Jane on Larkin — Restaurant in San Francisco

Okay, I am not one to leave a negative review. I prefer to focus on the good, but I am not happy about how Jane’s handled an incident yesterday.

The incident: My boyfriend and I stopped by to buy some coffee. As soon as we entered, a cute little dog started barking at us. Not a problem! What was was a problem is the dog owner said something along the lines of “oh (the dog) doesn’t speak Mexican haha...oh I mean Spanish haha” to his friend about us. Obviously it was loud enough for us to hear.

I slowly reacted but I did repeat what he said loud enough for his friends to hear me. We were all in line with one person in between us. For some reason, I didn’t have the energy to argue or fight, and I asked my boyfriend not to start anything either. I feel that other people heard him and none of them cared. We would be the irrational loud brown people!

After his friends heard me repeat what their friend said, they looked embarrassed, but said nothing. The man realized I had a cellphone and kept his back toward me for a while. I waited, he turned and I took a photo. Nauseated at the incident, we left without buying coffee. We planned on watching the second half of the last game of the World Cup at Civic Center anyway! After the game finished, my boyfriend could tell I was still upset so we walked back to Jane’s to talk to someone. It wasn’t their fault after all, but I just needed to be heard.

Their response: We approached a young lady working the counter. She was extremely apologetic and so was another guy behind the counter. I could tell they sympathized, so one of them went to tell the manager.

We waited for a bit, and after a few minutes, the guy we talked to earlier approached us. He reluctantly (not in a negative way but in I don’t want to say this script) asked us if we wanted a free pastry while we waited. (Umm no) Almost immediately and without walking away, he told us the manager couldn’t come out, but that they knew who the man was. They asked us to speak up next time. They assured us that they would take care of it, and since I tend to avoid confrontation, I said thank you and we left.

After: My boyfriend and I talked. We felt that the fact the manager didn’t care to come out, and that they thought we wanted free pastries means that we have so much doubt they’ll say anything to that man. It’s our word against his. They didn’t ask for our contact info in order to follow up or anything.

Yes, it wasn’t Jane’s fault the incident happened.

Yes, we didn’t speak up during the incident, but sometimes it’s difficult to react “correctly” every time an incident like this happens. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last time we encounter a person with a prejudice.

Yes, the employees up front were great, and they did what they could after they learned of what happened. They were limited by what they could do though.

No, we don’t want free pastries!

To the manager, we’re disappointed in your reaction. We’ve lived in the neighborhood for the past decade, decade and a half. Please care...

This place has excellent food. I've had the good fortune of being here several times. The atmosphere has a je ne sais quoi about it. The area is surrounded by a desperate neighborhood that may have seen better days. I'd call it a brownfield development possibility type of thing. Businesses here are challenged by the hardscrabble gritty locals who don't really enjoy this kind of establishment and wouldn't want to darken the door. However, it's like an oasis and a bit of brightness that can beckon one to this study of contrasts. I highly recommend this place be supported by a vigorous clientele. There are those who like to feel richly blessed by comparison to what's around it. The surrounding squalor does give it a killjoy vibe. Schadenfreude may be a motive, which would cause the locals to muscle in and close the place. There is a dyssynergy at play here. Is there hope it offers by hosting a Saturday cleanup of the neighborhood in late morning followed by the Duel at the OK Corral at noon? Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson cleaning up their plates at noon after being Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for an hour? Perhaps. Rechtfertigung or Mitzvah? Grace or doing good? Who's to care? Jane is plain and tolerates Spanglish, I suppose. They know nothing of Wolfhart Pannenberg. I mention this because it is important to me, not to you or this review. The food is good. The experience now is unique. If the neighborhood changes, will it be better? That depends on why you would need the surrounding area this way to be why you need to eat...

Ok little cafe serving up a broad array of varied foods, most of which are of the typical fatty, greasy, saucy and filling type. FOOD: Great for a filling feed. Among other things, we ordered a salad which appeared to be made up of pre-made not fresh ingredients slathered in dressing. I would call their food a far cry from healthy - however I appreciate that this may be by design/fast food - it's just my heads up to those used to super nutritious fresh salads. I was super impressed to get toasted gluten free banana bread though and would recommend this to others. They also have a range of vegan and vegetarian dishes. STAFF: Really lovely and considerate. They appeared to be super down to earth and friendly to the locals too - which was really lovely to observe. INTERIOR: Clean well kept relatively large cafe space with a kitchen that looks like it cooks for thousands so I have no idea why the quality of our food was so low. ACCESSIBILITY: Wheelchair accessible with toilets on site. PRICES: Reasonable to a little pricy given the low quality of food. In a great vibrant area - surrounded by the colour and life of the tenderloin - ample street parking and a minute from bus stops. OVERALL: ok, if you're walking by - stopped in for a cuppa a few times, wouldn't go out of my...