Jak’s Cafe and Espresso

Great place to sit and relax while waiting for your food. My wife said the vanilla latte was the best she ever had. She had a rueben panini and potato salad. I tried each and they were terrific. I had turkey vegetable soup and chef salad. I recommend them. The only reason I can’t go 5 stars is the ‘waiter’ had huge holes in his ears. A bit much for my wife n I. The other staff were clean, neat and fun. I’ll be back, JAK.

Great food! Loved the biscuits !!! Nice and cozy atmosphere. Good waitstaff we were all taken care of. I’d like to try more.

My younger son and I were hungry while waiting for my elder son to finish his piano lesson. I took a chance on this little café and was happy with the experience. The food was very good. I had the grilled pastrami with quinoa salad. The best part though is that they were very kind in preparing a custom sandwich for my son, who has special needs and, therefore, special eating habits, which would be perceived as picky by some. We ordered his roast beef on wheat with olive oil, cheddar cheese on the side, and he wolfed it down. It made me especially happy to see him eating so well, considering that keeping weight on a special needs kid is not easy. His only recommendation is that he would have preferred Tillamook medium cheddar. The owner and the sandwich maker were very kind and attentive. The prices are more than we can afford on a regular basis, but I do understand how hard it is to keep a small business afloat in today’s economy as I own my own business. So, I am happy to support this local business when I have a bit of extra cash in my pocket. It made for a fun break – we took our sandwiches down to the waterfront a couple blocks away to eat.
–Editor Melinda

Very good food and wonderful service. The omelets are baked so take 25 min. Worth it. I’m a decaf drinker so they freshly brewed each cup. Nice!

Favorite place to stop for breakfast! Try a breakfast sandwich with meunster cheese :-D so incredibly delicious. This morning they were out but recommended another delicious cheese for me to try. Wonderful customer service, nice gals. Yes, it is a little slow sometimes; but it’s a little local place, not a giant chain.

Haven’t had the chance to eat here, yet, but this has become our go-​to place for coffee ever since we moved to town last month. Their espresso drinks are amazing. The staff is friendly and helpful, telling us about all of the local places that we need to check out.
They lose a star for the additional charge for credit cards. Kind of ridiculous on a $ 7 coffee order, and I don’t usually carry cash.

Arrived in the mid afternoon from Buffalo to grab a couple sandwiches to go. The staff was extremely nice and the sandwiches were very delicious and made with care, plus the side potato salad rocks!

Awesome little shop with food that packs a punch of home cooking without frying anything. Great sandwiches with the best ingredients. Boars Head meats that I can even get sliced here cheaper then the deli. The pies are killer good… my favorite is the hazelnut chocolate cream pie. Omg. Just special order a whole one cuz if Jak makes it, your lucky to get a slice before it’s gone. They have gluten free options and amazing breakfast. The coffee is made to perfection. There are great kid food & drink options. Eating outside on a nice day is a treat in the cute little neighborhood it’s in. The dinners that she puts together are home cooken without the dishes and shopping and mixing and baking and what’s the point… oder dinner here before 4 and enjoy your night. Tell Julie, the chef/​owner with the crazy red hair that Susanna sent cha. I love stopping in this place whenever I’m in Poulsbo.

I wanted to love Jak’s since we just moved a block away and figured it could be our Sunday breakfast stop after we walk our dog. The service is very pleasant and the food isn’t terrible, but the 30 minute wait from ordering to table when there is literally one other table was more than a little frustrating.
Then the bill arrived. For prices like that, my opinion of the food dimmed significantly. This spot is not on our return list.

I still think they deserve props for GF options but after coming in a dozen times, I have realized several things after watching them closely:
1) No glove changes between GF & gluten product handling, much less after handling deli products. Food handling skills update is needed.
2) No separate cutting boards or knives to slice bread that is GF or regular
3) Way, way too long to make a sandwich. 30 mins for tuna fish? 25 mins for vegetable? Come on. One lovely girl does all the coffee & sandwiches while someone else mans the register. Why not train both people because this Unilocaler will be going elsewhere… my house to make the same sandwich in ¹⁄₃ time for ¹⁄₃ price.
4) $ 1 credit card charge on top of a $ 10 (for a small GF sandwich) isn’t worth it to me.
5) The GF bread is from the Essential Baking Company bread with seeds on top. I personally stopped buying this bread bc I don’t like the aftertaste. It is sold cheaply at Costco though, 2 loaves for $ 7.
6) They advertise GF baking classes… why not bake a GF bread & serve that vs the Essential Baking Company bread? It would highlight your skills, serve something people can’t/don’t make at home & would be unique to you.
Pros: friendly, good food, dog friendly, menu variety, location.
This doesn’t negate the aforementioned issues tho. I’m not sure what has happened to the place. It will be a while until I return unfortunately

She tries hard, really hard, but misses the mark.
Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, nice. Coffee, gross. Breakfasts is way off, baked goods are silly, at best. They make some of their own stuff, they bring other stuff in from outside vendors. Pretty sure they carry Essential Baking’s «chocolate croissant», which looks like some sort of square shellfish with brown… things coming out of it. It got me thinking. I know what that is, that’s not a chocolate croissant, that’s a pain au chocolat! Sure enough, do a quick image search and that’s exactly what it is. If you’re going to carry something and call it a baguette, then call your pain au chocolat, pain au chocolat. If you’re going to call your pain au chocolat a croissant, then call your baguette French bread.
If you want to eat a meal or a snack that has that feel that someone made it at home but you want to pay like someone made it in a restaurant, this is the place to go. As I said in the beginning, she tries hard and it’s so clear that she loves what she’s doing and her business, which is awesome, that level of passion is wonderful to see, but it needs to be refined a lot more.
When I order a latte and the person preparing the drink pours milk into an unrinsed pitcher (what was in it before? Soy, hello allergy controls and cross contamination procedures), tosses it up onto a dirty wand, cranks on the steam and then leaves the pitcher up there with no hands on it, I know I’m in for trouble.
And I was right.
It was a cup of hot milk with what had to be the worst tasting shots I’ve ever had. So heavy, so dense, so bad.
I wanted to like this place, I love cute little cafes in little towns with fresh baked stuff. I really wanted to love it here, but I just couldn’t.
Some folks rave about this place, and that’s okay, there’s something for everyone out there, this place just wasn’t for me.
I went 3 times and likely won’t return.
Powdered hollandaise mix on the shelf… ugh… come on… If you can’t make a mother sauce, it might be time to step out of the kitchen.

