Cafe Zella — Restaurant in Santa Monica

I write for a music and coffee blog called Crooners In Coffeeshops, in which I interview local musicians at local coffeeshops. My writeup reflects the positive experience that I encountered at Cafe Zella on our interview date.

It’s all in the family at Santa Monica’s must-visit cafe Cafe Zella, and there’s no surprise why it receives the praise that it does. Tracy Ngoy, the youngest of the Ngoy sisters, brought this lovely cafe to life in the mid-2000s, and she was lucky enough to have sisters Nina and Nam that shared the same passion of growing the business into the neighborhood favorite that it is. It’s no wonder that many people from the surrounding area have come through to make this spot their home.

Great daily specials are plentiful and split between breakfast and lunch classics, while fresh baked pastries are the cherry on top of the ideal cafe cake. Drinks include yummy juices, an assortment of teas, fan-favorite branded pre-packaged beverages (including La Croix, Snapple, and Coca Cola), and of course coffee in many forms! Their house specialty Viet Coffee (espresso with condensed milk) called out my name. Cafe Zella provides anyone who strolls in to an exceptional customer friendly environment along with an array of quality comfort food and a variety of beverages to fit...

I came here twice recently! Once for lunch and another time for breakfast! My friend enjoyed her Huevos Rancheros and she loved the black beans! I ordered the salmon brown rice bowl which came with beautifully grilled tasty vegetables! I will definitely order this again.

The restaurant is not full service. You have to walk to the counter, order, pay and then find a table. Interior tables are cramped and tight, but they did the best layout with the space. After eating, we had to buss our own dirty dishes to the section where to place the dirty dishes and food. Condiments are also in a separate area if you needed salt/ pepper, ketchup etc... There are a few tables outside in the parking lot or on 16th street.

My friend paid for our meals and she mentioned when she paid with a credit card there was an option to add tip, and she questioned it as we were leaving because we took care of our dirty dishes. It's okay. I want to support local small restaurant businesses, especially if they are female owned. This is the only reason why I am giving 3 stars to the ambience. The food, service and politeness of the staff are all 5 star! I want to support local businesses, but their prices are high and the chalkboard menu on the wall does not show prices.

No refills on ice tea or regular drip...

Looking for a cheap, no-wait and tasty breakfast in Santa Monica?? Well then Cafe Zella is your place! There's no thrills and frills about this quaint little eatery but they do provide a small parking lot and are reasonably priced.

Came here on a Saturday by chance. Was starving and most of the wait times at the nearby eateries were excruciating. We found this place on Yelp and decided to check it out.

This place is on the corner across the street from the UCLA SM hospital and neighbors a nail salon and dry cleaners. From first impressions this place seems like they don't serve a breakfast items besides pastries and juice but you will be surprised.

I ordered the pancake combo with chicken sausage instead of bacon and eggs. It was about $8 and was decently portioned. The pancakes were mighty tasty, chicken sausage had tons of flavor and the eggs were fluffy. Really appreciated its simplicity. I also tried their banana pancakes topped with nutella and its was AMAZING. The bananas were cooked into the pancake batter providing the ooey gooey goodness to the pancakes, adding the nutella was pure magic. So if you are looking for something more complex they did a great job with the fancy flap jacks!

Overall great little place to grab a bite to eat! Very small so not ideal for a large...