Joe’s Cafe By The Bay

I work near by and come here frequent for breakfast or lunch. Family business, Joe is the owner, part-​time chef, and a very nice guy. Their food are all made to order and they are okay with special requests. Serving size is always more than what you’ve paid for in most case, a plus when hungry.

I eat lunch at joes café everyday not only for the great breakfast burritto or their awesome tomato soup with toasted garlic bread, i go for joe and his entire staff. Serving with a special personal touch to make you feel you are among friends. Not expensive and good quality food made by native nicaraguense chefs. You cant go wrong at joes.

Great food, and great service! The toast and chicken sausage are amazing! Can’t wait to come back and visit this place again!

Phoned Joes… they said they open about 7:30 am… I am from the East Coast US, and wish Joe’s opened earlier :(

Been here a few times over the years — keep coming back because it’s simple, never too busy when I’m here and cheaper than some of the other options around SFO.
Today, a couple of knocks. Bathroom out of order — not what you want when you just drove 100 miles. They asked my daughter if she wanted whippedcream with her hot chocolate– when delivered, «sorry we don’t have any»
First time I have had a breakfast sandwich — okay, not great, very simple — truthfully, barely worth the $ 6. I’ll stick with the pastry and bagels if I come back for breakfast.

Amazing food. Great latte. Very friendly and fast! Everything you need in a breakfast café. I also recommend the breakfast burrito.

I have been going here once every couple of months for the past few years. Everytime I regret it. A few items are decent but overall they have issues everywhere. The chicken is just a joke, it is by far the most rubbery chicken I have ever had and its like that consistently. I have had a salad here that was good but several other items that just didn’t do it for me.
I do think a lot of the bad reviews on here are spot on, you can trust them. The not washing his hands after sneezing one is pretty bad, I could see him doing that. The other reviews about the gals at the front are accurate also. Today I asked for an order to go and she walks it to my table with just the container, no bag, utensils or napkins. I said «I wanted that to go» girl replied «I know, here.» just clueless.
All of these are not a huge deal but the reason you should avoid this place is because with the prices they charge you should not have these issues or be treated like this. I run a business and you can tell they’re trying to offset falling profit margins by raising prices, which is the opposite of what they should be doing. Smaller menu, better ingredients with a more intelligent, attentive staff should be his focus. Until they do this it is a place to avoid! A lot of other places to eat are opening around for people who work close, it’s just a matter of time.

Very nice choice for a quick affordable breakfast, if staying at the Marriott or other hotels near SFO. The proprietor (who really is Joe) is friendly and cool and is well known to and appreciated by locals. There are lots of great choices for breakfast. I had a chorizo scramble, which was superb, and my companion had the California omelet, also very good and fairly priced. This place is right on Old Bayshore HWY about a 3 minute walk south from the Marriott.

I just had lunch here and it was my first time. I give it three stars becasue it was ok, nothing too fancy but maybe becasue I had the «old fashion burger» and it looked just like the picture Mark. W. provided. It was good, fresh, simple and it was satisfying. It comes with fries or salad, no drink. I love thick fries but maybe shouldn’t have eaten most of them. I was way too full. Price was fair. It came to $ 8.67 with tax.
I did notice they had homemade baked goods. I wish I had more room for that. I plan to come again and I am sure they have other yummy items.
*There is a $ 10 minimum to use credit cards.

First timer, a nice Saturday afternoon. I had been denying myself for a while, so I rashly decided to spend my burger allowance here. Glad I did! A large (too much to finish) burger, made plain and simple — lettuce, tomato, cheese, big, juicy burger patty and tasty, fresh bun. Home run! Simple wins every time. It’s an art.

The food at best is plain.
The customer service is pretty bad. Both times the girl at the counter does not really give a dam about the customers. They expect you to know when the food is done so you can go get it. Apparently telling the person who just paid for it and tipped is suppose to magically know when it is ready. Not to mention super unfriendly. Everyone working looks like they are miserable.

