Parakeet Café

Nice breakfast-brunch spot.We had a wonderful experience at this location, my family and I were there on Sunday and Danny and staff went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed, friendly and fast serviceDrinks were great and food was not only healthy but delicious.Beautiful presentation and ambiance.

Second trip to the cafe. While it's good, I wouldn't go out of my way.Pros: location at the Forum is always nice, dog friendly Forum with cookies for them and water fountain (not the cafe). Pastries are made at their commissary I'm told. Food is good, staff is friendly.Cons: overpriced even for these days (July 2024). Automatically selecting 18% gratuity on a quick serve is outrageous considering you don't get a refill on a bitter cup of coffee for $4.50. As noted pastries are good but $6-$7 each is a bit much. $79- for 3 people without actual service, really..........Probably won't go back, lots of options in the area.

Please note that this review covers the coffee only. I can't comment on the food or other drinks; they may be fine.If you like cute and inviting, then Parakeet Cafe might be for you. It certainly fits in with the vibe of the Forum, which caters to an upmarket customer base. Kudos for an inviting space. In almost every other respect, however, I would characterize PC as a definite pass. I don't give one star reviews often, but this place really fell flat on its face.Let us begin with the indifferent service. Generally, I give most places a fair degree of leeway in this regard, especially if it is only one employee and/or it is busy. Everyone here was indifferent. That included the young woman at the counter, obliviously looking at her iPad before she realized I wanted to order. That included the barista, who made and served my espresso drink without so much looking at me, let alone speaking to me (I was the only customer being served). That included the manager with whom the barista was engaged in rapt conversation. It would have been nice to have at least been acknowledged. I haven't begrudged giving a tip in a long time, but I did as I walked out.OK, so perhaps their strength is in their product. I can also forgive a lot if the coffee is good. Alas, no. Terrible beans and poor preparation resulted in a poorly crafted cortado. The very stylish hot pink La Marzocco espresso machine (I didn't know they came in this color) is being wasted here. Management needs to source better beans and find a barista who isn't going through the motions.Lastly, all this came at prices that are higher than the average. I understand the Forum is costly real estate, but plenty of cafes on the coast are shelling out a lot for rent. If you are going to be charging top dollar for your product, you better make a product worth paying for. In terms of the coffee--the thing they advertise first!--it is unfortunately not.Most places I give a couple of tries before I write a review. But judging from many of the other reviews here, these problems appear more normal than not. I rarely say this, but the owners of this and their other dozen cafes need to get their house in order.

Obsessed with this cute cafe! Coffee drinks are delicious as well as the food and pastries. The servers were so friendly and helpful!

Veg sandwich-- tomato dijon chutney, eggs & caramelized onions, avocado, seasonal radishes, greens, roasted potatoes or house salad-- yum

Rounding up to 4 stars.My girlfriend treated me to Sunday Brunch and we both ordered the eggs Benedict and lattes and we shared an almond croissant.The lattes were delicious and perfectly poured with a lovely heart. The almond croissant utterly disappointed me because there was no almond filling and the only almond in it was a couple of slices on the top. Do not order this. The beautiful location and decor make this a fun cafe to dine at and I love the parakeet artwork. We had a table with a barn door opening behind us and there were 2 little undersupervised children running circles through it while kicking me me several times. Their family eventually picked the table right next to us packed in tightly and knocking our table and us so we moved.Our benedicts arrived cold, the toast must have been premade, and the spinach pesto was cold to the touch. There was a thin sliver of avocado and 2 pieces of sun dried tomato under the eggs which were served straight out of the fridge. The tiny breakfast did not have any garnish or sides.To top it off we had a green pepper hollandaise that had not been heated up on top of perfectly poached eggs. I pulled the eggs to the side and ate most of them while leaving everything else on my plate. My girlfriend ate 2 bites and pushed hers to the side declaring them inedible.She went to purchase 2 more lattes and mentioned that the food was not what we expected to a server who claimed that the hollandaise was freshly made, but it clearly was not. The manager is the only reason that I am giving this restaurant 4 stars. He noticed that we were discussing our experience with a server and visited our table. He finally told us that the hollandaise is made in Little Italy and that the chef has a hard time getting it warmed up before 9 am. He sympathized, offered to refire the food (which we declined) and then voided the check.I truly believe that how a restaurant addresses a customer's feedback makes all of the difference in the world, if not for an authentic manager who cared this would be a one star review.I hope that they increase the portion sizes and if they intend to serve food at this price point. The 4 stars are for the manager, I will not return.

It's finally open! This long awaited cafe is a great addition to the forum in Carlsbad!Pros:-cute cafe-nice selection of drinks/pastries/food-boozeCons:-not a lot of tables with shade/umbrella if you're sitting outside -tables are crammed so close to each other inside -service is... still working on it. (I'm still butt hurt it took over 20 mins for a matcha latte and iced latte while I saw others getting food/drinks before me)I think they're still working things out. I'll most likely be back as it's a good spot to come meetup with a friend for coffee (if there's a table available indoors) summer is around the corner and it's just wayyyyy too hot to sit outside on the multiple two top tables they had outside with NO sun protection.

What a terrific addition to Encinitas/La Costa. My daughter and I have been coming here on most Sunday mornings. The food and drinks are fresh, healthy, and delicious. The space is light, airy, and clean. And the people there are super nice. I appreciate the range of food options at Parakeet.

Parakeet Cafe is now open as of 3/9/24! They serve a wide array of beverages, snacks and bites with brunch served all day! Super happy about that. The space was previously Coffee Bean, which was a favorite. Parakeet offers so many options from coffees and teas to pastries, hot sandwiches and more. Staff are all friendly and personable. They have both indoor and patio seating available. Will definitely be back as they're right in my backyard!Keep on Yelp'n!

The food here was excellent! And the decor and ambiance was amazing. It's a cute little place for brunch. I greatly enjoyed the food and the service was better than I ever expected at a cafe. They brought us our drinks and food and even water when I asked. I will definitely be bringing my girlfriends here for brunch!