The Hunt for L.A.'s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

The chocolate chip cookie is arguably the most scrumptious and reliable dessert. It is sold at almost every cafe, restaurant, and supermarket. That being said, its quality is questionable at times. Thus, when you do find an amazing chocolate chip cookie, your whole world can change thenceforth. That is why finding the place with the best chocolate chip cookies has long been a journey of mine. Luckily, the conclusion of SAT season has allowed me to fulfill this side quest. I conducted my research during a free period on a cloudy September morning and had my friends help me rate the cookies. Here are my findings:

1- Beverly Hills Cookies

This local, small business is my favorite cookie spot in Los Angeles. As soon as you step in through the door, you get a strong whiff of fresh baked cookies and a warm welcome. Their chocolate chunk cookie is delicious; its chocolate is chopped entirely by hand, and it’s baked fresh everyday by the shop’s baker, Wendy. Though my opinion may be biased because I work there, I think their chocolate chunk cookie is the best in the city. The recipe is over 50 years old and is what started the business. It’s not too soft on the outside, but gooey on the inside; and each cookie has a cavernous interior. With a hot coffee, this cookie is divine. They have it with walnuts, no gluten, and as a vegan cookie as well. Also, the ambiance of the store, as well as the customer service, is lovely.

Beverly Hills Cookies

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

2-Coffee Commissary 

Coffee Commissary is a dim cafe located by the school on Motor Ave. Green vines line the red brick walls, and the smell of coffee perfumes the whole shop. Their chocolate chip cookie has caramel and sea salt in it, making it an elevated cookie without straying too far away from a traditional chocolate chip cookie. This place also has vegan cookies that can rival any regular cookie; they are perfectly crunchy and chocolatey. I seriously try not to go there every time I have a free period.

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

3- Zooies Cookies

Zooies Cookies has an expansive variety of cookies despite the small size of their store and location in the corner of a little food market by the school. They have many different kinds of simple chocolate chip cookies: brown butter, “chewie”, and “chunkie”- to name a few. Their chocolate chip cookie is delicious because it is soft and chewy and has an ever so slight cinnamon taste, which brings the whole cookie together and makes it taste warm. However, the atmosphere of their little cookie shop is bleak at best and does not do its cookies any justice.

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

"Zooies- Handmade Cookies" by Foodzooka

4- McDonald’s

I do not know what kind of magic McDonald’s is putting in their cookies, but they are delectable, especially when you first get them out of the box. However, they do have a slight plastic-y taste to them. These cookies are very nostalgic to kids who grew up going to McDonald’s. I vividly remember wolfing down four-piece chicken nuggets in order to have my cookie. However, though they taste good and are definitely the cheapest on this list, McDonald’s cookies are not the most aesthetically pleasing and quite small. The home of Ronald McDonald is certainly not the place to get a pretty cookie. 

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

5- Starbucks

A warmed-up chocolate chip cookie from Starbucks has yet to fail my expectations. They are so crispy yet soft on the inside, and even more so when warmed up. However, as with most coffee chains, none of their pastries are fresh, giving the taste of their chocolate chip cookie an inauthentic flavor. I still think this cookie is great on the go though. 

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

6- Costco

Costco’s chocolate chip cookie has witnessed lots of popularity on Tik Tok for good reason. Their chocolate chip cookie is very vanilla-y and warm without being overly soft. However, buying a cookie at a superstore food court feels pretty weird, especially when the world around you reeks of hotdog and giant pizzas. I almost don’t trust how good it is.

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

7-Insomnia Cookies

For me, Insomnia Cookies do not live up to their hype. Their chocolate chunk cookie is okay at best, but I certainly would not crave it in the middle of the night as their name suggests. It’s made with milk chocolate chunks, which give it a mildly sweet chocolate taste instead of a rich one. Moreover, it’s pretty small and dry. I definitely would not go back for a second taste, but I recommend it to people who are desperate.

Rating: 🍪🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

8-Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl Cookies is way too overhyped in my opinion. Firstly, their cookies look anemic, with a hue so gray that they verge on green. They are extremely dense and too sweet, which is hard to do with a chocolate chip cookie because it is meant to represent a harmony between dark chocolate and cookie dough. Another problem I have with Crumbl is that their store is set up to offer no customer service and no joy at all. It lacks any sort of bakery vibe and instead feels almost industrial. Normally, I wouldn’t mind paying more than three dollars for a cookie, but I didn’t associate their chocolate chip cookie with anything but misery, and thus, I was torn at having wasted ten dollars on a measly pack of three mini cookies. I wouldn’t offer a Crumbl cookie to my worst enemy.

Rating: 🍪🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Stadler, Melissa, October 2019.

9-Dunkin’ Donuts

I don’t know why I expected a donut chain to have good cookies. They did not at all. Their chocolate chip cookies stood alone, wrapped in plastic, in a sad little display above a sea of beautiful donuts arranged nicely in a display that practically spanned the store. The cookie itself tasted like a grocery store cookie and was just not good. I would not recommend this cookie- stick with the donuts instead.

Rating: 🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

10-Lokal 

Lokal has time and time again impressed me with their sandwiches, but their chocolate chip cookies have never before stood out to me enough to try. Upon tasting one, I realized that they not only look like pure dough, but they are pure dough! It was a veritable challenge to find a chocolate chip buried in one; and, when I did, I discovered it hardly had a chocolate-y taste at all. Lokal is a good place to get a sandwich or coffee, but I would definitely not recommend it as a bakery. 

Rating: 🍪/🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Diddy Riese did not make my list as they opened later than when I arrived at their store. Scandalous. I’m sure their cookies are good though.