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Cafe San Jose (American cuisine) $

1583 Meridian Ave, San Jose, 95125 (Directions)

408.265.3020

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Extensive breakfast and lunch menu catering to the whole family
Reviewer: Jason Total Reviews: 1005 Reviewed: 6/13/2007 Rating: 9 My photo gallery	Cafe San Jose was described as the mom and pop operation with a large breakfast and lunch menu. With breakfast crew in tow, we drove out to the newly opened restaurant on Hamilton and Meridian. If you know where Dick's Bakery is, Cafe San Jose sits 3 doors down in the corner. We walked in and immediately we were greeted. The walls have these huge murals of what appears to be rolling green hills of northern california or maybe even that section along the 101 before Paso Robles. Towards the kitchen is a long sit down counter for watching the cooks do their thing while you chow. I like the layout as it's completely different than the boring restaurant chains and their 1000's of junk pinned to the wall. Our server today was all smiles and patiently awaited the flip floppers to order. The menu is quite large and was difficult to make a decision because everything sounded so good. (Be sure to check out the web site link for online menu) After a good solid 10 minutes, I ordered the fried egg sandwich. fried egg sandwich (image 7 and 8) - I figured since I was eating eggs and bacon, I'd try to balance the fat with fruits and wheat bread. The fruits were as fresh as they can with the strawberries especially sweet. The sandwich surprisingly wasn't greasy at all. It's like they patted down the bacon yet their bacon was extra crunchy. The egg had the perfect consistency with yolk about medium cooked. The oozing american cheese between the salty bacon and ripe tomato make every bite delightful. Wheat bread was toasted to perfection and beginning to think this could possibly be the best egg sandwich I've had? This blows away the one I had at Mini Gourmet a couple of weeks back. One of the other guys, Chris ordered the San Jose burger. I was able to try a small piece of the San Jose burger and the meat tasted like it was ground fresh with a slight crumbly texture. I'm going to guess the marinade is Worcestershire sauce. The combination of that with thousand islands, grilled onions, mushrooms, and soft bun, makes it even a tougher decision what to order for the next visit. The onion rings are beer battered and not surprisingly, the rings weren't greasy. Sean loved his San Jose Club and pointed out the bacon was excellent. If he had to make one change, he thought the american cheese might have been overkill and would have opted for a mild slice of swiss. Other than that, he loved his sandwich. For a breakfast/lunch house, I got to hand it to Cafe San Jose for not serving up a greasy spoon. It's one of the few times where I didn't feel guilty eating my bacon and eggs. The prices are right, family atmosphere, happy waitresses, and what more do you need except the jatbar 9 rating. Thanks to Mike D for sharing Cafe San Jose.

	RETURN VISIT for Jason! 7/17/2007 - 8 Rating: Made return visit with Sean. Although the Egg Sandwich was spectacular, I wanted to give another menu item some airtime. I went with the B.L.A.T. It's a sourdough sandwich with bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato. Easy sandwich to make but today they fell short of my expectations. For starters, the sourdough wasn't even toasted. I didn't take pictures but you'll have to take my word for it. The bread was still white, need I say more? Bacon wasn't crispy and wasn't evenly distributed. One side had plenty of bacon but when I got to the other side, there was 1 measely strip. Same goes with avocado, I had a tiny piece sitting on the same side as the 1 strip of bacon. If I would have eaten this side 1st, I would have pulled bacon and avocado from the other side but as luck would have it, I ate the hearty side 1st. The sandwich was nowhere near the 9 rated sandwich I had weeks ago. It wasn't terrible but nothing spectular. It was somewhere near a 7.5. Service was the real winner today and will bump the score to an 8. I'm still confident Cafe San Jose serves great food.


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Forcella ate...

Full-sized glass of water

“Sandra, the owner, heard you. The tiny water glasses are gone. Please stop whining over the tiny water glasses and give the restaurant the credit it deserves.”

6/10/2008 3:35:57 PM

unclejam00 ate...

La Viva scramble

“Was here for breakfast..big problem with this place is the size of their water glasses. I know it sounds like a minor point, but if you're thirsty (which I was) and a waitress is either negligent or very busy (which she was), you can end up parched”

7/19/2007 5:47:48 AM

Amoreena ate...

Breakfast tacos, pancakes

“Disappointing. Overcooked eggs,cold beans & bland overall. The staff was very nice, and pancakes were good, but I can make pancakes at home. I'll try them again as jatbar is usually accurate. I'll repost, but 7.5 for now.”

7/1/2007 7:30:34 PM

Forcella ate...

Fried Egg Sandwich & Home Fries

“Tasty all-American comfort food without the grease, and a friendly staff that deserves success in their new endeavor. I printed the Jatbar review and gave it to my waitress. She was thrilled.”

6/23/2007 9:42:56 PM

AskPriz ate...

The T.B.A. Melt

“Quite good! Service was great, very friendly. Informed them of the awesome review being the reason I went. They were surprised to hear that. (Didn't know of JATBAR.) There's a dozen things I want to try, DEFINITELY will return. I really enjoyed it.”

6/20/2007 2:46:40 PM