Urth Caffé: Is It Worth the Hype?
- Lindsay Mack
- Aug 8, 2025
- 9 min read
REVIEW: Here’s the tea: The service is unorthodox, the lines can be long, but the food is fantastic.
Urth Caffé has hosted celebrities like Paul McCartney, the Kardashians and Queen Latifah. It’s been featured by The New York Times and Variety, and even graced the pages of Vogue. If you drive by the cafe late on a Saturday morning, you’re bound to encounter a line of eager diners trailing down the street.
But is this popular cafe really worth the wait? I visited two Orange County locations to investigate.
What started in 1989 as a mail-order coffee business by coffee and sustainable foods lovers Shallom Berkman and his wife, Jilla, quickly blossomed into a highly successful cafe. Hailed for its exclusive heirloom organic coffees and teas and creative assortment of breakfast, lunch and tantalizing pastry options, Urth Caffé is now “one of the busiest coffee houses in the nation in sales per square foot. Each individual Urth branch sells on average $7 million per year per location and sees more than 800 guests per day,” according to Urth Caffé’s website.
This includes 11 locations across Southern California and Nevada as well as six locations in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Additionally, “Urth Japan plans to open 30 branches over the next three years. We are fielding requests for licensing from literally every continent on Earth.” (urthcaffe.com) Plus, there are plans to open a new location in Austin, Texas, in 2026.
But with popularity comes, well, popularity. Order lines are frequently out the door, and you may have to stand in line for a good half hour before you can be seated. Waiters do not take your order from the tables. The density of guests at popular times also increases the frequency of order inaccuracy. It is not unheard of to visit the cafe on a busy Saturday morning and discover your “Eggs Any Style” are missing their side of salsa, or your drink arrives 15 minutes into devouring your meal (drink orders are placed in the queue separately from the food, so receiving both your meal and drink at the same time is not guaranteed). This unorthodox food service experience may not be for everyone, but it does not appear to stop guests from arriving in droves.
When asked why Urth adopts this approach to its service, Shallom Berkman said, “Even when we expanded, as we started baking and offering food, we always, and we still to this very day, see Urth Caffé as a coffee house. Back in my day, in the ‘80s, coffee houses were really popular places, and most of them have disappeared. But in many ways Urth Caffé is like a fancy or very nice coffee house. For that reason we don’t have waiters. And there’s a lot of nice things about it. First of all, there’s no tipping required. You can sort of create your own budget, and spend very little, or you can spend a lot. You can come any time of the day. We like that kind of casual but luxurious experience for our guests.”
Urth Caffé Laguna Beach
On a Saturday morning in late spring 2025, the cafe was bustling with guests. A seagull perched atop a decorative water globe outside that overlooked a strip of the ocean in the distance. He appeared to be a regular.
The cashier informed diners that drink orders are placed in the queue separately from the food, so there may be an additional wait before receiving one’s drink.
Twenty minutes and $45 later, the food and tea arrived, in that order.
The Eggs Verde had a satisfying balance of flavor and texture. The eggs were served a perfect, warm medium-well so just a bit of jammy yolk ran into the lightly-dressed fresh bed of arugula, asparagus (which was tender with no woodiness – typical but considerably unsavory of the vegetable), corn and peppercorns, tomatoes and a sprinkling of parmesan for a salty bite; a delightfully fresh dish for spring. The accompanying bread was soft and warm. The only downside was the salad dressing ran into and partially saturated the bread.
The chai latte got the job done and featured a fanciful design on top, though it was not overwhelmingly notable or outstanding in flavor. Additionally, the acai bowl had a wonderful fruity flavor, even if the filling’s texture was sometimes inconsistent. The housemade granola had great flavor and texture as well, though it got a bit too chewy at times with the dried fruit. Flaws aside, one could consider it a satisfying, nutritious and downright attractive meal.
To further investigate, we wanted to see how other cafegoers felt about the cafe. Cathy Meyer from Rancho Santa Margarita commented, “This is my third time eating at Urth Caffé. I was looking for a summer place to eat down in Laguna, and I’ve heard good things about it so I wanted to check it out. It was great, fairly quick service …. I ordered a roasted turkey panini and a Moroccan Mint boba drink – it was fantastic. The salad could’ve used more pecans … (but) I will definitely be back.”
At Urth’s Orange location, Ross Toussieng from Mission Viejo said, “I’ve been (here) multiple times. It’s always been top-notch. They have a diverse menu and the ingredients are always really good. They have the best coffee in town.”
When asked where Urth draws inspiration from for its latest culinary creations, Berkman said, “We constantly talk about new food items, and it's usually between myself, my wife and Urth’s very talented Chef Davide Giova. He's from Italy, and we have a lot of fun talking about what kinds of foods we like, what we should try next. And I would say about every three months, we'll take one thing, whether it's a dessert or a breakfast or lunch dish, and we'll try it out.”
According to a 2017 article in the Orange Plaza review, an Italian chef was chosen specifically because the Berkmans “respect the country's culinary culture, which is all about being very simple and natural.” Urth sources all-natural ingredients including ancient grains, whole grains, organic flour, imported French butter and farm-direct eggs for its creations.
