The Swell Cafe

Ariel is excellent !!! We enjoyed our Vanilla Latte and Mexican along with the Jalapeño Bagel breakfast sandwich. Acai Bowl with delicious fruit and a side of bacon (delicious) what’s a day without Bacon. a must go for a fantastic meal with outdoor seating. We drove from Alpine and Ramona to enjoy our fantastic breakfast thank you

Super disappointed! The outside seating was lovely and I think the ingredients they use are good, but the execution of the dishes are OK at best.
We tried the chilaquiles and the egg white omelet, using the full egg instead of just whites. The chilaquiles were bland, with very little cheese, and very, very soggy. IMO chilaquiles should be a fine balance of soft with a little crisp, not a pile of mush where the tortillas are indistinguishable from one another. :(The eggs were cooked well, which was the only saving grace, as well as the hot sauce we added. The omelet was SO incredibly small (2 eggs at most) and under-​seasoned as well. It was fine once we added some salt and pepper.
The only thing that was really good was the cold brew.
After paying $ 30+ for our two dishes, a juice, and a coffee, I left feeling hungry and disappointed.

Rad coffee shop in a stellar location on the Mission Bay! Posted up here for a couple hours to work and enjoy some joe and would totally do it again. Diggin the surfer/​rasta vibes. The barista was knowledgable and super friendly, talking shop with me while pouring my v60 (tasty!) at the slow bar. She was also super helpful and chill when it started to drizzle and we wanted to move a table around to get to an outlet and outta the rain. Check this place out!

I had high hopes. But our experience was a huge bummer. Read to the end.
The ambiance was quaint and the patio quite pleasing/​charming. There was seating for what looked like 30 on patio and we were one of four tables occupied. You order at front counter then they bring to your table. I ordered the vanilla bean French toast with thyme berry compote, orange zest mascarpone. They served it with one strawberry cut in half and two blackberries and no mascarpone. No thyme and no syrup, butter or mascarpone. Said they ran out. A $ 12 plate served at a $ 6 value at most. No syrup!!! I sent it back telling them that’s not what I ordered. I had to change my order to another item (mind you we already paid), so I got the chilaquiles at waitresses advise — and it was «meh». One scrambled egg next to some chips drizzled with verde sauce, and some creamy cheese. And a third of an avocado sliced on the side. A $ 10 dollar plate worth about $ 6 at most. To make up the cost I ordered side of bacon — I got 3 delicious slices.
Husband ordered egg and steak sandwich and aside from the «home pride» style wonderbread toast it came on, he said it was good. However, he too had to send it back because the menu said it came with two fried eggs and he only got one. He also needed more garlic aoli sauce so he requested an extra side of that.
Lastly, we ordered cappuccinos and they were designed quite pretty but they were kinda small, slightly bigger than an espresso cup. The brew was good, which is about all we could say about today’s breakfast on this drizzly Sunday morning.
Note to owner/​chef: don’t serve a half cocked meal from the menu. If you run out of the ingredients stated on the menu, either pull it, or offer an alternative that will blow our minds.
Do something different for the Chilaquiles– add homemade refried black beans, an extra egg and/​or a protein meat like shred ckn or carnitas. For $ 10 plate you gotta serve more than one egg and some chips.
For the steak sandwich try a better bread source… Maybe a Rosemary sourdough or panini style. The bread offered looked like the $ 1 best value from a grocer.
Lastly /​offer an item folks come to the Swell for that nobody else offers. Like an eggs Benedict that is mind blowing, or a lean and mean breakfast burrito made of egg whites, a protein (black bean, ckn, steak), cilantro and brown rice… something that will be talked about and sought out.
I’m going to be generous with 2 stars because the waitress was very nice, and the coffee tasted good albeit pricy for the (1) latte and (2) cap totaling $ 11 for the mini drinks. You the owner were also pleasant but not once in your rounds to clean up tables etc., did you stop by and apologize for the lack of ingredients and mistakes throughout our order. You must engage with your guests and when there is a problem or problems, personally see to it the guests are satisfied. I saw another table with guests leaving half their food on the plate as they left. That’s a sign that it wasn’t good enough to take home with them :(

Swell is such a cute, outdoor breakfast place. Try the bacon breakfast brioche, amazing!!! The employees are all friendly and personable, I will be back!

