Ministry of Coffee — Restaurant in Los Angeles

The name is catchy, the Australian coffee shop facade is nice. But those things will only set you up for a world of disappointment.

Let me start it off with this: they charge 4.50 to add avocado to your sandwich. I’m sorry, but even for LA this is completely mental. It doesn’t even cost 4.50 to buy a whole large organic hass avocado from Whole Foods. So how can they possibly justify this?

The coffee is meh. I had a flat white and was expecting it to be top quality since it is supposedly an Australian influenced place and generally just looks like they would at least get the coffee right. Tbh it was about the same quality as Peet’s. They will charge an additional .75 for oat milk (which to be fair is standard for many coffee shops in LA so can’t really knock them too much for that part).

The egg sandwich I ordered was possibly one of the worst breakfast sandwiches I have ever had in my life and it is…..14….dollars. I didn’t even realize it would be 14 dollars until I got to the register (right after the avocado realization) and at that point I just went along with the order since I was so hungry. You would think since I was hungry it would taste delicious so the fact that it still didn’t says a lot. To specify, it was extremely bland (not even salt) and for some reason they think it’s a good idea to add salad greens which will quickly become soggy and gross. They put saffron mayo in it but you can’t really tell the difference. The bread was the only good part about it.

It’s such a bummer because this place looks so cute and like a cool study spot so I guess it’s probably fine if you just want an americano or something while you work but otherwise I wouldn’t waste your money. This is probably the most misleading coffee shop...

I do not usually write reviews, but I feel compelled to share my concerns after a serious health incident here. My friend experienced a severe allergic reaction to a sample containing cashews, which was not disclosed, resulting in a lengthy ER visit. Although you could argue that she should have asked about allergens first, a good business would make this information clear from the start. Plus, even when my friend asked an employee afterwards if the product contained nuts, they were unsure - a good business would properly inform and train their staff about the contents of the food they serve, especially when they could pose significant health risks. This was a terrifying incident that could have easily been prevented with a simple label. When my friend attempted to file a report today, the manager could not be found, and her calls went unanswered. The lack of customer service shows a lack of care. I also want to mention that this is not an isolated case - another friend had a mild reaction to pecans in the granola, only learning about the allergen after asking. Again, you could argue that he should have asked beforehand, but unlike MOC, many places in LA take the tiny extra step to disclose allergens, and a good business would have refunded him. Although this was (thankfully) not as severe of a case, it demonstrates reoccurring negligence and lack of responsibility. A good coffee shop should have quality drinks, food, and customer service, but unfortunately, MOC goes 0 for 3. I hope the business will take steps to improve labeling, staff training, and responsiveness to prevent...

Mid-istry of Coffee.

Ngl this was once a go to spot near UCLA for studying and the coffee was pretty decent. That was 4 years ago and nowadays it’s pretty much a waste of money. There’s way better shops in Westwood, I would recommend walking anywhere else.

Okay aside from the coffee, was giving this business the benefit of the doubt for their mediocrity over the last few years but the other day a good friend of mine was offered a Lemon Cheesecake sample. My friend has a serious nut allergy and it wasn’t disclosed to them that a) there were nuts in the sample and b) that it was vegan. So, naturally, my friend ate it and then suffered a serious medical emergency and had to go to the ER. When our mutual who was with them asked the employee who served the cake if there were nuts (since my friend was already reacting to the sample) the employee didn’t know.

I’m going to repeat that. Didn’t know. They had to check.

This is not the fault of a single food service employee but of the establishment for not even thinking to notify people of the contents of their food. Your employees should not have to search for the ingredient list to know if there are nuts in something. There should be a symbol for them to refer to. This cafes management is completely at fault for a disorganized and negligent work culture.

My advice, get your coffee somewhere else and study at Hammer....