Swami’s Cafe

Wow! Great meal and lovely service. They even made a pb&j (not on menu) for my son. OB was in need for a place like this! Family friendly with a large menu selection. Did I mention full bar and breakfast all day?! Thank you Swami’s!

My boyfriend and I found this place on Unilocal during our visit to SD. It was only a 3 minute drive from our hotel which was really convenient. We both agreed, best pancakes ever!!! We each also had a breakfast burrito of our choice and they were both very filling without them being too heavy. They have a wide variety of healthy choice dishes too and amazing freshly squeezed juices and smoothies. All the servers and hosts were super nice too. We will definitely be coming here again on our next visit. Highly recommend!

Let me disclose that the quality of the food was good, however the quality of the meal, in terms of the experience, was far too poor to illicit a rating past one star.
To start, I ordered the Steak Benedict, medium. B ordered the Steak and Eggs, medium rare. This is pretty much the same thing, right? Nothing should go wrong, right? Yeah…
Of our party of six, my meal came last, about 5 – 10 minutes after everyone else’s meal. This wouldn’t have bothered me normally, but I cut into the first steak and it was rare. I want to even say that it was less than rare, almost just seared on the outside and plated. I nicely asked to have the meal redone.
I really didn’t mind, but my entire party was already digging in. When the second plate came 15 minutes later, my party was almost done with their meals. I cut into the steak AGAIN, and it was tough. The steak was over cooked. B took lead on this one, and sent it back. Again.
When they brought it back, and let me reiterate, for the third time, my party was already finished eating, I very directly asked the waiter to box it because my entire party was done. There was no point in even checking if they got the order right, because at this point, I didn’t want to be disappointed even more.
I spoke with the manager and he seemed to make excuses. He told me that they were down a cook and training a new one, which I can understand. Kindly enough, he comped the meal but I feel like this shouldn’t have happened. Once is excusable, but twice?
Despite being so dissatisfied, I had a few fruit, a cup of their wide variety of coffee, and a few of B’s potatoes. That’s sort of like a breakfast.
Needless to say, I won’t be coming back.

First visit to this location. The lobster eggs benedict was ok… not the best sauce and the lobster was seasoned to the point that the flavor of the lobster vanished. My husband had stuffed french toast… not crispy or stuffed with enough cream cheese. The acai bowls my daughter’s had were exceptional and HUGE. but…they arrived after my husband and I finished our breakfast. The coffee bar and service were excellent. The original Swami’s restaurant is best.

Great food and service at a reasonable price. I have been able to find several delicious vegan breakfast options which is very rare. The staff was quite friendly, helpful and prompt. This is definitely my new breakfast/​brunch go to. I was slightly disappointed that the salsa was so small for the huge amount of chips that came along side of my meal. I was unable to eat the chips and thus had to waste food. Other than this minor hiccup I was thoroughly impressed by this simple, casual café.

Went for a Sunday morning breakfast. Came in and was sat in the bar area which is fine but there was only one bartender/​server for that area. The server was very impersonal and did not make my dad and I feel welcomed or taken care of. We were just there and she would get to us when she had to, is how it felt. The food was delicious. Bloody Mary not so great. But the service is what would make me not return to Swami’s.

The veggie hash hits the spot for me every time. I have enjoyed all of the wraps that I’ve tried, and the coffee is pretty good. This location has more of a restaurant feeling with waiter service compared to the one in North Park which is more of an order at the counter type café.

This is probably my favorite place. I haven’t had a bad meal yet here. Lauren is the best bartender and my wife loves the watermelon mimosas.
The Point Loma location is open until 9pm Mon-​Sat but they don’t post their menu on the website. I posted a pic below. Also, you can order off the breakfast/​lunch menu until closing. Nothing like eggs and bacon for dinner!

Service is great, food is amazing, menu is extensive
Natalie was my server, she took excellent care of our table.

