Cafe Dana

So bummed this place is closed! So many great memories here. Awesome laid back service with very good food. Great place to people watch and have a light lunch off of Montana.

Let’s just start out by saying the one time in my life I have ever come down from food poisoning was after a brunch at Café Dana. Stay away from their french toast.
Anywho, why two stars you may ask? Because I was actually charmed by their location and how it’s a nook within a building on Montana, and their artsy feel. However, there is a line between artsy and unsanitary and it’s safe to say, in this instance, that line was crossed.
Comes to think of it, I don’t even know if they are still open. Not difficult to wonder why.

The coffee is the best in town. I mean it.
Espresso, cappucino, lattes. (Much better than Peet’s, really!)
It’s a great little patio too.
The new-​ish owner named Rachel has great taste, and changed the name to Rachel Café.
It’s a small little hideaway place right on Montana, and it’s a place where the owner is personal. Nice.
There were some problems with her getting good help for awhile, but she has fixed that and it’s a place worth sticking with.
And as I said, the coffee drinks are always heavenly.

Let me state for the record:
1) I did not check on Unilocal before going here and:
2) Unless someone is a real A-​Hole I don’t like to kick someone when they are down,
BUT I make a exception for this place. Suffice it to say that EVERYONE who gave this place a one star is correct and EVERYTHING written was true.
The place has a paper sign out front saying RACHEL’S CAFE but it’s the same joint. Lucky I was not in a rush and with a friend so when FINALLY we got the check after waiting for everything and not receiving all of our order, insult to injury Rachel comes out to say that the credit card machine has been down ALL DAY and she can only take cash.
Okay why didn’t you tell us that in the beginning since you knew this? She told me that I could pay her next time. NO Lady, there will be NO next time and I do not want to owe you anything or ever be your customer again, so I walked home, got into my car, drove to the store/​atm for cash, drove back to the café, looked for parking, parked two blocks away, paid the meter, walked the couple blocks to the café, (where she was nowhere to be found) and left the cash with the incompetent, really, really slow waitress. I already wasted so much time there and now I had to waste more? Not to be a a hard ass but, come on already!
I’ve worked in restaurants and know some real basics, give people a beverage to relax with, communicate and make them feel welcome. NOT THAT DIFFICULT with 85 — 95% of people.(The other 5 — 15% are just dicks all the time.)
This place will not be in business long. Too bad, it LOOKS real sweet.

Once my gf & I arrived it was almost empty on a Saturday at 3pm. The appearance of this place is not appealing at all. It looks very old and needs to be updated.
Once we met the owner, she looked at the clock as they closed at 4pm (could she be any more obvious?). I knew once I showed her the coupon she was going to love that. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw it. She started laughing and so did I. She said she gets a lot of these coupons. I’m not surprised as no sane person would order from here without one. She was friendly but I didn’t feel comfortable with her service.
The prices were ridiculous. Even with the coupon it wasn’t worth the price or the quality of food. I saw many people walk in and then a few minutes later they walked out. I would have done that if I didn’t order this stupid coupon!
I ordered the omelet with mushrooms, bacon and Swiss cheese. This was a decent portion and tasted pretty good. It also came with hash browns but they were too crispy. After all this it still wasn’t worth the $ 13 as I still had some room left over (I should have gone to Denny’s). My gf had the fresh bread with a side of jam and cheese (I forget what kind) but it was very strong tasting. She left most of her meal which wasn’t worth $ 9.
I was glad to get out of there after spending $ 17 (incl tax & tip) for a very basic and overpriced lunch. Never again will I return here. I bet this time next year they’ll be out of business. I guarantee it!

We’ve been hanging at Café Dana (now Rachel’s) for the last two years. Picky about breakfast and it’s one of our top three favs on the Westside. Order the health scramble. It comes w/​the BEST hashbrowns ever, fresh juice, and earthy-​yummy sunflower bread. I think the owner Rachel had a problem in the last couple of months w/​unreliable wait staff. That problem’s been solved. Charming, right-​on price-​wise, outdoors dining, and DEEEEEEEEElicious!

