Sangers & Joe

What a lovely place. it has a very nice atmosphere, its calm & quiet. Food is always good. Would recommend this place. check it out guys!

Sitting here waiting for food
Ordered food 40 minutes ago. Waited a looooong time then asked young lady who took the order when the food might arrive. She told me that the chef had not yet arrived. No apology, but offered refund. Heard eggs crack for the omelette… So we stay. Eventually his omelette arrived. He has finished it. A while ago. Mine hasn’t arrived yet. No apology or interest from bored young order taker. I think she hates her job. I wonder when my food will arrive…

Nice addition to an early breakfast spot. Tried the oven baked egg pot and I liked the flavors however the poached egg had runny egg white. I don’t mind runny egg yolk but the runny egg white in the picture was a little too raw even for me. A little pricey for this small dish at 11 $, I think Lincoln still has a better deal with their 10 $ breakfast bowl that is almost twice the size. Overall nice atmosphere and I might try their sandwiches next time.

Onions onions onions why so many onions in my omelette like I feel there was ¼ piece of bacon 1 pound of onions and about three cups of cheese although you can’t go wrong with cheese. But I think they just stuffed a bunch of onions in it for the illusion of it being bigger. I wish my $ 35.00 was an illusion. Omelette gets a SOLID 2. So I got the omelette and a side of potatoes. My «pirates» (my phone keeps changing it so I’ll just keep it) were dry it was like eating chips which made me sad on the inside. Pirates get a NEGATIVE –4 as they were not edible. I am glad that they carry my fav rose lemonade they get 1 point for that. My boyfriend got the chicken sandwich which is a deep fried breast on a bun with sirracha or something and a side of Mac and cheese. The sandwich I would give a STRONG 1.2 which is generous because it tasted like cardboard but it was presented nicely. His macaroni which was hot out the oven after we had finished our meals I’ll give a 3 the flavor was basic but it was cheesy soooo yeah. After my calculations they deserve 3.2 stars for food but we are rounding down. Atmosphere I’ll call Vintage Industrial Renaissance like the kinda place you go to take a selfie at a new hip place uptown but you don’t really eat there maybe grab a lemonade or take food in there just to eat.
*sidenote «Sangers» are sandwiches in Australia not a group like Diana Ross & the supremes. Just in case you thought there would be some live music. Or is that just me.

Lovely experience. We went late afternoon so it was easy getting parking + a table, and service was super fast. A couple standouts:
The mimosas. They use Prosecco, which elevates all mimosas in my opinion. I normally don’t even like them because I’m not a huge fan of champagne. Prosecco I can drink like water, so naturally, we shared 3 carafes. Yum.
The open-​faced breakfast sandwich. Unlike a review below, I didn’t mind the eggs as served. They were scrambled and fluffy, and fit PERFECTLY on the roll, which I expect was the point. Not messy, easy to eat, and a great platform for the melted Gouda and bacon. And that tomato jam. OMG. Makes it. Different and delicious. I would go back just for that.
Prices are a little steep for what you get, but not outrageous. And the crushed avocado toast was, to me, underseasoned. Fresh, but bland, because it needed salt. That would have made it stellar.
All in all, a good stop. Lots of people were working and eating, which it seems ideal for with all its open space and available outlets. I’d make it a habit when writing or designing if I lived closer to Pasadena.

Very solid place for breakfast/​lunch in Old Town Pasadena. In an affluent area where a lot of restaurants don’t have to actually deliver a good product in order to attract a crowd, I appreciated how delicious S&J’s food really was. My friends and I tried their breakfast burger, Joe’s omelet, pastries, $ 5 mimosas and eggs benedict — all good. I’m not a huge coffee drinker but tried their Belgian Mocha and super enjoyed it: not bitter, not overly sweet, excellent mix. The seating is generous, and the place is beautifully decorated and full of natural sunlight. I will definitely be making a return trip.
Critique: the pricing seems to be just shy of reasonable. I think $ 4 for a cup of tea — any tea — is way too much. Also, most of the entrees (as far as I could tell) are a la carte, so you have to add a side order if you want a more complete meal.
PS. Order their potatoes. Ridiculously good. Best thing I ate out of everything.

I had the egg pot. Written menu said mozzarella. Actual dish had goat cheese, instead of mozz. I was lied to. I hate goat cheese. I had to push it to one side, but it was a little too late, that gamey flavor got all over everything. And the egg was so undercooked. Some of the white was completely raw. There was just the spinach and tomatoes left to eat. The bottom of the dish became a runny mess of liquids from the spinach and tomatoes, raw egg, and spreading yucky goat cheese.
Thankfully, the long croutons on the side, meant for dipping into the egg, I’m assuming, were good. The coffee was good.

