Lighthouse Waffles & Cake

On October 3, 2014, my boyfriend and I stepped foot into this cute café. It’s very spacious, clean and has a unique set-​up. We didn’t stay too long, we were waiting for another restaurant so in the meantime we had some drinks. I ordered the Kiwi Strawberry Juice and my boyfriend ordered the Iced Citron Tea. They were both refreshing drinks, the waiter was extremely friendly. This places seems like a good place for studying or simply chit chatting with some friends.
Pros:
1. Clean and spacious café
2. Cute and unique décor
3. Friendly waiter
4. Drinks were very refreshing
Cons:
1. Parking is shared with tons of restaurants in the within the vicinity. You may need to valet park your car.

love chilling at this place with my friends whenever i come up to la.
love the fact that there’s indoor and outdoor seating.
decent desserts but still pretty darn yummy: D

The best thing about this place is that it’s never crowded. Drinks and desserts are okay.

We stopped by here before eating Korean BBQ. Three of us got a tea, espresso macchiato, a hazelnut coffee, and a tiramisu cake. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but our service was fairly slow. The place is a very cute spot that would look fun to hang out in, but the location isn’t the greatest (it’s hidden behind a bunch of other restaurants). I thought the quality of the cake was good, my hazelnut coffee was tasty, but not very strong. Overall, this place was a nice place to kill time, but I don’t think I would go out of my way to visit. Prices are a little on the steeper side. Just for a coffee, I paid $ 4.50.

I humbly refuse to place another visit
Their combo packages were saliva inducing. However, the actual experience was far from truth.
We ordered slices of cheesecake, chocolate cake, and tiramisu; complemented with a cup of cappuccino, hazelnut coffee, and kiwi juice.
All three cakes were dry and hard as bricks. They were either been left out too long or left out too long. The coffee and juice were just so and so. Also, took the server about 45 min to get our orders on the table. We spent 45 minutes to eat dinner next door. There’s the comparison.
With the bill came up to be $ 7 per person (tax+tip included), we’d rather take our sweet bottoms elsewhere for girl talk next time.

Nice spot to grab dessert and coffee/​tea after a heavy lunch. They have a cute outdoor patio area that I prefer over the indoor seating. Ktown coffee shops constant change. One day the service and selection is great, the next day it sucks. I come here for the decent drinks and ambiance the outdoor area provides on a low key day. I wouldn’t make a special trip just for the desserts.

I tried to order tiramisu but they were out. Then I tried to order the red velvet cake but they were out so I gave up trying to order cake. The cake slices they had on display looked like really small portions.
I ordered the rose tea. It came in a tea pot and actually had small roses inside but it was really diluted and had only the faintest hint of rose. I was pretty disappointed. It was pricey for a pot of hot water. It was around $ 6.
The atmosphere is nice. They have some booths, tables, and outdoor seating. They also sell handmade scarves and hair pins.
They have valet parking for $ 2. There’s also street parking but I found it difficult to find.

Walked into this cute little waffle café after dinner on a Saturday night. The café was dead. Only a few people here and there. My bf and I sat down in the booth area. The first thing we noticed was an uncleaned/​uncleared table, with utensils on the ground. We had to ask them to clean the table for us. We ordered café mocha and their signature waffle dessert with two scoops of ice cream — strawberry and green tea. Their waffle w/​ice cream didn’t taste so great. The strawberry ice cream was good, but the fake green tea ice cream was just horrible. The waffles themselves were very dry, even with the chocolate syrup drizzled all over. Might want to save your money and make it yourself.

After so many reviews and cute pictures of delicious waffles, I decided to try the Lighthouse out.
First impression: Super cute place with nice décor
However it was short-​lived once I passed the entrance. No one came to greet, offer us a table or present us with a menu. I had to wave the lady down to get me and my friend a table. Once we sat and opened up the menu I was taken back by the prices of everything.
I’ve been to many korean cafes and this place just tend to be on the higher end.
So not to be rude, I still wanted to try the waffles which came out to be almost $ 10 (sorry as pretty as it was decorated with fruit and chico drizzle that was way too high)
Anyways I got it, ate it and it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t spectacular either.
A pretty spot to hang but I don’t know if I’d ever go back just for tea and dessert.

