Cafe 976

Not the first time I had bad service in this place but today when I went to grab some lunch with my girlfriend I was treated like absolute shit! Both servers were so rude and inconsiderate. We walked out! This place is horrible! Shame on you

I am from arizona and I always make it to this place she I am in San Diego. I came to day and brought family. I am glad I came today because tidy is the last day they will be open great food great atmosphere I will miss it

Service was pretty bad, slow, inconsiderate, actually rude right off the bat. The cappuccinos were scalding hot, and the excuse was the barista basically intentionally burns the milk. The food was decent, but our acai bowl soupy like not even smoothie worthy. Bagel and burrito were good.

What a bummer. This place is very close to my house and when we moved here we were so excited about the cute café down the street. However, each and every encounter we have had here was extremely negative. The staff is rude. Period. Every single employee I’ve been served by or spoken to seems bothered by my presence. Food takes absolutely forever for very poor quality. Ordered a grilled cheese with avocado one time and literally received two very small pieces of bread with one slice of cheddar cheese and (I kid you not) a slice of avocado.
For such a beautiful location in PB, an awesome patio, and wonderful ambience they are completely blowing it. And apparently I’m not the only person who has noticed.

I think Café 976 is great. This place is down the street from my house, so it’s super convenient for me and I love getting a little stroll in. The ambience is what drew me to this place — it’s basically a café in the middle of a garden with a lots of outdoor seating. It’s beautiful and there are lots of shaded areas of extra sunny days. My favorite thing on the menu is their coffee — they’re specialty coffees and lattes are great, but honestly, their drip coffee is really, really good! They’ve got tons of great options for breakfast, brunch, and lunch, including sandwiches, bagels, eggs, granola, and acai bowls.
There are a few reasons why I’m giving this place 3 stars and not higher. The service is average — they can be slow to take your order, attend to needs, and one time the server totally forgot to put it my order, which was just an acai bowl. Sometimes, the tables are wobbly or unclean, but this can generally be fixed pretty easily.
Over the years, I’ve typically gotten one of their quiches. I’ve recently come to find out that they actually don’t make their quiches at Café 976 and they order them from a third party supplier. However, for several months now (I’m talking like 6 months, guys) they have been «out» of quiches. I finally asked what was up because I didn’t understand why it would still be included on the menu if they were always out and apparently they are having issues with the third party supplier. I recommended putting a sign up that says they are out or maybe adding a sticker to the menu to cover up the quiche options. So far, nothing has been done and it’s getting a little annoying — probably for the servers to who always have to tell everyone they are still out.
All in all, I recommend this place for the awesome patio, good food, and good coffee :)

This place so French. I like the beautiful outdoor… Good tea selection. Inside feels little depressing and waitress was not all cool. The energy is low in there for some reason. But outside garden beautiful

I’m not sure why this place has 3 ½ stars honestly. I mean to this day I haven’t gotten to eat anything other then a brownie and coffee… but the vibe and energy the place has is so sweet. It’s a perfect lunch meet up spot or even work spot! Free wifi plus great customer service. It’s definitely a very local spot.

This place is by far the best café in pb. It has such a chilled out and relaxing vibe. With awesome music paying all the time. Great place to meet up for a drink with a friend or to study alone. Their isn’t that much distractions so it’s a great place to study.
Food and drinks are petty good as well. I usually get a fresh herbal tea and a pastry.
They have indoor and outdoor seating which is so oooooo nice when it’s nice out like today!

Decent smoothie and atmosphere but unfriendly (bitchy) staff. Will definitely try another place when I am in the area again.

