SOL CAL cafe

Their acai bowls are THE BEST in San Diego! The texture is creamy and the portion is worth the price. It’s not pre made and stored in the freezer until someone wants to buy it, it looks and taste as if they blended it right then and there. The only problem I have with it is when I ask for protein, they put it on top instead of blending it. It could be my fault too for not asking but it seems like common sense to have it blended. Who would want protein powder stuck in their throat? Other than that, I ordered the breakfast sandwich as well, which was SO GOOD! This place never disappoints me the food. Will definitely keep coming and supporting this business!

This place is way overpriced and we’ve been waiting over 30 minutes on a Sunday with about 4 people who ordered before us. We only got a burger and a wrap, what a joke!

Ordered their baked sweet potato with vegan chili and it was delicious! Came across them on GrubHub and definitely wasn’t disappointed

Excellent customer service for those with complicated auto-​immunity/​dietary restrictions! I especially appreciate the combination of possibilities for those with the gluten-​free, dairy-​free, but paleo people (real eggs and organic chicken available)! James (cook) came out to answer questions and find a way to customize to the best of his ability — it was like receiving a gift. :) The front staff was friendly and happy to answer questions and sought support as needed, rather than guessing or just saying no as often happens in these situations. Best of all, my fiancé was happy with his meal (made with organic chicken to compliment the heap of veggies) and everything was delicious! Exceeded my expectations. :) Try the Bullet-​Proof Coffee — delicious and dairy-​free coffee goodness.

I’m sure when they opened it was a cool concept but the place and bathroom was dirty. Our acai bowl said custom make your own but they ran out of toppings and never asked for what we wanted. Just a little granola and coconut. They advertised free coffee with the meal but never delivered. The green smoothie was the wateriest smoothie and lacked flavor. They also ran out of eggs. It was pretty busy and the one guy working was slow and not friendly. Our experience was not good. Worst smoothie and acai bowl ever. I think they need some management help on quality control and cleanliness.

SOL Cal café might be small in size, but this bright and colorful place backs a punch a healthy punch.
What this place has going for it:
+ Healthy food, with large portions, especially the Buddha Bowl
+ Clearly marked Gluten free options on the board
+Safe dining option for GF and casein free options
+ Reasonably priced
+ Nice selection of juices in the case, but be wary of the sugar
+ Small seating area inside

Did a take out order here yesterday at about 1230. I had a «The Goods» coupon for $ 20 in value but pay just $ 10.
This was a chore to use as the manager had no clue what it was, how it worked or what to do. He call the owner and got some direction I guess but then tried to discount me only $ 10, the paid value of the coupon, not the clearly listed $ 20 promotional value. I explained to him how it worked and then he seemed more clear. Then he tried to show me how
had an ever better deal of pay $ 25 and get $ 50? Great but I don’t care…
I eventually was able to place my order for a oriental chicken salad and a acai bowl. Later when got home and busted them out I found them both to be very good in quality and flavor. Super healthy and fresh ingredients. The salad was a bit small in portion and the acai bowl was very small compared to most other places I have gotten them from. At $ 11 – 12 each item this was a little steep for the portion sizes in my opinion.
Next time perhaps my experience will be more smooth when making a normal credit card purchase or cash vice a discount promo deal. Spent like 30 minutes from the time I walked in until I left with my bag of take out. Mine as well have stayed and at there for that time investment.

I hate giving bad reviews, but I don’t feel that anyone should accidentally order the poke bowl (if they are familiar with real poke bowls). I had high hopes’s and got really excited when I saw that they had poke bowls.
The menu says it comes with brown rice, but we noticed there was white rice. When we said something, we were told that they were out of brown rice. It would’ve been nice if he had told us that when we were ordering. Later we discovered it’s not even sticky rice.
Some of the options for this poke bowl included watermelon, pineapple, garbanzo beans, & bell peppers. Odd. I would definitely discourage anyone from ordering the poke bowl here.
However, the other items on the menu did look pretty good. They had items like veggie burgers, avocado toast, Acai bowls, etc. Those are probably just fine. But the poke bowl… no. Don’t do it. Abort mission.

Still super yummy and I like the poke bowl it was a nice change of pace! I’m not vegan so I really did not mind that they have meat on the menu.
I still can’t make the delicious cashew sauce the same so I will keep coming back! Don’t be an elitist if your vegan you will still have the same options and meat won’t touch it…

First of all this place claims to be plant based but isn’t. So vegans beware!!!
Second of all the make your own burger is outrageous and if you want a good burger and add even just a few item to it, you end up with a $ 30 burger. Please!
I feel like this place lost itself and doesn’t know what it wants to be.
The acai bowl is just OK! the granola is loaded with raisins that get super hard and sticky when sitting on top of the cold acai. It makes it very hard to chew and enjoy the bowl. Granola should be perfectly crunchy. Also they use way too much pineapple on top and it wasn’t ripe both times I had it, making my tongue and mouth burn.
Won’t go back

Wanted something healthy after celebrating my friend’s bachelorette weekend! The rest of the group was hung over so I came here by myself lol! I am obsessed with Acai Bowls so that’s what I ordered!
The staff weren’t the most friendly. it says that Acai Bowls come with free coffee before a certain time. It almost seemed as if he didn’t want to give me the free coffee because he took forever with it and I had to ask for it several times.
The food took a while to come even though there were only two other people there? The seating inside and outside were cute. The acai bowl was good! Not the best I’ve ever had and not the worst! The rest of their menu looked light and refreshing as well.