My coworker and I decided to give this location a try. She had never been to a swami’s before but I have been to the La Mesa location numerous times.
There is a lot of parking which is AWESOME! I also LOVE how open and big this location is. There are a lot of Windows so it has really good natural light coming in.
We were quickly greeted and given our choice to sit on the patio or inside. We chose to sit inside. The restaurant was very clean with a lot of seating and it didn’t feel cramped at all. They had a great selection of serve yourself coffee and and TV’s as well.
The menu had a lot of different sections to choose from and I liked the amount of lunch special options available. I chose the Seared Ahi wrap with yam fries and my friend chose the Diablo Shrimp Tacos.
The seared ahi wrap was a nice size portion of tuna, creamy avocado, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and Lightly drizzled with teriyaki sauce. It was FANTASTIC! The ahi was cooked perfectly and it was a good grade of tuna, not stringy like you can get some places. The yam fries were perfectly cooked as well and served with a side of ranch dressing.
My friend said her tacos were really good too. Said it was a medium heat and tasted like it had a Tabasco base. She was very pleased with the portion size, the quality of the food and the flavor.
We both had ice tea and it was some of the best I’ve ever tried. The waitress said they brew it themselves every day and it’s a combo of lemon, orange, chai and I can’t remember the rest. All I know is I couldn’t get enough!
I will be back and I recommend you give it a try too!

The new Swami’s on W Pt Loma Boulevard is inconsistent. I’ve had 1 perfect gluten free Belgian waffle that was tender on the inside and pleasantly crunchy on the outside. But I’ve also had a gluten free waffle which wasn’t cooked enough inside, so it tasted doughy inside, and lacked that nice spongy texture. I’ve had 2 perfect crisp slices of bacon. But I’ve also had tough, chewy bacon that I didn’t finish. I had a tasty gluten free pancake.
The Best of Poway Omelette for $ 12.95 didn’t taste as good as it sounds. It has shrimp, green onion, jalapeño, tomatoes, cheese, pico de Gallo, sour cream, and guacamole. The omelette was a little bit undercooked on the inside, and just didn’t wow me. Yet I had this same omelette at the North Park location, and it was amazing there. (In North Park it’s called The Best of North Park Omelette.)
I really want the new Swami’s on W Pt Loma Boulevard to succeed. But they really need to work on consistency.
We are pleased that they have a variety of options, including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options. I will definitely give them another chance.

I healthy serving of breakfast was in order when I visited this Swami’s Café. One thing I like about Swami’s, is that they do not hold back on the amount of good quality food they offer at good prices too. I ordered the Green Omelet which came with asparagus, spinach, avocado, green onions, bell peppers, zucchini and feta cheese. It was accompanied with a side of house breakfast potatoes and one slice of toast for around $ 9.
The omelet was at least three eggs and was handsomely filled with all the ingredients. All the ingredients were properly cooked, except for the asparagus which I felt was a little over done. It lost its fresh green color and was to soft. On the other hand, the peppers, green onions, and zucchini were all crispy and rather tasty.
The egg portion of the omelet was well seasoned and cooked. I really liked the way they did not hold back on feta cheese, not just because it’s one of my favorite cheeses, but because it well balance salty and slightly tangy flavor and crumbly softness. The avocado a top the omelet was properly ripe and soft and the spinach was perfectly cooked.
I had the rye toast which was nicely toasted which made the butter easily melt on it, but I was a little bummed that they only give you one slice which they cleverly sliced in half to give the illusion of two slices. I want the other half of that good rye bread!
The potatoes were very good. They were tender and well seasoned, not only with spices but with good aromatic herbs as well. The potatoes were even better with the house salsa which I recommend.
I polished of the omelet, but I would have to say it would feed two light eaters. I ate at the bar and the service provided by a young gent was good.

