The Hedgehog

This is my most favorite spot for coffee. I willingly drive to Echo Park so I can feel at home here. It’s a vegetarian and vegan spot with good wifi and a neat bar with tons and tons of outlets. It’s usually quiet with pretty neat music playing, and I’ve never had trouble finding seating. There are a handful of outdoor tables and the staff is super friendly. Really good food too!

Best egg salad sandwich of life. Why you close down!!!

I live on block of this place and always want to get breakfast there because they have decent vegan options but the place does not open until 9am… This is completely ridiculous for a café to open so late. Despite being in a hipster neighborhood I am sure there is a good portion of community that is up and running before 9am (I know I am) and would benefit from more normal café hours. This seems like an overall disinterest in making money and gaining new customers. C’mon people. Don’t you know about rush hour traffic at 8am. It’s not like they even open exactly at 9am, I have driven passed there at 905 and they are just starting to open doors. Find another café in la that opens this late. I challenge you.
Written at 720am … Hungry for a vegan turnover.

Great veggie and vegan options for lunch. Plenty of seats for studying/​work and the staff are consistently friendly. They also have regular drip coffee that costs less than $ 5! A rarity in this hood.

I frequent The Hedgehog at least every week, if not a few times a week as it’s now become my morning spot to work. I love the avocado toast (talk about a power breakfast) and more recently I’ve gotten into the herbed goat cheese toast and the egg gribiche toast which are both fantastic.
I also love their quiches and sandwiches. I’ve never had something at the Hedgehog I didn’t like. And the girls that work here are always super friendly.
I really love this place and I’m happy it’s in my neighborhood. Now I have a place to go work outside my house every week and I couldn’t be happier about it.

My first stop in LA & I had the La Honda (a warm sandwich).
The prices are reasonable about $ 8-​$ 10. The also have a café menu
On the side were medium sized cups for water (no ice) which I had
Place was perfect. Comfortable and good lighting. If I lived here id frequent this place often

The wifi here is so horrible! I paid for my food and coffee then sat down, hoping to get some work done. I tried everything to make it work. The barista just shrugged. Very unsympathetic. So there I was, with my food so I couldn’t really go elsewhere until I was done eating, but then had to buy something all over again at another café.
Other bummers: the seats at the «laptop bar» are so low that it was impossible to type there – the bar is literally at my shoulder height when sitting.
I didn’t see anyone else working on a laptop while here so maybe that was a hint!

I really wanted to give this place 5 stars but the wifi issues are driving me crazy. It’s so unreliable that I can’t keep hoping it will work. The food is great, coffee too, people are lovely, setting and light is the brightest of any shop and yet as much as I want to sit here all day working and spending money, I’m going to have to write you off. I wish I could be a regular but I just can’t. Let me know when it’s fixed.

Love the fact that this place is very vegan friendly, but everything is so darn pricey and inconsistent.
You’re paying a lot and you’re getting an unknown amount. The humus cost about $ 5 and it comes with a pretty generous scoop of humus (sometimes garnished) and four small slices of pita bread. FOUR SMALL SLICES… You can order extra bread, but of course that’s going to cost ya more money.
Their ~$ 8 avocado sandwich is exactly what it sounds like. They only give you half of a small avocado and you’d have to spread the avocado yourself. It also comes with a small side of super bitter salad.
There are lots of great vegan desserts, such as cinnamon rolls, apple turnover, molasses cookies, etc. They have ‘day old’ pastries that sell out quickly. Their pastries don’t look very fresh… but you’d be surprised how delicious they taste. Ask them to warm it up, or they will serve it to you cold.
Their cold pasta selection — isn’t the best tasting food. Sometimes the pastas can be flavorful while others tastes so bland.
Minus the food, the venue itself is pretty cozy n’ cute. There are lots of artsy Silverlake hipsters studying or going over movie scripts with their laptops. Most of the cashiers are approachable, but one of the ladies could have a bit of an attitude from time to time.

