Crepes & Co. Lokal Coffee — Restaurant in Cranford

Local resident here. I don't get out much and stumbled across this place while heading to the post office. I decided I would take a visit. Wow!! This place is a destination visit for sure. I was "wowed" from the moment I entered the door. It felt like entering a different energy. Upon entering you are suddenly transparent to a ultra relaxed, completely mellow vibe where time doesn't matter and you feel no need to rush. You can slow your busy life down for a moment and just go with the flow. *This is an incredible feeling to accomplish in a food service establishment. Bravo! The menu is brilliant! It has everything for everyone's taste. I studied the menu for quite a bit. Honestly, I was overwhelmed. However, this overwhelmed was a good one. I had a difficult time deciding what I wanted since everything looked incredible. After my first read through, I decided that I would narrow down the choices to sweet and savory and choose one of each. Then....a not so secret, secret menu appears... Well this suddenly changes everything! I go from being impressed with the menu to AMAZED! This menu is so carefully constructed and it shows! You have ALL of the "delicious factor" with NONE of the "eew factor" that you get when a place tries too hard to be unique. This place doesn't have to try... it is. The order at the counter initially threw me off as I guess I expected wait staff service. While ordering I was very distracted trying to take it all in and learn the process. I spotted a counter top bar area. This I thought was excellent! I took note and decided I will stop in on a solo trip and sit here at a future visit. The bakery case on the counter looks so fresh and massive. This I noted for a future trip as well. I choose to sit in the front area to be able to have a view and take it all in. The drinks were called ready and I went to collect them. The tea came in a beautiful glass seeping pot, the coffee in a real mug and the hot chocolate was a masterpiece. There is a self serve station to adjust to taste but I don't use any of that so I skipped that station. The food was delivered to the table and the wow factor kept coming. The food was not just simply, beautifully presented it was also delicious! I truly believe that food that is prepared and made with love and intention just tastes better. I was starving when I arrived as this was a stop the next morning on my way home from a wedding. Needless to say when I was heading here I was fully prepared to scarf down my food. This is not what happened. I began to eat and upon first bite things slowed down yet again. What is this place? Is this real life? I enjoyed each and every bite, slowly, taking it all in. I will venture to say that even the tiny details taste homemade. I am NOT a fan of caramel... ever. I did get the churros with caramel sauce since that jumped out at me. The churros were not only cooked to absolute profection with cloud like consistency inside... (yes, what I imagine clouds to feel like in my mouth.) the caramel dipping sauce was to die for. I would be shocked if this is not homemade. The whipped cream... homemade. You can taste the love and passion in each bite! The stoneware serving plates were a great touch. Simple, elegant, powerful and strong... another beautiful choice. While pondering again if this is real life I noticed the "music". I see what you did there. BRILLIANT! I have always enjoyed after a meal packing up and cleaning up the table. Maybe that's a weird thing but for me I enjoy it. Here I see that I get to bus my own table. This is a plus in my book. I don't like having someone else clean up after me. I always found that to feel weird in a restaurant setting. For my closing remarks... I am grateful that as a local I have "Lokal" within my own town. When I am looking for a getaway from the daily grind and I just need to slow life down a bit I don't need to get on a plane. I can simply take a trip downtown and open that door and be instantly transpoted to that getaway. I am also...

I'm so disappointed w/this place. First of all - I tried to go a couple weeks ago and the cashier was unable to get the apple-pay function working so I went to Track5. Today around 11am, I tried to go to Track5 and Palmas but the lines were out the door so I defaulted to Lokal, knowing the place would be empty. I asked for a cold brew with caramel foam, and the cashier was confused so i asked for caramel cold brew with regular sweet foam. The barista seemed confused by this but i couldn't hear the conversation with the cashier. The order was prepared quickly and handed to me with a whip-cream lid and a straw. I asked for the sip lid but the sip lids were too big. the barista then put his hands all over the lid, including where my mouth would go, trying to get it to fit. His next resort was to try a different cup, to which i refused because that would mix the cold foam into the coffee so i walked out with out a lid. By the time i got home (4 minute walk) the foam was melted into the coffee. In addition, the coffee was so bland I had to drink something else to make sure I could still taste flavor. No bitter coffee flavor, no caramel - which i saw the barista mix in. I'm utterly disappointed and now completely understand why Lokal is empty at all hours of the day when Track5 and...

It's opening week,

Tried a latte with no flavor. Whatever espresso they use is very weak because it just tasted like I was drinking milk. I also had a caramel latte which tasted like semi-burnt caramel. The coffee is mediocre at best. But again, it's opening week so I will try again in a month or so.

Their food is much better than their coffee. Their bacon egg and cheese on a brioche was great, the brioche was fresh and fluffy. I would like to see a little bit more bacon so there is bacon in every bite but that is nitpicking.

Their home fries were the star of the experience. Very good, fresh cut peppers and onions that weren't cooked down to mush. They were crisp and flavorful. Very much recommend the home fries.

The staff all seemed great. Friendly and seemed to all genuinely be happy...