Einstein Cafe

Excellent place to hang out after library or the zoo. Nice folks. Ice Cream is yum.

Just came in with my daughter. The lady is on the phone and did not even greet us. I could careless because I just wanted a cup of coffee and hot chocolate for my daughter. She made one shot of folgers coffee and then diluted with water. I asked her if that was coffee and she said it was… It was so disgusting, water down folgers coffee. The hot chocolate for my kid was so sweet. Then she rung us up and didn’t tell me the total. I had to ask a few times, some she was on the phone the whole time. I had to leave, couldn’t stand it. What a shame for a place at the library to suck this bad.

My husband and I have been going to the Einstein café since our granddaughter who is now six was three years old. We make a weekly trip to the library and always enjoy a lunch before storytime. We have always experienced a clean place to eat and great customer service.

After visiting the library with my 3 year old girl, we wanted some ice cream at Einstein café. I let the lady behind counter know that my daughter would like her ice cream in a cup and mine in a cone. After I paid, I noticed that both ice creams were in a cup. I politely asked if mine can be in a cone. She told me I had said cup. I said I’m sorry but I thought I mentioned cone. So she said ok and she will give me a cone for my ice cream. Here is the gross part that I should probably report them to the health board: she reached with her dirty hands after handling money for the cone (with no gloves on!!) and placed it over my ice cream in the cup! I was so grossed out and could not believe the improper handling of food! I quickly grabbed the Cone and threw it away. I was very disappointed. The previous owners few years ago were so clean and handled food in professional manner.

We always receive exceptional service with a smile. It’s also conveniently located by the library, zoo, park choo choo train.
My only suggestion is that if be cleaned on a more regular basis, Tables, floors and windows are very dirty and sticky.
We’ll continue to visit, but it’d be nice to see it looking a little more spic and span.

This place was so cute and the people there were so nice and the sandwiches wee seriously amazing. They had a little table and books for the kids too.

This is one of those places where I would actually be sad if someone stole my dukedom, because I come here all the time. Considering how often I’ve come here, I was eventually bound to have something weird happen, right?
So I rush in two minutes after opening on a Monday morning, grab one of my favorite Lemon Poppy Seed cookies by the Alternative Baking Co., and try to hand some cash to the clerk. He says, «I need to see your ID, please.»
«Um… what?»
«ID, please.»
«I… I… I need ID to buy a cookie?»
«You never know, we might put drugs in it.»
«Oh, then I guess I don’t want the cookie.»
«It’s just weed.»
«I still wouldn’t want the cookie.»
«Really? No weed?»
«Nope… I’m totally clean.»
At this point, he took my money. I think this was about three weeks ago, and I’m still alive, so the cookies were probably not drugged.
The following Monday, I came in for another cookie. This time the owner rang me up, and when I tried to hand her my card, she said there was a $ 5 minimum. Now, I think there has always *technically* been a $ 5 minimum to use cards, but I’ve never had it enforced on me before. She handed me my card back and started to walk away before I could say, «Hang on, I’ll just get two cookies.» It felt like she didn’t even want my business.
A few days later, my daughter asked me to get ice cream, and I said I would only do it if they had my favorite flavor (lemon custard) because they never do. They did. I asked if I could get half taro and half lemon, and I was also buying a few other items– and (again, the owner) just said «No.» No apologies. And that’s fine. But at Gunther’s (which is where the ice cream comes from), they’ll let you get half and half on a single scoop. And it’s fresher. I’m just saying.
I like the foodie sandwiches, but everything here is over-​priced, and there is just no customer service. The lady is friendly if you are trying to have a conversation with her, but when it comes to business, it kind of feels like the customer is never right.

