Cafe Allegro

CLOSED.
Café Allegro closed several months ago and has been replaced by Trimana.

Absolute last resort, not because they have bad food, but because the owners treat everyone walking through their doors like criminals. They’re paranoid misers, and I’d rather go hungry than support their business.

I head heard the negative rumors but just experienced the bad customer service myself. I just bought a banana for $ 1 and asked politely if I could refill my tea cup with hot water since I was buying a banana. They told me that the price for hot water in my own cup would cost the same as a cup of tea. I go to school here but will frequent this place as little as possible.

I have ate at several vegan restaurants around LA and this café’s Tofu Wrap is by far the best!!! Add a little spicy sauce and ur ready to go! Great service and fresh delicious food. I eat here at least 3times a week. Great ice blended coffee too!

The WORST of the WORST…
If you work at Corporate Pointe the best thing to do is take the quick walk over to the Symantec building. The food is awesome! They even have a crêpe station where you can order custom crepes and fresh soups of the day as well as a sandwich bar and a hot food station where the chef’s are cooking all of the food on display. It’s very very nice and DIRT CHEAP. Less than $ 10 buys a fantastic lunch at Symantec. Take the walk and tell Café’ Allegro to «take a walk!» These people don’t deserve the business, the food is extremely over-​priced, and it’s POOR quality to boot. If you are looking for a good place to get lunch near Corporate Pointe in Culver City, Symantec is the place to go! ;-)
Here’s why I don’t go to Café’ Allegro for ANYTHING even if I“m starving…
I recently went there with a co-​worker who wanted to get a sandwich there, however, I had packed my lunch so all I ordered was a tea and a cookie… about half way through the Pb&J that I had brought, the lady with a HORRIBLE attitude whom I had just paid for my tea and cookie, approached our table to inform me that I am not allowed to bring a packed lunch into her restaurant again.
Since we have a mix at our office of people who bring their lunch and those who purchase it, we haven’t returned since to eat there even when we have had up to 9 people at a time in our party that would essentially be «ordering IN.» …
Needless to say, these people clearly have BAD BUSINESS SENSE! The angry woman/​owner has come to be known as the «The Food Nazi!» amongst our office and as I have recently learned, others in nearby office buildings as well… She’s just terrible… treats her customers like dirt! People talk about this place often and it’s NEVER good! I recently had a conversation with a guy in line at the Samantec cafeteria nearby who said everyone in his office avoids the place too! They walk all the way across the street to Samantec instead of eating right there next door to their office! It’s really really BAD!!!
… can you say «NO THANK YOU?» … Not Fast Enough!

A couple months ago, I had a short gig at Sony. The first day, I went in assuming there’d be reasonable access to food, but good grief was I wrong — Corporate Pointe is a sprawling complex of worker bees without so much as a cafeteria. Café Allegro seemed to be the only place I could buy lunch without getting in a car, and I imagine it gets a lot of business from landlocked employees.
So I guess I should be grateful that it was fine, because it didn’t have to be. It was similar to places I’ve used for quick meals before — two in particular come to mind, both also owned and run by Korean immigrants. What to call that niche? Unaffiliated cafeteria, I guess.
The place had a salad bar and a wide assortment of convenience store goods. There was also a counter where you could order prepared foods, mostly sandwiches and simple Korean entrees.
As I was working through two meals, I took a salad and a sandwich and a couple Diet Cokes to go. The salad bar had a lot of options, none of which were very fresh and many of which came out of cans. Still, fresh produce is almost too much to ask at this sort of place, and what they had tasted pretty good. I made a salad with spinach, beets, artichoke, peas, peppers, tofu, and sesame dressing, and it made for a healthy lunch. I also enjoyed the Pointe sandwich for dinner, which came with bacon, roast beef, turkey, and salami with pepperjack, lettuce, and tomato. It was a perfectly adequate sandwich.
The price came out to something like $ 17, which wasn’t murderous but wasn’t great for the price either. The Korean lady at the register and the Korean man in the kitchen were both polite, and I hope they’re doing well. Obviously, I won’t be coming back to Café Allegro unless I wind up back at Corporate Pointe, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the best option for food on that desolate little office space campus.

