Kay’s Coffee Shop

While visiting my daughter in CA, she took me to Kay’s for coffee. It is such a quaint coffee shop with pictures of the owner’s dad, Kay, and his love of model planes. The owner has a wonderful story of her own. There are board games to play and beautiful pottery displayed made by a local gal. Will definitely visit here again the next time I’m in CA!

What a great, friendly place. I’m staying just off of Seaward with a friend, and I dropped by a short while before closing time to grab a coffee. She said she was closing soon and the coffee wasn’t as fresh as she’d like it to be, so she gave me a cup on the house! And then coffee was fantastic, in spite of the fact that she didn’t feel it was up to her standards.
Tried the chocolate chip cookies as well — REALLY good.
The place is small and cozy, like a lot of places nearby, and is RIGHT off the beach. Prices are good, décor is nice… I’ll definitely be back any time I’m in the area.

I know I’ve said this before, but this is truly one of the best mocha’s I’ve ever had. It tastes like a bar of chocolate, and that’s probably because they use shaved Taza chocolate to make it. Grab yourself a drink, and enjoy it on the beach or as you cruise up 101.

Wonderful service and coffee/​snacks. The fruit and yogurt parfait was very fresh, although the granola for it cost extra. Added bonus, beautiful and hilarious women working!

Very bitter, acidic tasting coffee, as though they’d served of bottom of pot, and cappucchino was not served dry as requested. Must have been an off day. Past experiences have been good. But this week it was as though they didn’t need to try, as they were the only ones near beach here. I couldn’t get anyone’s attention to ask for fresh coffee, so I placed by ¾ unfinished mug on side counter. It was picked up without any questions or comments. A simple inquiry as to whether everything was ok, or if we needed anything else would have been helped. We’re tired after the holidays, too, and that’s why we were there. We wanted to support them instead of a chain. I hope they can get back on track with customer service.

I came to this cute little coffee shop while on vacation here in Ventura after going to the marina park that is close by. It was early morning and I needed my coffee fix. My grandmother was with me and she wanted the hazelnut latte and I decided on the brown sugar latte. We drank in to stay mugs and Hung out in their little outdoor seating area. The coffee was delicious and perfectly made. It has just the right amount of foamy goodness and not too sweet. The girl at the counter was super sweet. I would recommend this coffee spot if you’re around this area.

Excellent soy latte– great coffee flavor, creamy foam. Just the way I like it! Yummy pumpkin scone — not too large, not dry, warmed up just slightly. Perfect! Highly recommend this place.

The lady behind the counter is generally rude. She doesn’t like it when people want to hang out or work there. It’s a coffee shop by the beach in California, it should be casual as you like it. But alas, it is not.

The staff at Kay’s is always friendly, their coffee is good and hot and very tasty, and they have soy milk for those of us that can’t drink regular milk. Thanks guys we’ll be back again soon.

Long story short: Want to get good coffee near the beach in an unpretentious setting? Come here. Want to listen to John Mayer and order things in sizes that are not small, medium or large? You know where else you should go. This place is the reason I drink cold brew coffee. I learned of it here and I appreciate it more than I ever knew I could. I am a slave to this place. I could drive to the coffee roasters who make the coffee this place brews and get it there, but it would cost me more money per cup, and there is no 15% off Wednesday special at that fine establishment. And finally, do you live in Pierpont or the Keys? Oh! You do? Come over here and get coffee, for Christ’s sake. There isn’t anything better unless you want to get in your car and cross the 101, which is basically like committing to driving LA. (You know it is. It’s why you chose to live over here.)
Long Story:
I love this place. If I could replicate it for all of my friends in every town I’ve ever lived, I would. Everyone who works here is caring, reasonable, and unpretentious. The staff here get two things better than most places in town: well prepared and locally roasted coffee and small batch baking. Bonus points for beachness.
Here’s my advice for a great experience: Come here for great coffee, and just order it off the menu. It will be fantastic. You will be so excited! If it is morning and I haven’t eaten the last fruit and oat bar, get one. If you are here in the afternoon and want something refreshing, try a lemon bar. If you are a crazy sugar/​chocoholic, buy a magic bar and consume it over two days :-).
I will pose this warning, and you can glean it out of other reviews if you like:
This is a very tiny shop with a line full of regulars that can get overwhelmed by the pretentious coffee clown, so DO NOT be a jerk and tell the people here how to make your drink like some other place would and then insist it should be made the same exact way as some other place. Try their version. See what you think. Can’t handle that? Go to that other place whose drink you want replicated. When you order some cold drink and they inform you it’s made with a cold brew base, rather than hot coffee they poured over ice after brewing, don’t freak out. When they tell you their way of making a drink is with two shots of espresso by default, they mean it — so you don’t need to tell them you need a double unless you really want 4 shots of espresso. And if nothing else? ASK. The staff here will spend time helping you pick a drink that fits your palate if you ask — but those who just order something and then send it back until it meets their «macchiato» standards are typically not well tolerated ’round these parts, and for good reason.