This is my ideal.
A bounty of outlets, so every seat is a good one. Friendly staff, easy street parking, and plenty of food/​drink options. It’s never overly crowded (in my experiences) and they have normal effing prices. I don’t know why coffee shops in LA has such a large window in pricing for a cup of caffeine, but Hedgehog allows you to frequent a couple times a week without the guilt.
Also a steady stream of wifi. This problem has been plaguing me lately. FEEL BAD FOR ME.
In the words of me:
«Coffee shops are much like dating, in that sometimes they have all the necessary parts, but lack this „je né sais quoi“. Hedgehog is someone I could introduce to my mother.»
Reevaluation of life choices, commence.

Great coffee, great pastries, an all-​around excellent spot for a casual hangout or for banging out your next screenplay. I really appreciate the staff, even that one kind of moody fellow. I would be happy all the time if I was surrounded by cookies and muffins all day. Why so serious, fella?
They say that the hallmark of a neighborhood is its café — or is it pub? — so skip the Sbux and support The Hedgehog. And don’t forget to tip your barista!

Im really disappointed. I have been here a handful of times and usually spend 5 – 12 dollars and really liked the place until brought a few friends here to study and when I walked in I went straight to buy something and offered to get them something they said they would get something later on. five minutes after i paid the the barista walked over and said «if your going sit here and use my wifi can you buy something?» Needless to say, I wont be back here. And I wont be bringing friends here either. I was embarrased the other clients in the shop looked over in shock.
I especially wont be back because I asked around the neighborhood and found out she is the owner. I have made sure to let friends ive taken here to not return. I feel awful to have subjected my friends to such an experience.

As far as coffee shops go, it can be easy to just set up shop with a few seats and free wi-​fi. But this place is bright, airy, and pleasant. Love the look and feel of community here. Artwork lines the yellow walls and the staff is super friendly and polite. And yes… food!
They currently have two vegan options. La Honda (a hot panini) and the Ventana (cold). Not much to the La Honda. Spinach, Avocado, and Tomato, but it’s pretty darn tasty. The flat bread is crisp, light and airy as the atmosphere. The side salad was delicious and tangy.
I would LOVE to see this place add more to the vegan menu and I would be here way more often. Would also probably bring the crowd, cause everyone knows vegans are the most viral group as you can imagine!
Parking was easy enough to find around 3:30 pm on Mohawk Street.
Great place to be a writer in solitude or socialize with a few of your friends. Recommended if you can handle the traffic on Sunset in Echo Park!

Fantastic coffee and friendly staff. It’s one of those neighborhood joints that you think don’t exist anymore, the one where the guy behind the counter remembers you and asks if you want the usual.
There’s also so many fresh food options that it’s pretty kickass. Plus, there’s hedgehogs everywhere, which are pretty cool on their own.
I was using the wi fi down the street at the starbucks, but I think I’ll be coming here from now on. It’s definitely a must-​stop-​in place if you find yourself in Echo Park.

I had some time to kill after doing a stair hike in Echo Park and before I had to meet some folks in Atwater Village. Also, I needed coffee like mad! Driving down Sunset I just about slammed the brakes when I saw the little sandwich board out front advertising Vegan Treats! Yes.
I got a really good cup of coffee (two, actually) and a vegan bear claw to cure my sweets attack.
Cute place, pleasant staff. Kind of wish there was a place like this in my neighborhood.

I believe I have found Little Portland in Los Angeles! It is centered around this gorgeous little Portlandic store, across the street from the offices of PETA and a feminist therapy group, not (unlike) Women and Women First:
. Not only is The Hedgehog a combined vegan-​teria and coffee shop, it is weird like Portland. This little vegan shop is a goddess-​send.
At first, I wondered why it was vegan and then saw that I was getting PETA’s wifi signal and then I realized that PETA was across the street. Considering the emptiness of this vegan coffee shop, I wonder if Bob Barker is helping fund this store too, as with PETA.
Besides animal rights and feminist stuff, every wall has a flying succulent plant adorned on it. The walls are the colors of a ripe acorn. The hanging light fixtures and some of the chairs look Brady Bunch old. The old furniture is then effectively mixed with modern furniture to give a balanced look. Outside, it is very, very bike-​friendly with at least two bicycle racks and bike lanes on both sides. Also, the vegan apple turnover was delicious and freshly made.
The downside of Little Portland is the lack of white sunless skies and perpetual 55 degree weather.

