| Extensive breakfast and lunch menu in a down to earth setting |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1020
Reviewed: 7/11/2006
Rating: 9
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Thanks to Masha for suggesting Bill's Cafe in San Jose. We arrived after the lunch rush and with a sunny day outside we sat in the outdoor patio. Numerous green umbrellas blanketed the sky and tall flower pots blocked the busy street. Cozy environment and sitting in the shade with slight breeze is an ideal environment for me.
Props to our waitress, she was sweet and provided us with excellent service. It's service like this that would lock me into becoming a regular at Bill's Cafe. She was on the ball about getting our waters, providing condiments for our sandwiches, fast service, and offering great advice on what to order.
I took her advice and ordered the lunch special California Club Sandwich with fries at $7.95. Each meal came with a good sized salad. Meals were delivered fast.
Salad - separate plate, larger than the norm. It was ok, nothing special, just your lettuce, tomato, purple cabbage, and croutons. Croutons tasted stale and a lot of the lettuce was near white color. (picture #3)
California Club - it's a beauty (pictures #7 and #8). Avocado, tomato, swiss, turkey (real stuff!!!), ham, romaine, mayo, on toasted bread. Double decker sandwich cut into 4 sections with a bed of fries in the center. Fries were crunchy with good mushiness on the inside. Turkey was sliced off the bird, not the watery deli stuff you buy at the market, real deal stuff. Ham was sliced thinly. Veggies were all fresh. Not too much mayo and the avocado just brings the sandwich to the next level. Wow, this is a outstanding tasting sandwich. Something was missing and it didn't occur to me until after I posted the images to the server. I don't recall there being any bacon!!! OMG, how can I have a club without bacon??? Well, just shows you how good the sandwich was, who knows what would happen if they put bacon in there, I'd probably self-combust. For you club sandwich lovers out there, highly recommend ordering.
conquest sandwich - drew ordered this sandwich and I traded him a piece of my club for a section of his. Sourdough, heated turkey, tomato, and thousand islands dressing. Wow, dammm good sandwich. If you don't order the club, order the conquest. (picture #5 and #6)
After polishing my sandwich and fries, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. On my return, there was a beautiful dessert of bread pudding (picture #4) in a caramel sauce. ooohh....what a way to end off a perfect lunch. Near flawless service, dining atmosphere, and enjoyable meal. The entire meal for 2 came out to $24 with tax and tip. I hear their breakfast is equally as outstanding but something tells me this place gets packed on the weekends. I don't think you can go wrong with Bill's Cafe, we're happy to add another wonderful restaurant to the jatbar family.
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Reviewer: jsatre
Total Reviews: 74
Reviewed: 7/27/2008
Rating: 9.5
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I moved into my own little pad in Willow Glen last month and a another foodie pal has been raving about Bill's. I've driven by many times and have been wanting to make a visit.
Sunday was perfect weather! My buddy Dave and I called ahead to find out what the wait was. 15 minutes tops and they even put our names on the list. There was a wait outside the patio and Bill's had a serve yourself coffee station set up. We grabbed two cups and chatted a bit while we waited. I think our names were already called with out phone in reservation. No matter, as we waited less than 10 minutes. We had a partially shaded table, but again it was a great day to enjoy the outdoors.
We sat down and immediately opened our menu's.... Water was delivered at the same time.
DANG! NO WAY!! Croissant French Toast? Wholly "bleep"...
I have got to try that! I'm a French Toast fanatic!
Bill's calls this the "Parisianne"
My buddy Dave ordered the California Eggs Benedict after seeing another patron receive it. He whispered to me "Ask him what that is... it looks GOOD!"
Our food was up in under 10 minutes, we just barely got mid-conversation when three huge plates arrived.
I had one plate with two large slabs of croissant French toast, perfectly grilled with whipped butter and warm syrup. My second plate had a huge mound of fresh scrambled eggs (from fresh eggs! yes!) and 2 strips of meaty bacon.
How was the French Toast? PURE HEAVEN! The texture, the batter, the simple sprinkle of nutmeg, there is not one thing they could have improved on. It loved every bite.
Eggs - perfectly cooked, flavorful and they were most certainly made from fresh eggs, not liquid egg product. I poured on too much Pepper Plant Sauce like a dummy but they were terrific.
Bacon - Crisp, meaty, thick cut... Perfect.
Coffee - I like a dark roast, so the coffee was a little bit of a miss for me, but they most certainly use a gourmet blend, not some cheap swill. I finished off my cup easily.
Bill's was pretty darn busy for 10:30-11:00 am on a Sunday and understandably so! Awesome menu, quaint location with patio dining, attentive service, and DELICIOUS food! Since Dave picked up the bill I can't comment but it was worth it!
Yeah - a 9.5 and well deserved. Croissant French Toast! I want more!
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