La La Island — Restaurant in Vancouver

La La Island has been open for a while in Kits but today was my first visit. I really like a lot of things here! The cafe is pretty big and has lots of seating, with a few tables outside. I was there around noon on Saturday and was surprised that there was no shortage of available tables, since it’s sometimes very busy when I walk by. The tropical aesthetic is nice, especially with the windows open in the summer so a light breeze flows through the cafe. The two baristas were both really nice. They have a moderately wide selection of pastries and desserts and a few sandwiches, plus lots of choices for coffee, tea, and other specialty drinks. I was disappointed by the lack of choices for vegetarian sandwiches - they only had a plain grilled cheese or a cheese and tomato croissant sandwich. I just wanted something with more vegetables! There are more substantial options with meat. Nothing vegan except drinks. I ended up just getting the croissant sandwich to go with my drink and sweet. I have to say they make a great croissant, buttery and very flaky, and for what it was, the sandwich was tasty. The dessert I got was the taro mochi cake box. Taro cake boxes always look so good to me, but other places that sell them usually have a serving that’s too big for me, so I was happy to find one here that was a generous but reasonable size for one person. I was not paying attention though and didn’t realize the topping was pork floss until I took the lid off the box and was about to dig in, and I didn’t want to be difficult or make the whole cake go to waste by asking to exchange, so I just removed what would easily come off and went on with eating the cake. Pork floss aside, this was a delicious dessert with the interest of the different textures of the mochi, taro paste, and cake, and it was just lightly sweet. Finally, the strawberry matcha drink was good too. I wanted to try it hot since everywhere else I’ve had it only does iced. After trying the hot, I’ll say iced is probably the better option, but it was interesting to see how it worked as a hot drink. The real strawberry purée is good and gives it a nice natural punch of sweetness. The matcha part of the drink was done well, totally smooth. I think the prices are sensible… my total after tax was about $25, and I think the croissant sandwich at $6.5 before tax was actually the cheapest, and the box cake and latte were pricier, around $10 and $7 before tax respectively. Almond milk or coconut (what I got) adds $1, oat is $1.25. Really good food and great atmosphere, just wish that they had better...

I usually love this place, I'm even a regular. However, there's this barista who gives the coffees half empty. If I'm paying $7+ dollars for a latte, you better fill that thing to the brim. See the pictures, I didn't have a single drop of my coffee when I took those pictures. That's how little she served me (and keep in mind that there's foam, so whatever is in those pictures is actually less). The other baristas don't do that. They actually serve you the whole thing, but this girl just refuses to do it. I asked her many times to fill it to the brim and she insists that that's how it's supposed to be but, I used to be a barista and that's NOT how it's supposed to be. The proof is that her coworkers don't do it, and other coffee shops don't do it either. I think that I'll just avoid this place if I see her working, I'm done paying for more than what...

A cafe is probably the best thing to open in this space after many short-term, seemingly failing, businesses have popped up here.

3 stars because the space lacks character- host events here, have a community board, get some real art on the walls, represent Kitsilano as a community. The vibe is transient and cold despite the island theme.

Additionally, the coffee is not great. I got a soy iced mocha and it tasted like watered down chocolate milk.. not like espresso and real chocolate which I could have got right across the street at JJBean. But alas I like to try new cafe's as they pop up. Maybe the dessert is more worth...