Cafe Bernardo

3−½ stars. Food is simply prepared, but ingredients are good quality. It’s a casual atmosphere and good for brunch or lunch with the family. It used to be easy to find parking in the area, but with all of the new apartments and places opening up in midtown, you have to circle the block a couple of times now to find a spot.

This was my first time dining here with my boyfriend and the atmosphere felt pretty nice, but for some reason I had higher expectations for their food than I thought.
We ordered: Bernardo Benedict, Amaretto Brioche French Toast, Garlic Fries, and Hot Chocolate
The Bernardo Benedict was probably the most tasty dish out of everything we ordered. The flavoring of the hollandaise was delicious, but the potatoes were a little on the lemony side and the bread underneath of the eggs were a little too hard for my liking. It was not traditional English muffin, but instead one of their house-​made bread. My boyfriend enjoyed it much more than me.
The Amaretto Brioche French Toast was alright, nothing special and I had to drench it with syrup for more flavor. The pieces of fruit they sprinkled on top tasted like it was from the can, but I could be wrong.
Don’t bother ordering the Garlic Fries, it wasn’t worth the $ 3.25 we paid for it. Fries were bland and the garlic seemed raw, with still a zing to them. Had to dunk them in ketchup to eat.
Hot Chocolate was served in a bowl, wasn’t expecting that, would’ve liked it in a cup/​mug instead. Tasted watery and didn’t have a lot of chocolate flavor.
I’d come back for the Bernardo Benedict, but would probably order other items on their menu next time.

If you are looking for good food in downtown Sac try café Bernardo and you will not regret it. I had grilled salmon BLT and it was bomb! I love the way they made it. Next time I will try their Pizza that my friend said it was so good. Highly recommended and the price not cheap but affordable.

***3.5 stars***
i joined my friends for brunch at this café at the conclusion of the california international marathon (cim) since it was only ½ mile from the finish line. one of my friends, who used to live in sac’town, suggested this café b/​c she loved their brunch menu, which consisted of egg dishes, sammies, salads, and burgers. the only catch? we could not reserve a table in advance, which would make it tricky to seat a large party of 10… most of whom would have just completed 26.2 miles and would be famished upon arrival!
before our group’s agreed upon meeting time, i called the café, and was happily surprised when they told me that there was not currently a wait, and that they would have room for a party of (10) either on their patio outside or upstairs in their expanded seating area. one of our friends had brought her dog, and the person on the phone told me that dogs were allowed outside as they are a very pet friendly establishment. score!
when we walked over, we actually entered the bar side of the café, and were later told that we should walk around to the back, which is where the café is. the rear, outdoor patio was definitely closer to what we were expecting! we had no trouble getting assistance putting two large tables together, and assembling the proper number of chairs for our party. ironically, there was another group of cim finishers at the adjacent table, as i noticed the finisher’s medals and space wraps on some of the guests at that table.
since you have to go inside to order and pay at the counter, we took turns watching our friend’s shiba inu at the table outside. when it was my turn, i saw the salmon salad and wanted to order it, but was told that they didn’t serve that dish at lunch, nor did they have many of the other salads on the menu. bummer… that was disappointing! i settled on the black bean burger which consisted of a veggie patty with brown rice and black beans, topped with jack cheese, avocado, pickled jalapeño, tomato, red onion, and aioli sauce for ($ 8.95). i requested no cheese and asked if they could leave out the jalapeño since i’m unable to take the spice. i also added a side of sweet potato fries ($ 2.50) for some beta carotene (and lots of salt!)
my order actually took quite some time to arrive, in fact, all of my friends who had ordered egg dishes, even those who placed orders after me, had been served before my plate was finally ready. the black bean burger was just average, but it was topped with a decent amount of avocados, tomatoes, and onions. they were quite generous with the sweet potato fries as more than half my plate was covered with these bright orange sticks of fried goodness! i’m ashamed to admit that i actually ate them all! yes, they were that good!
water was self serve, so we had to grab water glasses in the rear of the restaurant and help ourselves to cold water in the metal container. unfortunately, there was only one, so customers and wait staff had to take turns filling up water glasses.
as a whole, i enjoyed dining at this casual café since it was the perfect venue for our large party of 10 to enjoy some warm food after the race. the location was far enough from the heart of downtown (and the finish line) that it wasn’t packed to the gills and never too loud. good choice for a post-​race meal, or any meal when visiting sacramento.