I am writing this review today, even though my «dining experience» was over a year ago, is because I was talking to a friend of mine on facebook and we were joking how she wanted to open up a restaurant with a «cottage style» theme. This reminded me of my Café 976 breakfast event.
My computer needed a tuneup and there is a computer repair shop across the street. Can’t remember the name, it’s on the 2^nd floor, directly across from the Post Office on Cass Street. Great shop by the way! It was a Saturday and i thought, «They probably open at 9am, I’ll get there early and be the first one in the door.» So I go and they did not open until 10am, so now I have an hour to wait.
So I walk down the steps and see café 976. I’ve never eaten there before and figure, let’s do breakfast. The setting is beautiful, white picket fence, flowers everywhere, very scenic!
After being seated inside, I am looking at the menu and waiting for someone to come to to my table. And waiting. And waiting some more! It took 12 minutes (no NOT a typo, twelve minutes!) for a live person to approach me! This is only 9am in the morning, 3 tables were seated outside, only 4 tables (including me) had customers inside.
The server (and I will use this term LOOSELY) took my order, with a very bland attitude! I ordered an omelette with coffee and juice. Their menu is very extensive and looked very appetizing.
I drank my first cup of coffee and waited… and waited… and waited for a refill! Where are the employees in this place? The food finally arrived, my omelette was OK, nothing special, and no, I never did get my orange juice!
I finished my meal, motioned a server (mine seemed to disappear to some other planet!) and finally got my check.
I went up the counter to pay and waited… and waited… and waited for someone to come to the register so i could pay my bill!
Finally, I escaped from Café 976! I went back over to the computer store (about a 3 minute walk, if that) and guess what? They were already open because it was past 10am!
DO NOT be influenced by the exterior setting of Café 976! it’s been in Pacific Beach for almost 20 years now, so it is not a «new establishment.» I have heard good things about it over the years, but obviously it has GONE DOWNHILL since then!
Save your money folks! Do NOT EAT AT CAFE 976!
If you want an EXCELLENT BREAKFAST EXPERIENCE, go up the street to Broken Yolk Café on Garnet Avenue. The food is amazing, the service excellent (the owner is John, I know him, a GREAT guy!) and you will walk out full and happy!

Had breakfast here and enjoyed the location and eating outside. The gardens are very pretty!
The coffee flavors were endless and we tried two different ones. Liking both enough were I will walk over before work and get one (live a block away).
Food was also very good. I had a waffle with fresh fruit and he had a burrito. His burrito was super flavorful with the yummy potatoes and a good amount of meat.
Price was great for this breakfast. This is not a place to come however if you are in a rush. It’s more laid-​back, enjoy, talk with your friends and family type of place. Which I love, to many places these days just want to get you in and out. The menu also specifically states the wait time for food could be up to 45 minutes. So put your phone down and enjoy the gardens and your family and friends.
*to speed up process ask for check when you get your food. That way you can pay and once you are done you can leave.

I love how this place is lauds out. It’s a gem amongst the usual PB crowded streets. It’s two blocks from work and love coming here for meeting, lunches, mid day tea to little quite time to get away. Friendly staff and food options are the highlight amongst the ambiance.

I had breakfast there today with my wife — the atmosphere was absolutely perfect. Nice patio and garden, good coffee, excellent burrito!

My husband and I had a delicious breakfast here — the Cali burrito and acai bowl are really yummy. Fresh, flavorful ingredients, delish coffee and a lovely setting in an old Victorian house full of sunlight, plants, flowers, and colorful décor. What’s not to like? We experienced none of the issues noted below and our waitress was prompt and efficient. Highly recommended!

I’ve been frequenting 976 for 19 years .In fact, it was the first café I ate at THE DAY I moved to Pacific Beach in 1996… THEN Charming, Clean and Vibrant. Delicious!
NOW Dull, Dirty, Depressing… Umm Let’s just say Not Delicious !! I hate to give a 1star review but over the last several years this place has gone to shambles .the condition, the service. the food. .All of it! I could write story after story on the good At first And now the bad and the ugly but Really. I just don’t want to relive it ! I will just tell you my Last And Final time of being A customer at 976 …Called to order a soyrizo burrito to go… commonly ordered over Many years during my lunch break. Went 20 minutes later to pickup… Oh what? Oh I’m sorry we didn’t get your order? ?.. ok…grrr…Reordered And received No Apologies .Now I’m 10 minutes into my 30 minute break… Ordered a ice tea. .$ 12 and change later. oh and I tipped a buck at the counter. .Waiting. .waiting. .waiting. .No tea??. Waiting. .15 minutes! ?!! And now keep in mind, It’s between two and three in the afternoon. .Not peak hours. Not Busy… Waiting. .Thinking Am I invisible?.. .Watching staff. They’re not working. Listening. .Overhearing about some employees weekend, and Another employee talk about what they are doing tonight. .coordinating rides… blah, blah, blah. .Man Where is my burrito!? And Iced Tea… After 20 minutes of being a Wallflower I approach the counter, only 3 feet away. Excuse me, Any chance that Iced Tea and burrito I ordered 20 minutes ago are ready?
Ohh.lemme check… Ohh Here’s your burrito. .oh good Thanks ! And the tea???
Oh actually we are All out of Iced Tea at the moment. .but we can make more .It’ll just take 5 minutes. .Haaa! You’re kidding Right? Fuming now !! Nevermind I need to get back to work .no time. .Not to mention Break Is Over. .I leave. Walking back to office I begin shoveling the soyrizo burrito into my mouth. What’s this? Flavorless food. .Where’s the soyrizo?? Omg it’s chicken !! !! .I offer it to a homeless man .And So much for lunch. .Thanks 976… One example of Soo many like this in the past few years. .I believe the core of the issues stem from poor management. .Get it together guys! !

