Roxanne Cafe — Restaurant in San Francisco

I can't understand the negative reviews! My associates and I were staying at the nearby Orchard Hotel - we ate breakfast here four mornings in a row, and lunch or dinner three times. Clearly, we were happy with the restaurant!

If you're looking for upscale chi-chi dining, this isn't your place. This is a place full of comfort foods and locals. Excellent coffee. Tasty food. Attention to allergies, food preferences. Friendly staff. Zero to complain about.

One thing I noticed and loved. There was a gentleman who came in after our party was seated, and he sat himself at a table next to an older woman obviously trying to read a book while eating alone. The only inappropriate thing about him was that he continued to talk to her despite her saying a couple of times that she had to get back to her book. There was nothing rude about it, but he clearly kept forgetting that he'd promised to stop talking, and continued in a friendly tone. We overheard him saying he was "homeless by choice" and that he'd sold his San Francisco house for a million dollars recently, was excited that a friend had offered him a place to stay in the Phillipines for $600 a month, which his social security would cover.

The waitress asked if he was ready to eat now - apparently he'd ordered breakfast and then disappeared for an hour. She also asked if he could pay; she was very polite about it. He responded that he was still hungry! and she brought him a platter of eggs and salmon. The woman at the next table finally gave up and conversed with him for a while, urging him to eat, saying he was too skinny. When he confessed he could eat no more, she arranged to have the leftovers boxed and helped him do so. During all this time, the wait staff treated him with respect. When the bill came, the woman insisted on paying it, although he pulled out what appeared to be several credit cards from his pocket. He thanked her profusely and left.

Personally, I'd rather eat at a homey restaurant that serves meatloaf at dinner as a main course, and treats human beings like human beings, than the fanciest...

If you’re looking for a quick or enjoyable breakfast, this is not the place. My husband and I decided to try Roxanne Café after asking our hotel for a good breakfast recommendation. When we arrived, the line was out the door, which we took as a good sign. We waited about 5–10 minutes to be seated, but unfortunately, things went downhill from there.

Once seated, we sat for about 5 minutes without being acknowledged. My husband tried to wave down a server, and in response, one of them gestured for him to slow down — which felt rude considering we hadn’t even been greeted. A few more minutes passed before a server finally came to take our order. Even then, we didn’t receive water until nearly 30 minutes after being seated. My husband asked for lime and was brought one slice of lemon.

When our food finally arrived, it didn’t look appetizing. We immediately noticed the bacon was not what we ordered, and the eggs were also cooked incorrectly. The server acknowledged the mistake and said she’d take it back to the kitchen — first the bacon, then my entire plate.

After another 5-minute wait with no update, we decided we’d had enough. We told the server we no longer wanted the food and were leaving. She responded that she would bring us the check, but my husband explained that we weren’t going to pay for food we didn’t eat. She then told him to speak Spanish to her (which he doesn’t speak fluently), and defensively added, “We’re busy,” in Spanish.

At that point, nearly an hour had passed, and all we had received was water and poor service. I asked to speak with a manager, and the server simply said, “You can leave. You don’t owe anything.”

We came expecting a good experience based on the recommendation and the crowd — unfortunately, it was anything but. We won’t be returning and cannot recommend this...

Little cafe has okay food and okay service, but it was a really pricey given the mediocre quality and experience. Could be better and here’s how.

Spent $56 for a simple and modest California omelette, with some home style country potatoes, a single piece of toast, a side of bacon, and a terrible macchiato that was supposed to be super fancy, but was worse than a poorly prepared Keurig.

I wasn’t impressed by anything at all except the audacity of the price compared to the modest portions.

They charge more than twice the cost of Black Bear with 1/3 the portions size. I expect the atmosphere/ambiance or food quality of a place charging so much to make up the difference, but Black Bear quality, service, and atmosphere is way better too. They must need more competition.

Russet potatoes and thin sliced standard store bought bread for toast aren’t so expensive that they couldn’t give a few more pieces for the amount they charged. Or else at least make it look fancy and spruce up the restaurant to be more elegant.

They mostly need to work on their barista skills. The macchiato I bought was burnt tasting, bitter, watered down, and the whipped cream they added was flat.

The wait staff seemed ample for the tiny size of the cafe, so they could’ve been a bit more attentive. They weren’t so busy that anyone should have sat for too long unattended, but quite a few people appeared to look around at times trying to get someone’s attention because they didn’t come by to check on the tables periodically as they should.

I do not recommend. Maybe if it’s the only place open, otherwise, it was not worth half the cost. If it was $20-$25 out the door (tip included) then maybe it could make 3 stars for meeting...