While perusing around the area, a friend and I were desperately looking for a quick pick me up. There were many highly rated options in the area, but my heart drew me to the hog :)
The heart is never wrong!
The hedgehog offers what appeared to be a completely veg menu. Many vegan options in addittion to their plethora of vegetarian choices. I love it when I don’t need to scrutinize a menu for half an hour or be that super picky customer who asks for all sorts of changes.
I ordered La Hambra, a delightful, savory sandwich with arugula, mushrooms, tomatoes and some other veg goodness; a soy chai, which really, did not rock my world. at all, and a vegan oatmeal cookie. MmMmMmM! Do you remember those Little Debbie oatmeal cookies that your grandparents probably kept in the high cupbard? Yes, those with the white, crunchy glaze? The cookie totally reminded me of that, but without the cruelty!
The Hedgehog is definitely a place that I would like to visit again. Open one here in OC please!

My favorite coffee shop in LA. I am somewhat of a coffee shop whore, so I’ve been around. So let me tell you why I love this one:
1) First and foremost — all the vegan options. You’ve got your breakfast items, your lunch fare and desserts that you can’t get at other places. (Pumpkin whoopie pies, anyone?) Their desserts are made by the same pastry chef as Flore’s, and if you’ve had any of Flore’s cupcakes or cakes… you know it’s the bomb.
2) They make their chai in house and it is freakin delicious. I love that I had the option of almond or soy milk. There was a third, but as soon as I heard almond, I stopped listening. I only buy almond milk so I always get that when it’s offered.
3) This place is not that popular. Sucks for them, but it’s lovely for me. It works to meet a friend for a quick cup of coffee or to do some work. I’m able to take up a whole table with my laptop, purse, drink, various snacks, USB, charger and another five random things I usually have with me. I can park myself there for hours and not feel guilty.
When I asked the guys why they opened a (mostly) vegan café, they told me about how they wanted a quick service option for vegans. I wanted to friggin hug them. My other friends aren’t usually as keen to go to a vegan restaurant, so I usually resort to the Whole Foods hot bar or just cooking at home. As lucky as we are to have Flore, Shojin and any of Tony Yanow’s establishments on the Eastside, there hasn’t been many quick options. The Hedgehog is a welcome addition to the vegan scene and I hope they’re here to stay.

The Hedgehog’s definitely got some character traits that I love in a coffee shop, specifically coffee, complimentary wifi, food beyond pastries, and outlets. I’m not so in love with the seating options, but I did notice a contractor there taking measurements during my visit, so I think that might be improved soon.
I worked away for the day and before heading out, I dined on a wild arugula salad. While the arugula might have been wild, the salad was pretty plain Jane. And for $ 7, I basically got a bowl of leafy greens with a handful of tomato chunks, green olives, and sliced cheese, a baby palm-​sized handful. I knew going into it that it would be pretty simple, but I was hoping for more pizazz from the basics. They’ve got heartier menu board options, so I’ll have to give those a shot next time. And the menu is pretty vegan-​friendly, if you’re on the hunt for that.

So friendly! The staff here are so friendly. They, along with décor you might find at Grandma’s house, make Hedgehog feel so homey and welcoming. My favorite touch were the souvenir coasters from the 1960s or ‘70s – perfect to use underneath your ceramic mug.
Seating’s a little tight but outlets are plentiful – perfect for the modern-​day nomadic office-​dweller – and really my only complaint is that I think the almond milk they use might be sweetened. It might not be, and correct me if I’m wrong, but it sure tasted sweet! I would have liked to have known that ahead of time. Either way, not a deal breaker.
It’s a great little addition to the Mohawk Bend area, for sure!