Bear Coast Coffee — Restaurant in San Clemente

So I found another Bear Coast Coffee in San Clemente. A name I still don’t understand as I doubt anyone has ever seen a bear on any of these beaches. Well maybe Pizarro did. It's right next to Caterina’s but I give them five stars. That's all of them. And like the military I don't give them out easily. Last time I gave five stars was to an airport bathroom that had both soap AND paper towels.

I've become obsessed with their dark chocolate mocha. Like, legitimately concerned about myself. I'm drinking it and thinking, "This is California so there must be something else in here that’s not legal in other states." I've started planning my entire week next week around getting another one. My girlfriend asked what I wanted to do for our anniversary, and I just showed her a picture of this mocha on my phone. Just kidding I don’t have a girlfriend which is why I write reviews.

The girls that work there are all rock 'n' roll. I don't really know what that means, but they have cool tattoos and piercings and colored hair and seem like they're in bands and hang out in places I wouldn’t be allowed in. Meanwhile, I'm standing there in my New Balance shoes trying to look casually cool while holding my mocha with sweaty hands trying not to spill it because if they had added one more drop of coffee the entire place would have flooded.

The location... I mean, it couldn't get any better unless they built it on the actual beach, which would be a terrible idea because of tides and stuff. But it's close enough that you can smell the ocean while you're drinking your cup’a joe. At one point I was sitting outside, and a seagull flew by and looked like it wanted to cream my coffee. So I went back inside and awkwardly tried to talk to the girls about MMA.

I tried to find something wrong with this place to seem more balanced in my review. The best I could come up with was that the cups aren't bigger. I would swim in this dark chocolate mocha if they offered it. I'd need a snorkel, but I'd do it.

So yeah, five stars. If they had six stars as an option, I'd give it six stars. But they don't. So......

I placed an order of 2 x 96oz ($50 plus $10 tip which I could have easily ordered at Starbucks or Peet's coffee for half of the price but I wanted to support our local coffee shop) for 4th of July with the manager Gaby and I was told to pick it up at 6am no later or earlier. My husband arrived at 6am to pick it up and it wasn't ready, he waited 20 min to have them prepare it while he waited defeating the purpose of ordering ahead. This delay caused our neighborhood festivities a major delay in starting. I called today to speak with manager Gaby and hope that she would make it right instead I got a huge attitude from her saying that I was being disrespectful to the employee who took the message today from my disappointment from my order. I asked Gaby what did I said that was being disrespectful and she couldn't give a concrete answer or explanation, instead she said there is nothing she could do to make it right. This is a huge disappointment to see that a manager would talk an unhappy customer this way and raise her voice. I won't ever place an order for an event and for sure won't send any of my family, friends, neighbors or recommend Bear Coast to anyone as the service is poor and the manager has poor people skills. Customer service is the key to any business, especially in the...

We stayed in this San Clemente neighborhood by the pier and were looking forward to easy access to a boutique coffee spot a block away. Was really hoping for some good coffee and light breakfast foods here.

To the staff’s credit, service was friendly and they were fast. We ordered 2 cappuccinos with house almond milk, a bacon breakfast burrito, chia seed pudding, pistachio almond croissant and blueberry scone. It was all ready within 5 minutes. Unfortunately, none of the food or drink was very good.

Starting with the coffee - the house almond milk was so sweet, it ruined any flavor the espresso might’ve had. I couldn’t taste it or finish it. I’d say get try oat milk instead but they use Califia which frankly tastes like roasted cardboard.

The breakfast burrito was quite bland and cold inside.

The scone was bland and dry. The taste of their croissant wasn’t bad but it wasn’t warmed up well and a little soggy.

The chia seed pudding had so much almond butter that it really overwhelms you. You can’t even taste the pudding.

It’s the only coffee shop by this neighborhood so you don’t have much of a choice. Otherwise, if you have a car or willing to walk a bit, I’d suggest you head a mile up the road and try some...