Last updated: November 25, 2024
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Public Square offers an attractive interior and a full menu for your next study session. While spacious, this cafe's popularity results in limited seating available for patrons.
Public Square Coffee is located in downtown La Mesa on the main road that runs through the neighborhood center. As a result, parking is not only tough to come by but the spots on the main road are metered. I found that parking on Acacia Ave typically is available and there’s no limit on how long you can park there. It’s about a five minute walk to the cafe.
Seating inside is a bit limited with only six tables available for working on a laptop. They have tables where working on a laptop is actually not allowed reserved for patrons who are just sitting down to eat or drink so be aware that you might not get a spot. There are about four high-top seats near the window and in the back of the cafe that are ideal for work. The interior is attractive with tons of plants everywhere and soft lighting. Outlets are sparse, so come with your devices fully charged.
Public Square’s furniture is pretty basic with wooden chairs and a large bench with the wall of the cafe serving as back support. You won’t find any padding with the exception of the center of the cafe home to a large couch and two chairs.
Last thing I’ll note about the cafe’s lobby is that it gets quite busy here so something to consider if you’re easily distracted. Music is set at a higher volume than most cafes I’ve been to.
Coffee here is tasty with a vanilla oat milk latte coming out to about $8. They have a very large menu available with breakfast, lunch and even dinner all covered. A dedicated fridge has many different beverages for sale outside of coffee like Liquid Death, sodas, beers, and more.
Dietary restrictions are covered here with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten friendly options available.
Their patio is notably large if you’re looking to get some sun and work in. It is built into the main road on La Mesa boulevard, so noise-cancelling headphones are advised.
The WiFi unfortunately seemed to slow down considerably throughout my work session. I’ll visit in the future to see if this is a regular issue, which would probably decrease my rating from a good place to work to not ideal.
For right now, I’d recommend Public Square Coffee as a good place to work with the caveat that seating is limited and WiFi is potentially rough. If you find yourself here and seating is full, you might consider Lightbulb Coffee down the street as your fallback spot to work out of.