It’s convenient, a bit expensive, and you’re not really going to be treated to grade-​A customer service… but it’s on-​campus. So if you can’t hit the McDonalds up the street on your way to class to grab a latte, this is your only real choice.

Ever been between a rock and a hard place? That’s how I feel about Café Allegro. It’s really the only place near the Antioch campus to grab something if you don’t want vending machine buffet. The food is decent but it is owned by a husband-​wife team that are very… hmmmmm… how do I put it? Stereotypical. I walk through and I feel like I’m being «watched.» And everything is monitored, from the napkins they give you to the hot water they boil.
I think what also left a bad taste in my mouth with this place is that I used to get dinner there every time I had class. One day I brought my travel mug and my own tea bag and Splenda. All I needed was some hot water. She charged me $ 1.50 for 16 oz. of hot water! My ass is still hurting!

If Trimana is my regular girlfriend, Café Allegro is like the girl I cheat with because I always feel guilty after spending money on her and getting temporary satisfaction afterwards.

Café Allegro. Where do I begin?
When I was getting my MA at Antioch, I occasionally ate here (by the way, commenting on another review: I don’t think they let Antioch students purchase «on credit» — I think Antioch subsidizes meals for students in certain programs).
Generally, I would just buy pre-​packaged drinks and snacks. Occasionally, I would have a hot sandwich (not great, not great). More likely than not, I would get one of their pre-​packaged salads and I’m not sure what the cause of this was, but I would always feel ill later. I think it must have been overwhelmed with preservatives or something.
The signs all over the walls — «Hot Water is NOT FREE» — is a bit Orwellian. That may be kosher for Seoul but in Culver City?
The owner is generally nice to people she likes — if you’re nice and clean cut or if you’re Asian — but I’ve seen some testy exchanges. That said, typically the guilty party was not the owners but rather one of the asshole Antiochians.
I don’t live in LA anymore but, sure, I’d go there to buy a tea or a bag of chips if I was in Culver City and starving.

I always get mad at myself when I buy anything other than a bag of M&M’s from this place. For one, the mark up almost makes me feel like I’m at an airport convenience store. The quality of the food isn’t so great either. But, location, location, location, right? This place is convenient to my job. I ordered a turkey burger and chips today, at a whopping $ 9.00. That’s when I vowed that I’ll walk to Trimana from now on. Besides, the service is shaky. The cooks are always pleasant. And the female co-​owner is also pleasant. But, her husband is an iffy something else.

Okay so my Korean coworker makes me go in here now. Pop seems more friendly to me than mom, but she’s alright. They have a credit system for the Antioch students or something? I think that’s very generous of them.
Still though, it kinda bugs me that they have signs plastered all over the place describing various rules about their business. It just seems kinda cheap and unfriendly.
I only use them for 7 – 11 products — hence 3 stars. I dunno if I would try the food here.

I’ve been conducting a bi-​yearly seminar at Corporate Pointe for 2 weeks at a time for the past 10 years and send all my PhD students (90 – 100 in total) to Café Allegro. They love the food, the service, and the atmosphere. They also cater all the meals for my staff and do a superb job for a modest price.
I understand that it is the priciest of the three options, but Symantec’s is run by the huge corporation Aramark who cuts out the middle-​man, and Trimana is a franchise. I researched both these locations for my students and found that Café Allegro consistently had the highest health rating given by the county, and uses the freshest ingredients.
It’s really a shame that people judge a restaurant on hearsay or previous reputations – neither of which seem to be within the scope of current management.
I too (as Michael D. before me) have had unfortunate incidents with the previous owners when they ran the place. But luckily for me and my students, the new management has turned it around and kept prices comparable to what the previous owners had. Hey, what isn’t expensive these days?

If you are at Corporate Pointe and need to eat, this is the worst of three options (the other two being Symantec’s cafeteria at 900 and the Trimana at 200). The place has a long and sordid history, most of which the current owners aren’t to blame for. It still can smell a little greasy at times.
The staff I haven’t had problems with, and find them fairly friendly. I used to go in for pre-​packaged snacks and drinks, never hot food (I swore not to eat that there some time ago). As mentioned, the mark-​up is kinda ridiculous. A bag of chips or a drink is cheaper if you are willing to walk over to Trimana.