Friday, May 6, 2011

The Coffee Bean (NW corner Santa Monica Blvd. & Beverly Glen Blvd.)








ATMOSPHERE:  Good

CLEANLINESS:  Fair

CUSTOMER SERVICE:  Good

CLIENTELE:  Lawyers/students/housewives/writers/celebrities

COFFEE QUALITY:  Good

POWER OUTLET AVAILABILITY: Fair

FREE WI-FI:  Yes

FREE PARKING:  Yes, but shared with Walgreens and time limited to 1 hour.  Limited neighborhood street parking.

FENG SHUI:  Fair

AMPLE SEATING/TABLES? Fair.

OVERALL VIBE:  Busy

MAP:  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=10401+Santa+Monica+Blvd+%23+1+Los+Angeles,+CA+90025-6951&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=10401+Santa+Monica+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90025&gl=us&ei=3InETYKDIpO8sQPUyqW8AQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ8gEwAA

REVIEW:
One of the largest Coffee Beans in town.  Located on the NW corner of Santa Monica and Beverly Glen, this is a favorite hangout of lawyers with nearby offices in Century City.  It is an immense store with plenty of tables and chairs...but they all get used.  During the week at peak hours (late morning-afternoon), you'll be hard pressed to find a table, much less an outlet to juice up.  The staff here, for the most part, is friendly and know what they're doing.  Quality of coffee is standard "good" as with all Coffee Beans (as opposed to Starbucks which is standard "fair").  If you do manage to grab a table, you can work here for hours.  The eye candy in this place is usually good...with the occasional celeb sighting (yes, that is Penn Gillette in one of the photos).  Parking here, though, is a problem.  I usually park in the neighborhood one block north of the intersection.  There is Thursday and Friday street cleaning so take heed of the posted parking restrictions.  The meter maids are on top of it.  Another knock on this location is the lack of cleanliness.  It's a big store thus requiring more upkeep in the sanitation department.  The bathrooms in particular become a disaster throughout the day.  Overall, if you can find a parking spot AND a table with a plug, you'll be comfortable here (for as long as your street parking restriction lasts).  It's a loud store with conversations going on everywhere so if you require library level silence, you might reconsider.  If you don't mind the constant drone of background noise, you'll be fine.  Overall, a little high maintenance getting into the store, but if you do and land a table, a good place to work.

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