Lazy Hippo

In town from LA I came to Unilocal after walking by. The café is cute and cozy and I wanted something different than the loud bars for a Sunday brunch before driving back to LA.
This spot was the perfect place, maybe a tiny bit cheesy in décor and a lot of options on the menu… However, I was pleasantly surprised. My boyfriend was with me and we were given huge cups of coffee and water right away. We had forgotten something at our hotel so I ordered for us while he went to make a call and hopefully retrieve our forgotten item. The staff was friendly and aware of what was happening even though we didn’t tell them one of us had to walk back to the hotel. The food came out about 5 minutes after I returned and it was hot and fresh — not just sitting under a heat lamp. I thought that was so amazing and very nice of them.
As for the food, we both ordered egg plates with bacon, potatoes and French toast (or a pancake or waffle). It was a lot of food and neither of us could finish everything!
I’d recommend this spot if you’re looking for a cozy atmosphere and great service, with a yummy, no fluff breakfast.

Great little breakfast find. Cute little outdoor patio was perfect for Saturday brunch. Great menu of items, lots of sides included. Great coffee was added bonus. Service was a little slow but I was definitely not in a rush. It was nice to be able to enjoy the meal and not feel rushed

The breakfast here was Amazing!!! The homemade sausage was delicious and the Bloody Mary is a meal in itself!!! Excellent service and good portions. The outdoor dining was perfect!

Very cute place. Service was friendly and fast! The food was great (my favorite was the bite of cinnamon roll pancake I stole from my husbands plate!).

We were waiting in line at Cafe222; 45 min wait for breakfast hell no! A local passed by and told us about the Lazy Hippo… thank you O’ye kind local! No wait, great service that was slow (only reason it’s 4 not 5 stars) but so well worth it… food was heavenly (maybe cause I was hungry) or at least great. Skip the lines and go to this place… non-​pretentious and good.

Amazing breakfast! We had chicken sausage and chicken cilantro crepes, both very very good and well presented.

I was taking my mom to Café 222 for breakfast, but we saw this place when we were parking and decided to try it. It’s very cute. We sat out on the patio and ordered coffee. I also had the smoked salmon bagel and cream cheese, arugula, tomato and onion. I added a fried egg to it. Everything was very good and fresh. The waiter was very sweet and attentive and gave us a tour of the whiskey bar that they own next door as well. I would definitely go back and try lunch next time.

This place is so cute. I was in town for a convention and ran into it. I went 3 time. They had a great special for 5 dollars. It was traditional eggs and bacon with toast. Exactly what I wanted. They use the yummy toast and bacon was perfect. Their tea is also delicious. I also had the breakfast sandwich and it was amazing. They have a small patio area that is perfect. The servers were all very friendly. Will definitely be back during next visit.

A great menu with nuances on the familiar (blueberry pancakes with chia seed that adds great texture), great service and a really warm and cozy environment made the Lazy Hippo our go to destination for breakfast and lunch for our weeklong conference.
The jicama tacos are tasty and full of flavor with a slightly different texture than regular tacos. They can bring alcoholic drinks from next door which are also delicious.
It’s perfect for a date, lunch with friends or clients or a quiet morning brunch with your favorite book.

This was a great little breakfast café we happily discovered, despite the reviews. We’d planned to go to a place nearby but we’re not in mood to wait, Lazy Hippo sat us immediately.
Both my omelette and my husbands burrito were delicious and substantially packed with ingredients. The service started and ended well, but once several tables were full we were left with empty coffee and water for part of our meal. Understandably the staff was all busy, but hence the reason for the 4 stars in my book.

Some of the best huevos rancheros. Nice amount of spice. Fresh ingredients and hand pressed juices.

A solid breakfast spot with lots of options, cheap prices and large portions. Friendly staff, cute interior. We were able to easily get a table on a Sunday morning. Parking is street (meter) and there is a $ 10 lot a few blocks away. I enjoyed the Pancakes a lot– crispy on the outside is always the best.

San Diego is booming is trendy cafes and eateries, all with a very modern and hip style, and things in all corners worthy of showing off on your Instagram account. If you’re looking for that feel, that style, for your morning breakfast — this IS NOT your place… BUT! — there are so many other great things about this quaint and adorable little breakfast spot.
First thing first — Lazy Hippo, PLEASE make yourself a real sign. We had no idea we were standing in front of your restaurant until the hostess said something. I honestly thought your building was a independent little boutique from a distance.
Other than the sign issue, this place is ADORABLE. It feels like home in a way. Low key, cute characteristic decorations, almost made me feel like I was in an older french countryside café. I really liked that, and the food matched the feel. Nothing extravagant, but delicious breakfast staples. I loved the mint water, I loved that you can color on the butcher paper laid across the tables, coffee was good, staff was friendly. They even brought out a very special birthday pancake for my fiancée, which I thought was lovely! It wasn’t loud or crowded, it was nice and cozy.
I had the lemon ricotta waffle, which was so yummy. My other half ordered eggs, potatoes, french toast, and bacon. The potatoes were SOOO GOOD.

