The Grain Cafe

Wow! So, first and foremost we were on our way to The Grammy Museum but wanted to get a bite to eat first. I was with a friend who isn't vegan but has been interested in trying more vegan food- this place did not disappoint! They had a clean establishment and their food selection was excellent! I appreciated the Mexican dishes, mostly since when I think of LA I think of tacos and all the beauty of the Latin culture. I ordered the huevos/soyrizo; they could have thrown in more tortillas but that's just me. My friend had the chik'n' pita sandwich and they ate it all! They loved it, speaks volume coming from a non-vegan/vegan curious person. Yay! I also ordered the quesadilla with spinach and chik'n', wow- wish I could have just ate all day! Then their deserts! My golly! So beautiful! The display cases, this is going to be a pit stop for sure on any next trips to LA I take. Totally recommend. Kindly note they updated their outside with just TGC! Yummy place and very friendly staff. A way a vegan place should be!

Too expensive not happy , additional like avocado or anything it's 3 usd , and kambucha it's 5.50 everywhere it's 3.50 maybe 4

Ate here while visiting a friend who lives right across the street. Great food. Their cacao coconut milkshake is unreal. I will always come back

One of the best cafés in LA! Everything I have tried, I've loved and everyone I bring loves this place! Food, drinks, and desserts are delicious. Some of my favorites are: Club Sandwich, breakfast burrito, roasted veggie pizza, coconut cake, strawberry cake, lattes, smoothies, etc. A must try!

I like that lunch and dinner are served all day long as well. Extensive menu. I got a reuben bright and early on Sunday morning. Just a great spot.

Amazing vegan food and very friendly service. I loved the grain plate with the perfect balance of ingredients inspired on macrobiotic principles. Since Seed bistro closed I wanted to find a good place with macrobiotic food. I'm glad I ran into the Grain Cafe since their macro offering is very good. Besides the macro plate, the club sandwich, juices, smoothies and raw truffles are delicious.

This small restaurant is a great find. I had the falafel wrap which was huge and a good price. The staff was very friendly and food is organic and fresh.

Had the chicken club and curry chicken wrap! Both were very flavorful!

Whatever we ordered was really tasty. They had lot of different food varieties to choose from. The customer service was good

The food here is delicious, especially the tempeh Reuben.
Great atmosphere. Staff were super helpful and friendly (one let us use her personal phone to make a call)
Highly recommend

First of all... I was in town for work and drove here at 8am. Looks like it is in a sketchy area (again im not from here so i dont know the area) the reviews were too good to pass up. Im so glad that i did not. The food was amazing! I wanted to try everything.

I had the grain...pancakes, tofu eggs, hashbrowns, and vegan sausage. It was great. I left full and happy! 100% recommend this place.

I had the tofu scramble and it was as described in the title of this review ;)
Also great service, cute place, many gluten free options - highly recommended!

I had the club sandwich and my date had a late night breakfast huevos con chorizo.
We will be back.

Don't let the terrible art on the wall fool you! The food is as good as those two pieces of art are hideous. Just keep your eyes on your plate and you'll be okay! Super friendly staff, delicious burritos, wraps, sandwiches and salads, and you must order the mint lemonade to wash it all down.

Much needed organic vegan cafe in this part of town. I'm raw and had the Avo Salad and mint lemonade. My liver had the Grain Meal and loved it. Wifi.

We stopped in with another couple for an early dinner. The menu is fairly large, so it took us awhile to make decisions, but the server was very friendly and patient. We settled on the reuben sandwich, grain salad, tuna melt and patty crepe for entrees. We shared the chocolate mousse crepe and blueberry bar for dessert. The salad was excellent with kale, tempeh and quinoa. The reuben was decent as was the melt. The desserts were very tasty. I'm very happy to know that I can find savory or sweet crepes here and plan to come back for those.

I was driving in the area and saw the great reviews so I wanted to try it. The enchilada was excellent the service was great and knowledgeable. Excited to come and try more

I had the tempeh salad and the grain burger. The salad was good, but the burger really knocked my socks off.

