Island Monarch Coffee

Very impressed with the level of service, the homey feel, and the quality of the coffee. I was driving thru Culver City the other day and Unilocal guided me here. Got their white chocolate latte and it was A-​mazing.

Nice little coffee shop. Comfortable, warm, very informal.

This may be a great place to work on your laptop, but I don’t understand why a hot chocolate is $ 4 when they just pour a pack of Swiss Miss into a cup of water and barely stir out the lumps.

Super cute and cozy coffee shop.
Got a 16oz peppermint mocha ($ 5) by recommendation and it was delicious. Not too sweet just to my liking — thnx to the barista. Not as noisy as the bigger chains like Starbucks and coffee bean and the music isn’t obnoxiously loud like some places.
Lots of Windows too so it’s nice with the sun coming in during the late afternoon– my favorite time to study.
I have a group project for school this quarter and want to suggest coming here to work! There’s a community type table in the seating area .
Definitely coming here more often– I’ve driven past it a few times and one of my classmates recommended it too. Glad I finally checked it out!

It’s okay.
Decent espresso beans from one of the cheaper robo machines.
Chocolate chip cookies taste like bulk packaged variety.
Works if you’re in this plaza but i wouldn’t go out of my way.

I have no earthly idea how people are liking this coffee… Like… I just can’t believe it. I’m somewhat of a coffee connoisseur and I have had it in several locations. Not just within the state, but the country, the world even, and I have never had coffee this disgusting — not even instant coffee. I ordered a vanilla latte as I tend to at coffee shops I visit for the first time. I can’t quite describe the taste of the coffee. It had a sour/​expired taste to it. It was borderline repulsive. What’s funny is some girl was complaining about how bad her coffee tasted as we stepped in the coffee shop. I expressed to the worker how horrible the coffee tasted and asked him to check if the coffee he was using was expired or not. Apparently it wasn’t, it just tastes that foul on purpose… They made me coffee 2 or 3 different times before I gave up and told them that if the way they’re making that coffee is the way they have intended to make it, with that foul taste, then it just boils down to me not liking their coffee shop. I told them to keep my money as a donation to researching better ways of making coffee or perhaps a better brand of coffee to brew. I really wanted to like this place, seeing as it is RIGHT down the street from me in Playa Vista, but my gosh, I have no idea how these guys are still in business.
Oh, and that «Best Coffee in LA» crap is such bullshit. On their website they reference a «cul​verci​ty​cof​fee​.com» that is non-​existent. And even if it did exist and they did get that award, Culver City does not make up the entire whole of Los Angeles, so stop it with the marketing tactic.
Do not only not visit this place, run far away from it.

I literally just bought a vanilla latte with almond milk and it was SOUR! Since I’ve had a vanilla latte here before, I didn’t think to taste it before I left. I tried calling them but no one answers and on the message it does indicate that making coffee was their priority but there was no one in there when I left. It’s hard to believe that they were sooo busy right after I left that they couldn’t pick up the phone. I won’t be coming back. I just threw away $ 6 (includes tipping the guy).

Smoothest coffee I’ve had in a long time. I’m not much of a coffee drinker (I’m a tea head). But their coffee is exceptional. I usually get the vanilla latte, lightly sweetened. I love the ambience and how cute the décor is. Right behind them is a cute little bake shop which sells macarons, I am yet to try! But IMC is for sure a coffee spot you wanna try.

I’ve seen many reviews here comparing the coffee here to Starbucks but honestly, there’s no comparison, in my opinion. I’ve never been a Starbucks coffee fan & had a daughter who worked there for years. When I come to IMC it’s the coffee that brings me in and the ambience makes me want to park it there and stay a while. It’s always hot and freshly made and such a high quality. One day we needed a sandwich and tried theirs, our server was very accommodating about how we wanted it made and it was a solid good sandwich. My daughter had a tasty blueberry muffin, too. I like to walk next door (no door actually) and get a cupcake or macaron from Joy & Sweets and sit at IMC and eat it with the best coffee I’ve found outside my own French press. Service is friendly and genuine.

