The Kooks Cafe

Great food that’s on the healthy side to boot! Friendly service! Go there next time you are in Cardiff-​by-​the-​Sea, you will not be disappointed.

I’m sitting in this restaurant as I write this. We’ve been waiting for more than 30 minutes for our food. And it looks like everyone else has been too. People keep walking up to the counter to inquire about the status of their meals. The staff are moving around with no sense of urgency whatsoever. We’d leave to go to another restaurant, but we’re just so hungry and we’ve invested this much time… but what a disappointment.

A wanna be swami’s, food takes for ever.

The Kooks Café was our alternative to waiting at the obviously more popular breakfast place around the corner. We were camping in San Elijo and were ready for some serious breakfast after a morning surf.
The Kooks had it all lined up. I can’t really complain about anything that hey offered or about the food that I ate. It was just a decent breakfast place. Lunch looked even a little more appealing. I liked that they had a juice bar always better than tying one on in my opinion.
Apparently it is now out of business so I guess my mediocre review is just a few weeks late. Perhaps something new and better awaits this space!

Kooks Café is now OUT OF BUSINESS!
We went last weekend (3÷15÷13) for breakfast and they had a sign on the door. A new business will be moving in shortly.
I think we’ve lost a gem.

I thought this place was great! It’s a casual café where you order at the front, they give you a number and they deliver food to you. I took my parents here for lunch. My dad’s a meat and potatoes guy from the midwest and he easily found a dish he liked. Healthy menu with lots of choices. Several coffee urns with a variety of selections. Ordered mahi mahi wrap, teriyaki bowl, spinach scramble, and diablo shrimp tacos. Portions were generous. Everyone thought their meal was great. Staff was super friendly and helpful. I’d come back here for sure!

Post surf near Swami’s and NEEDED food ASAP.
Couldn’t find parking at Pipes so ended up at the Kooks after having driven passed it for years.
More expensive than Pipes but it’s very worth it.
Why?
Fresh vegetables more than just potatoes and onions. We’re talkking fresh avocado, bell peppers etc in my amazing burrito.
Tapatio freshly stocked on my table.
Various coffee offerings that were fresh and hot.
Plenty of seating (unlike Pipes).
Food took a while but was worth the wait.

Great food! Not just for kooks.
After an awesome surf session at Swami’s and Boneyards, my hottie brought me here for brunch. Parking was not the easiest, so Miss Dani had to stalk people for their spot. They serve breakfast items all day, which made me very happy. I love that alot their specials are written on a chalkboard, and there’s a beautifully painted surfboard hanging on the wall.
The tables are not cleaned quickly or at all, so we had to choose between 4 dirty tables and wound up sitting at the one with least amount of trash. The girl working the counter was super sweet and friendly but had a bit of trouble understanding my requests.
The food came out very quickly — a great way to prevent a sycope episode due to low blood sugar. My clam chowder had the precise amount of thickness and consistency and the lobster benedict had 2 perfectly poached eggs atop 2 pieces of soft muffin. The yokes were still runny just the way I like it. All for $ 8.95! What a great deal!

Delicious.
The salads here are amazing. I also love building my own black bean burger and their yam fries are really good.
I don’t usually order drinks but here I always order a dirty chai latte! SO GOOD.

So this place used to be one of my favorite lunch spots called Beach City Café. But Swami’s bought it and changed it to The Kook Café. At first I was a little skeptical to try the place that took out one of my favorite restaurants. But I was pleasantly surprised.
They kept the same great smoothie menu, and even added a few more choices. The food selection is great and healthy and there are options for everyone.
The first time I went in with my friend, we decided to get two different plates to share. She’s a vegetarian and I’m not, but we found a few plates where we had the option to substitute real bacon for soy bacon, and it actually tasted pretty good.
The portions are pretty big and the prices are fair. Definitely going back for lunch again.
P. S. If you ever decide to get a smoothie, try the ‘C’ monster. One of my favorites and one of the best!

I headed over to kooks café after my wonderful facial at Releaf spa on the street behind them.
Looked super relaxed and mellow coming in. I took some time trying to figure out what to order, the employees giggled and joked absorbed in what they were talking about. A guy came to the register right as I was ready to order. I ended up getting the monster «c» smoothie and a chicken salad with goat cheese and pecans which traditionally came with a raspberry vinaigrette but I got the basil instead. I found an empty booth in a corner and waited for my food to be brought out.
My smoothie was brought out first and after the first sip I was pretty disappointed. It was supposed to have mainly mango and oranges in it with a small bit of banana. It was essentially orange colored banana goop. The consistency was reminiscent of flem. Not particularly enjoyable. The flavor wasn’t gross but again it was just banana as far as flavor went and I wanted the mango and orange I had been expecting.
My food was brought to me and I had to ask for silverware which was quickly brought to me.
The salad was tasty enough, but the salad dressing was very disappointing. I had ordered the basil dressing because I dislike overly sweet dressings. The basil dressing was sweet, green and didn’t taste like basil at all!
It started going seriously down hill when I started eating my salad. There were TONS of flies flying around and trying to eat my food! We’re talking 5 – 8 flying around my plate. I had to continuously swat them away with my napkin to keep the vermin at bay! What was worse was when I finished and stood up. There were at least as many flies hanging out on the floor and flew up as I made my exit.
Needless to say I don’t intend on going back there for a meal. I MIGHT go back to try their kona coffee milkshake, but that’s the extent of it.