Before you start reading, I apologize if I offend anyone who loves this place. Maybe I came in on an off day, I don’t know. But please read below to see why this place deserves 2 stars:
My sis, mom, kiddo and I decided to stop by Einstein Café after spending some time at the Folsom Zoo and riding the choo choo train nearby. Einstein Café is located right next door to the Folsom library, which is totally convenient for parents and kiddos to grab a quick snack or bite. As we were walking to the entrance, there was a sign posted on the door stating, «Serving Gunther’s Ice Cream Featuring 12 flavors.» Ice cream, what a perfect snack to enjoy on this beautiful, bright sunny day.
My smile turned upside down as soon as we stepped foot in this establishment. The café was filthy! The lobby had two leather seats, a coffee table, a few tables and chairs and a kiddie table with some kiddie chairs. The coffee table had magazines scattered everywhere along with some board games and a used fork (classy). I walked over to the kiddie table because I thought it would be fun for my kiddo to sit. The kiddie table was just as bad, it had all sorts of ice cream smears and other stains that I could not recognize. The kiddo and I walked away and sat with my family at one of the tables. When I looked down on the floor, I saw a muffin that was stepped on that had not been picked up (again, classy).
The pastry case and counter was just a sad imitation of a Starbucks. They sold a hodgepodge of candy bars on the counter, two or three muffins and cookies in the display case, and throw pillows displayed outside. My sister approached the counter and wanted to order a small coffee ice cream. The woman behind the counter said, «Sorry, all we have is birthday cake, vanilla, pumpkin and sherbet.» My sister ended up ordering a small pumpkin ice cream, a bottle of sparking water and 6 pieces of samosas. My mom took a bite of the ice cream and said, «This doesn’t taste right.» I took a bite — it was gross. The ice cream tasted old — gummy with bits of ice cubes. The samosas came out pipping hot with a side of mint chutney. They weren’t bad, but when I looked over to the woman behind the counter, I noticed she was filling her display case with a tray of the samosas. She was holding a plastic package — the samosas were frozen and not house made. Great. I overheard her earlier saying to another customer that her samosas were from Sacramento. Like did she mean she bought them in the freezer isle in a store in Sacramento? I don’t get it.
Streams of parents and their kids walked in and all they ordered were ice cream. They were all told the same thing, «Sorry, all we have is birthday cake, etc.» The strangest thing was that they all accepted the fact that she only had 4 flavors and went with the flow. Hello, everyone! She’s selling all of her old product so she can go ahead and order new product down the road. I was surprised no one else complained about the quality of the ice cream.
I glanced over to the counter and checked out this joint some more. The espresso machine’s milk wand was still caked with milk and foam, she didn’t wipe it off after steaming the milk. I don’t know how long that wand was left like that, but when I sat there the whole 30 – 40 minutes, no one ordered an espresso drink, and the wand was still dirty. If she continues that practice, over time the steam wand is going to cake up with old, crusty milk, resulting in poor tasting milk and even bacterial growth. It’s really not that hard to clean. All you do is get a warm towel and wipe that wand off, it takes less that a second.
And I don’t understand why the woman at the counter didn’t take the time to do any sort of cleaning when she wasn’t helping any customers. A friend of hers walked in and they talked for a good 10 – 15 minutes. The woman at the counter even brought out her mac laptop and started to show her friend something on there.
Oh the frustration! This little café has so much potential, but this woman is running it to the ground! And the nerve of her to charge customers $ 2-​$ 3 for old ice cream, unacceptable.

After a round of Monster Mini Golf the liitle lady wanted ice cream. We headed over to the Einstein Café as they serve Gunther’s which is about as good as you can get. I was hungry and luckily they have a full line of sandwiches. I settled on the «Gold Miner» which was grilled chicken breast, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato and red onion with a chipotle sauce on ciabatta. Pretty dang tasty with a little bit of heat.

This is a little café that is located at the entrance of the Folsom Library. It’s kid friendly – complete with board books and a cute, little table for them. My son loves to sit here with his scoop of Gunther’s Ice cream that they sell here and people watch (or in his case, kid watch!) They have a comfy couch here. I only know of one staff member there – and she’s very pleasant! The prices are fair, but… my major complaint is that there is a $ 5 min. for debit cards and with no ATM in sight and me that never carries cash – well, I either have to tell my son no to his beloved ice cream OR I have to spend $ 5.96 like I did today – stretching the order to a samosa, a large coffee and the much appreciated ice cream scoop! I understand the $ 5 min, tho – I know that the fees small businesses have to pay are out of hand… it still annoys me, tho!
All in all, it’s a nice place to stop for a little snack – they also have muffins, a small selection of breakfast type pastries and juice boxes… I do like that they have $ 1 iced coffee and iced tea – just bring cash to take advantage of it (!)