At Last Cafe204 Orange Ave
Long Beach
562-437-4837
At Last I have tried At Last Cafe!! I first knew about At Last Cafe shortly after they opened in 2008 and it's been on my list of places to try. But, I still didn't go try it. I've heard good things about At Last Cafe and I was looking forward to having dinner here with a friend I haven't seen in over two years.
When At Last Cafe opened, it was a very small restaurant and you needed reservations. But, they recently expanded and while I would still suggest reservations, you maybe able to walk in and get a table without waiting too long. But, parking in the area is a tough to find. There is only street parking and it's a crowded neighborhood.
Green Goddess Salad, $5.75, avocado, cucumber, and herb dressing. This salad was awesome!! This was a mixed green salad that was very fresh and the dressing was out of this world. A light buttermilk type dressing with good flavor. A huge portion that makes it perfect as an entree salad. Luckily my friend and I split this salad, otherwise I wouldn't have room for the entree.
3 Cheese mac and cheese, $8.75. I had heard lots of great things about their mac and cheese. While the macaroni was cooked perfectly, I thought this was bland and they were pretty stingy with the cheese. Some parts of the macaroni was just the pasta, very little to no cheese. Sure, it's a big portion, but not worth the price and didn't come close to living up to the hype.
Stir Fried Fresh Vegetables, $8, broccoli, squash, eggplant, spinach.I hate egg plant and I asked the server what kind of vegetables came in this dish. He mentioned squash and broccoli. Then I asked "Is there eggplant?" He said no. Well out comes my dish and it's filled with broccoli, squash, a few leaves of spinach, and EGG PLANT!! If my friend didn't love eggplant, I would have sent this back. My friend ate most of the eggplant. The veggies I ate were well cooked and seasoning in a soy sauce. They were a bit undercooked, they could have cooked for about 2-3 more minutes. This dish was ok, but if you take out the eggplant, this was a pretty small portion.
Service was good, except for the fact that the server didn't know the menu and what comes in the stir fried veggie dish. I asked the server if there was any eggplant in my stir fired veggie entree and he said no. But, in fact there was a ton of eggplant. I don't really care if they don't know the answer when I ask. But, they should go and find out the answer. Isn't it pretty easy to go to the kitchen and ask the chef what comes in a certain dish? What if somebody had a food allergy? Not to eggplants, but nuts or something else that could seriously injury or even cause death?
I was looking forward to my trip to At Last Cafe but I was underwhelmed. The green goddess salad was my favorite by far. The other two items I ordered missed the mark or was just ok. While the prices are good and the portions are big, I won't be going back to At Last Cafe. Very overrated!!