Jak’s is wonderful. I love that they serve Boar’s Head deli meet for their sandwiches. The staff are amazing and friendly and they love kids and families!

Jak’s is a great spot to grab coffee, breakfast, or even lunch. There is always something different being cooked daily, in addition to the regular menu. Great place for coffee meet-​ups, or small group gatherings as well.

Delicious, flavorful homemade fresh food! friendly personable smiling staff. I had their twist on a club with the honey mustard instead of mayo soooooo yum. The potato salad is over the top good. i will return and recommend over and over again.

Great turkey sandwich and supreme gluten free peanut butter cookies

Man, I was SO excited about this place! I saw their signs on the main drag and quickly Unilocaled them and saw they had over 4 stars! When I saw their «gluten free» advertisement, I got excited because I assumed that meant fresh produce and amazing, homemade deli options. When I first came in, it went ok. The waitress was a little strange and seemed confused most of the time. It was pretty obvious that the place is frequented by many regulars, since the owner knew most people by name. However, maybe since I don’t eat lunch there everyday, the service I received was shoddy. I waited almost an hour for a salad with un-​toasted, sliced bread. Seemed a little ballsy to me to charge $ 10 for a half-​sized salad made with iceberg lettuce. The «gorgonzola vinaigrette» (the reason I made that selection) was basically tasteless. Then, after waiting forever for my credit card to come back, I realized the waitress charged me more than the check! However, since my lunch hour was far from over, I didn’t have time to correct her. The only good things were quality drip coffee and the raspberry cheesecake bar. I wish I had saved my pennies and gone somewhere else on the main drag. :(

Service was terrible. Four of us went here for breakfast after camping and we were looking forward to a nice breakfast. At first the waitress was on getting us water and our first coffees but it went down hill from there. We went on an hour without food or a water/​coffee refills. No mention of them running behind. We had to flag the waitress down only after she brought us our food which was over cooked and overpriced. At the very least I would have liked an apology for how long it was taking but we got nothing. I will skip this place next time. Almost 2 hours later and we are finally on our way home.

Stopped in here for breakfast right as they opened one morning last week.
I found this place on Unilocal and had a few hours to kill before riding the ferry back to Seattle.
There was no one else inside when I arrived at 8am (go figure as they open at 8am) and no one else came in while I sat there until about 9:20ish.
I ordered the special cappuccino for the day — a carmel pecan latte which was delish.
They offer free wi-​fi which was nice so I could surf the internet while waiting for my breakfast and enjoying my cappuccino.
I ordered the steel-​cut oats which came with brown sugar and cream and it was a very good-​sized portion of oats. More than enough to fill you up at breakfast time.
But I also ordered the fresh-​baked biscuit which had ham, cheese, and herbs baked all throughout it. It was just being made when I arrived so it took about 20 minutes before it was ready but when it was brought out, mmmmm, heaven. Oh my god it was good. I took it to go and took another to take back with me to the hotel it was so good.
I had a really pleasant experience here with very good food, wifi, pleasant café seating and surroundings, ample parking, and good company from the nice lady inside.
I planned to come back the following day for lunch as their lunch sandwiches looked delicious, but I ended up being pulled in another direction due to time.
Still, next time I’m in town for a meeting, I’ll be stopping in here again.
MMmmm!

From all appearances, you wouldn’t expect much from this place. It looks like the standard little espresso place nestled in an upscale strip mall in the middle of a planned neighborhood. You might expect decent coffee and a few pastries. The sleeper here is the food.
I’ve often said that the mark of a great restaurant is that the menu sounds good, but the food far exceeds the expectations created by the menu. After visiting such a place a few times, you’re willing to try something new just because you know they’re going to make it better than you imagine. That’s Jak’s.
I’ve only eaten there for breakfast, but in my three visits I have been blown away by the flavor and care they put into each dish. If you have the time to wait for it, get the baked omelette. It takes about 25 minutes to prepare, but it’s well worth the wait. The Eggs Benedict and the Corned Beef Hash and Eggs are also fantastic.
Here’s one little sign of the care they put into their dishes. I asked for jam for my toast, and they brought out homemade Strawberry Rhubarb jam. They could have opened a jar of Smucker’s and I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but instead they put a crowning touch on a breakfast that was already delicious.
In my opinion, Jak’s is the Stealth Best Breakfast in Poulsbo.
The interior can be a bit warm at times, but there’s a nice courtyard outside with plenty of tables (if it doesn’t rain).

Although the pulled pork sandwich was their lunch special, it was just O.K. but what would keep me coming back would be their clam chowder (the best I’ve had on this side of the Rockies), their espresso, and their service. I love when a coffee comes to the table as a work of art — I got the mocha and it made me smile. The prices are good for the portions, and the atmosphere is perfect for the small-​town feel.
I haven’t had anything else from here, but look forward to returning for a mid-​day mocha and another bowl of the heavenly chowder.