Amara Chocolate & Coffee

Randomly selected this place for brunch, and I was impressed. I am not exactly a picky eater, although I do rate my food (and this place is awesome); however the friend I was with, she’s a true critic of everything and she enjoyed all three items she got for that day — I was more impressed by what the food did for her than the actual food itself!

Friendly staff and delicious food. If you want a quick bite to eat, try the arepas… a sandwich with corn flatbread. Very good and refreshing. The drinking chocolate was very rich yet not overly sweet.

I loved it. I’m from Honduras but I’ve never eaten Venezuelan food. I order pal pana arepa, and my friend order tostones, everything was delicious and fast. The parking is free in the same building, the first 90 minutes.
The owner was very kind.
I’ll definitely be back.

My bf and I wanted coffee somewhere else besides starbucks so we were in the area and decided to try this place out bc of their 2 free churros with the purchase of a Nutella latte. I was intrigued by the Nutella latte. We also ordered the churros with Nutella and vanilla ice cream. They were by far the best churros I’ve ever had, not to mention the presentation was pretty. The Nutella latte (with soy) was also very good.
The customer service was also great. I didn’t feel rush to order and he answered all my questions since I was so overwhelmed by the choices.

I had been hearing about this place. We decided to stop by. Very small. Air was not on or working so it was very muggy and hot inside. Sitting outside didn’t make it any better. Food and the drinks are expensive. The sandwich we had was tasty though. The girl at the counter had a very thick accent and was difficult to understand. We had to ask her the same question about five times. Each time giving us a clueless answer. She didn’t get it or just didn’t understand so We gave up. Parking on the street can be a pain. There is a parking structure near by but who wants to pay parking on top of it all. Sadly I dont think we will be coming back here when you can get the same coffee and food at Starbucks or coffee bean and tea leaf that is better than here. It was all about the hype and honestly not worth it :(

The reviews brought us here. The service, ambience and food together and separately are great.
The cachapas Mediterranean was lite delicate and amazingly filling with incredible flavor. The arepas beef was a crispy bread bomb which brought tasty beef and cheese to pull off one of the best pockets in town.
A real winner.

The options for Vegetarian is limited, but it was amazing!
Ive been seen tons of photos on social media and finally decided to bookmark the place.
The crossaint and the caprese sandwich looked simple but it was seriously one of the best sandwich I had ever experience!
At $ 9 a pop, a pricy lunch it actually was worth every single cent!
It was just perfect!

What a cute coffee shop. Came here because my friend was craving for some snack. It took us super long to order because we literally want to try everything! Since some of the churro items were sold out, we ordered churro with apple sauce. Churros were delicious, it was fried to the right level so they were super crispy and not to a level of greasy. Apple sauce was also yummy and not too sweet. I also got their Dulce de leche latte and I love it. Latte was milky and sweet while keep the espresso flavor. People working there were also super friendly and nice. I can’t wait to come back and try their sandwich and savory items!

I’ve been meaning to make a hot chocolate run happen for quite some time and lucky for me, we got a surprise rain this past week in sunny California. I walked in and was immediately greeted by the owner. He talked me through all the must trys and gave me a sample of drinking chocolate and a guava filled churro.
Savory — I ordered a Cachapa Llanera with shredded beef, beans and plantains. The foundation of this treat is sweet yellow corn, excellent but a bit too sweet for my taste. On a separate occasion I’ve also tried the Spicy Q Ban Arepa, which I loved! The pork was perfect and the white cheese melts into the warm masa creating this magical gooey goodness.
Churros — Just incredible. These are warm made-​to-​order pieces of heaven! I’ve had the popular Solo pa Mi and the Miriam Anita – 6 ribbon-​shaped churros with either guava or dulce de leche and queso fresco.
Chocolate — I had the Merida, which I was told is a lighter version of their signature Venezuelan hot chocolate. These drinks are delicious and you can really taste the quality of the chocolate they use. Be warned though, even the Merida was super rich so I can only imagine the Venezuelan!
Thank you Amara, for raising the bar while showcasing regional Venezuelan food. I will be back.

Cute little place (slightly away from the crowds and craziness on Colorado Blvd.) that serves up some delicious and authentic Venezuelan/​Spanish eats. There’s not many places in the area that offer arepas, cachepas, and churros n’ dip so it is refreshing to find them at this place. The parking structure entrance is right next to the store, so it is quite convenient. However, we came on a Friday night and there were surprisingly quite a few metered street parking spaces right outside the café.
We did not order the savory items, though they did look quite delicious. We ordered the churros (order of 6) w/​dulce de leche dip and bow-​tie churros w/​dark chocolate dip and ice cream (2 vanilla, 2 salted caramel, and 2 blueberry swirl). All in all, it was delicious, but a bit over-​priced. The churros were really thin and small. They use McConnell’s ice cream which is fabulous, however the scoops are extremely tiny. We did however, really like the Dulce de Leche dip… highly recommended!

