Cafe Tola #4

It’s a cute little spot in the busy side of Logan that deserves all the love! So many empanada flavors it was hard to choose but I decided to settle my sweet and savory cravings and got a salsa verde chicken empanada and a banana Nutella empanada. The chicken was so juicy and flavorful it was so good. The banana Nutella really helped get that sweet craving. So good! Only thing is I’m sad the lavender lemonade was mostly ice and didn’t really have a lot of flavor, I wish it had both more lemon and more lavender! Overall great food for solid prices. Yum! 😋

I just came from a short walk to Cafe Tola. I’m fairly new to Avondale and wanted to support the local businesses there. I just tried their Pinto beans and Guava empanadas. They were delicious! The pinto beans one was surprisingly spicy. I had that with their famous horchata late-iced. So good! I love the atmosphere and the graffiti art of the place and the cashier was very helpful. I’ll definitely be back to try more food!

I love this spot! The staff is always super nice, and their horchata latte is amazing. The chicken tinga and chorizo egg empanadas are my favorites — so flavorful every time. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area.

Eating some tacos by the light of neon is a vibe. I got the skirt steak and al pastor. It hit the spot. The portions were generous and delicious. Cool little spot if there’s open seating. I’m hoping to cross paths with the other locations soon.

Ordered a couple tacos and an empanada. Chicken verde was decent and a large portion with lots of onions. My "seasonal veggie" taco wasn’t so much a taco as (I strongly suspect) a bag of mixed frozen vegetables that were steamed, then served on top of a tortilla. Just call it a side of vegetables 😂 there are plenty of ways to make a good veggie taco but this was not it The empanada was good and if I came back here I’d stick to those.

I want to share a concern based on multiple visits to this restaurant. On several occasions, the exterior garbage area appeared significantly overfilled, with trash left exposed and not properly contained. As a result, I observed rats in the immediate vicinity of the dumpsters and near the building. This is a serious sanitation and public health issue, particularly for a food establishment. While the interior dining experience may be acceptable, the waste management practices outside the restaurant detract significantly from overall confidence in cleanliness and food safety. I hope management addresses this promptly by improving garbage containment, increasing pickup frequency, and ensuring the exterior area is regularly cleaned and monitored. These steps would go a long way toward improving the overall experience and maintaining appropriate health standards.

This Cafe Tola # 4 is more crowded and disorganized than other locations. I ordered the same as always: Cafe con Leche y la Empanadas De Guava con Queso. The coffee was identical, but the empanada crust had a different consistency; it was not smooth or warm and had less guava. The service was attentive, and the prices were the same. I will return and try the other empanadas; Cafe Tola offers at least ten different empanadas to discover. I spent $9.66 for a medium coffee and one empanada, similar to Starbucks prices but less corporate, with better food and a more pleasant atmosphere. I am grateful we have more choices for morning coffee for Hispanic preferences. I lower the rating because the bathroom is used as storage, which could be acceptable if things were neat and organized. But it gives a wrong impression when you come in.