We were originally headed to Café 222 for breakfast as the reviews were great but being noon on a Sunday there was a super long wait. We took off right away and came across this little café just around the corner. The menu looked good, staff were friendly and there wasn’t any wait at all so we headed in. I had the egg benny which was great. Breakfast potatoes were surprisingly good too! Would have been a 5 star review but we found it a little pricey .my wife just had a smoked salmon bagel which was over $ 10. Overall great little breakfast spot

I was so excited when we first saw the sign that heralded the arrival of a new breakfast spot. We finally got our chance to stop in, and almost immediately, my excitement started to fade.
The space itself is cute — kind of country, kind of modern — with lots of table space and offbeat creations and quotes on the walls. There is no true hostess stand, and nobody was around to tell us whether we could seat ourselves, so we had to walk to the back of the restaurant to talk to the waitress, who invited us to pick a table.
The menu is very sparse and the items are very expensive. I ended up getting the build-​your-​own omelette, which I spent $ 12 on, and which left me annoyed. The hubs got the «traditional» eggs Benedict, which he mostly enjoyed, and which also cost us $ 12.
We rounded out our meal with two pots of tea, which were $ 5 a pop. When they brought out the same World Market single-​serve tea brewer sets that we have at home, I wanted to riot. I can’t imagine that the tea leaves within the set were expensive enough for them to justify charging me $ 5 for it.
It took way too long for the food to come out. And once it did, it was wrong. Now, I did the build-​your-​own omelette option, and I chose the bacon, sundried tomatoes, avocado and cheese. I had wanted onions, but upon questioning, found out that they were raw, and that there was no way they’d sautee or grill them for me, before throwing them in the omelette. For the sides, I chose wheat toast and the salad.
But what came out to me was an omelette missing cheese, a bowl of fruit and no toast. They also dropped off a plate of some kind of sausage, which confused us both, as neither of us ordered it, and it wasn’t part of our main dishes. My husband’s order was correct, at least, but it took some doing for us to flag down anybody who’d be able to help rectify the order.
Oh, and we had no silverware. Nobody noticed, and when we asked for napkins and forks, they took off like a shot, only to come back saying that they were out of napkins, and rubbing the forks into a towel in the hopes of removing spots. I was not about to use those things — were they even clean?! — and before I had a chance to move, she dropped them on our table and went to poach the napkins and utensils from the table behind us.
By then, I was super upset at the flavor of the omelette (bland) and the missing cheese, which was never fixed. They removed the bowl of fruit and replaced it with a sad salad, and finally brought my toast — one piece of wheat bread.
My husband’s «traditional» Benny was ham served on top of white toast, not a muffin. Traditional, my eye. He said the flavor was there, but that, due to the thinness of the ham, it was difficult to eat. Also, the eggs were not poached — I’m starting to see that it’s just nearly impossible for places to serve eggs perfectly poached.
So yeah — between the overpriced food, lax service and uninspiring menu, I doubt we’ll go back. Which is a shame, since it’s literally right down the street from us.

Summary:
Arrived: 10:20 AM
Food: 12:00 PM — one hour, 40 minutes later!
Request for our bill: 12:07 PM
Conclusion: a lot to be desired
My review:
At first glance, this looked like a cute little place. The interior is very nice and cute. Staff friendly. Nice simple outdoor seating and we were tempted to give it a shot, even though we were just walking by heading to Café 222.
They were very nice to accommodate us outside even though they had limited seating available. Unfortunately, It was downhill from there.
I ordered the eggs Benedict with fruit, coffee and a nutella waffle… I’m a little girl but I was hungry! :-). There were four of us.
It took a good 35 minutes after one apology before we starting seeing some food come our way… but wait… it wasn’t what we ordered! Starving, we regrettably sent the food back… in hindsight, we should have take what was offered with a big thank you.
The two plates they got wrong didn’t arrive until 5 mins before we asked for the check. So much for old friends catching up… were all starving from partying the night before… and this was a really bad way to spend time together.
So two plates show up 50 minutes into our sit down. We couldn’t wait and agreed to start eating rather than let the food get cold… hey perfect timing, my waffle nutella dessert showed up with the first round of food! Splendid. So here I am with my Benedict omelet and dessert while two big starving eyes are eyeing my food like hawks.
Needless to say, we all eat dessert together before any food.
I can go on and on but I’m on my iPhone and I hate typing on this thing… in short, I understand this is a new restaurant. Sh*t goes wrong, that’s expected. But you show your true colors with how these situations are handled. At the end, we got terrible service, wasted an hour thirty minutes waiting for an egg omelet and crappy pancakes… and the insult on top of it all, we paid full price.
If the manager would have been more apologetic and understanding while at least taking care of the two plates that arrived five minutes before we got up, I’d have more pleasant things to say about these guys.
A waste of $ 65 and an hour thirty minutes, that’s what it came down to.