They just lost a customer.
I’ve been coming here usually once a month or so for the past year or two.
On Monday, June 29 around 1 PM, this is what I saw: the owner Joe (who is nice, this isn’t a personal attack on him) came from out from behind the counter where the «food prep» area is and was chatting with a friend of his in the seating area where customers are. During this time while he was on «break,» I saw Joe sneeze into a tissue in his hand. A few minutes later, he walked back to behind the counter and immediately starting handling food! He never washed his hands. I saw him with my own eyes go from sneezing to handling customers’ food. I know that he’s the owner, but that’s just unacceptable!
Ironically, they have a sign in their bathroom that states that all employees must wash their hands with soap and water after smoking, handling raw food, or SNEEZING.
Disappointing when restaurant owners think that the law doesn’t apply to them.

This place has potential. I have been here twice. The staff is friendly. Each time I ordered a breakfast burrito. Everything seems to be priced just under 10 bucks. Good selection of menu items… but I would not go back again. My breakfast burrito had a Large avocado pit inside my burrito. This is unacceptable. Sloppy cooking not to be aware. There was nobody else on the café so they were not rushed.

Mom and pop type café on the corner adjacent to the Marriott waterfront and a block away from the Hampton Inn, this convenient little restaurant serves breakfast and lunch.
If you don’t want to pay a small fortune for breakfast at the hotels, this is the place to be. There were a few chairs and tables outside, so we grabbed them since it was a nice sunny day.
Had eggs, bacon, sausage, corn beef hash and coffee. Delicious and fast, it did cost about $ 12 but that’s like a third of the price of the same breakfast at the Marriott.
Smart to have this place in between retail hotels… they’re cleaning up!

Bland falafel wrap! Brusque service! I asked what the wifi password was and he basically told me to fuck off!?!

This doesn’t really look like a café. Sure, there is a pretty big menu for this type of place, but the tables scream free breakfast room at a motel lobby.
The man working behind the counter is a one man show. He takes orders, makes the drinks, cooks the food, and does all of the tasking. This is only good when there are one or two people there. Otherwise, it gets hectic for that man. Unfortunately, I think this is why my food was just ok. He had to deal with a lot of customers, and because of that, my food was overcooked. My scrambled eggs were rubbery, my pancakes were crumbly, but my sausage was ok. He also nearly forgot my drink. But my blended raspberry lemonade was tasty!
It’s an ok place, don’t think I will go back.

Pretty solid little breakfast spot. I expected a sit-​down and order type place, but instead it’s a slightly dive-​y order at the counter place. No worries, just not what I expected.
I ordered a Basic breakfast (eggs any style + potatoes and bread choice (they have like 10+ choices it seems!)), added sausage for $ 2.50 (also can add bacon or… ham?). With a can of soda, the total was $ 11.55 with tax. Not too bad, but not too cheap either.
The food came up in a bit under 10 minutes and was quite delicious. The eggs were a well cooked sunny side up, and were fine but nothing fantastic. The sausages were good, the potatoes were awesome, and the english muffin was… an english muffin.
It was all quite good, and a nice way to avoid the mediocre Hampton Inn breakfast at my hotel down the street.

A solid lunch option in an area where lunch options are scarce! The ingredients seem to be fresh, the sandwiches are assembled after you order, and the service is cordial.
I opted for a salami sandwich complete with avocado (75 cents extra) and cheese (75 cents extra). Even with the additional toppings, $ 8.00 was a great deal for a large sandwich!
Pro Tip: Eat half and save half, or split with a colleague!
P. S. Credit Card charges require a $ 10.00 minimum purchase.

I assume the 60-​year old looking man at the counter is Joe. Joe didn’t look too happy to have us at his sandwich shop and I don’t know why.
We ordered 2 sandwiches and a drink:
— Joe’s Favorite with chicken, mushroom, and cheese. The sandwich needed sauce. It was a little dry. It does come with fries though!
— Roast Beef — nothing special in a sandwich.
— Iced mocha — when I got to the bottom of the dish there was coffee grains at the bottom. ew.
The sandwiches are decently sized. However, for $ 8 – 10 you can get some amazing food in the area, so I do have to compare the value of my meal/​experience to those in the area.
I give this place an average rating for an average experience.

It is good alternative to overpriced hotel breakfasts. Service was friendly, and food was upgrade from tasteless, expensive and bland breakfast in Westin
Breakfast potatoes were tasty, and french toast wasn’t bad at all.