This place is located Raymond and Green Street. The parking situation is going to be tough to find parking on the street. There is a lot right next to it where you get to park for free for the first 90 minutes. So that is your best place to park, $ 2 for every hour after 90 minutes.
So I shared the churros with my friends, I was a little disappointed in the churros. They are really small and pricey. The drinks where actually good is what my friends told me. They have a wide variety of drinks, they also have sandwiches and other pastries. The place was full on a Saturday night. The seating is good and it is nice, we had to seat outside because that was the only thing available. The staff was nice and friendly, they bring you your drinks and pastries to your table which is nice.
Overall it was a good experience and a nice hangout spot.

With all the existing popularity of churros these days, this location stands out as the one that specializes in Spanish churros. The churros here are nice, crispy and thin and literally finger food size with options of either your choice of dipping sauce of chocolate, guava, caramel, etc. or you can have them with your choice of ice cream flavors (which then the churros come in «X» shapes instead).
Depending on the time that you come to this place, you can either find a quick place to sit or be left standing around waiting for someone to leave. They have 2 – 3 tables outside the restaurant for seating and a nice small selection inside as well. Overall, ambiance of the place is that it’s really cozy and comforting like a café.
Parking: Use the public parking lots in Pasadena for the first 90 minutes free. If you exit the correct exit out into the streets, Amara will be to your immediate right hand side when you exit.
Drinks: Venezuela coffees or free water in the little corner off to the left hand side of the front near the front counter.
A nice place to grab a snack and just try it with friends because by itself, even the smallest order of 6 churros can get too sweet for one person!

They make their own churros served with chocolate sauce, caramel sauce and other kinds. The churros arent too sweet but i feel like the sauces are what makes it so good. Prices are higher than the churros of sams club/​costco but its artisan so higher quality. I like the vibe of this place, will be back for more churros! There are two parking garages close-​by with free 90 min parking, most of the time there’s parking.

My sister is in love with churros so when I found this on Unilocal I knew we had to try it out, and I’m glad we did! Thank you Unilocalers for leading me here!
CHURROS
Churros with Vanilla Ice cream (4 stars): Delicious crunchy churros covered in sugar. Little ribbon shaped churros with the perfect small scoop of vanilla ice cream on each one. Had it with Nutella dipping sauce… and you can never go wrong with Nutella. I expected it to be bigger from what the pictures look like, but it’s still filling, especially if you get hot chocolate as well (=
HOT CHOCOLATE
I was between two types and the nice lady who took our order let me try the 2 different chocolates they use in the drinks to help me decide. Was between the salted caramel-​Raymond, and the Picosa, went with the second.
Picosa (with non fat milk) (4 stars): Mmmmm hit the spot. Only thing that would make it better is if they used homemade marshmallows, and that’s just because I’ve had homemade marshmallows before with hot chocolate in Chicago and it was the best thing ever!
Venezuelan Hot Chocolate (2 stars): Wasn’t too big of a fan of this one. Chocolate was okay, a little bitter.
TRUFFLES
Wild Passion Fruit (3.5 stars): The passion fruit was actually pretty good, didn’t taste like the fake flavoring, but I just wasn’t a fan of the combination.
Gabriela (4 stars)
Sensual Amrita (4 stars): Sweeter notes from the amaretto.
ATMOSPHERE (4 stars)
Small cute little café. Seating outside and inside. Order at the counter and they give you a number. Was pretty busy on a Saturday night. You could always grab hot chocolate to go and walk Colorado street if there are no seats!
SERVICE (5 stars)
The lady who helped us was really nice. Loved that she let me sample the chocolates used in the hot chocolate.
PARKING
Public parking garage right next to it! Free for the first 90 minutes.

I hate giving Amara such a low rating because I’ve always loved this place, but I just had a horrible experience there and can’t comfortably give them more than 2 stars.
Last time I was there, not only did they forget about my order, but they still ended up getting it wrong, and the ladies working really seemed annoyed or like they didn’t care at all about what they were doing and just wanted to get off work. On top of everything, when we finally got our churros order, they were pretty much raw in the middle, and although I love chewy churros, these were definitely undercooked and almost impossible to eat. We didn’t even bother going back to ask them to re-​make the churros because of the horrible service we received while ordering, but I was pretty disappointed. I know I’ll be back sooner or later, so I’ll hope that it goes better the next time so I can leave a better review!
If you do decide to come, give any of the churro combinations a try, they’re all pretty good, and I would also say to try one of the sipping chocolates.