Everytime we come to Sac, we come here! We had the butternut squash pancakes and delicious fruit bowl and were not disappointed! The fruit bowl had strawberry, Apple, blueberry and banana.
The environment is super nice (on 15^th)! Indoor and outdoor seating and dog friendly.

Came here with my boyfriend this past Friday and thought to give this place a try.
I was a bit confused as I had originally called R15, but Café Bernardo picked up and stated a greeting from them and R15. I asked them about their menu and the person I spoke with was very helpful and had told me about their new additions to their menu.
I was eagerly excited to try their butternut squash soup and I saw on Unilocal pictures of their kale caesar salad.
We got there and it wasn’t too busy. The bar next door, R15, looked packed whereas the restaurant was still quiet. The menu is above the cashier area so there is no difficulty seeing their choices.
I had ordered their butternut squash soup (bowl size), kale caesar salad with chicken (small) and an order of their honey lemonade.
My soup is perfect for one person. However, I was turned off by how sweet the soup was. I’m used to butternut squash soup to have a kick to it, but this was just too sweet for my liking.
For the kale caesar, I know that kale is naturally bitter, so I assumed that the caesar dressing would mask the kales bitterness. The first few bites were delicious but once I ate all the parmesan cheese that was on the salad i started to taste the bitterness of the kale. The dressing was delicious but the kale unfortunately overpowered the dressing. I asked for extra dressing and it didn’t do much. I would love this salad if they used dark leafy lettuce because the dress was just yummy!
The honey lemonade was delicious! I like my lemonades more on the tart side so I was happy to taste that the lemonade wasn’t too sweet. I didn’t taste a difference compared to a home made lemonade, but my taste buds were happy to taste an authentic glass of lemonade =]
I’ll definitely give this place another go. I’ll most likely order something different. =]

The staff here are always nice and friendly. I usually come here for the breakfast and I have not been disappointed yet.

Ambience is chill. Friendly staff, but food is just average. I think they have better breakfast items than lunch & dinner. Had their chicken sandwich it was well over priced with a ¼ piece of chicken breast that lacked flavor and plain ciabatta bread. So annoying and disappointing eating bland food…

The food was delicious. I couldn’t decide between the frittata or the French toast and the cashier made the best suggestion. Order the frittata and a half order of French toast!!! It was just perfect. My cousin got the chillaquilles and I wish we could have known the eggs came over easy so we could have asked for them scrambled, regardless it was Still good and the chile Verde was Spicey and delicious. I will be back for sure. Oh and before we left we had to take some dessert to go. Cupcakes were perfection!!!

Food came out cold. Overpriced for what you get. They were out of the ham as well.
Super bummed.

This place is so good. The lady and I usually get the BLT Salmon Sandwich minus the B and a salad to share. Make sure to get some of the garlic fries too.
TRY THE HONEY LEMONADE! It’s one of the best drinks ever.

One of my favorite summer salmon salads! Wish it was a slightly larger portion for the price though.

I had the Amaretto French Toast. It was good. Sunday Breakfast is pretty busy.

Very sweet and wonderful staff!
My dad wanted to check out my apartment nearby and so we came here for a bite to eat.
After calling and asking if it was ok to bring my dog (which I was told absolutely) my dad and I sat on the patio. Usually it’s counter service but the girl working (blue eyes, light hair color) was nice enough to give us table service. She even brought out water for my dog!
Extremely nice and helpful and was punctual on refills.
Food is amazing! I had the salmon BLT and my dad had the habanero burger. We were very happy with our choices
Saturday I came in with a friend and grandma and the staff was again helpful and friendly. They are quick to clean the dirty tables and seem to help the line quickly.
I tried the breakfast Egg sandwich. This food is tasty!
I am very happy that this place is so close to my apartment.