Swami’s Café is overall a great place with lots of yummy options. My review is just focusing on their to go acai bowls and some poor customer service when I ordered my bowl today. So I first had the acai bowl at the Swami’s in North Park. For the price of 8 $ish you get a huge bowl which is awesome! The fruit is always fresh, the acai is cold and tasty, and I love their granola. My primary complaint was the bee pollen (which on my first Unilocal review of Swami’s in North Park I wasn’t even sure what the heck it was!). The bee pollen they put, isn’t even on their menu and it has a terrible after taste. So when I ordered this bowl, I wasn’t sure what it was, but I told the guy taking my order to leave it out. He told me it wasn’t a problem… but as you can see from the picture, the bee pollen wasn’t left out and they put the granola on the side. I didn’t say anything about the granola! So not sure how they heard that…
Also, their to go container was the worst idea ever! Its a salad to go container and is not meant to hold in any kind of liquid. What a freaking mess! Luckily the bag contained the mess, but I would have been super upset to get dark purple acai all over my car!
So between the bee pollen grossness and the poorly contained acai, I think I will make sure to only order to eat there vs ever getting their acai bowl to go.

Nice new restaurant n location !
Cindy had Indian Curry w tofu
and I had the Chipotle veggie burger
W yam fries. Really satisfying tasty n nutritious.
Our waitress Alyssa looked after us very well–
brought us a sample platter of cool stubborn sodas !
Finished off the early dinner /​late lunch sharing a really nice date nut ice cream smoothie.
Tasty decadence finished off the dinner.
Ok — - Saturday night n Im taking on this whole town —
we’re out of here and we will be back…
thank you Alyssa and Mikey n the Swami’s crew.

Service was quick and friendly. They promptly brought out bread with olive oil and vingerette, which I loved since it wasn’t the typical butter. I ordered the ABC burger with yam fries. The burger has avocado, the most amazing bacon, and cheddar cheese on it with lettuce, onions, and tomato. The food came out quick, but for some reason the fries were already warmish and not hot. The burger though, it was so good! Best burger I’ve has in a while. The bun was great. moist and fluffy, yet thick. The bacon was thick, the avocado fresh, and the patty was cooked perfectly. I was super happy with everything. Going to make this a regular spot.
Came back for a breakfast smoothie. The smoothies are amazing and come at a great price for the size and quality. This will be on my list of regular smoothie places, especially when I’m in the sports arena area.

The local Swami’s chain of restaurants seems to be expanding a lot lately. Their newest opening is in the Midway area right off Point Loma Blvd in the old Las Olas spot. The interior of the place looks clean and updated. They also feature a full bar here along with a patio outside to enjoy the beach weather. Most of the Swami’s I’ve visited in the past have always had the type of setup where you order and they bring the food out to you. But here they have full table service, which is quite nice compared to people fighting to grab tables during the busy breakfast rush (pretty much what happens at their big locations). The menu is exactly the same with a specials menu thrown in that features some new dishes and griddle options.
The ricotta cheese pancakes (
) looked interesting to me, I’ve never had them before. The menu said it came with three pancakes but when the plate came out they only had 2. The pancakes were quite big though, so eating three would have been a bit too much for one person really. They weren’t the fluffiest in the middle but the edges were cooked crispy. You’d think the ricotta cheese inside would make it hard to get the pancakes cooked through, but they aced it. The batter used in these hot cakes were not very sweet and wasn’t too bready like some are which made them lighter on the stomach. The ricotta cheese was an interesting savory twist for pancakes, I really didn’t care for the taste at first but I grew to like them a bit more after a couple bites. Even though they were okay, I don’t think I’d order them again, sweet is where it’s at for hotcakes. For two dollars extra they’ll serve you a side of eggs and bacon (
). The bacon they used here was the lower fat bacon but cooked on the crispy side. The scrambled eggs were seasoned well and was quite big for just two eggs. My friend had ordered the veggie rama omelet (
) like she does at the other Swami’s locations. The food came out looking great and the eggs were cooked perfectly. However she asked for no cheese, and the inside was stuffed with a whole bunch. The manager offered to remake the dish for us, but she just scraped the cheese off. Everyone makes mistakes though, and this truly was one. She enjoyed her omelet after that and the black beans as well.
Perhaps the best about our breakfast here was the waitress was very friendly. She was outgoing, knew the menu pretty well and made our meal that much better. Usually you don’t find too many people being so enthusiastic that early in the morning, but she was taking care of all the tables by herself really well. The coffee here is self-​serve (
) like the other locations, they feature a big line of pre-​brewed coffee in containers so you can choose which flavor you want. They use the same exact blends you’ll find at the other Swamis. Overall we enjoyed our meal here and it was great to see that this place upheld the same fresh food and great service that the other locations provide. I usually eat at Swamis at least once every other week, however Point Loma is a little far for me, so I’ll stick to the La Mesa One.

