Pree R.
Yelp
On a cloudy Saturday afternoon, I went to La La Land with a friend. When we arrived, I was surprised to see a line stretching out the door--the place is clearly extremely popular and highly hyped. There were a lot of Disney products for sale, though I couldn't quite understand the connection between La La Land and Disney. The abundance of hard plastic used for the various fancy designs and products stood out to me, creating a noticeable amount of plastic waste. Some customers received gift bags, possibly as part of a promotion or for ordering a special drink, but overall, it seemed like a lot of unnecessary waste and clutter.
We waited about ten minutes before we could order, which wasn't too long, but it felt longer since it was just inconvenient to stand around without proper seating. When we finally got our drinks, we had to sit outside. Even though the sky was overcast, the Texas humidity made it uncomfortable.
I wasn't very hungry, so I skipped the food and ordered the strawberry cloud mocha. The drink came with a strawberry foam on top. While the foam was flavorful, the matcha itself was watery and lacked taste, likely diluted by the ice. Mixing the foam and the matcha was necessary to get any flavor, but doing so ruined the aesthetic of the drink. It was disappointing because both components should have had flavor on their own. Overall, the drink was mediocre and not worth waiting in line for.
The most memorable moment of the visit was when a guy riding his bike saw the long line and shouted, "It's just coffee!" Everyone seemed to understand that they were waiting mostly because of the hype and the novelty, rather than for anything particularly special. Ultimately, the experience felt more about being able to say you had a drink from La La Land than about the drinks themselves.