This was a great, casual, beach breakfast find. We came at 10am on a Sunday, and it wasn’t too busy. It has a nice, sunny outdoor seating area. It’s an order at the counter place, but then you can sit down and be served.
We ordered the lattes, which were extraordinary, and the breakfast burrito and bagel and lox. The everything bagel was very large and was stuffed with salmon, cream cheese, capers, onion, spinach, and tomatoes. The breakfast burrito was stuffed with bacon, eggs, potatoes, spinach, rice, and cheese. Both were delicious and appropriately priced ($ 10).
Would recommend for a pre-​beach breakfast or a post-​beach workout refueling!

I really dig this spot. Don’t want to spoil it for myself, but this place is such an easy & accessible reprieve from The Mission’s crowds & queues.
I’m a cold-​brew kinda guy, and their nitro tapped coffee is top-​notch. If you’re a traditional hot java drinker, I implore you to give it a go. It’s a real game-​changer, and these guys are bean-​savvy.
Also, a real edge is added to this place by the extra-​friendly staff. They’re quite charming, and go the extra step.
Not for the bougie folks, be prepared for mostly exposed in-​Sun seating, and walk-​up order system.

To anyone who is looking for a local, specialty breakfast/​lunch/​coffee place with a great vibe, look no further.
Small place with half booth tables, regular tables and raised bar style seating looking out at the main drag of mission beach makes for great people watching.
Fun live, acoustic music many days.
Coffee: if you are a coffee lover and with another coffee lover, ask the cashier to recommend their favorite espresso beans that day and try a few; like wine tasting, you will notice a huge difference in flavor a between the different beans.
One caution I have is that for a specialty coffee and for all food, they prepare it with care. The first time I went, I figured that because it was order and pay at the counter the food would come fast but it takes the same time as a restaurant, so if you need your coffee or food quickly just call it in.
Highly recommend the americanos, mochas and breakfast burritos.

Let me start off by saying I really wanted to like this place before coming in. I spend a lot of time in this area of Mission Beach and had just noticed it recently; mainly the cute outdoor patio and greenery.
You order at the register and the woman behind the counter today (short blonde hair) seemed hung over or with an attitude problem. I went to wash my hands and there was no paper towels to dry my hands with, I very nicely informed her that they had run out. To this I got an «Oh ok,» or something along those lines, and no apology for the inconvenience. It seemed like I was bothering her, or that she wasn’t interested in «having to do more work.»
The food was terribly mediocre, my friend ordered the steak and egg sandwich and I had the lox and bagel. The sandwich was nothing to write home about, two large slices of bread slathered in mayonnaise with some scrambled egg and the meat was dry (seems to have been pre-​cooked, for time convenience). I ordered my lox and bagel with avocado as an extra, when they brought it out the avocado was brown and rotten, I asked a very nice server if he could fix the problem and he quickly took it back. He returned with fresh avocado, but with less than half the original amount; I find it ridiculous that I was charged two dollars for four slices of avocado. To add insult to injury the salmon was inedible, at first it seemed fine, but half of the smoked salmon was grayish and tasted horrible.
I really wanted to like this place as most food in Mission Beach is mediocre and overpriced. And was hoping to come often, after this however I will never come back and could never recommend this place to anyone. They have poor quality ingredients and the surly staff member at reception, it seems the only things they have as positives are location and décor.

I love this place. I go here every morning for at least half of the week. My usual is an almond milk cappuccino. BEST cappuccino i’ve ever had. If I feel like an iced drink, i’ll order an iced almond milk latte. I haven’t tried their acai bowls yet because their granola isn’t gluten free, but i might have to try it without the granola some time. They do serve gluten free paradise bars most of the time, and their new chilaquiles are AMAZING and SPICY. If you go for the chilaquiles, be sure to order an iced drink and not a hot one or it won’t be as enjoyable because your mouth will be slightly on fire.
The staff and owner are always fantastic. Great service. Sometimes on the weekends there is a musical performance, which i haven’t enjoyed too much because it’s difficult to have a conversation especially when the artist uses a microphone. My advice for any artists performing here is never use a microphone. We can hear you just fine and you’re perfectly lovely without a speaker and mic.

