Kate's Kitchen — Restaurant in San Francisco

[From April 2007]

This place was strikingly mediocre... reminiscent of what you'd get at a truck stop where the cooks didn't give a crap 'cause they knew that their cafe was the only place to eat for miles.

Only... this ISN'T the only breakfast place in town, so I'm thoroughly baffled why anyone would choose to eat here (it was a first -- and undoubtedly last -- visit for me and my friend).

First, let me highlight the good: The waitress. Total sweetie... friendly, helpful, and attentive. The orange juice. Seemingly fresh squeezed and chilled but not freezing cold. And... er, I guess that's about it on the good side.

The bad?:

Hellishly noisy. My friend and I could barely hear each other and we don't have hearing problems. Well, at least we didn't before being subjected to this cramped echo'y place.

Very bland, boring, totally uninspiring food. Not even inspiring in that, "damn, that's nice and simple like my Grandma used to make" way. Syrup wasn't real maple syrup, potatoes were cold and mushy rather than warm, crispy and decently seasoned, omelette was boring, too.

Cash only? You've got to be kidding me. If this were a cute and creative little mom'n'pop place in the middle of nowhere, I could understand, but a crappy diner-type place in SF? Gimme a break.

I've had much better breakfast food when I cooked it myself, and -- believe me -- that's saying a lot ;)

P.S. -- Forgot to add my gripe about the truly obnoxious portion sizes. No, more is not always better. I ordered the tall stack of cornmeal pancakes and the waitress (bless her heart) strongly urged me to order the short stack instead. Let me tell you... even as a medium-sized and VERY hungry guy, I could barely eat one of the two huge-plate-sized pancakes. I asked her if she had personally seen anyone finish the tall-stack... and she laughed and admitted that she'd only seen two folks manage it.

Sheesh. That's not good value (who actually takes home and reheats pancakes? No, really!), that's just a disgusting waste of food. Pity the Kate's folks can't concentrate on quality...

I regret to leave such an awful review considering the first time I ate here, the spicy chicken sandwich was one of my top three favorite chicken sandwiches I've EVER eaten. Unfortunately, we had to take our order to go, and when we got home, the collard greens were borderline flavorless, with barely any bacon at all. My partner's $5 order of extra bacon barely existed in his scramble, and the server told me that my crispy chicken sandwich would come with fries. I had no idea she meant home fries, which inevitably always mean the potatoes are heavily starchy and flavorless. This was certainly the case for our order, and instead of the sandwich I ordered, I received a grilled chicken sandwich with home fries, and just so I could be sure, I tried one. They were the worst potatoes I've ever eaten.

I took the chicken out of the sandwich to store for later, since the chicken looked fine but the rest of the sandwich was a mess. The hash browns were absolutely delicious, so they were the redeeming quality of the meal, but they were only about 1/5 of the order. The biscuits, although they looked flaky, buttery, and filled with chives, were stale and bland. This is so incredibly disappointing considering the 5 out of 5 rating I would have given the first time I went there. Basically, order the spicy crispy chicken sandwich, and you'll absolutely love this place! Other than that, this place was an overall disappointment the second time. Maybe we just got them...

Came here with a couple of girlfriends after a morning hike at Land's End. We were looking for a tasty hearty brunch after our morning activities. We ordered 2 dishes and a side to share - French toast orgy, pumpkin and chocolate french toast, and a side of hash browns.

As the 'Good' star rating says, the meal was A-OK, but it certainly wasn't mind blowing nor even awesome enough to make me want to come back again.

The best part about the meal was when it was served. It looked fantastic! The french toast orgy was piled at least 6 inches high off the plate with fruit, yogurt, and granola on top of french toast. The pumpkin and chocolate looked absolutely mouthwatering. But actually biting into each of these dishes is where the disappointment set in. The french toast was plain. Plain plain plain. No amount of fruit/yogurt/granola topping can help if the french toast itself is just mediocre. The pumpkin french toast was the better of the two, but that was merely because it had chocolate sauce and whip cream on it - the toast itself didn't taste a thing like pumpkin. Thankfully the hash browns were tasty.

Glad I went, glad we tried the dishes we did, glad I took pictures of the craziness that is the french toast orgy, but...