Paula's Cafe — Restaurant in San Francisco

To start, the signage is in an awkward position with the menu outside so it was hard to look at the menu without touching the signage. The line to wait for pickup, wait for a table, or whether we can just walk in to order was a bit confusing.

The food prices were reasonable for a SF brunch spot but on the slightly higher side. $46.76 total before tip for a crab omelette $25 (with real crab meat), a lox bagel $11 + $1.9 (for like 1/8 of an avocado that was on one end of the bagel), and an iced mocha $5. Tax was 9%.

Staff is friendly, and the food is good but it wasn’t great. The ambience is interesting because I don’t know how I feel when I’m in there. Definitely doesn’t feel like a brunch spot, felt more like a Peet’s coffee that served hot foods. The interior has a bit of a darker palette so I think that added to it plus I can’t recall if there was music playing but there was a tv with the default Roku screen on.

She handed us the food after 20 minutes and almost forgot our coffee. It wasn’t crowded but maybe the kitchen is really busy for some other reason?

Overall, if I go again I will opt to sit outside. It’s not the first spot I would think of when I think brunch. The mocha drink was just ok, we didn’t even finish it between...

Not what I was hoping for. I walked a distance with a hankering for eggs benedict. Saw they had crab benedict which is my favorite so went there. But the menu listed nothing about this crab benedict coming with a weird spicey southwestern hollandaise instead of regular hollandaise..pretty disappointing. I can't eat spice well so I wouldn't have ordered this had I known that..for a $20 plate you should know what you're getting. I asked for asparagus with the crab benedict since the menu said only the regular benedict came with it, she said the crab bennie comes with and clearly didn't understand me when I asked for it specifically.. so I did not get the asparagus with mine. Something so frustrating about language/communication barriers when ordering and then not getting what you want because of it. For the crab Bennie and a drip coffee my bill was $30...not sure why. Also waited a while...2 dudes came in 15 min after me and got their food when I did. Overall...

Disappointed by the food, atmosphere, and service at paula’s cafe.

FOOD: I got the breakfast combo and found every element of it bad - the eggs were stringy, sausage had an off texture, and the french toast was extremely stale. I had to cover anything with excessive ketchup/maple syrup and force it down. To top it off, the portions were really small and I left quite hungry.

SERVICE: The service was not great. We made reservations but our table was not ready for 15 mins after we got there. The server forgot to give us utensils with our meal and did not refill our water. At the end, I was overcharged for the coffee and side of eggs. That said the waiter was nice and seemed to be trying his best.

VIBE: The atmosphere was crowded and fairly noisy. Might be better at a less peak time (we went for sunday brunch)

Overall, based on other reviews, I suspect their mexican style breakfasts are better. That said, I would...