pre-opening party at lime cafe sunday night
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UPDATE: Lime Cafe is now closed indefinitely. As a friendly preview to Lime Cafe’s official grand opening on Tuesday, June 3, owner Michael Franz is extending an invitation to all angelenic readers to attend a private drink sampler this Sunday from 9:00pm to 11:00pm.
Free margaritas and mojitos handmade with soju (and, of course, freshly-squeezed lime juice) will be served to thank each of you for your valuable input in making Lime Cafe/Gallery/Bar a reality.
Beer and wine will also be available for purchase tomorrow night, but who wants to pass up the offer to taste test some classic Mexican cocktails with the untraditional flavor of Korea? It’s all part of Franz’s vision for a south-of-the-border grill experience not yet seen in Downtown.
It is also an opportunity to meet the faces and personalities behind the many screen names we see everyday. Expect the writers of angelenic to be there! If you plan to attend, let us know in the comments!
Lime Cafe
118 W 5th St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-627-1133
UPDATE: Lime Cafe is now closed indefinitely.
44 comments
mojitos arent mexican drinks, son son a la cubana 100%! sounds like a very innovative place.
i’m in.
I’ve been dying for a good neighborhood Mexican place- I will be there for sure and look forward to meeting you guys.
Eric
jim and i will be there. btw, are they dog friendly?
Count me in . Good time to break the place in. Although I will be imbibing the non-alcoholic drinks. I will enjoy the atmosphere and the people. NIce place I think this will become.
Aw damn, I will be there in spirit y’all!
Too bad, I am out of town, let me know how it goes!
I will be coming.
there.
yay!
My girlfriend and I will be there right at 9 pm.
Me and some co-worker friends were going to check this place out on Wednesday during the “Nights on the Town” event. Being the good friend that I am, and since I live right around the block, I will test out the margaritas tomorrow night, and make sure they get the green light for Wednesday…ya’ know…because i’m such a good friend. Nyum nyum nyum…..
Sounds like fun. Cant wait to meet people.
I saw the advertisement on the “Nights on the Town” flyer and can’t wait.
I’ll be there.
Mojitos. I’m there!!! Yum Yum.
I’m coming!
Alright. I stopped by. Here are some of my thoughts
1) Love the number of windows opening to the street
2) Love the space. THe decor isnt over the top, and thats a good thing. great lighting, tons of indoor space. Tons of art work is a major plus. Perfect size.
3) Drinks. I had the margarita. W/o tequilla, it ceases to really taste like a margarita. I don’t mind new cocktails that are inspired by classics, but some people might be put off, for whatever reason. I LOVED that it wasn’t too sweet. Good strong tartness from the limes, yet sweet balance from the orange juice. It may be a bit tart for some, but please don’t make an overly syrupy, overly sweet, appleebees style margarita. If anything, you might have to add some salt, because tequillas (and thus margaritas in general) have a little sodium play to them. All in all, a good drink. I think you put two shots of soju in it. That is cool. You may want to increase the price of the cocktail by a buck, and add one more shot of shoju. It is very important that people “feel” the alcohol after two drinks since they can’t taste it at all.
4) I like the lighting you have outside. It would be good if you could open a window so that the music spills out into the streets a little. It would also be good to have a little more of the indoor light spill out into the streets so it looks lively inside. It is so important for new businesses to “spill” out into the sidewalk and liven it up. Let people know that there is life in your restaurant.
So far so good.
Loved the pulpy margaritas. Michael is really on to something with Lime Cafe. Looking forward to Tuesday night!
I am getting a burrito half off on Tuesday evening. We got some cards last night for a half off burrito
I enjoyed last night’s preview and look forward to their menu as a new option in the neighborhood.
It was great meeting a few of the readers! I’m glad there was such a good turnout. I’ll be there on Tuesday for the opening…
The decor is casual artsy with a touch of sophistication with interesting local artwork hanging on the walls. There are several large windows overlooking the street which make it a great place for people watching.
The prices are VERY reasonable. The owner and staff are very nice and accommodating.
Their open late, and on weekends!
I’ve been hoping for a casual, healthy, Mexican place with good burritos that are not floating in lard or made with mystery-meat. I’ll see if my wish has been answered on Tuesday
I’ll be stopping by this place often.
i too am looking forward to the food. good seeing everyone last night!
We went by today at 4pm.. and they were closed… didn’t know they we’re planning on closing from 3-6 everyday. We have the worst luck with new restaurants and always happen to go when they randomly close… le sigh.
