by Christina E. on This place is unassuming from the street. I saw the sign and figured it was a tiny cafe, and I was pleasantly surprised at how spacious and modern Cafe Lift is. I went here with an old friend yesterday (Sunday) for brunch. We got there around 12:45 and were told it was a half hour wait. Close to 45 minutes later, we were finally seated. We had to wait in the entryway in front of the stairs until the upstairs waiting area had been cleared, which kind of sucked. We ended up sitting at the table of 8 near the waiting area, and sat with a group of 6 people since there were open spots. It was kind of awkward, but we managed. Our place settings came quickly, as did the water and coffee. Our waitress showed up 10 minutes later, no "Hi, How are ya?" just a "Have you decided what you want?". Hrm... ok. So we ordered and then waited. And waited. And waited. About 20-25 minutes later (my guesstimate based on the time it took to drink close to 2 cups of hot coffee and the entire pitcher of water) our food finally came. My friend got the Huevos Rancheros, and I had ordered the Fried Egg Panino. I must say, their food is DELICIOUS. My sandwich was rather large and quite tasty. The egg wasn't over cooked and the hot chili spread was excellent. The hot chili spread was so good, I doused my home fries in it. Their home fries were big chunks of potato smothered in spices -- very good. My friend enjoyed her Huevos Rancheros as well. The next time we saw the waitress was when she gave us our check. I'm guessing that since I'm not the first to comment on their poor service, that this place can get away with it because their food is pretty good. Considering the place was packed when we got there, the lack of service and ridiculously long waits don't seem detrimental at this point, however I will bet that at some point it might catch up to them. Also, one last thing to note -- this place is CASH ONLY!! If I had known that beforehand, I probably wouldnt've gone. They do have an ATM but it charges $1.50.
by Monika Gevorkian on Another place I love. Girls wearing almost nothing. They also have some pretty good bands and entertainment. Another place you need to go to when you are in the DTLA area. I think it used to be an old brothel or something, hence the name. My kind of place haha
