Jennifer and Todd’s Cafe Soleil

Had the rib eye steak, inch thick, cooked exactly as I ordered, REAL mashed potatoes with garlic, REAL home made gravy, lightly cooked veggies, still crunchy but hot through out, REAL veggies, not from a can cooked to death. Large portions for a hungry guy. Now I’ve had rib eye steak at many restaurants in the Bay Area, ALL were $ 30 or more, not near the portions I got here, not cooked to my specifications. This meal, $ 20 !!! Went for lunch a week later, had the patty melt, BIG patty AND cooked to the doneness I requested, good fries too ! Good home cooked meals, comfort food, very reasonably priced.

Food was great. We ordered off the healthy breakfast menu. The menu item included egg white omlette with chicken mushrooms onion and spinash. Oatmeal and dry toast. Only complaint was waitresses were kinda loud. One kinda had her clevage out at 10am it wasn’t horrible and they were ok looking and I wear stuff like that once in a while but when I going to the mall or if Im the patron. I can totally see a cocktail waitress do it and it looks ok in the evening, but at 10am its kinda early but I guess thats how she gets tips. Décor was nice. Place was clean

Went for breakfast with the husband. Definitely a down home local place. Tucked away in the strip mall next to the new Burmese place and a few other restaurants and businesses in El Sobrante.
The ceiling is super high, so the volume gets a little loud in there. Service was great. Coffee and water were always filled up. Place was fairly full and the waitress was in her groove. You could tell she had some regulars there. She was young hip and really attentive.
Food is decent. Hubs had corned beef because his Filipino-​self can’t pass up corned beef for breakfast because we don’t cook it at home anymore. I had an omelette. It was fine. The potatoes come in different ways if you want– hash or home fries, topped with salsa or gravy, etc. tasty options but nothing super outstanding.
There aren’t many breakfast spots in the area that are decent. Especially service wise. We’ll be back.

A nice breakfast place. We were pretty psyched up to find **the** local breakfast place, and it wasn’t that. Nevertheless, it was a very solid breakfast with great service, good ambience, and nice clientele. I had the pancake and egg special, cooked perfectly. GF had apple sausage hashbrowns and eggs breakfast; it was also good, but nothing to get super excited about. I love the fact that they open at 6 AM. I recommend the place, especially if you like supporting local family run businesses.

Solid but nothing special. I had 2 eggs, toast, hash browns and a chicken sausage. All were good but again — nothing that would motivate me to come back.
Regarding the hash browns… I love hash browns. Love them. So when I saw the big pile on the plate I was happy. And they were fine. Needed salt. But sort of bland, if you know what I mean.
BF had pancakes, and he seemed to enjoy them. But the bacon that came with his order was unimpressive.
Summary — nice try.

A no topped by a no smothered with no. I planned on bringing a group of people for a pretty important luncheon; I was given pretty incorrect information on how busy the post lunch hour would be. Not once in the almost one hour I sat up front was I acknowledged by any server, as a matter of fact, I got up and approached a few, and they could not answer simple questions. Ugh. If the sub-​par service doesn’t put one off, the idea of blah American greasy fare should seal the deal.

Called with a phone order. I made tons of changes to the order the lady was very kind and patient. When I went to pick up my order they didn’t have any to go containers she wrapped up my breakfast plates so good and gave me a discount for not having any to go containers available. I haven’t gotten customer service like this in a very long time… I’ll definitely be back.

Really great breakfast. They serve lunch and dinner too, but I’ve only been for breakfast. The only reason I didn’t give it 5-​stars is due to the prices. They have great food, but a bit pricey.

Christa the sweet blonde waitress was extremely nice and made the experience wonderful. Everything was great! She went above and beyond to make my table happy. I will definitely be back in the near future!

While driving to Napa (and running behind schedule) I found this little gem right off the highway and was so happy! The Veggie Scramble was filled with fresh veggies and cheese which was delicious. Also our waitress was very polite and helpful with questions we had about the menu. Would recommend this place if you’re ever in the area :)

Café Soleil Wedding Review:
Thank you Café Soleil for helping to make our wedding dream come true! I’ve heard it said, guests don’t remember the food but our guests have raved this past week about «the BEST food they’ve ever had at a reception!» Jen, your easy-​going nature calmed me when I needed it most and I will always appreciate your kindness, wisdom and advice from everything on pairings, colors, accessories to ceremony set-​up. For couples considering Café Soleil for catering, know this: Jennifer, Todd and their staff will go above and beyond your expectations to make sure everything is beautiful and you have the wedding you were promised. They are friendly, professional, keep their word and will work with you to make YOUR wedding the best wedding in the world.