Veronica, you do have the worst luck. Almost every new restaurant post you’ve gone and it has been closed! So sorry…
He he, its ok, it’s just going to take some convincing for my husband to ever go anywhere I suggest again. Going to try the J Brunch sometime soon… man I hope I have good luck on that one
Veronica, Two words: call ahead.
I went back tonight around 10:30 w/ a friend, thought it was closed again, but it was just empty. The burritos were delicious!
SeanYoda and I went there for dinner tonight and tried the free range chicken and the carne asada burrito. It’s the closest I’ve had to back home (Berkeley) burritos in a very long time. good stuff! I’m thinking between Julie’s cheeseburgers and Michael’s burritos they’ll be seeing a lot of us (well a lot of me anyway!) =)
Drinks After The Laker Game!!!! I just stumbled upon this web site it’s pretty cool.
I went to this place yesterday. I’m not sure if things are just off because it’s relatively new or if its some sort of “soft opening,” but my overall experience literally left a bad taste in my mouth.
Pros: Location is great, the community will be well served. The gallery is also interesting, and I’ve never been to a quick-serve bar, restaurant, gallery.
Cons: Just substituting soju for hard liquor doesn’t work for all drinks. My margarita tasted like a melted down slurpee, so sweet it burned. My burrito was horrible. There was a previous comment that said that it was the closest thing to being back in Berkeley - well I lived in Berkeley for five years and the burrito (if you can call it that) that went in my mouth can’t possibly have had any resemblance to #30’s burrito or any other burrito I’ve ever had in California. The chicken tasted old and dry, and the lettuce consisted of large chunks of romaine (because the owner uses the same lettuce in the tostada). The whole thing was bland and dry. I’m not saying that I want a chipotle or baja fresh here instead, but at least these chains would satisfy the bare minimum expectancy of fakemex cuisine.
Am I being harsh? The establishment had three items on the menu (maybe they will expand in the future), and I just don’t see it surviving AS A RESTAURANT. That being said, I hope it remains open as a nice soju bar (so long as they work on their drinks).
I think I am missing the point of this place though —> “But, CommenteeMcGee this is a gallery, bar, a cafe - not a Qudoba!” True, but it shouldn’t hold itself out as an establishment that serves food then. Lime is filled with tons of booths. It’s not just a cafe or a bar.
I think if they continue to serve food they need to drop the quick-serve counter with sub-par mexican food, or at least shoot for some level of quality control. (My burrito was barely rolled and was served at room temperature).
I hope that people aren’t cheering on a place for the sake of it just existing. Downtown is a growing - yet risky market, and as a resident, I hate seeing places that have so much potential fail. Venting complete.
I’m sorry your experience wasn’t premium.. my burrito was really good though (I had the free range chicken and dry was NOT how I would describe it at all). Also, granted it’s been a while since I’ve been home to Berkeley but it reminded me specifically of a La Cascada burrito, which I haven’t had since I’ve moved.
It’s not the perfect burrito (and they are just opened so glitches may or may not happen as mentioned with technique, etc) but my experience was positive enough that I would suggest you go back and give it another go.
I’m going to give it a month or so and visit again, maybe I wasn’t being fair given that they just opened.
Just returned from Lime. I had the carne asada burrito; my partner had the portabello mushroom and red pepper burrito. Honestly, these were the most tasteless burritos I have ever had in LA!
I agree with CommenteeMcGee that I don’t see it surviving as a restaurant, which is a shame since the space is wonderful. Alas, Lime seems to be all style and little subtance.
For the moment when I’m in the mood for a carne asada burrito with flavor (and divine grilled fish tacos), I’ll continue to make the trek to Senor Fish in Little Tokyo.
I am grateful for the comments. We seemed to get positive feedback initially…maybe a lot of people were just being nice though. But by the end of the week our quality control went out the window. And after a couple negative comments I sat down and tasted everything seperately. And it was pretty bland and uninteresting. So, this week we are going to fix some of the issues. Here is what I think some of the big issues are: Our white rice needs more flavor and gets dry pretty quick. Our brown rice need flavor and is often sticky. The burritos are cold by the time we put all our chilled stuff in them. We need to make them bigger and be more generous with the meat. The meat is really good right when it’s cooked, but 2 hours later it starts to get dry…so, maybe more small batches more often. There are many more things, but let’s start there. We are not really trying to be totally authentic Mexican food, as there are probably a dozen of those within a mile of us. However, we need to execute our version better. Anyone who came in last week and had a bad experience can come back for a free retry. Just talk to me before you order. Although, maybe give it week or 2 before you come back so we can try to dial it in first. Feel free to post your constructive criticism here.
