La Tazza Fresca

by Don P.

One of my favorite places to work.  Good atmosphere, great iced mocha, and comfortable... especially if you can snag one of the beat-up throne chairs in the corner.Yesterday Nina had my drink waiting for me when I got to the counter.  How cool is that?  Nina?  Do you read these?  I have a huge crush on you.  Thanks for finally remembering my name and for yet another delicious iced mocha... next time put your number on the napkin or spell it in steamed milk on the top of my drink.Do you "spell" numbers?

by mirdad h.

I'm not much of a coffee expert, but i am very pleased with service and atmosphere of this place. Unlike other independent shops I've visited, here they seem to go out of their way to cater to the customers. I've been to other coffee places in Austin and there seem be habit amongst them to turn the music volume to the max, and some of their baristas seem to think they are god's gift to this earth, but not here, very friendly and relaxing.

by Bernadette D.

I had the chai smoothie and it was good. The service was a tad bit slow but it was friendly. I wish the space was a little bit bigger. It felt cramped in there.  This haunt is mostly occupied by UT students.

by TINA Z.

I just moved down the street from Tazza, went in last night, got me a glass of wine sat in their patio and positioned myself just so I can glance through the window at the very handsome dark haired man behind the bar until the storm blow me away , I'll be back, oh yeh I'll be back.

by June O.Robert M.Don P.Peter s.

Now one of my favorite places to go to just chill or work on my laptop. Seats always available, big tables, free wi-fi, accessible outlets, and friendly environment. I also enjoy eclectic collection of paintings and decorations in the cafe. The coffee selection is pretty interesting -- such as got orange mocha, mocha berry, german chocolate cake, and ginger bread latte. I've only tried their jasmine iced tea, but seems like they carry some good kinds. Sometimes, you will find some newly added seasonal menu if you ask the baristas (from my experience, every single one of them were very nice, and true Austinites) Price is reasonable, and small in LTF is about the same size as Grande in Starbucks. Other than beverages, they've got some sandwiches, salads, crepes, etc. I've also seen people smoking hookah in the patio.Sandwiched between a car repair shop and one of the busiest streets in Central Austin, Tazza Fresca's patio doesn't seem like an ideal place to relax or hang out. But oddly, the constant flow of traffic and CapMetro buses is actually kind of soothing. Even as I was drinking coffee outside in near 100 degree weather in the middle of July the ample shade and covering made it feel at least 20 degrees cooler.Any coffee shop that offers wine is a step above the rest and the place even doubles as a hooka bar on top. I haven't tried any of the food but the sandwiches and desserts all looked really good. I live close by, but with Epoch, Quack's, JP's, Flightpath, Spiderhouse, and Thunderbird all within close distance I'd never really considered this place. Now it's definitely towards the top of my list.One of my favorite places to work.  Good atmosphere, great iced mocha, and comfortable... especially if you can snag one of the beat-up throne chairs in the corner.Yesterday Nina had my drink waiting for me when I got to the counter.  How cool is that?  Nina?  Do you read these?  I have a huge crush on you.  Thanks for finally remembering my name and for yet another delicious iced mocha... next time put your number on the napkin or spell it in steamed milk on the top of my drink.Do you "spell" numbers?Went back today, luckily the machine was fixed, I have to agree with everyone else here, the dirty soy chai is one of the best I've ever had, also the guy remembered me from the last time when the machine was down and did not charge me for the drink, NICE! Excellent sandwiches, had a pastrami melt, I like the fact that they use no mayonnaise or mustard…

by Jon E.

I've mainly been to LTF at night to study.  It has a bottomless cup of coffee, but at night the coffee often tastes like it's been sitting forever.  Another minus:  there was a barista there (dunno if she still works there) whom I observed handling money and all kinds of substances and then touching the business end of the spoon used to hold foam in the frothing pitcher during a pour.  I can't imagine a better medium for propagating pathogens than tepid milk.  The chai is too sweet (my kingdom for a nice SPICY chai--recommendations?) and the muffins and doughnuts are sometimes-stale and definitely from Costco (not a knock on Costco, but I could just buy those there myself and eat them at home if I wanted so-so muffins).Also, as other reviewers note, this place gets very crowded at night; it's also dark and suffers from a lack of electrical outlets.  It also shares its restrooms with the Groovy Lube next door.  Finally, in a rather incredible story, one of my peers had his textbooks stolen off a table there.  Someone literally ran into the place, snatched his books right out from in front of a friend with whom he'd left them, and ran out, leaving the poor girl who was watching the books to chase the thief down the street.  All in all, FAR from my first choice of coffee houses.

by Jennie C.

I had lunch here today with judo master Ben. He had the turkey sandwich with coffee, and I had the hummus (4.99) sandwich.  Both sandwiches came with a cup of tomato basil soup.  The place is nice and spacious.  They have free wifi, and apparently dancing and live music on weekends.  Ben says that they turn the place into a salsa dancing join at night, and that they crowd is pretentious and "serious" about the salsa dancing.  We devise ways to un-pretentious-fy the place.   The sandwiches took forever and a day, and when we got them, my soup didn't have  spoon.  Ben went to get me a spoon.  That took about 5 minutes, the barista said that there were no spoons.  Whatever, Ben and I shared the soup spoon.  No big deal.My sandwich was alright.  Strange, but edible.  It had hummus, cheese, lettuce, black olives, raw onions, mustard, and mayo.  I don't understand the mustard and mayo.  Hummus is already of a paste-like gloppy consistency.  There was no need for mustard and mayo.  Also, who mixes mustard and hummus?  That combo needs some re-thinking.   Tomato soup was um..... kind of gloopy and chunky-ish.  I'm not really sure how to accurately describe it.  After we finished, I dropped Ben off on campus so he could work on his thesis,  and instead of working on my dissertation, I wrote this review while pondering mustardy hummus.

by majid l.

I've visited this place periodically over the years and I must say I am impressed with how it has matured and evolved, and now has its own very unique feel and personality.  Drinks are strong, crew is very friendly and uniquely professional and not bad to look at either. They have beer and wine and even Turkish pipes. It's my hang out when I am here.

by June O.

Now one of my favorite places to go to just chill or work on my laptop. Seats always available, big tables, free wi-fi, accessible outlets, and friendly environment. I also enjoy eclectic collection of paintings and decorations in the cafe. The coffee selection is pretty interesting -- such as got orange mocha, mocha berry, german chocolate cake, and ginger bread latte. I've only tried their jasmine iced tea, but seems like they carry some good kinds. Sometimes, you will find some newly added seasonal menu if you ask the baristas (from my experience, every single one of them were very nice, and true Austinites) Price is reasonable, and small in LTF is about the same size as Grande in Starbucks. Other than beverages, they've got some sandwiches, salads, crepes, etc. I've also seen people smoking hookah in the patio.

by Robert M.

Sandwiched between a car repair shop and one of the busiest streets in Central Austin, Tazza Fresca's patio doesn't seem like an ideal place to relax or hang out. But oddly, the constant flow of traffic and CapMetro buses is actually kind of soothing. Even as I was drinking coffee outside in near 100 degree weather in the middle of July the ample shade and covering made it feel at least 20 degrees cooler.Any coffee shop that offers wine is a step above the rest and the place even doubles as a hooka bar on top. I haven't tried any of the food but the sandwiches and desserts all looked really good. I live close by, but with Epoch, Quack's, JP's, Flightpath, Spiderhouse, and Thunderbird all within close distance I'd never really considered this place. Now it's definitely towards the top of my list.