Awesome coffee, my and my mom’s favorite spot to go to when we are in Ventura. My absolute favorite are the coconut lattes.

Amazing… Simply amazing. The staff are so friendly, the iced/​hot Mocha makes my morning. I have yet to try anything I was not happy with. What a great little gem, glad I found it.

Fantastic local coffee place to hang out and relax. The owner is super friendly and makes all the desserts from scratch. The brewed espresso drinks are authentic, make sure you know what you are ordering. Charming macchiatos, I highly recommend. Drip coffee is exceedingly mild, but I think at a place like this an Americano is the better choice anyway. Skip the Starbucks and enjoy the afternoon here.

Awesome little coffee shop a few feet from the beach. Not the place to come do work on your laptop (how could you when you’re right next to the beach???) but perfect for catching up with friends or a good book on relaxed days. Super friendly service as well, I’ve never had a less-​than-​stellar experience. Highly recommend their iced mocha: they use fresh chocolate grounds and it’s mind-​blowing. Grab a coffee then go sit on the beach. Enjoy the outdoors.
Downside? It’s a bit pricey for the size of the coffees you get.

Love love love! Lucy was amazing. .we stopped on our way home to northern California after being at ventura beach and she made us the most amazing coffee and hot chocolate for our kids! I highly recommend!

Our Experience:
Condescending Service with a Couple Shots of Bad Attitude
Average Coffee
Free WiFi? …it’s complicated
After checking out of our hotel we were looking for a comfortable location my wife could work remotely from for a couple hours while our 7 month old and his grandparents played at the beach. Kay’s Coffee Shop had free WiFi listed on Unilocal and was right by the beach — it looked like the perfect place.
The lady behind the counter answers my parents questions about coffee available in a condescending and rude manner as if it was the first time they had ordered coffee. (They’ve ordered coffee on most continents in the world, not to mention most States in the US, but I won’t go into that)
«OK… she thinks we’re ‘Starbucks types’» I think, «just smile»
So we managed to go through the ordeal of ordered an Ethiopian Roast, a Mocha, and two iced coffees (after the lady literally scoffed at my wife’s choice of an iced Americano). I tipped well hoping that my wife (who still did not have her computer) would be tolerated while she worked.
«Maybe she saw our kid and she’s worried about overpopulation» I think.
I take off after I get my drink for business and my wife reports back casually later that the ordeal continued with a great difficulty in gaining the WiFi code and then finally in a passive aggressive «eviction» despite the bounty of our orders and the non existence of any other customers on the patio.
The horrible service here may have been the result of the individual having a bad day as we didn’t have a computer when we entered the café, but at least some of the rude service does appear to be in relation to the café’s WiFi policy.
This shop should decide what their WiFi policy is and then live with it. No wifi… just post that. A two hour limit — great! 30 minutes during peak… no problem. Begrudging issuance of the code and snarky remarks to another guest about how «people just show up here to use the WiFi», not cool.
Based on the remarks by the sole representative present (and possibly the owner or manager?) to another guest that the WiFi is not supposed to be publicly available I am marking this location as not having free public WiFi available. Perhaps the coffee shop can post a sign stating as much as well and return to just serving drinks with happy service.

Kay’s is cute and quint. It’s almost like you’re sitting at home drinking coffee because it’s so tiny inside. Not good for bigger groups, too small. Lot’s of specialty drinks at pretty good prices. Love that it’s right near the beach.
I ordered the chai tea latte and it was super yummy. They don’t charge extra for soy or almond milk which I liked. My husband ordered the house coffee and he said it was good.

Very nice locally owned coffee shop right next to the beach.
Lady who runs it is friendly and is into airplanes.
Café mocha tasted great. Excellent place for tourists to go.

Nice little joint. Right there on the beach. I’m from LA and came to town for my friend’s wedding. I arrived really early apparently so I had a good ½ hour to spare. Drove around for a little while and finally spotted this place. I purchased a Chai Latte. I’m not a big coffee person, but it was tasty and overall just really good. Good service too, the cute girl that took my order was very friendly. And the owner, I’m assuming, was also there. She was also friendly and helpful.
I sat down, grabbed a book and spent I don’t know how long there waiting for the wedding to start. Nice atmosphere. I’ll definitely be back if I ever find myself in town again.

This place is steps away from the beach and very close to a few really nice restraints in the area. You can walk out of this place with only spending a few bucks unlike starbucks and coffee bean. I should go here more oFten and I wish more people did, but there is a Starbucks down the street that takes up most the action.