Went here for the first time because me and my girlfriends had wanted dessert after getting some delicious KBBQ!
The appearance/​décor of this place is SO CUTE. Originally, my friends and I were going to go to a boba place down the street, but we decided to check this place out to see if we liked it better. We were immediately drawn to it because its adorable vibe and appearance, and didn’t think once about turning around and going back to the boba place!
I didn’t take any pictures, but you should definitely check out the photos that other people have posted here on Unilocal.The place is super cute with nice, modern leather chairs around some tables, and then slightly more private tables/​booths for you and some friends. The booths even have pillows in them for an even comfier feel. I loved the vibe and the ambiance at this establishment. It was very quiet with tranquil Asian piano music in the background, and just felt so peaceful and relaxing! They also had an outdoor patio which was lit up with adorable Christmas lights.
They had several items on the menu, two of the main items being waffles and cake (go figure). You could get a plain waffle with sugar + butter, the caramel banana waffle, or waffle with ice cream on top and assorted topping (fruit, etc.). The cake selection didn’t seem very good in my opinion… they had the slices of cake in the display window and I’m pretty sure they were not fresh. They looked like they were just slices of pre-​frozen cakes from somewhere else, rather than being made in-​house. They also had shaved ice, and ice cream. For beverages, they had several types of coffee and tea.
I ended up getting the green tea shaved ice, which was green tea flavored shaved ice, topped with red bean, sliced strawberries, bananas, kiwi, and mochi, and then a large scoop of green tea ice cream on top. The whole thing was drizzled with chocolate sauce. This was DEFINITELY not meant for one person… I ate half and was stuffed! The ice cream on top was great, and so were all the toppings :) The actual shave ice on the other hand was not as good. The top layer was covered with the green tea flavoring syrup, but once I uncovered the top layer, the rest was just straight up shave ice… no flavor. This is something I am always weary about when ordering shave ice, and apparently they don’t layer the syrup or put enough for it to soak through all of the shaved ice.
My friends got slices of cake. One of my friends for the Oreo mousse, and after one bite she could tell that it had been sitting out all day. My other friends both got slices of the tiramisu, and one of my friends said that «Costco’s frozen tiramisu is better than this one.» Ouch.
Overall I give this place 3 stars for having the cutest décor and a great ambiance. Had to dock 2 stars for the mediocre food. I think this place could definitely improve on the food and make it 5 stars!

It’s the old Bosco cake house, minus most of the cakes, but not the charm. You cannot beat the delightful ambiance of Chapman Plaza, so give this place a try for a lazy afternoon and a look at GAAM during daylight hours. No valet in the afternoon; just drive in like you own the place and park anywhere.

I finally went to Lighthouse Waffles & Cake for a much-​needed study session since the last time I passed by and looked at their menu. The waitress did not even notice us as my friend and I walked into the café. After seating ourselves at a booth and wondering what we should do for a few minutes, I went to get the menu myself.
The downside of this café is that it is seriously just for waffles and cakes. There were more drink selections and I settled with a green tea latte (as usual). My friend decided to try something new and probably something that this café is one of the only cafes that offers: the pumpkin espresso.
It didn’t take long for the waitress to come back with our drinks as we set up our study area, pulling all our notes, laptops, and textbooks out.
Although the design of my latte wasn’t as exquisite as Urth Caffe’s (they gave me a hello kitty by request), it was creamier and had a richer taste. There was also another taste that I still cannot distinguish after finishing the whole cup. It’ll have to take one to try it to understand what I mean. It wasn’t the taste of the cream or the green tea. It was something else that I never tasted in a green tea latte before.
Though the latte was creamy, it also retained a strong Japanese green tea taste.
I took a sip of my friend’s pumpkin-​flavored espresso and thought the taste was… surprisingly good. First impression when I saw it on the menu was: they are adding pumpkin to coffee? Weird…
The taste of the pumpkin wasn’t very strong and actually complemented the coffee pretty well. And for those of you who are wondering, no, there wasn’t any pumpkin chunks in the drink.
As we were about to wrap up our study session, a big group came in and they must have ordered the waffles. My friend and I were chatting away and packing our things up as a waft of freshly-​made waffles filled our noses. We noticed it before we saw the waitress bring out the waffles. The other group of customers looked at us and smiled as we eyed their snack.
Happy eating,
Joey Wong

