LAB Desserts & Coffee — Restaurant in San Diego

Came in around 10:30am today (Tuesday). The place was empty except for two customers. The baked items looked very pretty in the display case. The atmosphere was calm, and the interior design was great.

I ordered a flat white with oat milk and a charcoal latte with almond milk. Both non-dairy options received an upcharge of $1, which I wasn’t notified of prior to ordering. It was fine, though, as I could see them on the screen—just thought it was a bit odd the cashier said nothing about this as I made the choices.

I received the flat white first, and when I went to the counter to get it, the barista/cashier notified me that the table I’d been waiting at was reserved for parties of 4 or more, so if a group came in I’d need to move. I found this a tad overly militant, since I could simply ask the incoming party if I could sit at the table with them. In any case, the shop only had two people in it.

There were also stickers on the tabletops proclaiming no outside food & beverages and no Wi-Fi use without a purchase. These are understandable asks, but all of these factors started adding up to make this place feel cold, off-putting, and oddly overbearing for a cute little coffee/dessert shop.

As for the coffee itself—it was nothing to rave about. The espresso wasn’t remarkable, and the balance of milks in each drink were a bit off. The charcoal latte—called a “special drink”—on the menu, was only slightly darker than a regular coffee, and had nothing special to it at all.

I think LAB could be a great place if they stepped up customer service, were a little less hypervigilant about minor customer behaviors like seating choices, and did A/B testing on their espresso drinks to really bring them up a notch.

Update: Came in for a retry today and was the only customer in the store. Owner was pleasant and easygoing today. Ordered a peppermint mocha and stepped outside for a bit. The owner handed me my drink when I came back in—it was not bad, though the peppermint flavoring was slightly off on the back-end, just a bit artificial tasting. All-in-all, a better experience today, but also I ordered to-go and waited outside. I’ll try a third time to see...

I went to Cake de Partie for dinner/dessert and really enjoyed the food. They have an inventive menu that blends Thai flavors with Italian, French and gastropub fare.

A simple, clean, modern decor with plenty of seating for large parties and a lively atmosphere.

I had the spaghetti carbonara for dinner, which was rich and flavorful, accented with parmesan, garlic, asparagus, enoki mushrooms, tobiko, and topped with a poached egg and fresh parsley. I love Italian food and don't get it very often here in San Diego (I'm originally from Philadelphia, which is bursting with great Italian food). Needless to say, this dish totally satisfied my cravings and made me miss the food back home. While this dish was certainly shaded more towards traditional rather than Thai-fusion, the asparagus, enoki, and tobiko were a welcome addition to this Italian staple. Very well done.

For dessert, I had a slice of the green tea crepe cake and it was amazing! After eating a heavy-ish pasta meal for dinner, I thought maybe the crepe cake would be a little too much for one evening. But I was totally caught off guard by how incredibly light and fluffy the cake was. It was refreshing, allowing the earthy tones of the macha green tea flavor to mix in the middle of the palate, rather than be subdued by an overly decadent cream filling. The cake was served with a side of chocolate sauce, which I occasionally dipped pieces of cake into for additional sweetness. The chocolate goes well with the deeper flavors present in the green tea. They took a good idea for a cake and made it into something superb.

I will definitely be coming back to Cake de Partie to sample more from their menu, both...

MARSHALLS THE MAN!

My friend and I were on a dinner date and desperately craving dessert! So what do we do? We turn to yelp who suggests this lovely gem!

We walk in and it is cute as ever! Tissue paper flowers and pastel colors galore and straight ahead a nice case of yummy desserts including cupcakes, macarons, and ice cream macarons! I didn't even know what to think once I saw the flavors too. Cookie monster (cookie dough filling), hazelnut nutella (mix it with cookie monster! imagine it?! YES), circus animal cookie, and captain crunch! and those were just for the macarons! Then the cupcakes had banana cream, salted caramel, ferrero rocher, and pistachio! MMMM.

It was so hard for me to decide but it was great because they had a mix and match 6 for 11 dollars cupcakes and macarons so I made the obvious decision to do so. I got the ferrero rocher cupcake, lemon, and salted caramel. My FAV was the lemon. The frosting was soft and with a ton of zest and the cupcake was moist and DEEELICIOUS. for the macarons we got frutie pebbles, cookie monster, and the hazelnut nutellla. Really you can never go wrong with any thing that has nutella so that was my obvious favorite. the frutie pebbles was a little more mushy than I like but the filling was delicious. almost like shaved snow!

Add this all up with the ambiance of a cute little asian bakery and bring some friends to study or play board games and this place is definitely bound to be the next big hit!! I will definitely be back with my friends and to try the snickers bar and ice cream macarons!

Happy Eating! &&...