Bill’s Café

Bill’s Café has really good salads. I’m sure the selection of 10 salads would are all be amazing, but since I really like already the first two salads that I’ve tried, the BBQ Chicken Salad and Steak Salad (special) – I’ve ordered those for a few times already. The additions to the meal: hearty soup and bread, as well as the portion size make the food worth the price in terms of value.
The place is so clean and dandy, and the service is always bright. I recommend Bill’s Café for meeting friends, or to pick-​up a great and fresh lunch.

Bill’s is by far my favorite breakfast place around the area! The food, waiters/​waitresses, and the ambiance make it five stars.
I’ve tried almost every pancake and waffle dish at Bill’s, and I can easily say that each dish is amazing. They also have very cool creations that you can’t get anywhere else, like the Oreo pancake.
The general atmosphere of the restaurant is calm and friendly. I feel comfortable here, as there are large windows to shed the perfect amount of light through and the seats are very comfortable!
And don’t even get me started on the birthday celebrations. Usually breakfast places don’t make a big deal about birthdays, but I am not even exaggerating when I say that Bill’s make a HUGE deal out of birthdays. Today I experienced two celebrations, both of which all the waiters and waitresses took out a bunch of crazy loud instruments to grab the attention of the restaurant. So fun! If you enjoy that whole shabang, Bill’s is a fun place to go.

All I got to say is thank goodness there is a park behind this restaurant because after eating like a heffar here, I needed to walk my butt off! :-)
After seeing the pictures of The bread pudding French toast, I had to come here. The dish comes with two eggs in however you want them and sausages or ham I believe. I was really craving the biscuits and gravy so I ordered a side of that as well. My goodness, what the heck was I thinking because it was a lot!
So I must say, the French toast is a mouthgasm! The waitress said that they use a whiskey sauce for it. It is perfectly moist and soft and they top that sucker off with a fried caramelized like banana sprinkled with some powder. The first bite was truly an experience and I would come back here again just for this dish!

My third time here!!! I’m in love… this place is now known for their amazing bacon! It is so delicious and they load up every sandwich and burger that is ordered with it. I’ll be here more often. Server explained the food and soups excellently and was attentive.

Was looking for a great breakfast spot to try. Searched Unilocal and found Bill’s café. Came on in and only have a few minutes wait. I already knew what I wanted from reviewing the menu. I ordered a Coffee and the Crab Cakes Benedict with hash browns and a side of chicken Apple sausage. My food came out super quick and was beautifully plated. I cut into that poached egg and gooey goodness flowed out!!! Everything on my plate was delicious! I was only able to eat one of the crab cakes, but was excited to have some for another time! I will for sure be back since it’s close to my job!!!

Kudos to the owner, George, for taking time out of his schedule to write me an email and an apology for the upsetting incident, which occurred at his restaurant while I was there with my dog. He agreed that sudden, loud noises would be scary for a dog and admitted that they (the management) had not yet considered their «Happy Birthday!!!» song/​music at tables as a possible problem in light of the fact that dogs on the patio are a recent thing at Bill’s. George was attentive to my concerns and was kind enough to offer me a gift card to return to the restaurant, which was unnecessary but greatly appreciated. This was a case of a situation well handled… thank you! One last note on the birthday issue… your approach reminds me of a Benihana in the 1980’s. Maybe come up with a new, more contemporary, more quiet way of honoring a customer’s special day? Just a thought:)

…that bread pudding fresh toast, though… oh man… so delicious. And very, very good service. And delicious bacon. And a patio seat for the win.

Best place in Pleasanton for breakfast. Average food, slow service. Usually fairly crowded. Pancakes are the best thing on the menu. All of the egg dishes are easily done better at home. This place could be great w better, fresh food. Price point is okay.

Great service, great food! I love this place. I used to always go when I lived in Santa Clara & I’m so happy they now have one in Pleasanton! :) it’s super spacious instead and very clean!

This restaurant was recommended by my doctor. My goodness, she’s right. I ordered the country fried steak, biscuit and gravy, and fruit. My hubby ordered ham steak, eggs and hashbrown. The hashbrown is crunchy on the top. The service was great. The only drawback, you may need to wait outside. While waiting, they offer restaurant quality coffee better than some breakfast joints. They use Farmer’s Brothers columbia coffee, which I love. They also have outside dining, but I prefer to sit inside. My normal breakfast place is always country waffle. I love their pancakes. After my first visit at Bills, it’ won’t be my last.

The wait at this place was long but the breakfast was very good.
Service was ok and could definitely use some additional training but I was pleasantly surprised at how good my bacon & eggs were with potatoes and toast. Overall even with the long wait and slow service a very good breakfast place.

Omgosh, talk about AMAZING! I can’t believe how good this place was. Service amazing, décor adorable, and food! Fresh amazing big portions!

Had lunch here with co-​workers. Although breakfast smelled appealing, I went with lunch. I had the Embarcadero salad (greens, chicken, apples, blue cheese), which came with soup. I opted for the clam chowder and it was good. Better than I would have expected. My salad was fresh and crisp. It also was better than expected.
Service was friendly and quick. I will try Bill’s again and see what the breakfast is like.

