Tomorrow Arda's Celebrates Four Years, but that Wasn't Really the Beginning

By Eric Richardson
Published: Thursday, February 28, 2008, at 04:01PM

Eric Richardson

Arda's Cafe is located at 418 W. 6th street.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES —

Tomorrow, February 29th, Arda's Cafe will be celebrating its fourth anniversary, and owner Jon Toktas is eager to have office workers and residents come down from 11am - 2pm to join in the festivities. It was on March 1st, 2004, that Toktas opened Arda's, the cafe named after his mother. The eatery was new, but the business builds on a foundation laid by both his parents.

For fifteen years Arda ran a tiny deli in the Park Central building, next door to where the cafe is now. She sold coffee and sandwiches and developed quite the following from those working in the jewelry buildings nearby. Jon says of the deli, "I practically grew up at the restaurant, traveling by bus to be down here after school from Pasadena." Eventually she decided to take a break and sell the deli, but can still often be found helping out in her son's cafe.

At the same time Jon's father owned Gift Connections, a shop located in the space Arda's now occupies. The shop sold cigars, fine wines and spirits, and a variety of figurines. Traces of Gift Connection live on through the current cafe: until you know the history it can be a little puzzling to walk into Arda's and see gift sets of liquor lining the wall.

The cafe Jon's idea, fresh out of school at USC. With his father's financial backing the family closed the gift store and started work converting the space to an eatery. After a year of planning and renovation the space reopened, serving breakfast and lunch during the week. Last March, Arda's added Saturday hours in recognition of the way the neighborhood has grown.

Arda's Cafe is at 418 W. 6th street. The 4th Anniversary celebration runs from 11am to 2pm.

Comments

Rich Alossi writes:

I used to love Arda's. Lately all my friends and I have gotten nothing but rude service from workers there on multiple occasions. Too bad...

# on Feb.28.2008 AT 04:31 PM

David Kennedy writes:

My parents also tried the place a few times. They'd visit downtown every spring. They found the service erratic and the portions too large. Even for just a cup of coffee, nothing encouraged them to return.

# on Feb.28.2008 AT 07:32 PM

Eric Richardson writes:

I have to say that I'm a bit puzzled. There's not a lot of service to be had in a place where you order at the counter, pick up your food, sit down and eat.

I'm a big fan of their California BLT, personally.

# on Feb.28.2008 AT 10:52 PM

Veronica M writes:

after scouring the website, am I the only person that doesn't see a full listing of their hours?

# on Feb.29.2008 AT 07:23 AM

Jon Toktas writes:

Hi, i am the owner of Arda's Cafe and i want to thank you for sharing your comments. I will be sharing your comments with our staff in our upcoming meeting. Service is always a challenge in the quick service industry and i will make it a priority to correct our past mistakes.

Regarding the hours, we are open M-F 6am to 5pm and on Saturday from 9am to 3pm. The website currently does not post these hours, that will be fixed this weekend.

Once again, i thank you for visiting Arda's and hope that you will give us another shot.

# on Feb.29.2008 AT 03:59 PM

aldo writes:

Arda's is one of the only places that I know of where you can get some quick breakfast that early outside of going to Carl's or McDonalds.

Their sandwiches aren't bad either.

# on Feb.29.2008 AT 10:41 PM