Jaffa City Cafe

Not that fresh when I went but I should have been discouraged when I heard the ding of an microwave.. . And the meats, including the gyro, went into it!
Too bad because there are not that many places with Mediterranean dishes and the variety this place strives to have. And I’ll echo another reviewer noting the lack of cleanliness.

4 stars ??? I almost never do this but this place is ridiculous. Looks like someone’s dirty kitchen. I asked for a double espresso, latte and a breakfast sandwich with egg bacon and cheese.
So espresso was warm burnt coffee and when I politely asked to take it back I got a whole lot of attitude from the lady who was making it.
Latte had no coffee in it at all and had a lot of warm milk. I decided to let it go and just never to come back there again.
It’s a good thing I opened my breakfast sandwich in the car. There was no egg. No freaking egg in an egg n bacon sandwich.
There was crappy cheese, old tomatoes and mayo.
So I left about $ 9.00 there. Wasted half an hour and didn’t get anything I ordered.
What gets me the most is that this place is in business and people buy things there. I am a small food related business owner myself and I would be ashamed to have a place like this.
Vent over !!

It was my first time ordering from this place on Eat24. The food was so bomb that I had to write a review on this café. I ordered their chicken empanadas and they are so good! They’re warm, soft, and good amount of shredded chicken inside them. I ordered a bbq chicken sandwich as well. It was delicious. The bread was on dutch crunch and tasted really fresh. The Filipino guy that dropped my food off was really nice. I will come back here more often!

Just went on lunch and had a Vietnamese Sandwich with roast beef on a Dutch Crunch bun. Really really good!!! Also I tried there empanadas and they are really good as well. This is a café with really good variety of international foods. Very unique and different.

My co-​worker always brings me their EMPANADAS and they are outstanding! I decided to stop in and pick up our lunch order, and BEST VIETNAMESE SANDWICH I have had, better than those places in SF. I have never been this happy about a meal in a while. The ladies are nice and the place needs an update but I don’t mind it because they have great homemade tasting food that you will crave everyday.

Always a great experience! They serve everything from phở to gyros, and they keep the quality consistent. I stop by for breakfast and love the people who run this place

A multicultural dining experience that manages to make everything superbly. This café is a jewel in Colma and the staff warm and attentive. Don’t miss lunch at Jaffa!

It used to be ran by Palestinians had music playing and pcs that they let you use now its ran by Asians and food takes about 5 hours for a gyro this is bullshit the only time I will come here is to spit on the windows

I don’t remember how many days and hours I have spent here. I lost internet connection at home so… here I am again. Lol

awesome gyros and empanadas!

This used to be my go to place for gyros in the peninsula. Apparently the ownership changed and it is now run by a Filipino/​Vietnamese guy. I was extremely disappointed by the gyro at this place. The meat was very dry and they took it out of a canister and warmed it up in the microwave, when they had a gyro machine with fresh meat spinning? I was extremely disappointed and would not go back or recommend.

I went with the idea of having a fresh gyro…
Wrong! is really not good, and even the cook was sleeping when I got there.
Had it to go, when I was going to eat it, the meat it was like cinnabon sticks, not very nice for «fresh meat».

I can admit when I make bad decisions. Coming here was definitely not a wise choice and I should have known better the moment I walked in and felt like I’d been transported to someone’s dingy living room. (I used the word ‘dingy’ for crying out loud.)
I went in with the hope of buying a chicken gyro but when I saw falafel on the menu I knew I needed an order of that, too. Except falafel was under the sandwich menu and didn’t have a separate section.
I decided to ask the woman behind the counter if falafels could be sold separately, as «just falafels, not in the sandwich, or part of a platter.» She nodded and said they could do that for me.
Then she went to the back room and asked another a man to come out and help. They were a Filipino couple and considering I understand Tagalog I understood every bit of their conversation. Despite it being around 5:30 and just before dinner, I was really confused as to why it would take so much effort to make a gyro and set me up with some falafels.
I sat there for a solid 15 minutes while I heard the unmistakable sound of a microwave door open, beep, and close multiple times. I try to give a place the benefit of the doubt but I was losing my appetite by the second.
Finally, she started to set up my order on the counter, which included a small brown bag with presumably just the gyro. Then the woman added a large styrofoam container as well. When I walked over the counter I was surprised when the grand total came to $ 14. For a gyro and some falafel?! Then she opened the container and explained it was a vegetarian dish (I know falafels are vegetarian, lady) and opened two pita pockets with soggy lettuce and falafel.
Apparently I wasn’t clear when I said, «I want JUST THE FALAFEL.» The man behind the counter tried to play it off and said, «Well you should have said you wanted the falafel separately.»
Here is the worst of it, though. I let it slide. OK, I get it. These two reminded me of my parents and I decided sure we make mistakes and sure I’ll save the pita for lunch tomorrow.
Then insult on top of incompetence. The man turns to me and asks:
«Are you Filipino?»
I say, «Yes.»
“And do you speak Tagalog.”
«No. Only a little bit.»
«That’s not good. If you go to the Philippines, you won’t know anything.»
At this point I was tired and annoyed and then suddenly treated like some idiot.
«Well, I’m an American. And this is America. I don’t intend on going to the Philippines any time soon and I’m ok speaking only English.»
«But you were born here in America.»
«Yes. And in America, I speak English.»
«Both of my kids were born here and they speak fluently.»
«Oh. Ok.»
At this point, I just going to stop the review and say I don’t give one falafel crumb about this guy’s kids. I didn’t come into your crappy restaurant to have soggy lettuce swimming in yogurt on microwaved chicken on the weirdest pita bread I’ve ever had so that I could listen to you brag about your kids while you serve me a backhanded insult.
This entire experience was disappointing because I want to support local businesses and I also want some damn good food made by real people. But this is a non-​establishment that shouldn’t sell food and shouldn’t talk to customers like children. Especially when they screw up my order — ordered in ENGLISH, by the way — and make terrible food. I don’t attempt to buy dinner just so I can told my success is somehow determined by my speaking a language that really has no use beyond the Bay Area bubble.
It’s very fitting this place is in Colma. Whatever amazing food used to exist here years ago is dead now.