We had breakfast there this wonderful location this morning. They have an inside Starbucks style coffee bar with some seating. The location is really comfy and clean. They have a great choice for breakfast and an amazing looking Acai bowl that I will try next time. The food was good, but the coffee took longer than the food. The chai latte was too sweat for my taste, but good. The service was really friendly. I had the white egg omelette with goat cheese, which was extremely strong. Not too much my style. However, everyone else loves their food. I can recommend this location. It is a little more of a French summer coffee with good looking healthy food options which is a refreshing contrast to the dozens of American style breakfast places that offer meat, sweat and hearty food.
Worth a try :)

I went back today after very fond memories of the burrito and I’m really sorry but… no. The burrito has 2 strips of bacon (there were a ton more last time) and lots of egg to fill the burrito up. It was so disappointing. And the taste was so bland. Sorry but looks like I will not be coming back.

Cute little café by water atmosphere. Yummy menu and their food presentation is adorable:)

Great breakfast burrito! Nom Nom! Cute little café with outdoor seating and the staff was SO NICE! Only reason it’s not 5 stars is the flies were terrible (but honestly… It’s not their fault…). Easy to get to by bike, I’d come back :)

I think I’ve found my new favorite breakfast spot. This is a great place to ride your bike to if you live in the area. I had an iced coffee, lox bagel and sat at the bar stools. It’s not too crowded so I was able to relax and read my book in peace. This would be a great spot to bring a laptop and get some work done, too.
They have incense burning on all of the tables along with reggae music. It’s a very chill vibe. Friendly staff with a good variety of food options to choose from on their menu.

Came in to get a coffee and some brunch with my sister. The environment was cute and the staff was friendly.
One star lost for all the flys that kept landing on the food
One star lost for the average flavor in the California scramble.
The cappuccino and Mexican mocha were delicious and the green hot sauce added some great flavor.
Three stars doesn’t mean I won’t come back again though! Maybe just for coffee to-​go next time.

I came here with 4 friends because our original brunch place had a 45 minute wait. We stumbled upon this really cute café with all outdoor seating. Swell Café is pretty hipster, with a limited menu. I wouldn’t recommend it for brunch, based on my experience; it seems moreof a nice place for a coffee date or just relax for a bit. Swell is a friendly place with great staff!
However, the food was okay. I ordered the Nutella pancakes with strawberries and my boyfriend got the breakfast burrito. I tried his burrito and it wasn’t anything special. I felt like it lacked sauce, although it had good flavor. I wouldn’t recommend the pancakes or the burrito, but the coffee was tasty. What I thought was kinda cool was the cucumber water which was a nice twist.
The one thing that I really disliked about this place were the immense amount of flies… flies EVERYWHERE. I know we’re outside, but it was like an infestation. It made eating difficult because we spent a lot of our time time shooing them away.

Two coffees, both pretty darn yucky. Got there and we were told they were out of cold brew because it’s sooooo popular it runs out really quickly and they haven’t had it in two days. Huh? If it’s so popular, you should really keep it on hand, right? In the time they took to actually brew my latte, the cold brew appeared, although we kinda wish it hadn’t.
Both coffees had a really weird grassy undertone. Not smooth, not rich, just grassy. Vanilla dream was CAKED with far too much cinnamon. It was nasty. All we could taste was that grassy gross undertone and nothing more.
It’s a bad day when a parent with two little ones throws out half a cup of coffee, but so it was with our visit to the Swell Café. After waiting for 15 minutes for two drinks to be served and paid for, I definitely expected better.
Nice latte art though!

I came here to try out the acai bowl because of how delicious it looked in pictures, but when I tried it, it was icy and watered down! I don’t recommend coming here for acai bowls.
But all in all, the vibe and customer service here is great! Workers are super friendly and the decorations on the patio is very cute. It’s a great place for brunch or a cup of coffee. Also, they are dog friendly, which is a plus!

Going out for breakfast on the weekends is a must do for me. My friend just moved to Mission Beach so it was a great opportunity to visit her and explore the hood.
Swell café instantly caught my eye as we were strolling along the mission blvd. with inviting patio that was full of people. As we walked in, i noticed the eco-​friendly décor with had organic & earthy motives. There is a wall full of life plants, cascading down, the entire patio is wood trimmed.
There is no wait service, so you just order at the counter and someone will deliver your food when its ready.
I got a California scramble and my friend ordered a Endless Summer salad. Our food came out incredibly fast, everything tasted fresh, flavors were well balanced, the potions were just right. The menu had great variety from salads, to smoothies, paninis, soups and egg dishes. There is something for everyone.
The swell is a perfect little open-​air beach café with a nice vibe and delicious food!
Can’t wait to go back