Why do coffee shops let their employees play acid metal music??? This is so nerve racking. Can’t even have a conversation with the distorted guitars thrashing and heavy drum solos. It’s a coffee shop, not a dive bar on El Cajon. Argh.

Beautiful place and rad location to start. Walked over to grab a quick bite before heading over to the harbor for a day out on the boat. Around 9:45am on a Wednesday we approached the garden and saw no staff. We descended the stairs and entered through to the back room where there was a hostess stand, and a counter where people where ordering food.
After waiting at the hostess stand without a hello or even eye contact, we decided to just get in line and order. We did so assuming that this was a order at the counter and take it to an available table, seeing as though we had been here for 10 minutes with no staff assistance or acknowledgement yet.
After ordering our food the cashier asks if we are dining there to which I said yes. He then informed us that we could not order food from him and had to wait for a server. I explained to him our search for one and our previous wait, to which he replied we could take our meal to go… wow. just wow.
So we waited for the orders to come up and as steam was rising off my scalp I decided to ask the cashier if we could eat outside anyway. He replied yes with much reticence, and so we sat outside and ate.
Management needs to reevaluate the floorplan of where the hostess stand should be, and also maybe the role of who works outside and behind the counter.
The soy chorizo burrito and acai bowl were good though.

Thankfully my iced coffee was great, or else this place would get one star. The service here sucks. The staff is unfriendly and rude, which probably contributes to why it takes forever to place an order. Put a smile on and pretend you want to work today guys.

The best part of this place is the outdoor seating which was lovely today. Unfortunately, service was very slow, waited 20 minutes for coffee and when it came (after we finally got up to ask for it) it was full of coffee grinds. Server asked if it was too grindy — since when does drip coffee have grinds? We ordered the potatoes crispy but did not come that way although the eggs were cheesy and tasty. Being on a Thursday mid-​morning, there were not a lot of tables seated. Cute place but would not come back based on service.

The place is cute but the food is below mediocre. I got the soyrizo burrito and there was no flavor. My bf got the Mexican breakfast plate and he was not satisfied. Service is slow and they weren’t that busy. I wouldn’t recommend this place when there are many great breakfast/​brunch places in San Diego.

This is my go to coffee place every day sometimes twice a day.
I like Café 976 for various reasons. Beach like casual atmosphere, people doing work during the week, older folks enjoying their coffee/​tea early in the morning, breakfast/​lunch during the weekend. Truly whenever you visit Café 976 the vibe is relaxed and the staff is friendly.
They recently retrained staff and hire new baristas the place seems to be running a lot smoother these days! Keep up the good work guys!

This is a great café, awesome vibes, friendly and quick service. I came with some family who were visiting san diego and they really enjoyed themselves. Also a great place to study. The cashier was very knowledgeable about their fresh tea selection which is a hugh plus.
5 stars!

Fantastic garden atmosphere & great coffee. This place is definitely a study /​work destination. There are always people with laptops inside.
There is lots of seating outdoors & all the plants provide private nooks. Lots of options for sitting in the sun or the shade.
The service has always been pretty slow, but this is because they have very limited staff

I so badly want to give this place 5 stars — the food is delicious and the ambiance is perfect! Cute indoor/​outdoor Internet café, so awesome for a date with your computer. The ONLY negative is the service — it is so strange! I have been coming here for a year and have yet to have a totally normal experience. The servers are nice, just a little off, and sometimes the food can take a minute. BUT, I still recommend it over and over to friends :)
Want menu recommendations? Message me on Lokely!