My boyfriend and I came here because we wanted to buy my mother a birthday cake, I wanted to make her birthday day special by giving her an amazing cake. So I went to Unilocal to find a special bakery. We thought we were going to Cake Salon Basco, turns out it was replaced by Lighthouse. We thought the name was the only thing that changed, but turns the cakes changed as well.
The place is nicely decorated, but it was very empty (dead like, a warning sign).
We thought there was going to be a lot cakes to choose from, because Unilocal showed us all these amazing cakes from Cake Salon Basco. But when we saw all the cakes they had to offer, there was on 3 types of cakes with a variety of shapes.
They were all nicely decorated. I picked the Triple Berry Cake. I had a crazy idea that it was either gonna have a triple berry creamy filling or the bread was made from berries. Nope it had none of those things. Turns out it was just a generic cake with literally berries stuffed inside of it.
I was very disappointed. I paid $ 38 for a generic cake that didn’t taste that great and had dumb berries stuffed into it. My mom liked it but it wasn’t what i expected for the price. I am never going back!!!
For $ 12 I could have gone to my local bakery and picked up the same cake with a better filling. Not worth the drive over to Korea Town.

Very cute and nicely decorated café in Koreatown. The prices here are not as bad compared to other Korean cafes. There is an inside and outside seating area. The outside seating area has outlets for people who want to study outside. However, this place wouldn’t be the best place to study! The café inside and out is dim and this café in located inside Chapman plaza. Chapman plaza is one of the busiest and loudest plazas in Koreatown so you would not be able to concentrate here.
I got the Korean style coffee and it was pretty good. More on the too sweet side, but it was good! At other places, it would be priced at $ 5, but this place is priced at $ 4.
Bathrooms are clean. Server was nice. Valet parking inside the plaza for $ 2 or street parking.

We came here for a snack after finding out the wait at 678 (Kang Hodong Baekjeong) was going to be about an hour.
The interior is really cute and somewhat romantic but the service and food is «meh». Our waffle took forever to get and our «Korean» waffle tasted like a regular waffle with whipped cream and syrup. We literally spent the rest of our time trying to figure out what made it «Korean». We still don’t know.
I wouldn’t mind coming here again for a quick bite if the wait at Toe Bang or 678 was going to be long. Otherwise, no thanks.

This place is empty… why?
I know why. It’s because the coffee is watered down, the cakes are generic, and there are so many better places in LA.
I’m not from around here, but I should have known by the empty tables on a Saturday night that this place is no good.
Shame on me for coming in here against my Unilocal-​tuintion.

Whaaaatt, how come the photo of the caramel waffles on Unilocal has 3 waffles? We only got 2.
This place is cute, and it tastes okay. I just thought a desserty waffle place would taste better. Korean style batter in American style waffle format with American dessert waffle toppings ended up just being okay.
We ordered the Maple Banana Waffle, which at first for whatever reason sounded good in my head, and then I realized it was just an over priced breakfast item. With the denseness of the Korean batter, and the lack of sweetness, it didn’t taste like a dessert. I think I prefer Korean waffles when they are filled with red bean and shaped like a fish. Street waffles are traditionally cooked in massive batches, so you don’t have to wait that long, either.
We also got the strawberry potbinsu (shaved ice). The block of ice was so solid, we had to work really hard to get through it. Good thing they gave us metal spoons.
The rose tea was really, really good, though. It comes in a glass pot, and the rose buds are filtered in the cup in the center.