This is a family-​owned Venezuelan chocolate & coffee shop located right across from Copa Vida. There’s a public parking structure right next to the shop (free for the 1^st 90 minutes). Apparently the guy (Juan Pablo) from the Bachelor (season 18) took one of his date to this café.
The guy was super nice and he even let me sampled three different dipping sauces (guava, milk chocolate, dulce de leche). I thought both guava & milk chocolate dipping sauces were pretty good.
Menu: espresso/​lattes, chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), sandwiches (with three artisan bread options — arepa, baguette, or tostones), cachapas (Venezuelan sweetcorn griddle pancake), appetizers (Tekes [Tequeños or Venezuelan cheese stick], sweet plantains, empanadas), juices, chocolate on the rocks, churros (combinations of 6, 12, or 18 churros with various dipping sauces & toppings such as ice cream or applewood crispy bacon), croissants, and at least 10 different flavors of handcrafted chocolate truffles.
If you purchase any cachapa (Venezuelan sweetcorn griddle pancake), then show the Unilocal check-​in offer and you’ll get one free lemonade.
***
Cacao Latte (Dark 61% or milk 44%, 8 oz $ 4.60): The drink had a slight bitter taste from cacao with a light finish at the end of each sip. I can’t really say it was the best latte I’ve had, but it still still a very good latte.
Solo pa’mi [Only for me] (6 churros with a dipping sauce [milk chocolate dipping sauce], $ 6.35): Eat these churros while they are still fresh and warm! There’s no doubt that these are some of the best churro you’ll find in the SoCal — crunchy, right sweetness, and great dipping sauce.
***
This is such an unique café and next time I want to try their Venezuelan chocolate truffles! 4.5-star with a slight bonus on their friendly service!
P. S. — No use of computer during weekend

Great place for desserts, conveniently located on the same block as the Green Street/​Fair Oaks Public parking lot.
I love coming here on a cold winter night. They have amazing coffees and hot chocolate (Nutella one being my favorite). They also have nice churros– with a small free sample always at the register. I recommend either getting the 12 churros and trying several dipping sauces (their hot chocolate being my fav) or their Ice Cream with Churros (Fruit one is best, for a nice sour and sweet combo with the chocolate dipping sauce).
I wish this place had a little more seating, however the small café has a nice vibe too. Highly recommend!

Amara is your refuge from the outside world and once you step inside, it’s like a chocolate wonderland! I’m a chocolate freak so this place was basically heaven!
The churros were AMAZING — fresh, crispy, and warm! These were enhanced by the chocolate and guava dipping sauce. Nothing can go wrong with chocolate right? I love, love, love guava so when they said «we have guava dipping sauce». I was like sign me up! The guava dipping sauce was my favorite. So delicious.
Amara has everything you’d want so check them out and grab some churros!

If there’s one dessert I would eat for the rest of my life, it would be churros. I was so glad to finally have tried this place after having it bookmarked for quite some time. The great thing about Amara is that it’s located right on the ground floor of the parking structure on Fair Oaks. In addition, there is plenty of meter parking surrounding so finding a spot is not too difficult.
The place itself is a little small so you may have to stand and wait for a seat if you come during rush hours. But, it’s worth it. The churro, which I got the plaint regular ones, with the dulce de leche dipping sauce is heavenly. I ordered a 6 piece and then craved more so I got an additional 12 piece to go.
They also offer a churro shaped like a ribbon with an ice cream scoop. This is also super popular but for me, just a plain churro is more than enough to satisfy me.
Their coffee are also a must order. I’d go for the mexican hot chocolate. Will be back here for sure!

Get the Amarella. It’s an espresso based drink with nutella, chile pasilla, and guatemalan double espresso. It is so delicious. Sweet, creamy, slightly spicy, and a quality espresso.
The churros are thin and not overwhelmingly sugared. They are nice and crispy. The chocolate dip is appropriately excellent considering they specialize in chocolate.
Service is super friendly. The owner will ask you questions and suggest drinks for you. I love his enthusiasm.

Venezolanos: Vengan pa’ ca si quieren comida nuestra de verdad verdad. Great Venezuelan food.

Todo esta delicioso comimos arepa cabrera, los churros claro chocolate super delicioso 100% recomendable la atención muy amable y eficiente

Very good place todo esta muy sabroso el local localizado en un lugar perfecto en Old Town Pasadena

Great coffee with a Latinamerican flair. I had a coffee drink with great espresso, amazing dark chocolate, and spicy pasilla chile. I also had a wonderful arepa, which is a delicious typical food from Colombia/​Venezuela. The best part is that they had vegan options. My vegan arepa was made with cashew cheese, plantains, and velvety black beans. Pasadena pit stop for sure!!!