table that was amoeba shaped, it had a very solid looking steel base that was reminiscent of a UFO. It can be a little loud with the band going but you can carry a conversation with the person directly adjacent to you. Ordering a large pot of tea is the economical way to go if you are planning on staying a while, it’s also easy to share. I was not that impressed with the turkey sandwich ordered, and I was disappointed with the scone they had. The sandwich is small, the crust of the bread was really hard and made it difficult to eat and flavor of everything was uninspired. The scone seemed a bit undercooked but maybe thats how it is so its more moist. I would have ordered their legendary peanut butter cookie, but were out. =(

Nice lil ma and pa coffee shop around the way. The parking sucks. That street corner is hard to parallel park when cars keep coming at ya. I had to drive up a bit because it was a bit hectic at the intersection.
The barista was a nice guy but seemed a little, just a little, overwhelmed (maybe «whelmed» would be a better description cuz he wasn’t over…) when there were more than 4 orders in at a time. I am not sure how they handle groups of people ordering at once but people seem to frequent this place. My mocha was pretty good, but not extraordinarily so.
*I also got some of their noteworthy peanut butter cookies. Overall impression: Glorified Nutter Butter. They were buttery and on the crunchy side, borderlining on over-​cooked. Straight up peanut butter filling (the skippy variety). I think they could have filled it with some creamy mixture blended with peanut butter. For the price, I could make that at home.
I won’t give it a 3, cuz that was one experience that I don’t want to discount the positives other people enjoy about it. I know that the vibe and other options must be great.

Fairly gourmet and definitely unpretentious. Maybe I’ve just always caught the staff on good days, but they have always been very attentive. I smile when I think of one time when the barista asked, «How was it?» and then lit up like a kid on Christmas as I told him how delicious my turkey/​tomato/​onion/​cream cheese bagel and latte were. It was endearing. My dining mate ordered the baguette with brie, apple, and walnuts and a chai latte and loved it all!
Haven’t checked out the place on Wednesday nights yet when they have the jazz, but definitely will make an effort to soon!

**Take out only
I used to come here before the Downbeat Café opened and have only been here twice since I’ve returned to LA, and it’s great to see that it has become this local café where musicians play.
Earlier this week, I stopped by for breakfast. I wanted eggs, but they’re only available on the weekends, and the chef didn’t know how to make scramble eggs with cheese & tomato… Anyhoo, I went for the Turkey & Swiss sandwich (
), and was disappointed. The French bread was good but they skimped on the filling (
). I didn’t pay $ 8 for bread, but for a sandwich. My Skinny Chai Latte was good. They use Chai powder.
I was told that there’s free internet after 4PM… I’m going to stick drinks here. Hmm… I guess I’ll have try their peanut butter cookies…
p. s. If any one knows where the original owner Martha is, PM me, gracias.

I saw the great reviews for this place and decided to bring my friends here for a Sunday meal together. I thought this placed had some pretty interesting wall decorations. The food was decently priced and tasted really good. Their portions weren’t too big, but who really wants to overeat these days?
I gave Downbeat Café three stars because of the fact that the workers decided it was a good idea to drill holes into the walls and put up shelves while customers were eating. Disgusting and DUSTY. They left us with almost no tables to sit at because their tools and decorations were taking up all the space. If it wasn’t for that, I’d give this café a four.