We were so lucky to score the patio sunroom for our ladies breakfast. It was like having our own little room to share delightful stories and scrambles.
I had the Sevilla + bacon. The PIC (s) loved their scrambles too (Trieste and a Rule Britannia). So get the egg steamers which also comes with scruptious rosemary potatoes.
Our server was super sweet. We adored the rustic cottage feel here and budget friendly to boot :)

On the way to Mission Bay in the early morning, Café 976 looked like a good spot for breakfast when searching through Unilocal.The place sits on the corner of Felspar and Cass down in Pacific Beach about two blocks from the water. Parking for this place can be a nightmare as the day spends on, so if you come after 8 am you might be looking for a while. The eatery on the inside has a dine in area and an area for people to come sit and enjoy coffee. The dine in area is filled with some interesting art on the walls (
) and very small uncomfortable seating. We were told to sit anywhere and waited quite a bit to be served. When we were finally met with our waitress, she put our drink orders and food in at the same time. Their coffee here is quite good but unfortunately I never got a refill of it the whole time because I didn’t get a chance to ask or was even given the option. Their breakfast menu here is quite limited and has only one page of food. They serve omelet-​like entrees called steamers, which is basically a healthier way of cooking the eggs. They also serve a limited menu of French toast and waffle options. Most entrees here will run you about 9 dollars for a meal.
Our food really dragged on getting out of the kitchen, which seemed pretty lousy considering the place was already an hour into opening and there were only two tables of dining going on. I ordered their nutty monkey Belgian waffle (
) which comes topped with bananas and granola. The waffle was definitely on the smaller side of things being unusually small for a typical Belgian. The batter was okay and the waffle was cooked well with a crispy texture on the outside. They added plenty of toppings to it, however I didn’t care for the taste of the granola. For about two dollars extra, they allow you to add some eggs and protein. I asked for some black beans instead of bacon (
) and they tasted pretty lousy bland. The scrambled eggs (
) I’m guessing were steamed as well, I’ve never had eggs that were cooked that way. The texture seemed a bit off on them, they were flaky eggs. My friend ordered a veggie egg steamer (
) that came with just veggies and no cheese. She complained it didn’t taste too good and was a pretty small portion of eggs for how much it cost.
Really what turned us off about this place was the lack of service, unappealing menu, and slowness of getting food out of the kitchen. The food was just okay, but in my opinion isn’t worth for what they’re charging. The coffee for me was the best thing of the meal and I didn’t even get enough of it. Don’t think we’ll cruise back to Café 976 anytime soon, lots of other options in the area.

I really like this neighborhood café. Healthy food, beautiful space, reasonable prices. Teas and coffees are SO good! I’ve been for breakfast and lunch and loved what I got every time. Yesterday was the garden sandwich, which was amazing. I met friends there and wasn’t really hungry, but still devoured the whole thing because it was too good. My friend swore it was the best acai bowl she’s ever had.
If you haven’t stopped by for a healthy meal in the beautiful garden of their patio, you are missing out. :)

Here I be, and still am, sitting on this beautiful day on their beautiful porch. But ye know… it might not be the bestest etiquette for an employee to converse with customers about racist views.
Caucasian, male Café 976 with cool haircut gets in a heated debate with a customer over the new public bicycle racks around San Diego. He doesn’t like the bicycle racks because, and I quote (am I supposed to say «and I quote» while writing for more emphasis), «They are for the Asians so they don’t have to talk to people.»
I’m sitting 4 feet away, staring at the employee. I’m part Asian. I’m confused if I should address his racist remark to his face. After an argument ensues the employee storms off the premises. After I spoke with the customer for clarification (which is a big step for me because half my DNA should preclude me from speaking to strangers), he said he was also upset about the employee’s perspective on Asians and public transit. Apparently the public bicycles will enable people (like Asians) to not converse with store owners to rent bikes.
And like the good half-​Asian that I am, I will halfway speak up and just write a Unilocal review.
3 stars because otherwise (per my other review) I enjoy this place.

I wondered into this café on a whim, but definitely needing a quick cup of coffee. The server was friendly and I chose a table on the porch just outside to people watch. It was quite a respite on a typical summer day in Pacific Beach!
The coffee was a little on the weak side, but I would like to return to try out their baked goods or maybe an Acai bowl and again enjoy the laid back vibe!

