Lani Coffee — Restaurant in San Diego

Posted as one of the best coffee spots in town, thought I would give this a shot. As rated by a visitor to San Diego, this experience was underwhelming to put it politely.

The decor is cliché Hawaiian, about what you would expect I suppose. No nuance. Think 1960's Elvis Blue Hawaii vibe. Upon second thought, that actually sounds cooler than it is. I guess it isn't for me. The store is very clean, though, and I see the staff actively keeping it that way. So bonus point for that.

Four drip options available in self-serve thermal dispensers. One was empty and three were completely cold when I arrived. I notified the staff and they brewed a fresh pot of the medium roast (the empty one) despite the fact that all need to be replaced. So, I'm now having the medium roast drip, freshly brewed, which tastes exacy like what I can get from the Keurig machine at my hotel - not great. I think I'm tasting old coffee and the thermal dispenser needs a good scrub.

I had to ask them to retrieve the pot after brewing. I think they just got busy doing other things, though there were no other customer s around at the time.

I would have liked a different experience here. I can forgive the cheesy decor, but if it is the coffee you are coming for you are better off elsewhere.

Three stars - points off for poor experience and lack of attention to coffee itself. Added a point for...

In summary: The iced coffees were good but the food was very average. If we came back, we would only get drinks.

This place was cute and we really wanted to love it. But, the longer we stayed the more red flags we saw.

They couldn’t seem to get anyone’s order right, including our drinks. It was really confusing when they’d shout out the most generic thing for someone’s order and everyone would look around wondering if it was for them. I think it’d help way more if they took peoples names and called them out that way to avoid confusion….

Then the food. It was, eh. Looks nothing like the menu pictures. I feel a little duped. If I would have known what we were getting I wouldn’t have ordered it (see pictures*). If you’re not going to put effort into a menu item, just do us all a favor and take it off the menu. I know COVID has taken its toll on small businesses, but I think it’d be more beneficial for everyone to condense the menu and focus effort on a few key items so that no matter what someone orders they will love it.

*Photos are of the breakfast sandwich and tiny...

I don’t usually write reviews but this was unacceptable. I witnessed the family who now runs the business STEAL product from a nearby grocery store. Anyone who has written a good review was under a different ownership or has been forced to write a good review.

I initially came here because the Ralphs Starbucks was closed.

I bought a vanilla chai and avocado toast from Lani’s and it was just bad. The chai was watered down and the avocado toast had everything but avocado. Embarrassing to serve people this kind of quality.

BUT THEN one of the workers from Lani’s, that I just saw, came over to Ralphs and stole a full carts worth of product. When the Ralphs security guard approached the manager from Lani’s Coffee, the manager claimed that his worker didn’t know how to use the card and it was a mistake. I talked to a few Ralphs employees and they said it’s a daily occurrence. Despicable. Lani’s,...