Mill Valley Coffee Shop — Restaurant in Mill Valley

A great place for a good old fashioned American breakfast. I hadn't been here for years, but everything's the same except for the Marin County prices. Expect to pay $11 to $12 for omelets, bacon and eggs, pancake and waffle plates, etc. so that was a bit of a shock. We were actually on our way to Toast in downtown Mill Valley because us Sausalitoans know it's rediculous to fight the hoards of tourists at our usual breakfast spots in Sausalito on a sunny weekend day. So it was great to remember this place on the way downtown Mill Valley. Somehow I thought the prices would be less than what we paid but I guess everyone has upscaled to typical Marin prices. We really enjoyed the food here though.

Another place we passed on the way to Mill Valley was the quaint little diner at Tam Valley stuck way back in the corner, I forget it's name, might be Shoreline Coffee Shop, that's a guess but we always used to order Huevos Rancheros. My friend Kevin said they had been sold and greatly upscaled, especially the prices which were no longer $6.00 breakfasts. Oh well, since Dennys in Corte Madera closed I don't know if you can get a working man's priced breakfast without driving to San Francisco. Sometimes its less expensive to bus round trip to the City for a good meal than to pay...

We went to the Mill Valley Coffee Shop expecting just that, a coffee shop, but were pleasantly surprised to find an old school diner, so we sat down for breakfast. The first thing we noticed was that the prices were high for diner food. $20.95 for a waffle, 2 eggs and 4 sausage links. $18.95 for a sausage and cheese omelette, hash browns and 2 pieces of toast. The second thing we noticed was that we were the only customers at 9:30 AM on a Sunday in bustling Mill Valley. The third thing we noticed was that this is clearly not a "coffee shop." Still, the coffee we did receive was good. The food was also good, though nothing to write home about. It was our waitress's second day and she did fine. The owners (or at least who I think are the owners) were present and very nice people. I think the issue with this place is a confusion about how to market it and what it is. I couldn't understand why it wasn't called the Mill Valley Diner. A classic diner, marketed as such, and priced more reasonably should be a big hit in the area. I think with some minor changes this business could really succeed. I'm rooting for them. But for now, it leaves something...

☕️ 🤲6:30am when everything else was closed I found my way into this magical little portal. As I enjoyed some coffee and a pancake over a conversation with the woman at the register I was at once saddened and grateful. Saddened that humanity and especially the wealthy people in this neighborhood haven’t made the people of this restaurant wealthy enough to live in the neighborhood they work in. So grateful for the wisdom of this woman pouring the coffee. As if she’d seen this scene so many times she knew every mood and move and exactly what it means to be at the helm of a social nexus point such as her Mill Valley Coffee Shop. Left this place in a daze of thoughts about how our world needs to balance our collective way of life. The caste system, classism, monetary system, capitalism and all the greed and separation they generate have got to go... Anyway I thought, among many other things, if I ever hit it big I might go into that coffee shop and set those beautiful people free from having to serve in that way to...