Let me craft this review by making a list of everything I LOOOVE about going out to eat, because I think my experience this Sunday morning at Café 976 covered EVERY one!!!
1. I love waiting for a table. I ESPECIALLY love waiting for a table for 35 minutes when the hostess tells you it’ll be 10 – 15 minutes! The suspense only makes me hungrier (and happier! !!!)
2. I love when the hostess seems to be the only one bussing tables. It makes me super confident about how well the establishment is staffed to see one person running around doing everything.
3. I love when you have to wait another 10 minutes for someone (…anyone? Please?) to come by your table with water (didn’t want any, thanks, but who am I to stop your efforts to elongate the drought?) only to discover it’s still not your server, just the hostess doing everything again.
4. It’s definitely a highlight when the Thai tea you order has the all-​too-​familiar taste of a burnt batch of tea, but you drink it anyway because you’re wasting away. Desperation before flavor, please! :-) :-)
5. I absolutely adore it when you order a breakfast «Green Burrito» which comes with spinach, mushrooms, feta cheese, and 3 eggs – and the burrito is 70% raw spinach (really! Not cooked! Even with eggs! How novel!), 10% mushrooms, 15% eggs and 5% feta cheese. What exciting and new ratios! Even more wonderful than the obsessively present spinach was the weird runny stuff coming out of the end of my burrito, which for some odd reason reminded me of the bizarre disclaimer on the first page of the menu (something like «We use real eggs; I swear!») It’s almost like I ordered… a salad. In a burrito. With egg afterthoughts.
6. I have to say, my favorite restaurant experience happened right at the end of our meal. Just after we finished, my lucky friends and I overheard the server at the next table say these delightful words: «I’m sorry. We’re out of eggs.» Gee! Could it be… that they skimped on my «three» eggs in my burritosalad, and perhaps the eggs in boyf’s «three» egg scramble? Surely not… surely they wouldn’t charge full price for skimping on product. Surely. I know there’s an egg shortage. So does everyone who reads the news. So I can’t IMAGINE they’d try to pull the wool over customers’ eyes, either because of a national egg shortage or an ordering mistake rendering Café 976 devoid of eggs on the ONE day of the week people inexplicably desire unfertilized chicken embryos. No, no, no. They wouldn’t do that. Not to customers!!!
For delicious bacon, Café 976 gets one star (I’d give more but I’m currently out of stars due to an ordering error.) Highly recommended if you just took horse tranquilizers and have 976 minutes to waste waiting to see which will kill you first: the crushing, drug-​induced depression or the long, drawn-​out disappointment.

Only go here if you have a large portion of your day to waste. Here is my experience:
I was seated right away. After waiting at my table for about 15 minutes without being greeted or asking what I would like to drink, I flagged down a server. I ordered just a water and breakfast burrito. The food takes an extremely long time. I wish I would have read these other Unilocal reviews before I went in. My breakfast burrito came out about 25 minutes later. I then saw that you can get a free coffee with a Unilocal check-​in and asked how long it would take. The girl said she can get it right away, so I ordered one. After finishing my burrito and paying my bill, my coffee that would be there «right away» was still not there. So, I left without it. Ridiculous excuse for «customer service». They need A LOT of work.

The biggest thing this place has going for them is their location. It’s located on the corner of Cass and Felspar and super close to the beach. Just from streetside view it’s easy to be attracted to this cute little spot (the Café is essentially a house) — bright yellow exterior, painted benches for outside seating, and a wealth of blossoming greenery.
Upon welcome, if you call a waitress’ half-​hearted greeting a welcome, we were automatically directed to outside seating. Nice ambiance, but mind the fleet of flies and smoking pedestrians.
The food was okay. I tried the California Bagel Melt (melted cheese and tomato slices on a bagel of your choice with a side of eggs). The scrambled eggs reminded me of hospital café eggs… you know, the crumbled feta cheese– looking and pale yellow kind of eggs. Mehhhh, in sum, pretty underwhelming.
Service was a bit slow. We received the check faster than we received the food.
Most likely won’t come back.

Ich liebe dieses Café! Ich besuchte es während meines Aufenthaltes in San Diego immer wieder. Da ich lernen musste, suchte ich mir ein gemütliches Café, um trotz Hausaufgaben die Sonne etwas zu geniessen. Das Café hat einen wunderbaren Garten, welcher einem trotz Hausaufgaben ein Feriengefühl bestehen lässt. Neben der netten Atmosphäre und der super netten Bedienung besticht auch das Essen. Die Salate sind super frisch, die Muffins werden einem aufgewärmt und man kann sich jeweils z.B. zwischen verschiedenen Brotarten entscheiden. So kommt jeder auf seinen Geschmack. Erwähnenswert ist zudem, dass sie hier hervorragendes glutenfreies Brot haben. Weiter verkaufen sie super feine glutenfreie Apfel-​Muffins (die besten, die ich je probiert habe!) sowie andere glutenfreie Gebäcke. Auch probieren müsst ihr die kalten Kaffeegetränke. Sie schmecken super, auch wenn ihr nach einem Getränk allenfalls nichts mehr essen mögt ;-)