While traveling to Long Beach, CA, I looked up some places for good eats for late breakfast. I found this lovely little coffeehouse serving bistro fare. It had a nice outdoor seating right in front of the bistro, pretty impressive set up.

Right off the inside was a showcase holding baked goods, desserts, and drinks. Nicely organized and they all looked great. They had a large communal table in the middle, along with smaller tables by the windows. It was bright with lots of natural light coming in from the large windows.

To the back, the seating area continues to the left. It was heavy with brick walls and wood everywhere, creating cozy atmosphere. The ceiling was super high, with simple light fixtures. All the way at the back was an entrance to the store next door, focused on music, literature, art and culture. I liked that the next door was an arts-y store, and how it was connected in the inside.

Since it was a really lovely day outside on this day, I decided to sit outside. The outdoor seating had about eight tables or so, spacious, clean, relaxing with pop of vibrant colors. A waitress came over right away and greeted me with a smile.

I came here wanting to order their grilled cheese, however, I discovered that they don’t offer that until 11am. Unfortunately for me, it was before 11am… So, I had to order something else. I ended up ordering a Mocha and Salmon Skillet.

For drink, I ordered White Chocolate Mocha ($4.65), made with espresso, steamed milk, white chocolate & whipped cream. They brought it out with a nice design on it. 

But more than anything else, it was HUGE! It was like a soup bowl! It had a good amount of whipped cream, but not too much. And it was soooo good! It was sweet but overly sweet, deep flavor, wonderful aroma, with much comforting flavor. Perfect mocha for a late morning breakfast.

Salmon Skillet ($15) was a new menu item according to the waitress, and she told me it is “yummy” so I went with that. It is made with salmon, egg, hash browns, roasted tomatoes, spinach, red onion, hollandaise sauce, served with crostini.

It was not a large portion, but a good size. It had a generous amount of salmon chunks. I wish if it had more spinach though. Eggs cooked completely, I like them a bit runny, but it was ok since it was not dry. The salmon was cooked perfectly in my opinion, not overcooked, but not raw. It was juicy, soft and flaky. Nice!

Hash brown was more like hash brown “cake” and it was placed on the bottom, quietly hiding. It was soft and potato-y, but became a bit soggy towards the end. It was still tasty anyways. I also used the crunchy crostini as edible serving plate, and it was pretty good. Even though I didn’t get my grilled cheese, I was very happy with this dish.

And it seems like their coffee is popular among the cops too…LOL I saw a few cops hanging out right outside with coffee from this spot during their break. They were nice, interacted with a little boy who just finished having a late breakfast or early lunch from here.

They have just one uni-sex bathroom all the way back, right at where the restaurant connects to the store next door in the back. It was very spacious, clean and bright. It had a tall mirror in there which is always helpful to make sure you are ready to go back out there in a presentable way.

The food and mocha were super filling, I was stuffed after finishing up everything. The staffs here were nice, polite and friendly. It was such as nice, relaxing breakfast. Waitresses came out a few times to check on me, but never rushing me out. I really enjoyed my food, and yes, the mocha was awesome too! I say it was a great find!

 

Berlin Bistro – 420 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90802