The staff were friendly and i introduced them to their Happy Cow page which they hadn't seen before.

A really cool place. Totally recommended.

Our first time here , we loved it. We are coming for more. Service amazing.

Mole Burrito: Delicious and Huge. Was driving by on the 10 - Can't believe this place exists in this neighborhood.

First time there, we came for breakfast and they open at 8am on Sunday. We had Tofu Scramble with mushrooms and kale, and Huevos con Chorizo. Cafe de olla was great too! Everything tasted fresh and yummy. We will be back for sure.
Updated from previous review on Sunday April 13, 2014

Absolutely most amazing food. Great people. Very friendly. About 100 times better than anything you might compare it with. Best vegan hole in the wall in LA, outstanding, surprising, excellent. A rare find.

I absolutely love this place. Grain Cafe has some of the best vegan comfort food I've ever had. Burritos, pizza, sandwiches, crepes, you name it. It all tastes amazing.

My favorite part though is the home made lemonade. They mix it with fresh strawberries. Sometimes they mix it with blueberries. It's seriously the best lemonade you will ever have.

The deserts are just as good. My favorite so far is the strawberry cake. Vanilla cake with pieces of strawberries and strawberry frosting.

One of the reviewers below said that the menu was "stolen". I'm not sure about that. All of the items are pretty standard (burritos, pizza, bagel sandwiches, scrambled tofu, etc). There's tons of restaurants with these same items. Grain Cafe is exceptionally good though.

The portions are also tremendous. I've gone home with leftovers plenty of times.

My dad isn't a vegan, but he's dined out at a ton of vegan restaurants with me. He claims that Grain Cafe is the best vegan restaurant he's been too. That's coming from a meat-eater.
Updated from previous review on Tuesday September 10, 2013

I read about this place on happycow and decided to come by and try it out. Here's my Grain Cafe review.

It's located in Mid-City in an area where one would not expect vegan and natural food. Mostly here you see auto shops, paycheck cash advance shops, Mexican fast food, Korean stores.

The cafe is small and basic with a handful of tables for seating inside. You order food at the counter or seat yourself and a staff will come by to take your order. On the day we went there were several other customers dining here.

The menu is typical of what I would expect from a Westside vegan cafe--I hear that the owner at Grain Cafe used to work in the Golden Means Vegan Cafe kitchen and is applying most of what he learned there here. Vegan cheese in sandwiches, pizza, quesadilla; colorful salads; coffee drinks with almond and soymilk.

My friend and I shared:
- Rueben sandwich which came with a side salad. The tempeh inside was marinated in a dark savory sauce and very tender, combined well with vegan cheese and sauerkraut. Delicious. $7.50
- Deluxe burger which also came with a side salad. Grain patty with vegan cheese, smoked tempeh bacon, and greens. The flavor was good, though my bacon was a bit burnt. $8.50
- Slice of coconut cake. Yummy. $5

A woman next to us got a cobb salad that looked quite fantastic. Another woman got waffles. Another got the club sandwich. A man had a curry chicken salad. All looked appetizing.

Overall our food tasted good. Portion is fair though I did still feel a bit hungry shortly after. I would definitely return to try the other dishes the next time I come to the area.

ALL RECIPES ARE STOLEN< BAD KARMA! I was far away from home and happy to see the word organic I popped in- cash only- okay be right back! Got my cash I noticed the guy in the back and girl in the front were so familiar, they used to work at GOLDEN MEAN in Santa Monica where my friend used to work! Then I see the menu! O M G! They stole the whole menus and the recipes:-0 Bad taste in my mouth already! But I was starving! Got the chic club! Looked just like the original at Golden Mean, tasted The same! Word to the owner make sure your stuff is fresh! Above was my review on Yelp, to which I go I got a VERY rude and nasty comment form the owners. [Original review edited by staff - see ToS]