Cafe Rosalena — Restaurant in San Jose

My sister and I visited Cafe Rosalena for the first time on a Saturday afternoon. The staff at the register were very friendly and welcoming, which we really appreciated.

However, our interaction (or lack thereof) with one of the owners, an older white gentleman, left us with an odd impression. From the start, he did not acknowledge us at all. He made direct eye contact with my sister, but instead of greeting her, he glared at her for an awkward moment, then walked right past her. At first, she mistook him for another customer since he lacked the welcoming presence you’d normally expect from a restaurant owner.

While waiting for our food, we noticed he grabbed a tray of orange juice samples from the back. He walked past us without offering any, despite the fact that we hadn’t ordered drinks and would have appreciated trying some since we were just standing there waiting. Instead, he stopped to chat with a white couple at a table, offering them samples, going back to their table and giving them free cookies, and even taking pictures of their dog. Later, we saw him chatting with another white couple inside and going back to their table to give them free cookies as well.

Meanwhile, most of the other customers eating in the restaurant (including us) were people of color, and we didn’t see him interact with or offer anything to them. To be fair, we can’t say for sure if he shared samples with anyone outside, but based on what we personally witnessed, his friendliness and attention felt very one sided.

We left with mixed feelings, the food was good and the rest of the staff were wonderful, but our experience with the owner was strange and unwelcoming. We wanted to share this so others know...

Cafe Rosalena “San Jose’s Best Breakfast Burritos” ordered: Chorizo Burrito Iced Horchata Latte

Total $26.12

The chorizo burrito was MASSIVE It was packed with flavor; cheese, potatoes, eggs, meat. Their signature “medium” orange salsa was creamy and at a decent spice level. The chorizo was such a great choice, would experiment on other salsas on my next return. The chorizo blended well with the eggs and roasted potatoes in the burrito, overall the spices and flavors as well as all the textures made this a wonderful and filling breakfast burrito.

The iced horchata latte was wonderful, light and creamy and yet not as sweet as it sounds. Gentle notes of coffee did come through as well as the light spice of cinnamon.

One of the owners; David came out and chatted with me for a while, the cafe had been in the very location for 30 years. He came over and brought me an oatmeal cookie for free as well as trying their freshly squeezed orange juice.

The cookie, again was massive and smelled wonderful, although I was too full from the burrito that I wasn’t able to try it yet.

The ambience of this place was amazing, with open air seating, open garage panels, outdoor seating. Sitting in the sun enjoying my food and the light breeze was perfect.

Overall what made this place wonderful was the hospitality and customer service. Thank you to David...

**Updated: added comment.

Food: This place was recommended by a friend and I kept seeing signage about it being the best burrito so maybe I got a little too excited? I got a chorizo burrito when I last went and it was okay. I feel like it was missing something. I found myself using more of the sauce to help with flavor. Would I go out of my way for it? No. We're in San Jose and there's a lot of burrito places so there's a lot of competition, so I wouldn't really go out of my way for it.

Experience: The staff were friendly and direct. The wait was a bit longer than I expected for two chorizo burritos (one for me and one for my boyfriend). However, I'm a pretty patient person so I didn't have an issue with it. Plus, people have to understand on a weekend morning cafes and restaurants are on the busier side.

Atmosphere: It looks like any normal cafe. There was a good amount of seating to the right of the cafe. However, something that was very apparent was the heavy Thin Blue Line branding on their merch. It's towards the front of the store, so it's hard to miss. Because a lot of hate groups use the Thin Blue Line flag, I personally didn't feel comfortable. So, I most likely won't be going back and that's okay. Maybe some people find it comforting. I just want to be transparent...