It could be the soft Parisian music, or the friendly patrons I get to mingle with, or perhaps its the simple fact that its walking distance from my house, but Marie et Cie is quickly becoming one of my most favorite coffee shops here in LA!
THE SHOP: Conveniently tucked not too far away in Studio City, Marie et Cie takes up the entire building on the corner of Colfax & Riverside Drive complete with a private parking lot. The store is 1/3 coffee shop & 2/3 home decor show room. With ample covered seating outside & cozy seating inside, its absolutely serene and lovely. The only major downside is that they only give you 2 hours of WiFi with every $5 purchase so it makes it difficult to “work” there. Equally irritating is the $5 minimum to pay with a credit card (side rant, I mean note: if you haven’t joined the rest of us in 2013, please use Square or something like it for your credit card customers. Its cheap, incredibly convenient and you can make as many $1 & $2 transactions as you want without paying a premium or irritating your customers with purchase minimums. Seriously, its a customer service issue. End rant:). Marie et Cie also offers a fabulous food selection (much bigger than most coffee shops). Everything from sandwiches and wraps to gluten free linzer cookies, and most of it is even homemade (haven’t quite figured out how they pull that off but its awesome!). There’s even a variety of healthy options for those that don’t want the standard scone or muffin with their coffee. It a great neighborhood coffee shop that really feels like its my own (rare here in Los Angeles:)
THE COFFEE: In a word: excellent! I have enjoyed both their espresso (hot & cold) as well as their brewed organic coffee. Everything is really really good. You can taste the care put into crafting & brewing their espresso. I am normally a cream AND sugar kinda gal with my coffee beverages, but their espresso is so smooth & almost sweet that just a little milk is all that is necessary with an iced Americano, Also, they use Ghirardelli carmel in their macchiatos and lattes which is just a whole nother level of delish! My only comment from a branding perspective is that they have a self-serve system for the brewed coffee which, for me, just takes away from the experience. BUT it is such good coffee that its really just a personal preference thing.
On the whole, I LOVE Marie et Cie! Its so nice to have a neighborhood coffee shop that I can walk to and not only get a great coffee drink, but also a legit meal with the family on a Saturday morning. The only thing I cannot recommend this lovely shop for is a “work day” spot which I do find unfortunate considering our area has so many entrepreneurs.
