Blk Dot Coffee — Restaurant in Irvine

First star is for the place, second star is for friendliness of the employees. The place looks modern, but it has very little spaces to work inside. It’s very beautiful outside, with a fountain, palm trees, and plenty of space to sit, but god, their coffee and ice tea is disgusting. I ordered a flat white with coconut milk (which costs extra- my fellow vegans), and blueberry mint ice tea (summer special), and it’s too sweet and too sour at the same time. It’s sad, because the place is really nice and I would love to come here more often, but gosh, learn to make coffee, or get a different blend, balance the taste in your ice tea, don’t charge vegans for plant milk like you’re not charging other people for cow milk... (that’s actually very enraging!) The employees are nice. They make a little heart or a different drawing on your coffee if it’s with milk. You even get a little loyalty card, with the tenth beverage being free... but then you would actually have to get through the first 9 drinks and that would be an achievement. There is a different place with coffee (corner bakery cafe) that shares the outdoor courtyard with Blk Dot, and I never ordered from them, but that would be a good idea if you want to enjoy the nice place and (maybe) actually also...

I've been on a matcha spree lately, but I still have love for coffee. Their menu has a good mix of coffee and teas. However, as soon as I laid eyes on Vietnamese coffee, I was pretty confident I would have to go that route.

They also have a blend of matcha and Vietnamese coffee, which at this point, there was no turning back for me. I had heart eyes and thought, best of both worlds! I asked the cashier if there was a possibility to adjust sweetness, but she mentioned there wasn't very much added sweetener to the beverage. It would just apply to the matcha portion since the Vietnamese coffee is blended already.

With it being my first time, I decided to make no adjustments. I figured I should have the original first and then decide if it's worth making adjustments in the future. The beverage packed a strong punch of both flavor and boost of caffeine. It starts off a bit bitter from the strong roasted coffee flavor and had a sweet and smooth finish.

It was a lot to take in. That one cup lasted me a span of 3 days as I diluted the beverage with pour overs at home and extra ice. Pretty good and will probably come back to try more things...

Love the coffee. Stopped by and got a chicken bánh mì sandwich & Thai tea with Boba. Didn’t think anything of it until I went to drink my drink. The lid wasn’t properly secured so half of it spilled out of the cup and down the side of my car, luckily it was the outside, but I had just washed it by hand this weekend. When I finally got it all cleaned up and inserted my straw I couldn’t drink it because the Boba was in a clump at the bottom and the straw was too skinny to pick up the Boba. By the time I got to work out of frustration I just threw the whole thing away since it was half gone anyway.

My order and pick up experience was great, just the execution and being able to enjoy my drink is where I felt extremely disappointed. Staff here are always cheerful and friendly, moreso than at other locations which is a plus. Will likely go back again but will be more careful to check my order before...