Craftsman and Wolves — Restaurant in Mountain View

At long last, Craftsman & Wolves has finally opened their storefront in the South Bay in Mountain View off of San Antonio a block east from El Camino.

I had a chance to stop by the weekend after their opening and caught the tail end of their pastry selection a little after noon. It's a compact space that considerably smaller than their Valencia flagship store with dark grey wooden shelves and light grey counter top with a polished concrete floor. The furniture inside is pretty neat with the angular copper chairs. They have a lot of goodies such as their own confectioned salted caramels, vials of Tabasco salt and bags of roasted coffee for sale. I found the line to be a bit awkward. As you enter the door, it wraps toward the left against the wall, past two tables where people are seated. I was trying to keep some distance between me and a seated couple, but I was only about 3 feet away from them.

They had only three of their signature Rebel Withins, two regular and one elote. I opted for the elote. Later at home when I actually ate it, the dough around the egg was actually fairly undercooked. I had to open it up and bake it for about five minutes to harden it sufficiently. I've had Rebel Withins from their Valencia location and don't recall it ever being that doughy. I also ordered the Coconut Banana Bread and Lime Wire, which is essentially an espresso tonic with a heavy infusion of lime elements with a double shot of espresso. It was rich in flavor, but may be an acquired taste for less-seasoned coffee drinkers.

While I was seated, I watched several customers walk up and ask for savory items. The staff informed them that savory items were not yet available because the appliance they ordered to make them arrived broken. Rebel Withins were all gone around 12:30pm on Saturday. I went for a second round to try the Dulce de Leche Latte, which has a heavy caramel flavor. It tasted good, a bit sweeter than I usually prepare my lattes. I also got a pastry which had Calamansi cream inside of a crackled red shell. It had a pleasant citrus flavor and would go well with a pour over or Americano.

I look forward to returning when I'm in the area and trying more of the pastries and savory items once they...

Solid four stars - very good, but not the best in any area. You can find better pastries on Castro, and better coffee at 1 ounce coffee.

I agree with the other reviewers who said this place is more aesthetic than substance. Everything was stunning. We got the parfait and Lion's Head Stack - a meatball in the middle of crispy layers of pastry. They were both okay, though everything came as to go rather than for here like we asked. This didn't matter as much except the parfait was in a plastic cup which made it hard to eat since the yogurt was at the bottom 1/3 of the cup.

The coffee was good, but I will die on the hill that 1 ounce coffee is the best coffee in mountain view. I tried both the mocha and a plain latte - mocha was rich, very dark chocolate-y taste to the point where I think it detracted from the espresso and it just wasn't that smooth. The latte was just okay.

The lion's head stack was not the easiest to eat, and I thought it was just okay. I wouldn't get it again. The parfait again was just average.

I went in to ask for the wifi password to get some work done, and the staff avoided my eye contact for as long as possible, then told me shortly that it was on a sticker on a register. (Sorry?)

Overall not bad, but I would still prefer other places nearby for either coffee or pastries. I probably won't come back unless I'm in the area for something else.

Parking is ample in the retail section of the parking garage of the apartment building. Seating is kind of tight - most of it is outside, and the ambient street noise is not insignificant. We came at 11:30AM ish on a Sunday and snagged the last table - we saw a few groups wander about confused looking for somewhere...

Was so excited to see a specialty coffee shop / bakery open up - much needed in this area. I tried the Rebel Within at the SF Ferry Building farmers market many years ago and have been a fan since (but they were hard to find, since I don’t think they had any brick and mortar outside of the city until now?), so I was particularly thrilled when I saw that it was craftsman & wolves that had opened. The coffee is decent but the pastries are amazing! Loved the kouign amann with strawberry peach jam inside - usually that would be too heavy but the jam wasn’t too sweet and cut out the heaviness of the laminated pastry perfectly. I thought the blueberry muffin was a liiitle too buttery, but I think that’s personal preference. They warm up the rebel within if you get it to stay, which makes it even better. Also, the team is so friendly and they make it an absolute joy to start my day here! Only things to be mindful of are 1) some seating but not plentiful (benches outside though, although not covered so unideal if it’s warm or rainy) and 2) minimal outlets for people are hoping to camp out get work done, but not having as many people with laptops isn’t a problem...