Strings Of Life

Hidden down a brick-paved alley, one of the best patios in LA sits next to a bright, warm café that feels starkly European but totally LA. Only got a coffee and it was good. The barista was cheery too! Recommend.

SOL Cafe, my love, you're a heartbreaker. Your breakfast burrito with tomato chutney and garlic mushrooms? Absolute perfection--but your business practices? A little chaotic, to say the least. First, I mobile order on a bustling Friday morning, only to find out *you skipped my order* and decided to just casually throw it back into the queue. Fine. People make mistakes, right? But today you outdid yourself. En route to pick up my mobile order, I get a cancellation notice. Why? Because you ran out of *bags*.You've got the kitchen team and the flavor locked down, but let's work on the logistics, shall we? Because as much as I love your breakfast burrito, this kind of operations before I've eaten isn't the quite tasteful.

Surprised I have not done a review on this place before now. I used to come here pre-Covid. Needed to switch up my weekend breakfast routine. So while out walking decided to come here.First thoughts about entering from the Melrose side is that you can read the menu because of this tall cactus blocking the middle of the words. Also, upon walking down the "alley" to the main part, I noticed that the tables and umbrellas were pretty dirty and dusty.Once we entered the main part, I noticed the aesthetic was still earthy. However, I did almost fall out of my chair. Be careful because they have folding wooden chairs and if you lean forward they will fold on you causing you to fall out of them (yes really!!!)As far as the food is concerned...I ordered the Veggie Breakfast Burrito.The burrito comes with eggs, spicy sweet potatoes, mushrooms, arugula, and avocado. Upon first bite of the burrito I noticed that there was a sauce I couldn't place. Maybe that was supposed to be the spice sauce that makes the sweet potatoes spicy??? However, I couldn't taste any spices or anything related to spicy. As far as the rest of the burrito, it did its job and I will give it a 7.5-8 out of 10.The matcha was good. Not the best matcha I've had but it's ok. I will give it about a 8/10.As for my over scores see below:Location: 4/5 - The alley gave it a dark ambient feeling to get to the main part and the sun is not shining in the cafe.Menu: 5/5 -Love the menu. All food and drink items have a cohesive flow.Taste: 3/5 - I wasn't blown away, but I do admire the healthy choice items and it does taste pretty good. However, the taste is not full of flavor.Customer Service: 4/5 They don't go out of their way to greet you or initiate conversation. It's like if you don't bother them, they don't bother you, even at the counter. But I will say my daughter did like the barista. We did noticed that they are nice to "the regulars".Cleanliness / Aesthetic: 3/5 Bathroom floor was dirty and there was no soap. The alley way tables and umbrellas were noticeably dirty.Comeback again????.....it depends. I will have to marinate on this one....

Cozy location off of melrose. Inside and outside tables. So it's order at the counter, get a number. I don't think they really make food before 8 , but I was happy to find out they would start early, about 740 on a sat. Service was cool, friendly, etc. Ordered a cap, eggs bacon and toast . Poached. Sourdough. Added tots . The cappuccino was a hard nope from me. Watery. Not good. Forgot the coffee? Wow, bad . Gosh just really. Weak . I'm sitting here drinking it, and still mad. You can throw a rock around this location and hit a good coffee. Poached eggs, good. Lacked seasoning . Toast was fine. Tots , lacked seasoning . Deep fried. Not great. Bacon ALSO deep fried. God no. No. No. No. inedible, although I did try. Sad. Nothing in the menu about this prep. Oof "deep fried bacon" should be in the menu. . Really wasteful of what seems like it might have been some nice bacon. Nothing about this meal would make me want to come back.

This is a great little oasis off of Melrose. If you're on the street look for this sign, see my pic, and follow your way around to the back. Since the entrance is non-descript I've added a pic of it. We really enjoyed their small shaded patio where we could have a conversation with each other without excessive background noises. Staff brought our food order out to us and checked on us, even though it was a take away style place. Make sure you check out my pics of their To Go cases. For a small place they have quite the variety of foods items on their menu to choose from.Today, we had coffee, a canned beverage and shared their Coconut Chia Pudding, see my pic. We're still on the cusp of summer, and this cold pudding hit the spot. I forgot how the chia pudding is a good carrier for fruit. In this case, they drizzled it with honey. This touch of sweetness really made the fruit flavors shine without being too sweet. The shaved almonds added a nutty component and some crunch. The fruit were bite sized and were plentiful.

Fancy looking coffee and pastries, without being as overrun as Alfred's. I came here just wanting food and wasn't disappointed. Their made-to-order dishes are especially nice.Breakfast Burrito: This is quite a breakfast! So many ingredients for nice mélange of textures and flavors. I especially liked the crispiness of the bacon and the hash browns. So I did enjoy the umami taste of the mushrooms, but the texture was a little squishy. They could have cooked them a bit more, so they don't squeak as much. That aside, still a great meal.Sausage Roll: Super thick sausage, especially for a sausage roll. Nice golden flaky pasty shell. Tons of toasted fennel seeds, which added such a flavorful aroma. This too could be a meal by itself.Chocolate Praline Muffin: I do like when muffins have some fillings, since that adds a bit of extra moisture and some more personality. The guy at the counter said it was praline filling, but to me I swear I tasted tahini. Regardless, nice pairing of cakey muffin and nutty filling.

Somewhat hidden cafe with peaceful outdoor dining. Came here for a late lunch with some friends but they still served the breakfast menu at 2pm on a Saturday. You order at the counter and receive a number for the waitress to bring out your food. Even though it was in between normal meal times, the wait was pretty long - it took about 30 minutes to get our food. I opted for the veggie burrito bowl and it was extremely filling. There was a good amount of avocado and the sweet potato had a nice flavor. Fries were thin and crispy. Credit cards accepted. Metered street parking. The entrance is down an alley but there is signage at the opening.

This guy place was great to stop along my shopping route. It wasn't as busy as closer cafes and the staff were nice. I really liked the seating areas outside! The iced Americano was refreshing as well.

Love SOL! I know it's owned by an Aussie so I come here when I need a good coffee. The coffee is just as good as Australia, the breakfast burrito is definitely one of the best in LA. The sauce it comes with though -- you better like spice. It is HOT!

Ordered the St Nic sandwich. The ciabatta bread was stale. Sent it back and asked for sourdough, which was also stale. Waste of money. I used to love SOL, but now will unfortunately never return.