Went down for the Rose Bowl, and researched many places. Very pricy, and that is not the issue. The eggs benedict was almost ice cold, so we had to send one back. I ate my salmon bennie cold, don’t know why I sucked it up. I thought the trick was to put the egg in a bath to re-​heat, if you must pre-​cook the egg. Not sure what happened here.
A chez panisse print was on the wall. Really? What Alice have to do with this place? Eating in Oak/​Berk/​Emery everyday must have me spoiled. If you go, KISS (keep it simple, son).

Been here twice now. Was pleased with the food both times. They seem to be a bit under-​staffed, but the food comes out right, the coffee is good too. In particular, I really liked the tuna sandwich, and the bell pepper soup. Hope this place can hang on in this expensive location.

I have written one other review on Unilocal (5 – 6 years ago), and admittedly, I only wrote that one because the experience was beyond bad. I also have no check-​ins etc. but I do use Unilocal all the time to find good reviewed restaurants etc. Now, I only have what I can tell you was one of the worst breakfast experiences (or any meal) I have ever had. There are many, many restaurants I should have written about, and may still, that have been between good and phenomenal. However, when a restaurant is so bad, I feel I need to write about it. Sangers & Joes is that restaurant.
While my wife and I live in the San Francisco bay area, we frequently travel to Pasadena where my wife’s family lives. On Christmas Eve 2015, we decided to go to Russell’s for breakfast, which is very good. But it was so packed and busy that we decided to find a convenient breakfast place nearby and, at the time, Sangers had 4 stars. So we went around the corner to Sangers (with our infant 9 month old in tow so we couldn’t wait for Russells, plus we were visiting family on a short timeline).
Sangers is nice/​OK as far as seating/​presentation. The food menu is «fancy» and relatively expensive. I’m OK with both of those if the food is good. We order at the counter and they bring the food to your table. We sat down 10 – 15 feet from the counter and about 5 minutes after ordering, our coffees were delivered to our table (which you inexplicably cream/​milk and sugar at a separate table — like Starbucks for example). The woman said when you want more coffee (which was actually very good), let me know — great.
Then, about 8 – 10 minutes after ordering (not after coffee delivery), the breakfast sandwich my wife ordered and the omelette I ordered were brought to our table. We began to eat our $ 10 (breakfast sandwich) and $ 14 (omelette) meals, both of which were room temp at best.
We had just ordered within 8 – 10 minutes, so how could freshly prepared foods already be cold? Answer: they can’t be if freshly prepared. As a person who cooks breakfast regularly, even eggs etc. remain warm several minutes after cooking is finished. Did we return our meals? No. While it was room temp at best, it was edible and provided sustenance. We had somewhere to be, so we ate a small portion. The only highlight was the coffee. Little did we know that getting a second cup of coffee was going to an exercise in futility.
As I mentioned, the coffee was very good. So I finished my cup, got up, walked to the counter and requested a refill. The woman looked at me indifferently and said OK. I went back to my seat. I waited. I waited. I waited. More than 10 – 15 minutes. I figured maybe she was brewing fresh. I looked over to counter — she was doing nothing. We had seen enough. We got up to leave. As we left, a man came rushing over to sat goodbye. I had nothing to say. The experience was at best, good coffee and, at worst, completely regretful and a waste of good money.
This costly «experience» — $ 40 for 2 horrible breakfasts, coffee and juices combined — ruined our morning. I don’t mind spending money when value is there, but when two breakfast sandwiches from Starbucks for less than $ 10 total would have been vastly more satisfying, Sangers has a problem, and if it is to stay in business, things must change dramatically.
Go to this place at your own risk. I hope for Sanger’s sake it was «one» bad morning. But given this place has been in business for 3 – 4 months??, they will be closed for business swiftly.
This place isn’t even «OK» — it’s a complete waste money — unless you only order coffee. But don’t expect a refill of your 8oz. cup to happen anytime prior to you already fed up with waiting and then going elsewhere for coffee.
I really wish I could say something positive about this establishment outside of the coffee because it seemingly has potential — but I can’t. It was just an all around terrible and frustrating experience compounded by exorbitant and unjustified prices given the product.

Glad a new joint opened up on Holly St., but if you’re going to compete at this price point, at least have the food and drink tasting good to back it up. At an average of $ 15 a plate, you’d think they’d have the decency to serve real eggs in the Open-​face Breakfast Sandwich, as opposed to the microwaveable egg served with cheese and bacon over a baguette. I couldn’t even finish it because it was so greasy.
I also decided to have a hot chocolate — which was served with whole milk, and in too small of a cup (coffee cup size), so that it was too chocolatey to enjoy.
The ambiance would be great if to weren’t for the two separate homeless people sitting in there with us at breakfast. I really don’t mind that, but they (and their stuff) smelled like urine, so it was hard to enjoy my meal.
If I was a betting woman, I’d say this restaurant will fall victim to failure like the 90% of new ones that do.