Nope. I got taken out to breakfast for Mother’s Day and we decided to try this place based on reviews and recommendations. I got the Cheddar Biscuit with Sausage and Gravy with an extra side of turkey sausage.
It came out and just looked gross but hey, I don’t judge based on looks most of the time. First bite… meh. As I kept eating, it seemed to taste worse. The biscuit were burnt, the sausage was dry as all get out and the gravy was bland. My side of sausage was burnt around the edge on one side, was dry, and bland. This was disappointing to say the least. It didn’t help that I felt sick after.
The service was fine so they got that going for them.

We were going to go to the Tower Café but the wait for table was 1hour. We decided to check out café Bernardo. I had been to other Bernardos in the past and found them to be very good. We were having a late lunch. We wanted relatively fast service and good food. We found just that here. The prices were moderate and the service above your average. We all finished our various orders and were more than happy with our entres. Parking was free since it was a Sunday. That made things easy. It’s a very casual place with some outdoor seating.
It seemed like a fine place to enjoy a Sunday brunch or lunch.

Flipped the eggs off the top of my dish to look for a bite of chorizo. Why does my chilequiles have no meat in it? Why did it cost $ 9 for some eggs and soggy tortilla chips? Food was cold, service was super slow and not friendly. Never coming back here again.
Edit: I ended up with a massive stomach ache driving home too… Nuff said.

I’ve eaten at one of their locations maybe 10 years ago, so in terms of my review this is basically my first experience.
My mother took me here on Saturday because if you’re signed up for their club you get $ 20 for your birthday! I think that’s extremely generous as it’s more than enough to feed two people.
I had the chilaquiles. Yum! Tortilla chips topped with two fried eggs, salsa verde, sour cream, and cheese. It had a nice kick to it and I loved how the chips were not overly soggy. Kinda wish it came with potatoes or beans, but this was very filling on its own. Next time I will try the huevos rancheros as I was deciding between the two.
My mother had the amaretto brioche French toast. Four thick slices of French toast topped with powder sugar, butter, and almonds. The syrup came on the side. I tried it and it was sweet and tasty.
We had some money left so we ordered a small Thai noodle salad to go. Yum! Thin noodles coated in a peanut sauce with chicken, carrots, cucumber, cabbage, and peanuts. It is very light and refreshing. The portion is also huge. My mom says you get even more when you get it dine-​in.
I like how you order your food at the front counter, but they bring you your food. They cater to the customers but you don’t have to tip. The atmosphere is nice as there are different chandeliers hanging and tall windows letting in tons of sunlight. It is connected to a bar as well, if you want a drink. The staff were all very friendly.
Note: breakfast served until 1pm on Saturdays.

Another place checked off my bookmarks! A nice place to visit for brunch. Went today around 11:30 to grab brunch menu (which lasts until 2pm on Sundays!) and took a seat outside. It was such a beautiful day out, but there were flies everywhere and an odd dumpster-​like smell.
At Café Bernardo you order at the counter then take a seat, then they’ll bring your food to you. Reminded me of Crepeville. They had a lot of brunch options… couldn’t decide between a waffle, benedict, or French toast, but ultimately went with the Bernardo Benedict and a watermelon lemonade. The benedict was good, but perhaps the wrong type of bread because it was too crunchy to cut with the knife they give. Either that, or add more hollandaise.
Prices are affordable, $ 28 for brunch for two, but I felt the meal prices were a couple dollars overpriced for the amount of food that comes out.
I would definitely come back whenever I want some brunch, and it’s a plus that they serve it still in the afternoon!

I feel like I should eat here more often! I’ve had their Thai noodle salad a few times, pretty good. I think I had a bad experience with the K Street location because the service was crappy, which stopped me from going to any of the other locations. Anyhow, it’s been a year, I’m over it now.
The rating is for the food, I ordered while having happy hour next door at the bar. Instead of bar food, I wanted a salad and got the grilled salmon salad. I think I saw a review for it and decided to give it a go. It was a huge plate of greens with a nice piece of salmon on top. The citrus vinaigrette was perfect and light, I believe there were mango pieces and pumpkin seeds on it too. Yum!
I want to try brunch now.