Rating: I really wanted to give this 5 stars and keep my streak of 5 star reviews for amazing coffee shops that I’ve tried, but I thought this place was just decent.
Storyline: I was drawn to this place when I saw a big sign that read «Best Coffee in LA». Something about that statement tickled my mind and I certainly had to stop by to see if it is or not.
Type of coffee shop: Forget the fancy third wave coffee shops with their fancy smancy contraptions, ways of doing latte art, and pouring methods to make the right coffee. They don’t full around and just serve coffee like how it should be. Australian Coffee culture is the way of life here. They simply use a automatic expresso machine to make their coffee drinks. Sounds funny I know. One press of a button… Booom! Expresso is done!
Check-​in deal: Buy a 16oz latte… get a bagel for free!
Roaster: Best Roast Coffee
Award: Rated best coffee in LA for 2015. I don’t think it’s the best, but their coffe/​latte was decent.
Coffee beans: Shade grown organic beans. Coffee is more mild to medium roast. Less acidic and goes down the pipe very smoothly. They also use reverse osmosis water to make their coffee
Location: Located on Jefferson blvd and Cota. It’s inside a big plaza that has target and a bath and beyond.
Cost: Coffee is a bit expensive due to it’s organic nature with the coffee beans and organic milk.
Ambiance/​Décor: The mini orchids on almost every modern-​esque table and other décor on the wall gives this place a nice homey feeling. Great place to do work, talk with friends, or study.
Service: B. J (Barista) was very friendly and attentive. He also tried his best to answer all my queries about the coffee shop. There was also a small hiccup but he handled it like a champ. As he was working on my drink, I asked him if it was too late to change the amount of expresso. B. J informed me that it was, but he gladly told me that he can make a new one for me and to keep the other one also. Bravo! I’ll gladly come back whenever I’m in the neighborhood.
Drink: I went with the pumpkin spice latte ($ 4.50) with half the sugar. It was still bland so I asked him to add more pumpkin spice. Problem solved! Loved every sip.
Bagel: I got the jalapeño cheese bagel. The first bagel he picked out to toast looked bad, so he went back to the display case and got a new one. Very attentive and problem solved again! Not complaining… because its free if you get a 16oz latte.
I’ll be back.

What a great find (thank you Unilocalers)! This coffee shop indeed is tucked away in a strip shopping center in Culver City. The barista was incredibly helpful and made the experience that much better. After asking us what type of drinks we were in the mood for, he went ahead and suggested some great drinks to go along with the incredibly hot weather LA has been having! My iced white mocha was divine and definitely worth all the cals/​sugar that was in it. I also got a jalapeño & cheese bagel to go which was very simple BUT was toasted to perfection! I’d love to go back to this spot if I have the chance in the future.

Had a latte. Was disgusting and tasted watered down (which is weird to say about a latte that should be made of milk but that’s how it tasted). Don’t know how anyone could say this place has excellent coffee. They use a super automatic espresso machine. There is no concern for quality in their coffee. It truly boggles my mind that people like this coffee. I think I would rather have Starbucks.
Service was extremely slow. Took over thirty minutes for us to all get our drinks and food. You probably think I’m exaggerating except I’m not. One of the drinks was wrong too. They were very clearly understaffed.
Sandwiches were good but nothing out of the ordinary.
We were eating in and they gave us the food in paper bags. Not very environmentally friendly.
Would not come back here.
Did I mention that I don’t understand why people like their coffee?

