This set was gotten for my daughter at her 6th birthday and at the time it represented the largest set in her collection of LEGO Friends. So much of my reviews will be based upon her response and reactions to this set.

Box/Instructions

The box of course is brightly colored for the Friends theme and has concave ends along with clear pictures and illustrations of just what all is to be found in the set.

The instruction booklet follows LEGO's clear step-by-step illustrations for each stage of building. Along with towards the end that there's a catalog listing of all the parts in the set and Customer Service Number for any problems with the set.

Parts

In all there's 222 pieces along with some extras and a sheet of stickers for placing on certain bricks during building.

The most notable and exciting pieces are the accessories in the way of 3 sets of knives and forks, spatula, plates and cupcake holders. Those really make the Cafe seem to have more depth in what you can pose the minidolls doing. There is also a pie piece previously only available with the Collectible Minifigure clown.

Minifigures

There are two minidolls that come with this set. Andrea and Stephanie. My daughter likes them well enough like the other minidolls though it took her awhile to warm up to the idea that these were more like dolls and not minifigures.

The build and completed model

Luckilly when building this set the first time, all the parts come in numbered bags that you don't need to open until you reach different stages of construction. There is also the fact that many features of the Cafe are "mini builds" and can break down the long process of building the entire set.

Because this was a first for my daughter, she was getting easily frustrated at many points with missing steps, needing my help with stickers while at the same time upset that I'd point out she'd miss something.

But she did get it built and she was happy with her success at building the Cafe and playing with it for hours.

Summary

Overall my daughter loves this set and I'm happy for her at her accomplishment at building what for her was one of the largest sets she's built at the time. Following in her Mom's footsteps, she's kept all the pieces together and displays it on her dresser when she's not playing with it. It's a good set and my daughter declares she wants to get more stores like this to build a LEGO city with her Friends sets. I didn't make any promises to her but told her we'd look into it and try.

I've not been in any rush to get any of the other friends sets after getting one of the small ones as an experiment. However when I saw City Park Cafe on sale it was a no-brainer. As a new set, getting it 1/3 off is a bargain.

Pros

• The 16x16 plate and 16x8 plates in the new colour, whatever that colour is
  
• The forks, knifes and plates
  
• the new flowers and cakes
• The mini-doll figures and their hair
• Nice set of bricks and new colours
  

Cons

• For full price it is overpriced in the UK/Ireland
  
• would be nice if the mini figure/doll legs moved independently
  
• Stickers
  

As a set, it is bright and colourful. The new colours can make for an interesting MOC and that's the main reason I bought this set.

The US price is reasonable but the UK price means it is almost the equivalent of $47, (Euro price similarly inflated) and not worth that but if you can get it for around the 20 GBP price mark it is definitely worth a look.

I got this set today as soon as I saw the display. When I first saw the set, I thought that it was a damaged box, but I quickly realized that the front of the box was purposely bowed outwards. With a box that made such an interesting first impression, I knew that the set's contents had to be just as unique.

The Minidoll

A lot of people are unhappy about how Lego did not stick to the standard mini figure model for this series of sets, but I think that the new minidolls are a good addition to these sets. The photos online lead me to believe that they were a good amount larger than a standard minifigure. In person, they seem to be about the same size as a minifigure, just much skinnier. Their hair fits perfectly on minifigures and vice versa, so these figures should at least be kept for their hair.

The Parts

I bought this set for the multitude of special parts it contains. The windows, corner slopes, and baking accessories really drew me to the set and they did not dissapoint. I can see a multitude of my MOCs that would benefit from these parts.

The Build

It is very simple, but enjoyable. The instruction booklets are very easy to read, there is no problem trying to distinguish between similar colors. However, it considers all of the yellow baking accessories as one piece even though they are not attached on a wheel like a set of tools is, which I find very strange.

Overall, this set has a lot of great features and parts. If you were to buy any set from the Friends line, I would definitely recommend this one.

Information:

Minifigs: 2

Pieces: 222

Price:$34.99

Playing:

Roleplay:4/5

Roleplay opinion: Very good set for roleplay. This set contains 2 minifigures and many food parts, so You can play with it quite well. But there isn't much space to sit.

Building:5/5

Building opinion: This set is very easy to build, it contains a couple of big parts so it's easier to build. You can also add something extra to your Cafe to look better.

Alternate building:2/5

My final opinion: The set is very good in quality but you can't build alternate builds of this set because it's not supposed for it. It's very easy to build and you can roleplay very well if You buy this set.

My stars: 4.5/5

I totally love this set! It is great and has given me hours of fun.

Pros:

-2 minifigures

-Lots of food pieces

-Pretty easy to build

-Easy to change to fit your playing needs

Cons:

-No boy minifigures

-A little bit small

-Not very much seating space