No longer Vegan, when they say chicken they mean chicken. Even my favorite menu item, the Loaded Baked Sweet Potato, has seemed to drop in quality since my first visit.
A restaurant without direction or identity.
If they don’t care, then you shouldn’t either.

Pretty good. I got the poke bowl which seemed to be the most popular. I had cubed tuna, which for some reason really freaked me out because there is just something kind of unsettling cutting sashimi like that) and some brown rice, seaweed, cucumbers and some other goodies with cilantro sauce and soy sauce on the side. I would definitely ask for more seaweed and cucumber cause they gave a nice juicy crunch to the bowl and texture usually makes a meal for me.
Workers were nice and friendly, receipts are mailed to you, and they warned me that the poke bowl might be a wait even though it only took like 5 min.
I guess I didn’t give 5 stars (not because of the cubed sashimi) but because I thought it was a little pricy for my taste. But i think given its location of the restaurant (right in downtown) and the size of the bowl, which is great for a filling but not too heavy lunch, it was probably worth it. I’m just nick picky and stingy.

No longer an all vegan establishment. Boo. Not only that, but the service was super slooooowww and we were the first ones there. Doh !
I brought my omnivore co-​workers here and although it was a nice healthy alternative, the prices were just ridiculous. I could make the same meal with the fraction of the price at home. Come on now !!
I still find their acai superfoods bowl yummy ! Love their granola ! I can eat bags of those alone. This time I tried the pitaya bowl and my-​coworkers kept stealing a bite. It included organic pitaya, gluten free granola, shredded coconut, and fruit. I added almond butter and this came to $ 11 plus some change !! Ouch ! Despite the price, it was very good and visually appealing. It’s a decent portion and the quality is great. Enjoyed the combo of fresh fruits and almond butter. One star.
I told my male co-​worker to try their infamous Sol Cal burger with guacamole and side salad (~$ 11) since I enjoyed that and everyone seemed too as well. Ehh… something was off this time around, because he wasn’t impressed. The patty wasn’t that great and he didn’t like the texture much. I wonder if they changed the recipe. Seems like the quality of some of their dishes have gone downhill. Felt kind of disappointed since I wanted to introduce vegan options to them. Fail.
They now serve poke (raw fish). You can build your own and it came with: Fresh Sushi Poke Tuna or Spicy Tuna, Brown Rice, Salad (your choice of toppings and sauce) for $ 12.95.
They have a small poke bar/​cart, but they were kind of stingy with the raw fish and some of the ingredients didn’t look all that fresh. Seemed to have been refrigerated from days ago. If you’re going to display a cart to customers you better make sure it’s visually appetizing and FRESH !!! It’s poke after all ! She thought it was just okay, but appreciated they had gf options.
My other co-​workers had chicken noodle soup ($ 5.95) and fresh juice. She was craving soup since she had a cold and another co-​worker had a salad ($ 11.95). Both dishes were mediocre. I could tell they weren’t satisfied and with a dent in their wallets, I likely doubt they’ll be returning. Good enough I had a gift card. With my pitaya bowl, elixir shot, and fresh juice I easily spent all $ 30 worth from my gift card.
We also shared two desserts. One was way too dense for my taste. The brownie though was BOMB. Very moist and thick (TWSS). Just how it should be. Great for you chocoholics ! One star.
We almost spent $ 100 for lunch amongst the 5 of us ! DAMN !!! I see the holes in the pocket !
Heard they lost some business due to new management, change of staff, menu items, and increase in pricing. Looks like adding non-​vegan items hurt their business rather than helped them. Ouch. Hope things improve for them. It’s sad to see businesses come and go here.
I won’t be coming back anytime soon ! Maybe if I had another gift card I’d reconsider. For now PEACE OUT !!!

The food is surprisingly filling and hearty. After having a late lunch here, I felt too full to eat dinner. Yes, the prices are a little higher than comparable spots but I think it’s worth it for the quality.
The hamburger is hearty and satisfying. It’s probably one of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever eaten and I’ve tried quite a few in my day. The California wrap tastes fresh and delicious. The zucchini pasta salad is too oily. The potato salad is good and not too heavy on sauce. I liked both entrees very much and would not be able to say which one I preferred.