Had lunch here recently. I had a small salad and chicken teriyaki bowl large enough for 2 hungry diners — mushrooms, broccoli, onions and grilled chicken on top of a mountain of brown rice — YUM! Hubby had a giant Philly cheesesteak sandwich w/​peppers, onions & cheese, and fries. We demolished our lunch and enjoyed watching people come and go.
You order & pay at the counter, food is delivered to your table. Quite a few people doing take-​out, seems like this place keeps busy. Some patio dining available as well.
Large menu with many choices. I could have eaten here many times and been happy. They also offer a nice coffee menu with specialty options.
Easy and casual, budget friendly and overall good food. I would definitely come back. Breakfast options and the smoothies looked very tempting too.

My new favorite spot for lunch and dinner, the tropical salmon salad is AMAZING!
Great food at great prices. Service is a bit off, dont expect prompt service, but all in all itsa great spot in cardiff.

The Kooks Café is another addition to the Swami’s Café, Honey’s, Beach Grass, etc network of restaurants. The menu is pretty consistent with the rest of the restaurants, the coffee selection is also there.
I like Swami’s and I like this place. The service is still a bit slow as they get everything dialed in and they have made a handful of mistaks on my orders, but they have always fixed it. I would imagine that with a little time I would imagine the place will come into its own and become a decent place to grab breakfast (before going to VG’s :P).

I didn’t feel like heading to Seaside Market like I always do so decided to try this place. This place is definitely better than its predecessor with its updated décor and expanded menu. I was a bit surprised to see how nicely they did the inside.
I ordered the seared ahi wrap with a side of vegetable soup. The portions are pretty big. The soup was a bit saltier than I would like, but it was thick and filling. The wrap is good. The ahi is perfect seared, the lettuce, avocado & tomato is reallly fresh, and the wasabi mayo is not overpowering.
I will definitely come back to try out more when I’m not in the mood for the Seaside Market’s daily special.
But can we just get one place in Cardiff that can give us a bowl of noodles? Please?

Went for the first time this morning… Very fresh ingredients, the homemade salsa fresca is amazing as well as the mango/​orange marmalade that is in a jar on the tables.
Great portions and decent prices, much better than beach city and a great addition to cardiff although a bar inside would be nice!

I was a little worried to try out a new breakfast café since pipes, honeys and swamis are amazing!
Kooks is owned by the same person who owns honeys and a few other cafes
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they are open until 9pm!!! its AMAZING!
There are so many of those afternoons where you just crave good breakfast for dinner and you can have such a yummy meal pretty much any time of the day!!! I got a side of potatoes and the pitaya bowl (sp?) It was soooo good! if you like acai than try this! i like it much better, its not as sweet but has all the good toppings and flavor!

I rarely visit a restaurant without Unilocaling it before hand. this was one of them.
I have been to Kook”s 4 times so far. the first few visits were the week they opened, which like other reviewers mention, they had rather dismal service, slow cooking and the food was good, but not great. However, I vowed to return because i saw the potential.
Since then, they have really picked up the pace. I went there today to find a long line out the door. but oddly i had my order placed within 5 min. and my food was ready in 10 min. Not bad!
I think they really have kick-​ass food. Today i ordered a steak sandwich, with a side of soup (10 bucks total). It was amazing. super tender steak and a great tortilla soup. I had the ahi wrap a few weeks ago, which was awesome.
Give it a shot. I think it’s well worth it!

To those that don’t know Encinitas is known for their breakfast spots, they are also known for being a sleepy little surf town. To the gentleman below Louie C. The Pitaya is more commonly known as Dragon Fruit and you are correct it’s not very sweet and often blended with other fruit. I like it with a little condensed milk and granola. It does look enticing with the bright pink color though.
They have alot to work on when it comes to efficiency and rhythm, they just need to see a good popping breakfast spot’s lay out and many of their mistakes are correctable. Obviously the owners first endeavour of this kind so i did cut him some slack.
The breakfast burrito was good, not spectacular, smoothie was again good, not spectacular.
They need a more signature item than pitaya/​dragon fruit to stand out ina literal sea of encinitas breakfast places. Will follow up in a few weeks and months to see how they are doing.

I miss the place that was here before. They had good food, a great selection and a local vibe with colorful murals. I went to Kook’s today with my kids and ordered pancakes. They arrived cold. My daughter ordered a smoothie and it arrived as she was finishing her sandwich. The murals were painted over. The interior was nice, but the food was cold and the service slow.