This is the kind of place that charges $ 2.50 for a can of Coke.
I had the fried chicken sandwich, which was just okay (boring) but not close to warranting the $ 14 price tag.

It’s true what the other negative reviews say. I decided to try them out still despite reading those reviews and should’ve trusted fellow Unilocalers.
Came with 2 coworkers for lunch and ordered a salad and flat white then sat down. We finish eating and my coffee never came. I went in to tell the girl with the braid in her hair and she was nonchalant and just said oh. She said my drink would be brought out. Half an hour later and it still never arrived. I went back to her to get a refund and she cashes me out, never offering an apology.
Unprofessional. Poor service. For a place opened a couple months it just left a bad taste. Would not go back nor recommend to anyone.

First timer and the food was pretty good, nothing over the top. The service was good, timing was also good, and cleanliness is a plus. Definitely a place to check out for brunch with a friend or even family. I will definitely come back for more. So far, the Salmon Benedict was delicious!

This place is awesome. Great welcoming décor, very modern and rustic. The sangers (sandwiches) and potato salad was excellent. All ingredients are extremely high quality even for a BLTA sandwich. Coffee is on the same level. I’d give them 5 stars for the cold brew alone. Only downside is the food takes a while to come out, but if you’re not in a rush it’s well worth the wait. Also very pricey, but that’s Pasadena for ya. Finally a lunch option in the area I look forward to trying again. Also, it’d be nice if they got some better straws. These ones are small and break easily.

This is an updated review. My wife, son and I visited Sangers about a month after our first visit. They addressed the two things I critiqued in my last review: the portions were generous and the food was served promptly! (Pancakes took a while, but they were up front about that when we ordered.)
I highly recommend the «Are You Kidding Me.» It’s a light, delicate French toast dipped in what must be a funnel cake batter, topped with jelly, an egg and bacon. Total awesomeness. The pancakes were good too. Can’t wait to come back!

Not impressed. Although my steak & eggs were good, the other 3 meals at our table were average. Chocolate croissant was dense and dry, not anything like a true croissant should be (and it was 4 $). But my biggest complaint and turnoff is that there are no free coffee refills. They serve it in big cups and it gets cold quickly. Even if you DO want to pay for a 2^nd cup, you have to wait in line again with everyone else while your food is getting cold (or colder) at the table. I won’t be going back here and won’t be recommending it to people mostly because of the coffee no refill policy, and the food wasn’t good enough to make me overlook the coffee thing.
Will be going back to Shakers where we can get a bottomless cup of coffee and great hot food!

This place has no idea of running a business.
We came in on a Sunday morning at am 9 and there were 3 customers eating.
Ordered a grilled sandwich — after 20 minutes still no sign of the sandwich… we asked for it and they said there’s a delay in the kitchen!
Yeah– no kidding!
With 3 customers already having their breakfast and no other customers!!!
Jesus — after 25 minutes still no sandwich, we asked for our money back… Not a single time during the wait no one came out with an update, sad especially when there were more staff than customers.
Never coming back.
Place sucks.
— and their water glasses are dirty too full of old orange juice leftover.
Too bad, it’s a pretty space but horrible service… well not horrible service because there’s NO service!

Stumbled upon this place visiting Pasadena (attracted by the sign name «Sanger» and telling my Uruguayan friend who wanted a sandwich for lunch that «Sanger» was the slang we used in Australia for «sandwich») Low and behold a fabulous sandwich shop run by Aussies… And after taking a punt; it did NOT disappoint!
Gorgeous ambience, delicious food, friendly service, and reasonable prices: wished I live in Pasadena!
My friend had the prosciutto sandwich and I had the Joe’s scramble (a breakfast menu which they kindly did for me for lunch). Bread on sandwich too was top notch. Highly recommended :)

They seem to have just opened so I think you should try it. I had an egg salad sanger and a cold brew. Speed wasn’t the best, but the overall ambience is comfortable so you probably shouldn’t be expecting to be in and out immediately. Parking was an issue; I had to circle around the block and feed a meter.
I really enjoyed this egg salad sanger (sandwich). The bread was crusty and enjoyable. The lettuce was a nice touch and the overall seasoning was nice. It was messy as I always have issues with egg salad, but since I ordered it with the side of potato salad I had a fork to scoop up the fallen egg salad.
The potato salad was good. Small potatoes cut in half, not like the normal sludge and mush that I frequently encounter.
The cold brew is flavorful and cold. So that’s fine. The straw seems a little narrow, but maybe that’s my inability to drink beverages like a normal person.
There was a sign warning that they were almost out of pastries, so you might want to come in early.
I would recommend this for a casual brunch, for people that aren’t looking for mimosas in excess.