Dad’s Review
On Saturday, August 8, 2026, Matthew, his girlfriend, and I visited Guayoyo Café in West Jordan. Calling this a first impression would be dishonest because I have already been here four times. At this point, I am no longer investigating the place. I am working my way through the menu.
Guayoyo Café sits at 7173 South Redwood Road, but the storefront faces away from the street, making it surprisingly easy to miss. Once you find it, parking is much less complicated. Across four visits, I have never had trouble finding a space.
The café was founded by Numa Parra and Emilia García as a way to share the flavor, warmth, and creativity of Latin culture with a new generation of coffee drinkers in the United States. What began as a specialty coffee shop evolved into a modern Latin café where Venezuelan traditions meet creative drinks and gourmet food. Guayoyo now has locations in West Jordan and Pleasant Grove.
That identity is obvious the moment you walk inside. This is not another minimalist coffee shop with gray walls, two dying succulents, and a menu afraid to take risks. Guayoyo is bright, warm, and full of personality. Live green plants are scattered throughout the room, while artificial greenery runs across the ceiling. Light wood furniture, soft green walls, large windows, and colorful artwork give the café a lively, welcoming energy.
The seating is comfortable, including chairs with actual padding—an innovation more coffee shops should investigate. Guayoyo also serves a substantial food menu, and the place stays busy with customers coming and going. The crowd is lively and predominantly Latino, which gives the café a social, community-centered atmosphere. Matthew and his girlfriend both liked the energy of the place.
I did not test the Wi-Fi. Guayoyo would not be my first choice for opening a laptop and settling in for a long work session anyway. It feels more like a place to meet friends, share food, and try something new than a quiet office with espresso. That is not a criticism. Not every café needs to become a coworking space.
Ordering is handled through four self-service kiosks. After placing an order, you find a seat, and a staff member calls your name and brings the food and drinks to the table. The system works well, and the service has been consistently friendly during every visit. One small issue is that the kiosk screens collect fingerprints quickly and could stand to be wiped down more often.
One of the nicest moments of this visit happened when an employee came over and spoke with us in ASL. As a deaf customer, it was genuinely meaningful to discover that someone on staff could communicate with me directly. Accessibility is often discussed in terms of ramps, doors, and physical spaces, but communication access matters too.
For this visit, I ordered the Dark Latte with whole milk and a Cachito Tradicional.
Guayoyo does something clever with its basic latte menu. Instead of leaving customers to guess how strong each drink will be, it lists the ratios. The regular latte is 25 percent espresso and 75 percent milk, while the Dark Latte is 40 percent espresso and 60 percent milk. There is even a Light Latte made with only 5 percent espresso for people who want their milk to receive a polite introduction to coffee.
My Dark Latte arrived in a ceramic mug with respectable leaf-shaped latte art. The baristas clearly have some talent; another drink at our table arrived with an impressively cute animal design.
The advertised ratio was accurate. This was a bold latte with the espresso firmly in charge. Unfortunately, the strongest flavor on my palate was bitterness. It was not a bad drink, and anyone who prefers an assertive espresso-forward latte may enjoy it more than I did. For my taste, however, it pushed a little too far past balanced. Next time I will return to the regular latte and let the milk soften the edges.
My latte rating is 7/10.
The highlight of the visit was the Cachito Tradicional, a Venezuelan bread roll filled with ham and cream cheese. It arrived glossy, warm, and beautifully browned. The bread was soft, the filling was savory and satisfying, and the whole thing disappeared much faster than I intended. If I had to choose between ordering another Dark Latte or another cachito, the cachito would win without requiring a recount.
Prices are refreshingly reasonable. The Dark Latte costs $5, which feels fair when plenty of coffee shops now charge around $6.50 for a basic latte. Guayoyo’s larger menu also gives you plenty of reasons to return: arepas, baked gourmet empanadas, sandwiches, matcha drinks, and signature coffees such as dulce de leche, pistachio, tres leches, and El Tiramisú.
On an earlier visit, I tried the iced El Tiramisú, a vanilla latte topped with mascarpone cream, cacao, and chocolate curls. It was very good—sweet and indulgent, but far more memorable than the usual flavored latte.
Guayoyo Café has become one of the most distinctive coffee shops I have visited in the Salt Lake Valley. The drink selection is unusually creative, the Venezuelan food is delicious, the prices remain reasonable, and the atmosphere feels genuinely alive. A slightly bitter Dark Latte and some fingerprinted kiosks are minor complaints compared with everything the café gets right.
I will absolutely return. Four visits have barely made a dent in the menu, and I am looking forward to continuing the research.
Guayoyo Café
7173 S. Redwood Road, Suite 101
West Jordan, Utah 84084
guayoyocafe.com
Please note that I am utilizing AI assist to help me flesh out these blog posts.
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