This place is awful! This past weekend my friends and I were walking on Montana and we wanted to eat breakfast/​brunch. We decided on café Dana because there was a spot outside and I had my dogs, we also had walked by this place many times and had been wanting to check it out. The service sucked, the waitress was a «little» apologetic that she forgot to bring a water bowl for the dogs after I asked 4 times, that she forgot to take our order for 20mins, that when we finally did get our food an hour later we had no napkins. My friend didn’t even eat, as her order came out totally incorrect. She didn’t want to wait another hour to get her correct meal so opted to just not eat. My other friend didn’t get the right food either but they gave her a side of what she wanted so she ate. I’m surprised we ate, were all so annoyed that we totally lost our appetites! The funny thing is this place wasn’t even busy! I was a waitress all through college so I definitely have sympathy for waitresses, she was just hopeless. This place was not busy either! The food was mediocre, I ordered the muesli with yogurt. It was raw oats mixed with a little bit of fruit. The bread was good though. Anyway, they totally didn’t charge us for my friends meal that she returned, obviously, but did charge her for the coffee that came with the meal. So not only did they mess up the meal, but they had the nerve to charge us for her coffee that was a part of the meal! Really??? they could have had the decency to not charge us $ 1.99 for that coffee as a good gesture. Never going there again!

A friend and I were walking down Montana to the beach and were feeling kinda hungry. We’ve eaten at all the brunch places on Montana, except Café Dana, and thought we’d give it a try.
We walked in and there were about 8 tables full of leftover plates, cups, dirty silverware, etc. and just one other couple was eating. We went inside and just stood there for a minute, waiting to be acknowledged by the staff. When they finally looked at us, they handed us a menu without a smile and told us to sit anywhere we like. Well, all the tables had sticky surfaces and dirty piles of plates… So we chose one that had the least.
We sat there for a good 5 minutes. We saw one server the whole time. When he came out, he cleaned off one of the tables — NOT the one we were sitting at. We tried over and over to get his attention but he refused to look at us.
We noticed that the other couple was done with their meal and just sitting there, looking irritated, as if waiting for the check. I looked at their menu and their prices were usual for the area, but for this kind of service, no way.
After sitting for about 15 mins at our dirty table, with people’s half-​eaten food in front of us, and NO service whatsoever (not even a «can I get you something to drink?»), we got up and left.
If this is how this restaurant treats its customers, it deserves to be out of business.

Probably the worst breakfast experience I have had for a couple of years. I went there with a group of friends. We were six so called ahead to make sure they had a table for us.
The place was seriously understaffed. Placing orders took 15 min. Hot drinks after 30 min and our food didn’t arrive until one hour later — it was a joke.
Food was not exceptional and when one plate didn’t contain the ingredients from the menu, we politely asked if something was missing, only to be told that this was they way they felt doing it today.
Never ever going back…

Horrible Experience!!! Brought in a coupon and the owner refused to take it after we sat patiently for more than 30 minutes waiting to order. The server said they do not accept coupons on Sunday’s, but would make the exception when he took out $ 38 breakfast order! Once the food was cooking, he came out and said the owner decided to refuse our coupon. I noticed other patrons leaving due to the long wait for service. We too left, without eating the food ordered and asked the server to let the owner know we would not ever be coming back.

It saddens me to write this review for what used to be one of my favorite breakfast places. Café Dana lost its ways and not surprisingly its customers.
There was a time when you had to wait for a table just to sit down and have the privilege to taste their wonderful French Toast and omelets, but last Saturday at the peak of brunch the café was empty. However, that did not stop the server from taking an incredibly long amount of time to just hand us our menus. We ordered French Toast and a Veggie Omelet and judging by the amount of time it took to get our food the eggs as well as the baguette was flown from France, sadly it tasted nothing like it should.
The French Toast were soggy and undercooked the omelet was dry, under salted and overcooked. If hunger was not an issue I would have gotten up an left. Ironically the couple who came in a little after us got so frustrated that they were threatening to do just that. It took, whom I assume was the owner, to come out with their plates and comp their entire meal to get them to stay. Unfortunately from what I overheard the food was not any better.
What happened? C’mon Café Dana get your passion and food back — then re-​open with a bang!

