Toy Boat by Jane — Restaurant in San Francisco

The original owners retired and the classic diner sold to the owner of Jane Bakery in the Fillmore.

Toy Boat is the only ice cream game in the neighborhood (east of Park Persidio and north of the GG Park), so I’m sure glad they made it!!

They are still serving the classic Double Rainbow ice cream including some excellent dairy free options such as raspberry sorbet and snickerdoodle soy cream.

I removed a couple of star after two years of going there since the rebrand due to the lackluster service. On more than one occasion, the baristas who are glued to their phones made the wrong order. It is always grumpy teenagers/young adults working there that seem legit mad to see you. We took our toddler there for a special occasion and right as we were ordering the ice cream she needed to use a bathroom, we finished the transaction and paid and tipped generously and were told to go to another coffeeshop to use the bathroom a couple of blocks away. So we had to run our kid over two blocks, could not carry our order with us, order something else at the other place and come back to completely melted ice cream and a toddler tantrum and the whole outing was ruined. Like I understand they don’t other people using their bathroom but it was a toddler clearly on a special day and it clearly was an emergency and the complete lack of empathy was shocking. At least tell me before I pay that you were not going to let us use your bathroom.

Other than that, if you are used to the old Toy Boat, they replaced the sandwiches, cakes, pies, and baked goods with Jane's classic menu - pastries, breads, sandwiches and salads, which is a plus.

They cleaned up the place on the inside, streamlined the decor, and got rid of a lot of the older toys, indoor tables, and so on.

The coin operated horse is still...

So, in many ways, this is still the same Toy Boat cafe that's been here for nearly 40 years, but since Jane the Bakery took over, everything's gotten a little bit better. Specifically...

Things that are better The ice cream. They still carry a lot of the popular flavors from Double Rainbow, but they've expanded their suppliers to include both Mitchells (for tropical flavors) and Hometown Creamery, which always has delicious and unique flavors. The pastries. I mean, duh. A bakery owns this place now; the pastries better be great. Maybe not quite as good as the fresh-out-of-the-oven ones from Arsicault, but certainly a good option when you don't feel like waiting in line for 30 minutes. Treat yourself to a cookie, too.They're worth it. The sandwiches and salads. They're pre-made now, but honestly, they're significantly better than before, with more interesting ingredients and really good ciabatta. Oh, speaking of... Bread. They sell fresh loaves of bread every day. The baguette is great, but you definitely need to order ahead or show up at 10:00, or they'll be sold out. Cleanliness. Sorry, old Toy Boat, I loved you in many ways, but the whole place just felt grungy. The new store definitely feels cleaner than before. (Although I still think they could use to re-tile their floors.)

So... what's not as good? Hours. I mean, it's a pandemic, so I'll give them a pass here, but for a dessert cafe, it'd be nice if it were open a little later. No custardy desserts. Cookies and brownies and cakes are fine. But every one in a while you're in the mood for something a little more custard-y, like a tiramisu or key lime pie, which the old Toy Boat used to have. Granted, it was a pretty mediocre tiramisu, but even mediocre tiramisu is better than...

Let's be honest. The Toy Boat is barely a shadow of its former self. In the past, the Toy Boat offered good selection of sandwiches and sweet treats , of decent portion size and quality. Although not the best , it certainly could hold its own against other coffee shops / ice cream venues in the area. Ok , so we all know about increased prices across the board and business owners in turn must reduce portion sizes to keep going. Just a fact of life and a sign of the times we live in . All that being said, the Toy Boat must surely be kidding when they charge $7 of a two or three bite at most "Black Magic" cake ........by the inch .....they say for some unknown reason . Outright daylight robbery and whomever came up with the ....by the inch price tag line .....would we better served to focus on their baking skills above all else. The "black magic" mini slice of cake for $7 is so small it barely feels like anything in the box . As for the taste, so average even Safeway could pull off the same for half the price and double the portion in turn. Time to pull up the proverbial socks at the Toy Boat would be the best advice to the staff and owners. Back to basics , focus on the products you offer and put customer satisfaction number...