“We just launched (a new menu item) that is probably the most popular new item in Urth Caffé history: It's called ‘Churro Delight,’” Berkman said. “We did it together as a collaboration, the three of us. We talked about the kinds of desserts that we want, and we talked about how popular churros are – but how can we do it in a healthier way? How can we do it in a unique way? And so we came up with this, a version where it's baked and it's using croissant dough. So it's not a fried churro, but so delicious.”
A taste of the churro pastry did prove delicious. It featured a light cinnamon sugar topping, and tasted indeed like a cross between a churro and a croissant. An unexpected touch was the vanilla bean custard-like filling which paired well with the pastry. The churro was topped off with a decorative chocolate disc. It was amazingly not too sweet, and quite large!
Urth Caffé Downtown Orange
While waiting in line, one could not help but admire the prominently displayed pastry case anointed with orchid petals attached to the order counter (a signature Urth Caffé element). Indeed, this is a brilliant marketing tactic, because it is challenging to deny oneself a pastry after 10+ minutes of them seducing you in line. Especially before hearing your order total.
The combination of the thoughtful architecture, the cozy atmosphere of the communal central firepit bar table, the continuity of the turquoise counter and decorative elements and flowers throughout the place offered one a sense of cultural immersion into the world of Urth – an oasis. Add in a “Rainforest Smoothie” and you might even feel like you’re on vacation.
The food took 16 minutes to arrive after it was placed at 11:14 a.m., and the wait was largely forgotten anyway due to the beauty of the dish presented.
The avocado pizza had a unique flavor profile, dressed with a light coating of tomato sauce, hummus, ripe avocado, red quinoa, almond cheese, micro cilantro and zaatar spices. It tasted healthy, but by no means bland or unappealing and was accompanied by an assortment of toppings served in a segmented dish on the side: chili oil, basil and finely ground, delicate parmesan cheese. When added, the optional toppings lent the dish a more traditional, though gourmet pizza-like flavor.
As for the dessert, it was not offered that the “Love Chocolate Chunk Cookie” be warmed up, and thus the expectation was that it would be served cold, which one might find dismaying. Yet, a bite of the cookie somehow revealed delightfully melty chocolate chunks as though it was just baked.
Urth Caffé is the epitome of what a chain should be, but rarely is; it maintains consistency of product excellence while offering unique elements at each location. Think Whole Foods Market prior to its Amazon buyout. For instance, Urth’s Laguna Beach cafe is housed in the former historic Cottage. The Cottage was constructed in 1917 and served as a local favorite for 48 years. In 2012, Urth acquired the property and restored it with artful respect to historic tradition, but also modernized it with signature Urth elements.
Urth’s Orange location is found in the bustling downtown Orange Plaza (a.k.a. the Orange Circle) and is frequented by college students and antique lovers alike. It is also historically relevant, built in 1888 and converted into a boarding house and office building in 1912. In 2020, Urth Caffé was awarded the 2020 Preservation Design for Restoration award by the California Preservation Foundation for its work on the building.
But as is the case for most every star, it has not been all “Sunshine Juice” and roses for Urth Caffé. In 2016, Urth’s Laguna Beach location was under fire for allegedly removing seven hijab-wearing women from their table. The plaintiffs claimed they were unjustly targeted due to their hijabs, while the defense maintained the women were loitering, having disregarded Urth’s policy of respecting a 45-minute maximum dining limit.
When asked what changes Urth has made to ensure all are welcome at its cafe, Berkman said, “I want to just point out, first of all, that after all of that hoopla died down, that lawsuit was settled without a penny paid.”
Urth Caffé was required to conduct diversity and sensitivity training for all of its employees, according to the settlement agreement.
“We had already signed a contract with Saudi Arabia the year that we got the lawsuit,” Beckman said, “and they open one year later, and it's going great all over the Muslim world.
“My wife is Muslim, and I'm Jewish. We like to make a joke that we're a sign of world peace. And I think the fact of those two things … were just too heavy for this lawsuit, and they had to walk away.”
But why the strict policy? “On Friday evenings at Laguna, we had huge crowds of people, so we tried to make it fair for everyone by having a 45-minute time limit just during a few hours (during) that busy time .… We had that for years, but it was different for each Urth Caffé. At Laguna it was only Friday nights, because for whatever reason, we would have like 500 people show up every Friday night. There were people selling their tables. Like, ‘You want my table? Give me 20 bucks. Give me $100.’ That's how intense it was.
“But I took that policy down. That is the one thing that came from that lawsuit. I said, ‘You know what? This is what you get for trying to make things fair.’ Let's take it away and never have it again. And if people want to fight over tables, just leave it like a coffee house, don't try to control it, don't try to balance it out for people, just whatever people want to do. So I think it is better that way, if there's any benefit that came from it. I think that Urth Caffé is probably a more comfortable place because we don't have any rules like that anymore.”
In March 2025, Urth Caffe Saudi Arabia and Dubai were named “Best Caterer” 2025 Brand of the Year by Caterer Saudi for “demonstrating exceptional skill and value to the community.”
Flaws aside, Urth Caffé is worth the wait in line, and worth the light dent it’ll make in your wallet. Perhaps it’s not perfect, but like a work of art created by human hands, it’s worthy of your consideration. You can dine in a uniquely Urth experience that feels luxurious but also honors the community around it. The menu is bountiful, the food always beautiful. I look forward to seeing what Urth Caffé creates next.