My husband and I used Jennifer as our caterer for our wedding. When we first reached out to Jennifer we were amazed at her friendliness and experience. We had some not so great experiences before we found her. Upon first meeting we decided that she was the one to help us with our wedding. Jennifer let us taste some of the food at the restaurant and we were hooked! All the food we tried was delicious! Especially the ravioli! You must try it. Unbelievable. One thing that I loved about Jennifer was her calmness. As many know, planning a wedding is stressful enough. Jennifer always had solutions to problems and was a great calming force. The wedding went off without a hitch. Her staff was amazing. Friendly, always smiling, and just all around fun people. The food was perfect and her presentation was awesome. Jennifer also worked with my sister in law who wanted to help with some of them planning. I was really impressed that she did that; many people wouldn’t. She was also conscious of cultural differences and allowed us to bring a cultural dish to the event.
I would recommend her to any and all who want a great planner and great food at their wedding. We really enjoyed Jennifer and her staff and will visit her restaurant again. Check them out!

Only if I could give this place zero stars.
This isn’t my first encounter with this place and both times were not pleasant; however, I will only speak of the most recent time. I phoned in a order and spoke to one the managers Mark. I asked him that I needed a platter of something the following day. Because it was last minute I opted for something that was clearly doable, a platter of eggs to feed 15 people, he agreed that he could do this and have it ready the following morning at 7am. When I arrived the following day, there were no eggs. The people had no idea what I was talking about. There was obviously no communication on Mark’s behalf. Needless to say I had no eggs to take to my potluck at work.
Thanks guys, great work!

wanted a rib eye steak the way i want it! can’t get that many places. mark cooked it to perfection. crunchy on the outside and rare inside.
fabulous!
and the veggies were cooked perfectly, too. i love it when a meal comes together!
since mark works weekends only, guess i’ll be going back once a month to treat myself.
hostess ady is a doll. friendly, sincere and fun to talk with.
mike, my server, is shy and very sweet, too. i think more experience and he’ll come out of his shell.
highly recommend this café. wish i remembered it more often. it’s tucked away, kind of hidden and i forget it’s there.

Came here for brunch because I really wanted some eggs benedict but wasn’t willing to drive far for it. Luckily Jennifer and Todd’s Café Soleil is right down the street. The eggs benedict came with a side of fruit and hash browns. The eggs benedict was drenched in hollandaise sauce. Yummy. The fruit wasn’t as pretty, but tasted sweet. And the hash browns are always good.
I shared the chicken and sausage gumbo with my boyfriend. The gumbo was really flavorful with nice, hearty pieces of chicken and sausage in it. I really liked it. I’ve actually never had a soup from Jennifer and Todd’s that I didn’t like.
I also ordered a hot chocolate to fulfill my inner child. Plus it was a cold day so might as well.
Jennifer and Todd’s Café definitely does the trick at feeding your cravings without having to travel too far if you’re within the San Pablo/​El Sobrante vicinity. They have a huge range of items for breakfast, as well as, omelets, pancakes, and additional sides. Their lunch menu is pretty vast too. I’ve only been here for breakfast though, so I can’t comment on their lunch items.

Café Soleil seems popular, few parking spaces in front. dining room much larger than anticipated, roomy, casual, lots of ambience, leg room, table seating
service quick so not much time to understand menu, noticed coffee pricing not listed (it isn’t
in most breakfast places). saw hamburger on regular menu, also on lunch menu. should have looked at rest of menu/​
eats: hamburger (7.45) lunch special w/​choice of soup, salad, fries, hash browns extra.
brew: american’s best (2.39), was gonna pass, got a tasty, not the usual harsh brew, in restrospect not the premium either, just smooth, not bold
eats: thick burger (7.45)tender, tasteless, slightly red, came w/​mayo, lettuce, pickle, tomato. grey poupon came upon request. (patty probably previously frozen)
clam chowder. crackers stale, mostly filler soup (starch). clam elusive, no doubt came from can. salad would have been better choice.
crumbs:
–10% off with Unilocal check-​in
–fab service, didn’t handle offerings correctly, should have take longer to order
breakfast?, not sure.
–associates so sweet here, gave sample, coffee refills, cleared empty plates. quickly
–medical informerial playing on flatscreen distracting
got a choice of tables, naturally choose to face flatscreen, big mistake!
–passed on water to help calif. drought.
–associates fab, menu and me share blame for poor dining experience.