Super friendly. Adorable shop. Vanilla latte is soooooooo good. I’ll support this place over Starbucks any day.
Plenty of shopping plaza parking. Free wifi. And free bagel with check in comes with cream cheese.
New spot :)

Honestly I don’t get it. «Voted best coffee in LA»!? Really? This just can’t be true.
Here’s the thing. I really wanted to like this place. It’s the only coffee shop walking distance from my neighborhood that isn’t located inside a store. So it was important that I not only try it but frequent. Let me start with the coffee. It’s meh. I ordered a mocha (which is pretty hard to get wrong) and it was just not good. Then I went and got a muffin to split with my kids. They only had one left and it tasted stale. Maybe I came in right before their delivery but the other times I’ve gone in they just lack in the baked goods so why even stock them? (But they never claimed to have the best baked goods in LA so …)
Most recently I gave them another chance. It was an easy order. The Chai latte. Over ice. It was basically milky weak tea. I couldn’t even choke it down.
I mean something is seriously amiss people but IMC honestly please I beg you– win me back and live up to those posters. I would love to see people lining up and I would be happy to stand in line of only you were truly the best (or even top 10– I’ll take top ten).

This place was excellent the Barista at the counter did above and beyond what I believed he could do.
Coincidentally the day before we came to this coffee shop I had an abduction by space aliens and the aliens told me that there was a place where there is literally the best coffee in LA. They gave me two clues, an ‘island’ and a ‘royal’ and ‘gold pacoderm’
So when I woke up upside down on my bed I had searched all around for this place and stumbled upon it in culver city. Everything the aliens told me was right about this place and I was in awe over there menu lined with crystals and motifs of the eastern thought. Low and behold I saw a golden elephant at the register after we ordered our coffee. I even bought a old fashioned coca cola as a souvenir for my alien friends.
Now although the above story is partially a work of fiction this coffee shop truly is awesome!

Second time here when I came today and still wasn’t impressed… The reviews made it look so good!
The Banana Nut Muffin looked soooo bomb in the pictures but when I tried it it was so dry :/​. We did go at 7:30pm so later in the day but I was still expecting them to have some food.
I came back and got a Thai Iced Tea which only came in the large size for $ 4.95. It didn’t taste like Thai tea at all. My mom got an Iced Coffee which was okay but apparently their coffee organic. Idk I’m not a coffee drinker.
They didn’t have Banana Nut Muffins this time when we came but we had a $ 30 Groupon that was going to expire so we just bought a whole bunch of muffins, bagels, and a cinnamon roll. The muffins today looked smaller but had more common flavors – chocolate chip, red velvet and blueberry. They were just basic muffins… Not worth $ 4 each but we had to spend the money or else we’d lose it. The bagels were ehh okay too.
It seems like they only have half of the food items on their menu. No cookies, no sandwiches (only Turkey today), nothing else. I don’t think I’ll be back. But it does seem like a chill hangout spot

Nice small coffee shop. I have only been there once and definitely plan on going again.
Their iced latte is really smooth and not super strong. Breakfast sandwiches are really good and healthy! Must check it out!

what a cute little coffee shop located on the «Target» plaza. It’s a little off the beaten path in terms of coffee shop location, but Island Monarch Coffee or «IMC» is def worth finding to try out.
Their banner «Better than Starbucks» doesn’t say much, but it actually is better than most coffee shops.
I had their salted caramel latte and was quite pleased with it. I would go back just for that drink. Do also check out their next-​door bakery shop with all sorts of yummy treats like macarons & cupcakes.
Unilocaler tip: check-​in to get a free bagel during breakfast!

This place is small inside but very cute. The owner informed me that they have been there for about 3 years, however, I have never noticed it before!
The quality of coffee is great. I believe it’s all organic too. I was about to put some sugar in mine when I was stopped and told to try it first without the sugar. I’m really glad he did that because he was right. No sugar needed!
I checked in and received a free blueberry muffin. The muffin was tasty as well. I also noticed their Krazy muffins and will have to give those ones a go next time around.
I will definitely return for future studies. It’s in a good location, especially if you need to go shopping (Target, Ross, Bed Bath & Beyond etc).

Love my backyard coffee stop! Five star for friendly & prompt service, and free Belly Organic Latte ^_​^ Will be back to try their GF pastries.