Bill’s is one of my fave breakfast spots in the area. It is always busy but their operations are efficient and food is always on point. Be prepared to take home a box of leftovers or consider sharing with someone.
I try to get something different every time since everything sounds amazing. I would highly recommend the chorizo omelette — a fluffy mountain of egg and chorizo, mexicali benedict — for sure a dreamy nap afterward, hawaiian pancakes — vacation in your mouth, the bread pudding french toast — their signature dish, and the parisienne french toast — ooh la la!
One of the best parts is that they’re dog friendly and are quick to accommodate a patio table (and multiple water dishes) for your pooches.

All in all, a forgettable lunch. Maybe lunch is not their thing. They had lots of breakfast choices, but we went here for lunch. I had a mexican-​ish salad. Lots of lettuce, I mean lots of lettuce… 3 strips of chicken, and small handful of beans and corn. The dressing was good. Did I mention, lots of lettuce. My lady had a tuna sandwich. Nothing special.
Service was good. The décor is pleasant. We will not be back.

I had originally given this 2 stars. See my review below. But George, one of the owners reached out and apologized for the order mess up and offered a gift card. I am not accepting it because they have a business to run and I am not expecting money since we still ate and drank there. I appreciate the gesture though and I have added a star. I will give it another go because of the nice owner.
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Went here with a couple of friends for brunch. I had a mimosa which came in a very weirdly shaped bowl with a straw. The taste was not great. The orange juice which the waiter claimed was freshly squeezed tasted almost fermented. The strawberry pancakes were just okay. My friend specifically said no onions in her omelette. Guess what, there were onions! Price was rather high for the quality. Almost 70 $ for 3 breakfasts and 3 mediocre drinks. So overall experience was a big ol’ meh!

Beautiful place with great breakfast choices! It is located in a shopping plaza, next to the Sports Park, surrounded with other good restaurants. Plenty of parking.
I’ve been here many times for breakfast and have enjoyed it every time. The place is well decorated, clean and their staff is very friendly.
Big breakfast menu, reasonable prices. I usually get a veggie type omelette with fresh fruit on the side. Fruit and veggie are always fresh, food comes to the table hot. Good coffee too!
There is both indoor and outdoor seating. Weekends are always crowded and expect a longer seating wait time. During a week, you can find a seat for breakfast immediately .
Definitely going back !

This restaurant was classified as *American New*…and hubby and I were excited. What we found was an American Traditional coffee shop.
In the same space as Zorn’s was for many years, it was not much better than Zorn’s in it’s declining years. Yes, the décor has been updated.
Service was a bit slow.
I had a BLT and hubby a patty melt.
The marginal: fries were TJ’s quality, soups were OK, as was hubby’s burger
The ugly: bacon was awful (fatty, gristley)
Bottom line… we won’t be back. maybe their pancakes are good… but we don’t like sweet foods for meals. I am so glad I didn’t bring my friends here.

I ordered the club with a side of potato salad. The sandwich was average– tasted like your basic turkey bacon sandwich. The potato salad was phenomenal though– packed with flavor.
–Kristen
3 stars from Kristen, Edmund wasn’t here to rate.

One of my favorite brunch spot in the trivalley area! This place is always super crowded on the weekend. The staff is super friendly, the wait is long if you come during popular times (I haven’t figured out when un-​popular times are) but there is free coffee outside of the restaurant so you can enjoy watching a baseball game over coffee at the park right next to the restaurant.
The food is always delicious and in VERY GENEROUS portions. Be prepared to have enough leftovers for at least one more meal. The pancakes are larger than my face. the short stack itself is enough for two people. The chicken fried steak is surprisingly delicious and comes with biscuits and gravy. The benedicts are always good. The bread pudding french toast is perfect for me. it’s like having dessert for breakfast. Everyone that comes orders a mimosa… the orange juice is freshly squeezed. Really, everything is good here, and is a sure bet for good food with good service.

Took a random Monday off and decided to get brunch. We went around 11am and the patio was actually almost full for a Monday. We got one of the last tables outside — we requested the patio since they allow dogs. Here is what we ordered:
Smoked Salmon Benedict (w/​o capers) $ 13.50
Chicken Fried Steak (gravy on side, substituted w/​fries) $ 13.50
Coffee /​Tea $ 2.50 each
This was my first time ordering an egg benedict (late to the game, I know). It wasn’t bad! Definitely enjoyed the smoked salmon but I think I could’ve gone without the cream cheese. The egg, sauce, salmon, and cream cheese was pretty intense for me. I could only finish half the bagel. It was good but by the end of the first half I wanted to eat the egg/​sauce and salmon/​bagel separately. The hashbrowns were not that warm once it got to our table. Same with my boyfriend’s fries. But other than that, everything was pretty good. Service was great. Elias was an awesome server. Super friendly. We also had another waiter from the patio ask us if we needed anything or wanted water for our dog so that was really nice.
The menu is massive and I’m already eyeing pancakes (cookies and cream pancakes?!) and french toasts (cinnamon roll french toast!) that I want to try next time. Not sure how the crowd is on the weekends but I definitely want to come back, especially since they allow dogs on the patio, what a plus!