My son and I went today for the first time, and it was not good. Artisan prices for low-​end food.
I had a Cobb salad, and it was meh. $ 12.95. They should be ashamed. The tiny pieces of chicken (and there were very few) were lost in those large pieces of lettuce, and the bacon was cold… what little there was of it. The tomatoes were terrible. No flavor. The avo was OK. The dressing was flavorless. The croutons were those crappy mass-​produced ones with no texture and an odd flavor. The egg was stone-​cold, flavorless and had that unappetizing green ring. I ate part of this salad, took the rest out in a box and then dumped it because it was just so bad.
I had a cup of chili, which they brought in a bowl, but charged me the cup price. That was nice. The meat seemed odd. Mushy. I asked, and was told they don’t make the chili. How can a place like this not make their own chili? Topped with onions in a rough chop and some shredded cheese, it was OK. Too sweet, too salty and the meat was kind of weird. I guess it was canned. $ 6.95, but they charged me $ 4.95 because I ordered a cup. Not bad, but I can buy a can of chili at Grocery Outlet.
My son had the Boca burger with jack cheese and ‘shrooms. $ 9.45. Please. I can only describe it as anemic. The burger should have been cooked so it had some color. It looked like it was microwaved. There was only a little cheese, and not very many mushrooms, given the price. The bun was OK. Soft. Not much there there. These folks need to go to Barney’s, for example, to see what a real mushroom cheese burger looks like. Pathetic. The potato salad that came with it was a cold, yellow purée. Like mashed potatoes. Unusual, but very decent.
He also had a cup of minestrone, which was nothing to write home about. Not much flavor there.
The one thing is that their cup size is generous. However, if what they put in there isn’t very good that doesn’t help anyone.
It’s a nice place. Dark, with brick. Very nice. The folks working there seem nice. Too bad the food was so terrible.
Never again.

Brunch time in the hood! A friend recommended this place which is stones throw away from our abode. Checked reviews on Unilocal and I gauge it’s hit or miss kind of place but decided to check it out for myself.
It was a hit, well, almost a hit! I ordered country special which is sausage biscuit hash brown topped with gravy. The portion was humongous! The flavor was so so! For biscuits and gravy, the flavors rely so much on the gravy unfortunately it was flat and under seasoned. Salt and pepper shakers could not save it. Good thing there was sausage and hash browns included which pretty much saved the dish.
I have to give a star for service which was quite good. I checked in at Unilocal and I received a 10% discount. When I showed the waitress, she was more that happy to apply the discount.
I might go back but it might be for a while!

A real cool mom & pop café. Not overly large, somewhat loud, but okay. Plenty of tables, a long counter… and a nice flat screen TV.
I slept late and missed breakfast this morning. After driving here from Stockton, I was absolutely starving… anything edible within reach wasn’t safe… I looked to Unilocal for restaurant ideas… no special requirements, but perhaps reasonably close to my hotel would be nice. This particular restaurant caught my eye, and the reviews were excellent. So, lets give them a try.
I was greeted upon entry, and told to sit wherever you’d like. Near eye shot of the TV looked good to me. Ordered up coffee and a water… now to scan through the menu.
Breakfast is served all day… that’s a bonus in my book. Whoever said there was some rule about eating breakfast between certain hours must have been nuts… breakfast, its whats for breakfast, lunch or dinner!!!
Don’t forget to check-​in with Unilocal and receive 10% savings on your bill. Another bonus!!!
There are tons of things you could order, but I went for the 2-​egg breakfast with sausage links, hash brown potatoes, and sourdough toast. I’m extra hungry so I added a third egg.
Food arrived quickly, cooked perfectly, and hot and tasty. My coffee cup never ran dry, thanks to a very attentive waitress. My meal was so yummy, had it gone unnoticed I probably would have even considered licking my plate… it was that good.
Friends, «this is a small business»…and these are your friends and neighbors. Go give them a try, with the crowd in there today at 2:00pm, you won’t be alone. I get the feeling this is one well liked «local spot» for eating and socializing. Go give them a try!!!

Sunday brunch was packed! Maybe because there is a dearth of decent Sunday places nearby. More likely because of the free parking lot, good size venue and the huge menu of dishes available.
My dad and I came by on a Sunday about 11 a.m. There was a line out the door. The line moved pretty well but we didn’t want to wait for a table and sat at the counter.
Counter seating really reveals how hard the cooks and service staff work. It’s non-​stop hustling almost at a running pace! Still the waiters and waitresses managed to be friendly and helpful.
My Corned Beef & Eggs breakfast was pretty good but a tad dry and bland. I spiced it up with hot sauce. Corned beef hash would’ve been better to soak up the eggs.
My dad’s Clam Chowder was good and his Turkey BLT was like a huge triple decker. I got half of it in a doggie bag and ate it on the airplane. Better than buying a snack box.
Our coffee was constantly refilled with a smile. This will definitely be our diner stop from now on.