Nectar Café — Restaurant in Auburn

Convenient location. Average food. Below average service. Premium San Francisco Pricing - check check and check. Lots of great options in Auburn to settle for a mediocre meal, unless it's a pit stop.

On the way to Tahoe, this is a quick stop off the freeway. Parking wasn' a challenge. Street parking is free.

The first thing that inundates you is the massive menu. And the counter lady wasn't very helpful or knowledgeable in recommending the most interesting items in the menu. Almost like she wasn't interested in the job.

We got an orange mocha ($6), which was a special. You have 3 options for 2%, almond and cashew milk. We opted for almond. I like me coffee to be hot or even warm is acceptable, however this coffee lacked much of anything, cacao or coffee, except they did amp up the orange flavor. It would all be forgivable if the coffee was warm. Tepid to the point of being almost took temperature - yuck!

There's counter service to place your order, and your meal gets brought to you.

Next we tried the tacos - vegan chorizo and portabello and portabello. Skip the chorizo. Portabello was average. With a large side of beans and rice. $14 for under flavored tacos.

We also got a hippie girl sandwich. The bread was a nice slice of multi grain goodness and the filling of chick pea, tomato and sauce was slightly better than average. It comes with a side of a single piece of pickle and chips (but no guacamole or salsa).

Food is a religion to me. And I like to be kind to anyone who works in the grueling food service business. Heck I am polite and decent with everyone, but if someone is indifferent and doesn't care, it makes the food taste less special. I may be biased here, so do try the place once if you are in the cute town of Auburn. We will give the place a hard pass unless the owner gets more knocked with their counter staff.

Note: The person who brought our meal as well as the other person begin the counter were wonderful and seemed to be happy to be here. However one instance of bad behavior can affect a restaurants perception. Sigh, disappointed as I had high hopes...

Holy vegan-moly, I cannot believe I have made it through my whole life without eating here. How did I survive?! Yesterday my family decided to do a rare take-out afternoon picnic in the car, and after googling “vegan Auburn,” we came upon Nectar Cafe. It looked decent, worthy of the 30-40 minute drive for better than average vegan fare. We ordered the Supreme Nachos, which were definitely better than average - really flavorful, hearty, and satisfying. We also ordered the Tempeh Reuben, one of my vegan diner go-to’s, and it too was better than average, maybe in my top 3 favorites. Lastly, we ordered the BLTA and let me tell you, my mind exploded. I have never been a BLT eater, even prior to going vegan, but I thought the kids and my husband would like it. (We were sharing all the dishes) I always tell people that “bacon is a flavor, not a piece of pig,” and I have never been more right about anything, ever. This sandwich was SO AMAZING - the flavors were so deliciously intermingled, and I wish I could eat it over and over again. It was even the perfect size, and thickness, and WOW I could talk about that sandwich all day. 🤤 Oh, did I mention the staff was very upbeat and helpful, and the whole experience was just so positive I could not be more pleased. 30-40 minute drive was well worth it yesterday, and again any time in the future. You want to eat here! Thank you,...

We came here from Sacramento because I heard the food was great. We ordered 2 meals, the Buffalo cauliflower taco with an additional beans and rice and the nachos. We placed the order per the receipt timestamp at 4:58 and got our food at 5:33...over 30 minutes of waiting. There was a table of 5 ahead of us but they had gotten their food and finished eating by the time we got our meal. We were not offered any water while we waited. No biggie. The buffalo cauliflower taco was really good & tangy. I had asked to have them add vegan meat to it for $2 extra but I ended getting a whole taco with the meat in it for $4.50 rather than in the cauliflower taco. misunderstanding. No worries. The taco was really good. The nachos platter looked “poor”... a lot of chips with a little bit of beans, cheese, avocado and whatever else comes on it. Once you eat the few on top, it was a bunch of plain tortilla chips on the bottom with nothing. They only give a small container of salsa with it. Definitely not worth the price. They need to fill in between with the good stuff. The people working inside did not have their masks on, in case you care about that in these dire times, so working with food, it’s a good idea to do so :) The prices are a little high considering no meat is used (which costs more money) so I don’t get that. But overall, an ok experience! Too small of portions...