I was a big fan of the Swamis Café in north park so was excited to drive by the «opening soon» sign in point loma and finally got around to trying it this morning. it is just as good as the previous locations, but I am even more of a fan because it is full service with waitresses compared to the walk up counter. I always feel a bit more relaxed in these settings.
our server was nice but it was apparent that she still felt a little lost. I understand that the restaurant is new but she had very little menu knowledge and wasn’t very helpful with the questions we had. her pleasant attitude made up for it, and I’m sure that will get better over time.
we shared a pitaya bowl which was decent. I have had much better but the size was impressive. it is more than enough for 3 people to share. the lobster omelette was truly amazing; lots of lobster, asparagus and cheese in an omelette topped with a delicious hollandaise. we would absolutely come back for this (I wish it was on regular menu).
overall we are super happy that there is a Swamis close to home now and I can predict that we will become regulars.

Swami’s newest location serves good food at good prices. We dined here recently before the Superbowl, and the place was pretty empty. Two reasons for that: it was Superbowl Sunday afternoon and the place had only been open a week. Nevertheless, the staff was friendly & enthused about their newest location, with lots of suggestions of items from the menu.
I ordered the Chipotle veggie burger, with a Chipotle black bean patty, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, & Swiss cheese on a whole wheat hamburger bun. Very nice! The lettuce avocado, tomato, and onion were very fresh.
Our server was very helpful and attentive, and recommended that we return to try the dinner menu. This offered such treats as a sirloin mignon 10 ounce Choice cut steak for $ 16.95 with mashed potatoes, a flat iron 8 ounce USDA Choice cut steak with seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes for $ 14.95, and many seafood, vegetarian, and pasta options.
The location of this Swami’s, in the Loma Portal shopping mall, is pretty good due to easy access to Point Loma & Ocean Beach, as well as being right off the freeway.
I definitely plan to return to try their dinner menu. The lunch today was pretty darn good, so I’m excited about returning soon!

We are regulars at the North Park location, so naturally we were so excited to see a Swami’s was opening; and I am SO glad this place didn’t disappoint! For only being open less than a week and having no signage, they were pretty busy… And for good reason. The service was great, and not only was our server on top of it, everyone came over to check on us, take our plates, fill our waters, etc.
The manager is awesome and the lady from the North Park location (have to get her name and edit this) made us her special Swami Bloody Mary. So damn good!!!
The kids menu is pretty decent and have options you don’t see everywhere, and reasonably priced. I had the Ahi Tuna Salad, which was really good! The tuna was seared perfectly and crusted with some sesame seeds and pepper. It didn’t sound like it would go with the strawberries and raspberry vinaigrette dressing, but it worked.
We can’t wait to go back!!! Brunch on Sunday

Yes! Swami’s is where you go for a meal that won’t leave you feeling heavy. On the contrary, the menu is full of healthier items made with fresh ingredients. They’re family owned so you know customer service is important. And with several locations throughout the county, you know they are doing it right.
I walked in on opening day so they were still working out the kinks and trying to get rid of things still lingering from the old Las Olas that was there.
I ordered the fish taco combo and a fresh juice. The tacos were huge and they didn’t skimp on the fish. It was everything I had hoped it would be. :)
–also, they have breakfast all day! It’s a winner in my book.