On the north end of Glendora’s Village lives one of the more underrated coffee spots. Being open for a decade, the Red Cafe has a wide selection of items on its menu that range from coffee, breakfast and hookah through its available outdoor seating.
I was accompanied by my childhood friend, Sophia Fogel, who went to Sandburg Middle School with me and is now attending the University of California, Berkley. She is a vegetarian, so all of the meals ordered accommodate that. There was still a decent selection of breakfast options while keeping this in mind.
We started off with a chai latte that’s medium is priced at $6 and large at $7. We opted to split a large one in half, which our waiter put into two separate cups after we let her know we were sharing.
“It’s got a good amount of cinnamon,” Sophia said. “It’s got a nice amount of foam too. It is pretty milky, and I think it’s also very sweet, but it is a chai, so that’s to be expected.”
The overall flavor is strong, but is on the sweeter side than the spicer side that some chais have.
“I’m a big fan, honestly,” Sophia said. ”I would come back for it again.”
For the meal portion, we split an avocado toast and a red bagel. They both came on a cutting board alongside a side of sliced strawberries.
The avocado toast was topped with tomatoes, a layer of arugula, goat cheese and balsamic vinegar, priced at $13.
“It’s a good combination of flavors,” Sophia said. “That was pretty good. This is a little bit more than I was expecting. So good.”
Trying the red bagel, the overall presentation was beautiful. On top of a spread of cream cheese is a star shape of half-cut tomatoes with a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar and basil, priced at $11.
“Honestly, I like this more,” Sophia said. “It was the crazy mix of flavors.”
The basil serves as a good aromatic, while the tomato provides a good change in texture.
“One thing this place does very, very well, evidently, is presentation,” Sophia notes.
They offer a large range of comfortable seating with accessible charging outlets.
“Good for studying,” Sophia adds. “The music is good and isn’t too loud. It’s like, nice and quiet, so you can wear headphones if you want and not hear it. I’ve never been to this place ever, living here for 10 years.”
The Red Cafe has been in the Glendora Village since 2016. Our waiter and the daughter of the owner told us how tightly knit the establishment’s workplace is.
“I’ve worked here my whole life,” Jacqueline Pikey said. We are a family-owned business. We rarely have staff that doesn’t become part of the family. Everyone who ends up working here becomes so close that they come to our family dinners.”
She recommended that those who visit for breakfast to try out their breakfast crepes.
“You can make it your own,” Pikey said. “It’s also a very different thing than the traditional breakfast with still like that traditional twist to it.”
Their lunch and dinner options also fall within that wrapped kind of style. A customer favorite is the chicken shawarma.
“Our savory crepes are definitely something that we take a lot of pride in,” Pikey said. “We put them in a cone, so you hold it up and eat it like a sandwich. The meat that goes into the crepes is the shawarma meat, so they’re very thoroughly seasoned and very flavorful. So it just adds like an extra kick to it.”
Beyond their food options, they have a thorough drink menu for caffeine lovers, offering a full espresso bar.
“I would definitely recommend checking out our Instagram to see all the fun drinks I make, because I do specials every other week,” Pikey said. “Right now, I have a blueberry pancake latte that’s really, really good, some blueberry cold foam, with some maple syrup and homemade blueberry syrup as well. I do a lot of homemade syrups here for our specials.”
One of their more notable lattes is their Honey Bee, which is a latte with honey, hazelnut and a bit of lavender.
“That one’s to die for, it’s so good,” Pikey said. It is a little on the sweeter end, but everything here is customizable, so if you wanted to try it and you didn’t like it super sweet, you could do that as well.”
Red Cafe is a Syrian-owned, woman-owned, close-knit, small business.
“Everything’s organic, made to order and we also source locally as well,” Pikey said. “We have books, we have board games, cards, we have indoor and outdoor seating and loads of interactive stuff that is very college-friendly.”
In reference to this article, they will provide a 10% off on all purchases.
