Mikayla's Cafe — Restaurant in Santa Clara

I love the romantic idea of mindful relaxation in a cozy cafe after a good morning workout, especially in a cafe that elevates your mood and helps you enjoy the peace and quiet of a city yet to wake up. If I am able to find a comfortable table by a window, I'm sometimes inspired to read a short chapter of my current favorite book while sipping coffee before I head over to office. I know I cannot do this everyday, but whenever I am able to follow this morning routine, my whole day is filled with that elusive positive energy we all so crave for. I also love food that is cooked with empathy, skill and passion, but it is not easy to find both an aesthetic cafe and good food, so I try to be satisfied with at least one of the two.

Mikayla's Cafe is close to my office and I wanted to check it out to see if I can make this my regular breakfast spot. The cafe is a rectangular space wedged between other mundane shops and the interior is decorated with decent taste. Very quickly, I realized this was not going to be that aesthetic cafe with big bright windows or a nice view of a modest garden and the streets outside, so I was hoping that the service and food would make up for it. The cafe was almost empty and the waiter was busy in the kitchen, so I picked up the menu myself and ordered coffee five minutes later. I noticed that the chefs were cranking out huge party size platters of grub hub to-go food, and I was happy to see such a bustling kitchen and was waiting eagerly in anticipation of fresh food. I waited for a long time for the coffee to arrive, and the waiter nonchalantly dropped the coffee mug on the table without even looking at me. I am a simple guy and don't feel the need to seek special respect from others especially when I am in my gym clothes. I try to be empathetic towards others as much as I can. It doesn't bother me when people aren't courteous because we are all guilty of being distracted either reminiscing memories or musing about our aspirations. And you sometimes want to be nonchalant to appear cool and hip. I do that too. I waited for the coffee to settle down wiped some split coffee off the table. The coffee tasted good. A chef brought the "All American Favorite" plate breakfast. Nothing, other than the eggs, were made-to-order let alone warmed up. The toast was cold and dry, the sausages and the potatoes weren't warm, but the potatoes were quite tasty. This might have been a one-off experience, but I felt like this was just another average cafe not worth the $17 bill. You may like Mikayla's if you are just looking for a no-frills average breakfast spot. It seems like an honest place and I'm leaving this review in case they want to...

At first glance, it looks rather out of place and the inside didn’t look how I expected. We got to sit wherever we’d like. The server immediately came to greet us and asked what we would like to drink. She was willing to take our food order but we weren’t ready seeing as this was our first time. She came back with the drinks and took our order promptly. The food came out in a timely manner, I would say no more than 10 minutes. Now, for the taste of the food… Absolutely phenomenal! I ordered the spicy crab cake Benedict with hash browns. The crab cake was delicious, it was crispy and fresh at the same time. The sauce on top complimented the crab so well because you didn’t feel like you were eating something too fishy. The sauce wasn’t too spicy but it had the perfect kick. Hash browns were nice and crispy but soft on the inside. I ordered a side of corn beef hash how I do most places I go, I asked for it crispy. One of the best corn beef hashes I ever had. The coffee was strong. The Farmer’s fried steak overall could have used some improvement. The steak size was rather thin which made the coating of the breading thin as well. The gravy was overpowering in comparison to the fried steak itself, it felt soupy. I would have wanted more steak to balance and help absorb some that gravy. Don’t get me wrong, the gravy was delicious. The steak flavor was good but the size of the steak could use some work. Overall, I would...

We've been going to Mikayla's Cafe since we moved to the area over a year ago, but our last few visits have been sub-optimal and our experience yesterday was horrible and has ruined our experiences here.

We attempted to get some lunch about 1pm on Sunday, and found the restaurant to be half full with no one outside, so we asked for a table for 4 outside. The server pointed us to a table and we looked at the menus. After 10 minutes, our server came and took our order, at which point we mentioned how hot it was and we really would like water (and coffee). About 10 minutes later, he came back out again and wanted clarifications on our side orders (ie. fries with burgers), but still with no drinks.

After another 10 minutes, I went inside and asked if we had been forgotten about, at which point none of the waitstaff would even look at me and said it would be out shortly. I proceeded to wait for another 5 minutes outside with my family until we decided to find a different place to eat at. When I alerted the staff that we had waited for over a half hour without anything to drink and that we would be leaving, I got a very sarcastic "OK, good, Thanks!" from a waitress playing on her phone behind the counter.

We were very disappointed, as we have always loved the food and regularly ate here on the weekends. Unfortunately, after this we can not recommend this place to anyone...