Welcome to my very first and well-​deserved 1-​star review! Don’t even bother to come here; we wouldn’t have if the Korean BBQ place we frequent weren’t two doors down. This place has definitely changed owners as the waffles and cakes aren’t as good as they were last year and the service is ABYSMAL.
Ok, first, the waffles are decent but you can’t really go wrong if you drizzle it with chocolate, bananas, whipped cream, and other goodies. We ordered a tiramisu cake which was just so-​so. What will make you turn around and leave is just the HORRRRRRIBLE (yes, I added extra R’s since this place sucked that badly) service. The poor harried girl at the counter obviously has never waitressed before. She kept forgetting oh the little things like SUGAR and CREAM and SPOONS when we ordered coffee (?!). No joke. She forgot that someone at our party ordered ice cream; she forgot that someone ordered a cappuccino; she forgot the forks when she finally gave us our cake. PLUS, the menu promised us CARAMEL and banana waffles and there was no hint of caramel anywhere on that plate. We were so frustrated that we didn’t even bother to call attention to it.
I repeat, don’t bother. There are a dozen other places in K-​town which serve better food and better coffee. Sorry, harried girl, but you need a new vocation.

Tucked away amongst all the other Korean hot spots in this plaza is Lighthouse. It looks like a café that you would typically see in Seoul with a cozy, clean, and simply sophisticated décor. It felt very warm and welcoming and a nice place to chill with friends. They have an outdoor patio and indoor seating. It’s easiest just to valet your car, and they will validate your ticket too.
Despite the place not being very crowded, service was a little slow. The servers responded really well to the call bell though. The restroom was also very spacious and clean. But down to the really important part… the Waffles!
We split 2 waffles between 3 people…
–Green tea waffle: 3 waffles topped with fresh kiwi, fresh strawberry, sliced almonds, whipped cream, green tea ice cream, and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. The waffles were soft and the ingredients tasted fresh, but I wasn’t a big fan of the green tea ice cream. it started to grow on me as I ate it, but the flavor of the ice cream was that true green tea taste, it tasted somewhat artificial. Also, the addition of the kiwi combined with the ice cream made it taste a bit more sour similar to a lime taste. Green tea goes well with strawberries, but the combination with kiwi is a bit interesting.
–Caramel banana walnut waffle: This was my favorite of the two. Again, the waffles were prepared nicely as I hate it when they are too dry, or hard and crispy. You should be able to cut the waffle with just a fork and not need much effort with a knife. This combination of ingredients was a bit more typical, but they came together nicely. There were fresh slices of banana, pieces of walnut sprinkled throughout, and 2 large scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with caramel and chocolate sauce on top. We finished eating this one first as well.
I would say this is one of the better Korean cafes that serve waffle. But Syrup Desserts is still at the top of my list. Although, the location of Lighthouse makes it easier to do dinner or drinking and dessert.

There was a line for a table at Gaam so decided to walk around the plaza with a few friends and stumbled upon Lighthouse.
Apparently it’s a newly opened Korean café, serving coffee, tea, and pastries. What really caught my attention was the «waffles» in the store’s name, and I’m a huge fan of Korean waffles.
Took a look at the menu and decided to try a regular Korean waffle, which is drizzled with maple syrup and chocolate sauce. For $ 5, you get 3 medium size waffles then covered and drizzled with the sweet syrup and chocolate. It did take awhile since they had to heat it up/​make it but worth it.
The Korean waffle’s texture’s a little different from a Belgian or a typical American thin waffle. Has a good bite to it and the waffle is denser than the other types, and at Lighthouse, it’s pretty well made!
The space is nicely decorated with an indoor seating and an outdoor section. I can definitely see people chilling here, grabbing some dessert or a drink.
There’s also different types of waffles where you can get it with ice cream and all that other stuff, but since I just wanted to try the place out seeing how it is new, didn’t try other stuff or the drinks, but definitely will be back to try the other offerings!