Really charming place. I live around the corner and invited a friend to breakfast there… big mistake.
I know it is a new place and they are working out kinks, but I will never go there again and here’s why:
We are seated and the restaurant is not full by any means, yet it takes us 20 minutes to have a wait staff member fill our drink order. I asked for two waters and an iced tea. Five minutes later the waitress plops a platter of various unmarked tea containers (glass jars) in front of me then walks away — so there are five of them there without labels and without any explanation of how to choose one. Ten minutes later, after flagging someone down, I am told which tea is which and then I choose one. A long while later hot tea is brought instead of iced tea — then eventually a glass of ice is placed in front of me to pour the hot tea into… Never got the waters after asking one more time. Just gave up on them.
We told them we were trying to make an appointment so needed the food in a timely manner, yet a waiter did not come by again and it had been ten minutes since I received my «iced tea.» My friend gets up, goes to the back and tells them our order and they punch it into their register.
Other tables are suffering similar fates — people are looking for wait staff, looking like they are needing things… we are not alone.
Thirty minutes pass, still no food. Other tables that got there after us are getting served. We only ordered warm oatmeal and scrambled eggs — that’s all — not Baked Alaska! So we were confused. My friend AGAIN goes to the back and tells them that if the food isn’t ready we’d like to cancel our order. They say «no, please wait it’s coming.»
Fifteen minutes later our food comes out. The waiter says he’ll comp the meal for us.
My friend asks for milk and never gets it. My eggs are ice cold. I go to put a little salt on them and the salt shaker holes are so large that a big pile of salt lands on my cold eggs. Ugh. I then have to go to the back for silverware and napkins — they hand me utensils and a small, paper cocktail napkin that barely fit on my lap. The food was bland and flavorless. I was starving (I had been waiting over an hour for this meal) but I couldn’t even eat it. My friend was still waiting for milk to put into his cold oatmeal (which had been warm maybe back when it was in the kitchen sitting around). He never got any milk.
We never received an apology. My friend got up once AGAIN to head to the back and gave them cash for the meal so that we could leave and they accepted it after they said they would comp our awful meals! I was mad at my friend for doing that but he said he felt bad. Bottom line: they should have said «please keep your money, we apologize and your meals are on us.» They didn’t.
I am usually more understanding of new restaurant glitches — but the unapologetic nature of the staff and their cluelessness makes me feel there is no hope for this place. They just don’t have «it.»
Don’t patronize this place unless you are a glutton for punishment!

I like it when I new breakfast and lunch eatery opens up downtown. There are a lot of dinner places, but a place that opens up at 8 am daily is a good thing. I stopped in on a Sunday morning for breakfast and right away ordered an Americano at $ 2.75 because I needed one, and the a breakfast sandwich with two fried eggs, fresh basil and tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese served on a artisan multigrain bread for $ 6.25, but for $ 2.25 more, I added some bacon to the sandwich.
The breakfast sandwich was simple, but very good. The two eggs were fried to a nice medium and lightly seasoned, so I added some black pepper The bacon was crispy and delicious and went very well with the freshly sliced tomatoes. The basil was very pronounce in a very good way with its flavor and aromatic. The Artisan multigrain bread was outstanding. It was very moist, flavorful, and came peppered with crunchy seeds. A great breakfast sandwich.
I liked the breakfast sandwich very much, but I would like to see them serve a side of fruit with it or offer breakfast potatoes on the side at a higher price. The Americano was very good. It definitely woke me up as intended.
Service was very nice and attentive. The place gives off a relaxing lazy feel which I liked, along with the quality food.

This restaurant is brand spankin new. In fact it was opening day when i came in and i was impressed as soon as i stepped in. The décor is elegant and connotes light healthy clean eating.
I tried out their traditional eggs benedict with potatoes and it was very good. Food definitely didn’t make me want to go on a food coma like so many other restaurants. I tried out their watermelon mint drink and that was divine. I was told that it had no sugar and all from natural ingredients. I also tried their cucumber lemonade and again no sugar added. It was also good but i like my lemonade with sugar for the drink was too tart.
The staff was very friendly and even gave us drink samplers and also gave us dessert for being the second customer of their opening day. Parking can be tricky. It is metered but free of charge between 8−10am.
I will definitely be coming back and maybe a regular as it is very close to Cat Café which i visit very often.

A delicate hole in the wall breakfast spot you are deep in down town.
Lazy Hippo just opened and perfecting timing as I had just left the cat café. I don’t need to scramble to find a breakfast spot, find parking elsewhere. The inside gives off an organic & homestyle feel. Accompanied by light jazz/​piano music for a light, casual morning. Little bit later the music may turn into casual pop.
Food is light and did not leave me uneasy or questioning what was in the food I just ate?