BEST COSTUMER SERVICE, GOOD FOOD, AND AGAIN BEST COSTUMER SERVICE. I don’t understand why people are giving low ratings, this place is one of the best cafés I’ve ever been too. They serve a whole lot of foods, but my boyfriend and I always get the same order and each time we order it, it taste better and better. Our first experience there I brought in my dog, Coby and one of the men who was helping us, came out of his way and fed our dog some food. I thought it was really thoughtful. No place has ever welcomed my dog like that and to top that of the sandwiches we ordered taste so goooooooood. The second time we went, we left my dog in the car, and the man came out just to feed him. So nice and friendly here. I love it! I’ll be back soon

I come here time to time to use their wifi and catch up to do some work. It’s a really calm place, but more people should know about it. It would be great if they could add more electric outlets, though.
The 3-​person staff is really friendly. Their white chocolate mocha and Vietnamese coffee is delicious and the chef makes a bomb bbq chicken banh mi sandwich. I think its the cole slaw that gives it a bit of a sweet kick. I haven’t tried the phở yet because I’m always ordering the banh mi. Hopefully I get to it soon. There’s not that many places that I know of around this area that has good banh mi as them. If you happen to get off at Colma Bart I recommend grabbing a bite to eat here.

Omg incredible! I got the falafel wrap. best ever! And best falafel ever! The thin pita showcases it well. Excellent sauce and embellishment. Proportions are very satisfying.

Also agree with what R.A. said about this place. It has definitely gone downhill. The backwards leap in quality is just unbelievable.
I ordered one chicken and one beef/​lamb gyro the other day, and it was a microwaving extravaganza!
Pita bread? ZAP!
Chicken? ZAP!
Beef? ZAP!
Beef still not warm enough? ZAP!!!
The pita was so hard and rubbery, the beef was all but dried up chunks of leather by the time I was able to eat it.
It would be better If they just reopened as a Filipino/​Vietnamese fusion café, and completely did away with the Mediterranean cuisine they obviously do not understand or respect. It is a terrible shame that I might have to withdraw my patronage indefinitely, because I have such good memories of the olden days.

I’m not sure why, but I really like this place. I’d never heard of or had gyro-​silog, and I had it there for the first time. It was deeeelicious. I was a little skeptical when I walked in but everything was on point. So:
–Yummy white mocha
–Yummy lumpia
–Yummy whatever-​silogs, I’m sure
–Friendly workers
–Friendly prices
Only bad: They have no soy milk and so I am doubting they really had nonfat milk for my white mocha.
I will be back! :)

A got a coupon — for a large, 3-​topping pizza, and said heck why not! I love pizza!
So I called on the phone and the nice lady said no prob to a 3 topping (pepperoni, mushrooms, & green bellpepper) large pizza w/​coupon. Ready in 10 minutes, she promised.
I was skeptial — I didn’t read many, if any, reviews on Unilocal about their pizza.
It was a 10 minute drive out to South City and I was greeted with a friendly smile and hot pizza in a generic pizza box.
I drove home, lightly heated the pizza slices in my toaster oven, and had a taste of it. It tasted positively home-​made. Not as if their profession was in pizza; but a nice find-​off-​the-​internet recipe for pizza dough and fresh, thick toppings.
It wasn’t great but I liked the fact that everything seemed fresh. It wasn’t the best pizza, or even Domino’s standard but the fact that it seemed so CLEAN made it worth it.
Plus, it’s super cheap. Especially with the coupon.
I will come back to try their much raved about sandwiches.
Until then — 3 stars!

2 Gyros for under $ 8.00 = great deal.
Seriously, one of the best Gyros in the Peninsula. The owner used to be my mechanic and he introduced me to my first Middle Eastern dishes when he first opened his business. Although he was an excellent mechanic, this suits him much better. Don’t worry… unlike a mechanic, the food ain’t greasy or oily.
He moved his location across the street on El Camino Real and it’s right next to the Colma BART Station. Conveniently located if you wanna grab some Java before going to work or grabbing a quick bite to eat after a long, hard day at work. Or you can relax and read a paper of the latest Philippine News. Hey, he’s gotta cater to the demographics and that’s just being a smart businessman.
He even has a daily of special on his medium-​sized pizzas. You can buy one for $ 5.00 after 5:00 PM. Now, ain’t that a great deal or what? He makes everything from scratch with fresh ingredients and a lot of TLC. The service is also very friendly and accommodating. And aside the from Gyro, he also makes a mean Shawarma.