Love & Light Cafe
Love & Light Cafe is a cozy Hyde Park community gem known for lavender and red velvet lattes, the South Side Pride breakfast, fresh-tasting paninis, and the popular Reggie breakfast sandwich. Regulars love the welcoming owner and baristas, calm work-friendly atmosphere, and Saturday live music; however, cappuccino portions, food freshness, and delivery accuracy have drawn occasional complaints.
What 89 diners keep saying
verbatim, from Google
“South Side Pride breakfast was simple yet delicious - waffles had the perfect soft crunch and black pepper makes an otherwise simple omelet sing. Great place to start your day off right”
“Cute and cozy cafe with sweet treats. I got the chocolate chip, red velvet and white chocolate cookies and a delicious red velvet latte. The menu has coffee favorites, fun seasonal drinks, available hot or iced. I would definitely recommend checking this spot out.”
“Live music here on Saturday afternoon! Fabulous paninis and omelettes.”
“Great place overall! The owner is a great guy definitely enjoyed my first coffee and lunch sandwich! “The Reggie” Food was delicious very aesthetically pleased, gave a home kind of vibe. I will definitely be back. This place is an absolute gem!”
“Visited this warm and friendly Love & Light gift the first time and they truly lived up to their name. I was immediately greeted with a smile and sincere welcome. Menu options were clear and easy to choose from. Excellent and satisfying breakfast sandwich. The croissant was very soft, fresh and perfectly toasted and held my extra perfectly cooked turkey bacon and eggs with cheese. I give Service, Food and Cozy environment a 10/10.”
“Needed a spot to work uninterrupted with wi fi for 2 hours while eating/supporting a local business. Service was great and the noise level was low enough to concentrate on my project.”
“First time here so a bit disappointed. Service was nice and welcoming. Ordered a medium cappucino. The cup was at least 2/3 foam and very light on the actual coffee. Pic below is once I'm done drinking the coffee, with about 1/2 of the cup left of foam. I guess I know why it's 4.35 instead of the nearby 5$ prices. Probably won't come back.”
“I just moved to the area and wanted to find a new local shop to support but this place really missed the mark for me. The cashier told me that they didn’t have a drink menu but could make whatever I wanted so I asked if they could make me an Iced London Fog. They said yes and then asked me what kind of tea to make it with. I was confused because it’s pretty standard that it comes with earl grey and I explained how it’s usually made and the barista seemed to get an attitude with me / act like I insulted them and said “I know how to make it”….. They made me the drink and right off the bat I knew it wasn’t made properly despite what the barista said 🫠 they didn’t steep the tea in hot water before adding milk so they literally just put the tea bag in cold milk so of course it didn’t steep so I got vanilla flavored milk with a cold tea bag in it. Waste of $ and I ended up buying another drink elsewhere after. I couldn’t get connected to the wifi and the password wasn’t listed anywhere. I asked another worker for the password but it would't work for me and by that point I was just ready to go somewhere else. On top of that they hardly have any outlets for customers to use so it's not optimal for coming to work or study. Overall not a great experience and I'm not going to order again.”
“Lovely little community spot. Great lavender latte. The owner, Terrance, is a delight to chat with, and it is clear that he has a great rapport with his customers. I stopped in during a visit to Hyde Park for apartment searching, and Terrance very kindly chatted about the different areas and great spots to check out (among other topics!). Will definitely revisit when I move to the neighborhood.”
“Such a cute, euphoric gem in Hyde park! Food was delicious and ambiance / customer service was stellar ! I will most definitely be frequenting this establishment again !”
“Sweet barista named Mario greeted me warmly. When I asked about their specialty, he brought out a list of lattes he was developing. He made one of my choice, offered me more hazelnut syrup when I asked for it to be a bit sweeter, and was very kind and friendly. Quiet, cute cafe right near the high school.”
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