A week ago our party of six came for breakfast. Everyone ordered something different from the menu, and everyone loved their meal. The only complaint was that two folks ordered their hash browns «crispy» but they weren’t really crispy at all.
I had the Hawaiian pancakes and loved them so much that I asked my husband to bring me back again. Although it’s mid-​afternoon, they still serve breakfast so I ordered them again. Hubby ordered the Bill’s scramble with crispy hash browns and this time they were actually crispy. My pancakes were heavenly.
We’ll be back!!!

3.5 stars. I came here once for a quick bite on a Sunday. I guess we were just before the lunch bunch because we were seated pretty quickly at 1 although the place was pretty full. Breakfast menu was extensive, lunch a bit more limited. The food was not fabulous but certainly adequate. The portions are more than ample and reasonable prices. My issue is with the flies, lots of them and they kept landing on my food. yikes! All in all, it was an okay experience not great but good and if you are in the area, hungry and have a craving for heavy breakfast, stop here!

We used to come here when this restaurant was Zorn’s. We loved the breakfast foods at that time, but then they went out of business. We waited and waited and finally Bill’s Café popped up. I bookmarked it to try, and in the meantime they started earning themselves some positive Unilocal reviews which made trying them out all the more enticing.
We came in on a Sunday morning. Busy, but not overwhelming. We were put on a waitlist and waited about ten minutes. If you are impatient or in a rush, maybe call ahead to get your name on the list.
We were seated in the corner and had a lovely waitress who accommodated our vegetarian needs by tailoring our orders to leave out the animal products. She even customized my order into a half-​size which I really appreciated.
The coffee’s come in itty bitty cups, so drink up and get yourself refills!
The food came out in no time at all, and we were ready to eat. Both dishes were lovely. I was surprised actually. I thought they may taste underwhelming or just be «simple» American breakfasts. I was mistaken. This restaurant puts the pep back into breakfast foods. Our meals were fresh and had really nice flavors… flavors enough to make us look at each other in sort of a «Wow, I am happily surprised by this,» sort of manner.
Of course we will be back in the future.

Yummy, yummy, yummy, yum. I’ve been here on two different occasions and both times were s’marvelous (food wise).
For the most part, the food is pretty standard brunch food. Definitely better than IHOP though (and for the same price!!). I think the layout/​seating area/​décor of the restaurant is REALLY nice — definitely NOT what you think of when you go to a place called Bill’s HAH, Bill must be a fancy guy.
The only slight disappointment I had the first time I went was the MIMOSA. It is literally advertised as being in a BOWL so my friend and I were really excited about getting a GIANT mimosa. Heart breaker — it wasn’t that giant. YET, it was still visibly a bowl so it wasn’t even classy. SERIOUSLY, choose one or the other — either be a sophisticated, classy mimosa OR be an absurdly large mimosa for patrons to marvel at.

The current reviews gave average of 4 stars so we thought to try it out.
I was excited about the Strawberry Crunch pancakes, but I was very disappointed,
Our group all agree their eggs were all overcooked.
In fairness though, me and my sister both agree we liked the French Toast Bread Pudding, but this should really be a dessert and not main dish. But then again, you can share a meal with a partner or friend.
The ambience is great though and the hostess was friendly.

I’m really torn between 2 and 3 stars for Bill’s as I had such high hopes at this new location after hearing good things about the San Jose location for years, sadly it just didn’t deliver.
My Husband arrived at 2:20 on a weekday and were seated immediately. The menu is vast with everything you could want for what was for us a very late Breakfast. One thing I noticed right away was that on some of the breakfasts they will allow substitutes but not on others. For example, they will allow to substitute the Toast for a Pancake at a $ 1:50 charge on one side of the menu but not on the other and when I asked if I could substitute Potatoes (more costly than toast) for a Pancake I was told no, because of this I ended up ordering the Egg’s Benedict and a single Almond Joy Pancake meaning I had more carbs than I actually wanted while my Husband had the Bread Pudding French Toast Combo.
The plates both looked very appealing and a good sized but the first thing I noticed was how overcooked my Eggs were (
) as well as the Ham also being overcooked and dry. I informed the server when he came back to check on us to which I was told ”Do you want a new one? The kitchen is closing but I can ask”, I interpreted that as they could make another one but really they don’t want to and as I was hungry and already eaten half I declined. Taste wise it was ok, borderline mediocre, lacking in salt and pepper for sure.
The Pancake (
) was ok, thick and fluffy yet lacking in any Coconut or Almond flavor.
The Bread Pudding French Toast was good though, dense, nutty and served with Banana’s, which were sadly a little mushy. More like true Bread Pudding than French Toast. (
) I wouldn’t have it as a main meal though, more Dessert-​like than a meal.
I’m not sure if maybe because this location is new that they’re still trying to find their feet or this is what the food is like at Bill’s but I’m in no hurry to return just yet.