Not up to minimum standard slow service and bad food. Cute place if you just want a cup of coffee or tea.

Was invited to this place for a special event that was put together by someone I don’t really know well. Only 4 of the 9 people who RSVP’d showed (the person who organised it didn’t). We were told that there was going to be no charge for the facility. We all ordered food because we felt bad that they stayed late. The service was slllllooooooow and the food was only okay and the bill was $ 200. that’s right, $ 200. When asked, the owner told us that her «good customer» (the organizer who didn’t show up) told her there would be 9 – 10 people, that she had kept her waitperson hours extra (minimum wage, according to her $ 10.50/hr) and had to pay rent. Whatever. I feel like my pocket was picked: it took over two hours to get coffee, reheated mediocre quiche, some salads, and some cookies for $ 50 per person to be told that the charge was because we kept them there so very long when 30 minutes was about the event and 2 hours was about their inability to compose a salad.
Oh, and all during the event there was a spin class in the next-​door exercise studio blaring bad dance music. So restful.
Never, ever again. There are too many other places on Montana to put up with this sort of robbery.

Not bad, but I wasn’t at all impressed with my dish — my chicken was a little tough and the entire dish was bland.
My friend did enjoy her brunch, however — and we both thought the homemade raspberry jam was really good.
The service was good, the food was okay overall, but it was a bit on the pricey side for what it was.

cute little café on Montana for breakfast or brunch on the weekend. the omelette I ordered was a bit pricey, but very good. and, so were the side of hash browns. it was very warm out the day I visited, and the iced latte hit the spot.
the service here could use a bit of help. if the waiters could just smile every once in a while, it would make a big difference.
and, where else can you see a cat on a leash?!

Finally got around to strolling along Montana — not to be confused with walking along Montana or shopping on Montana — this past weekend to absorb the sun and get some fresh air, and happened upon this place to grab a snack. Nothing impressive, but I liked how the area is tucked away in a little corner away from the street. Has a certain old world charm about it. It’s not worth seeking out but not altogether bad.

My friend took me here on one of the rainy weekdays for brunch. He had tried it before and liked it.
Most of the tables are outdoors (and it’s a great idea, given that it’s usually sunny here in Santa Monica). As it was raining heavily, we sat inside and had super attentive service from the owner. It’s a cozy place.
I ordered the eggplant moussaka which came with bread and soup. The breads served were delicious! The soup was amazingly tasty — some kind of spinach soup. (A definite 5 star soup.) The moussaka was ok, not phenomenal & at the same time not bad. My friend liked his egg dish.
I’d definitely go back. & Hope they still have the soup. It’s a great place to chill on a sunny morning.

I was asked to give Café Dana another chance since they changed ownership and I have to say that I’m even less impressed. The service is really terrible. And the food… I wish it was better. The patio is nice on the weekends but not worth the bad service and half assed food.

While taking a walk with some friends and our stomachs beginning to grumble with hunger, we were enticed by the very cozy little eatery off of Montana Avenue. Hidden in the middle of an area surrounded by small boutiques, one can say that it was almost serene.
We were seated underneath a wide umbrella beside the stone fountain and ordered what felt like a very healthy lunch of cheese, fruit and lunch meats — charcuterie. Delicious with a cool glass of lemonade. I also picked a bit on the prosciutto sandwich on French bread that my friend ordered and it was delicious also.
Everything was to our liking, not to mention the friendly service and the calming atmosphere. We will be back!

I loved going to this place when I lived in LA… the girls that work there are so sweet and it’s nice to be able to sit on the sidewalk and eat your breakfast. The food is simple and the selection is small, but it’s a good place to grab a solid cup of coffee and a bagel with lox.
I give only 3 stars, because the selection is small, they have hardly any seating and they could use a little help with the ambiance of the actual venue… I’d give 3.5 stars if I could though :)