I’m not a vegan. That’s my disclaimer. My friend wanted to try this place for much so I figured why not. I never venture out of my «meat zone.» Well, this establishment has made me glad I did. My chili and fajita panini were both filling and flavorful. I love their drink selection as I’m obsessed with carbonated water — eases preggo heartburn. Tried some vegan gelato, as well. Not a huge fan of the consistency, but the taste was good and it was an overall winning lunch for me here. I will return when I’m back in San Diego to try the quinoa salad my friend was raving about. My only I guess warning is get there early for lunch as the line tends to get long.

Sorely disappointed by SOL CAL café, but not because of their food. Their food was 4-​stars, but their service was lacking.
I think this is a great place to come if you’re looking for something vegan friendly while still tasty and appealing to non-​vegan folk. Today, I tried the chipotle quinoa lime salad and the fajita panini. Both were much more delicious than I expected, it being vegan & all (no offense to my vegan eaters and lovers).
The reason why it received the 3-​stars instead of 4 was because of the amount of time it took to get our food. We walked over around 12:45 and waited in line for about 15 minutes. From when we got out of line, around 1:00 and when we received our food, a good 30 minutes had passed. Which means, if you only have an hour for lunch, make sure you’re ordering ahead of time and coming to pick up.
Luckily, we ordered our food to go because we were planning on eating back at the office anyways, but in the case that we were planning on eating there, we wouldn’t have been able to because our time would have been cut too short.
Another thing I didn’t like was that even though we ordered our food to go, no utensils were served when we were given our food. What if we weren’t going back to the office to eat? I understand wanting to save and not be wasteful, but in a place like downtown where people are on the run and picking up lunches to go to fit their busy lifestyles, provided utensils should’ve been a no brainer.
The last thing was that my colleague ordered a half kale salad and a smoothie and when they brought out her kale salad, if she hadn’t reminded the guy about her smoothie, we would probably still be there waiting for one.

After a good morning walk around downtown, I ended her hoping to find something nutritious and healthy, but tasty as well. Fortunately, they had a some avocado toast on the menu drizzled with olive oil and peppered with some chile flakes for $ 6.95, and served with a small green salad.
The avocado toast was a multigrain bread filled with a variety of nuts and was nicely toasted, which was good because it needed to hold up well to all the avocado they placed on top. The avocado spread was great. It was fresh, well seasoned, came with some luscious olive oil, and some spicy tasty chili flakes. Most important of all, they did not hold back on that terrific tasting avocado and they gave me four slices.
The salad served in the center was crisp, with a good mix of greens, and seeds such as pepitas, and a terrific mango mint dressing. The raw cabbage and toasted seeds were a great additions to the salad because they added nice texture.
They offer free WiFi which I took advantage of to get some work done. The girls at the counter were very nice and talkative. Service after I sat down and ate was attentive. One of the employees as I was doing and if I needed anything. Nice people and I was pleasantly surprised on how much healthy food can taste so good.

After hearing my friends rave about this place so many times, I decided to check out SOL CAL last week. It was in a nice location in East Village where it was easy to find parking, even during lunch hour. The restaurant was incredibly clean and modern, with most of the seating inside and a few tables outside. When I stepped in, I was impressed by the huge display of vegan, raw, and organic snacks and juices in addition to what they offer on their main menu. This aspect of a small health-​focused «market» inside is definitely a perk, as I was able to get lunch and also grab some other snacks to enjoy later on!
I was very torn with what to order, and I ended up choosing the Lettuce Tacos. These were made with spiced nutmeat, and the tacos were surprisingly filling although it’s a pretty small dish. I added some vegan hot sauce to the tacos, and this really intensified the flavors. After many meals with my vegan roommate, I have noticed that at some vegan restaurants the meals can be pretty bland, but this is not the case at SOL CAL. My friend got the Loaded Baked Sweet Potato, and she enjoyed it so much that she bought the ingredients the next day at the grocery store and tried to re-​create it for dinner! My other friend got the Mediterranean Wrap, and she was not a huge fan of it because it was full of mushrooms, which isn’t made clear on the menu… she did enjoy the hummus that was inside the wrap, though.
I was in need of caffeine at lunch, so I got the Cocoa Loco drink. It was a refreshing chocolate/​coffee-​flavored blended drink, and I would definitely order it again although many of SOL CAL’s other drink offerings looked just as appealing such as the elixirs and cold pressed organic juices.
I was very impressed by SOL CAL’s variety of menu offerings, and I hope to come back again soon to try the breakfast items (can’t wait to try the Acai Bowl and Avocado Toast!), salads, sandwiches and wraps, and other juices and blended drinks. The atmosphere here was great, and the staff were all knowledgeable and ready to make recommendations for what to order, and they made a huge effort to make sure that we were satisfied with our lunch. Also, everything on the menu was very reasonably priced which is another anomaly for places that serve raw and vegan dishes in SD!

When I’m feeling blue (or just a little sluggish), I make a beeline to Sol Cal for a heaping bowl of raw kelp noodle pasta, washed down with a bottle of cold-​pressed «Root Punch» juice.
I immediately feel like a whole new person.
It’s the stuff Popeye’s dreams are made of. (Maybe even his wet dreams.)