Catalina Coffee Company’s comfy cuisine [RESTAURANT REVIEW]
There is a science involved in making restaurants a precise level of uncomfortable. It was quantified in the 1960’s, when certain chains were concerned about customers staying too long over their meals. So they researched color schemes and types of furniture that that would make people decide to leave as soon as they finished eating. There was a fine line here – they couldn’t make the experience so unpleasant that people resolved not to visit again, after all. On the other hand, they didn’t want the place to be as pleasant as somebody’s living room. Catalina Coffee Company. Photo by Randy Berler The owners at the Catalina Café evidently haven’t heard of this study, or if they did they chose to ignore it. The original location in South Redondo is very much like a cross between a living room and a library, complete with wing chairs, sofas, and a collection of books and games. It’s almost as if they want people to relax and, you know, talk to each other rather than pick up something to go or wolf down their food and leave. I was immune to their charms for a long time – I stopped in to pick up freshly roasted coffee (the only place in the South Bay where I could do so), but usually…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com