Lime was closed on Sunday when I tried to go again around 6:30p.
Regarding starting a restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles, I felt compelled to respond to this blog group.
Opening a restaurant is a daunting task. Especially one that you have invented vs. a Subway or some other kind of fast food place that has all its systems in place. That is why franchises do so well and proliferate like rabbits.
What we have tried to do here at Weeneez is to open a unique restaurant in order to support the art community. Overall we have achieved our goals. We have a beautiful gallery and now Michael Franz has joined the effort with his LIME concept restaurant.
We are grateful to be working with Michael. His energy is very high and most of all his good intentions can be seen and felt by him everyday here in the space. He is trying really hard to make the perfect burrito restaurant for the neighborhood.
Now the reality:
It takes 2-3 years for a restaurant to work out its kinks and to gain enough momentum to stay in business. These are some of the hardest years one can endure in opening a restaurant. You have to deal with landlords, creditors, employees, naysayers, food quality etc. You have to juggle so many balls that sometimes things get overlooked in the fray of everyday business.
Since this is a public business, well its all on the table for you all to pick at with relish. And you do. Some of you support us (THANK YOU!) and some of you dissect us to the point of an almost psychotic fervor.
I am just sorry that we have to go thru this. L.A. people can be really cynical. This negative treatment over the many years that I have had businesses has sometimes affected me and made me very sad. To this day I feel sad over this callous attitude in L.A. towards the fulfillment of others dreams.
My strength to carry on with every project that I set my heart on has panned out over a 20 year period. Working with thousands of artists and producing spectacular art events that people will remember till the day they die has made for a thick skinned L.A. woman here. So although there is all this negativity the cool thing about L.A. is that if you are strong you can overcome even the biggest hurdles here in this yet still pioneering city.
It is my hope that you all decide to support Michael thru this new transition to make LIME better. It is also my hope that you will support Weeneez too. We are there trying really hard to make your community a real home with unique qualities. Lime is going thru some changes before they reopen.
the sign on the door says that lime has closed for retooling for a few weeks, and will be coming back with an expanded menu.
i think the attention that people are paying to lime demonstrates the desire for this sort of mid-priced option in the area, even if it may seem out of proportion with the people coming in the door.
i had my first taste of lime after the downtown art walk, and while i wasn’t blown away, i’m certainly willing to give them more tries.
hey, we’ve been tolerating the wildly inconsistent service at pete’s for years — we don’t have to think a restaurant (or business) is doing everything right to support them, or for them to have success.
While Pete’s service may be inconsistent, the food is consistently good—if not particularly imaginative.
I think Lime and other new restaurants (which most of us downtown residents really do want to support!) would do well to learn from Pete’s. The food has got to be good. It cannot be an afterthought; it cannot be substandard.
It seems to me that one of the problems with Lime may have been that its focus was more on the concept than on the food. As someone who is interested in eating, good food is important to me. We live in a city with some of the best food in the world. Many of us who live downtown recognize and appreciate good food. If a restaurant’s food is lacklustre, chances are that those of us who are interested in food will make the choice to go to a different restaurant where the food is good. This is not being cynical or negative or unsupportive. Because Lime’s menu was so limited (which is fine), the burrito (one of few options) should not have been a work in progress by the time the restaurant opened; it should’ve been really, really fine. Such an expectation does not seem unreasonable to me.
In any case, I’m hoping for and looking forward to a strong reopening!
i had the 3 chicken tacos at art walk with jim and numerous other friends and really liked it except the tortillas fell apart rather easily. i’d try the burrito next time…which will hopefully be soon?
I am an eight year resident of Downtown. I tried LIME’S mushroom burrito the first day it opened and I thought it was terrific! For my taste there salsas could be a little spicier. Please, don’t aspire to be like Pete’s, their service is horrible and their food is worse. I think wqe have a lot of people moving here from the valley that are use to the franchises. For anyone to think that Pete’s is unique is beyond me. There’s a “Pete’s” on every block in Burbank. I think LIME is not only unique, but fortunately also clean. I’m waiting for them to reopen.
When is this place re-opening? Anyone know? It’s been more than a few weeks….
Does anybody know anything about a Blue Light Cafe opening up next to or near Coles?