Cafe Saint Honore

Holy Cow Coffee and Saint Honore are now alive and well on the Internet and you can buy coffee from them.
They have all the blends we were used to — Frog Fuel, Holy Cow, etc.
Paul’s also at the Beehive and El Cerrito Farmers Markets (Saturday and Tuesday respectively).

So sad it closed! I love this place. I wonder why? They open from 6AM-​midnight. they should get enough to survive…
I can’t say anything much but their pastry is my favorite, their salad is also one of my favorite. coffee and Ici ice cream was awesome… employees were very nice too…
Going to miss it!

«Bonjour!» exclaim the sweet girls behind the counter.
I think I have a 10 minute conversation with one of the girls about how to properly pronounce «Nicoise» in french… I still can’t…but, really appreciate the effort. (Ni-​swa?)
—AMBIANCE—
Sitting here now in this brightly painted little café on the corner of Solano and San Pablo Avenue, I feel very cheerful! Why? Because… it’s so bright in here! Bright yellow and blue (I feel my Cal blood tingling.), and cute straw chairs with little tables with clippings of France sealed underneath.
And yes, they are playing french music.
—-FOOD/​DRINKS—
Just ordered the Nicoise Tuna Sandwich on fogusse (type of bread. can’t pronounce that either. «fo gau»? wait. no…that’s fat liver.). Costs: $ 6.25
— The bread is toasted and quite tasty and the tuna itself is prepared well. Nice savory flavors. LOVE the cute little pickles on the toothpicks =D.
With a side salad and raspberry vinaigrette. Costs: $ 1.85
— Wish it came WITH the sandwich rather than the extra cost… it’s really just the Costco spring mix.(which I’m very familiar with since I buy it all the time!)
They also offer combo’s of coffee + baked goods, such as a 16oz, Double Shot Latte and you get a cookie! for $ 6. Haven’t taken advantage of that, but seems neat.
Ah yes, and indeed, Ici Ice Cream.
—FREE WI-​FI—
+ Lots of outlets
—HOURS—
6am-​12am!
I’d even drive a little further pass 33 Revolutions Café for these hours!
—PARKING—
There’s unlimited hours of parking in the residential area if you’re willing to walk about 3 blocks =D. Always a plus.
And that is all. Merci!

$ 1.50 for a small coffee and I’m ready to work with free wi-​fi anytime between 6am and midnight EVERY, SINGLE DAY! (you have to get the password at the counter) Plenty of outlets, enough little tables and a friendly, bumbling owner (and staff) that greets you in French.
One downside is that it’s sometimes unusually warm inside due to lack of A/​C and poor circulation. But I’m okay with a little discomfort for a place that opens so early and closes really late.
However, I don’t eat the food, so I can’t vouch for that. One star for service, another one for free wi-​fi and 2 more for the great hours. It’s impossible to find a café open past 6pm in Albany!

Solid after spot when hitting the many bar counters along the San Pablo strip…
What makes this place great is it is open late. They have a full espresso bar and they make the yummiest coffee drinks. You’ve been dancing since happy hour and didn’t get a taco at Totsy? Have a ham & cheese sandwich here! Sorry that’s a ham and brie sandwich — whatever it’s still really good. My typical late night order: mexcican mocha with a few of the french macaroons. Service is friendly and efficient. Sometime I hope to check the place out during daylight…

My favorite place to work-​from-​home is just down the street!
Friendly workers, free wi-​fi (with purchase), and awesome hours… not much more I could ask for in a neighborhood café.
Still not quite sure how the name is pronounced though.

This is where I’d get my early morning caffeine fix before my commute to work. Their espresso drinks are pricier — $ 3.85 for their smallest size but you get a Starbucks Grande size cup. Their mochas and lattes are pretty good but Peet’s still is the only coffee that gets me crunked in the morning. The first time that I had one of their croissants was really good — very buttery and doughy but the second time I got one, it was so-​so. It didn’t have the same pizzazz the first go around. If you go in there often, get a frequent buyer card.

The was the best place for espresso in Albany, CA. The patisserie was mostly from the Artisan Bakery of Berkeley, which is very good. Free WiFi is present. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable in their domain. Only about 10 tables.
Now replaced by «The Four Corners» café, which doesn’t seem so inviting. Sorry that it’s gone now.

To preface this review, I’d like to state that I am a broke ass college student.
Now that we are all on the same page, let’s begin.
The little corner café is cute, clean, and convienient. Which is important. It is quiet, small, but not claustrophobic. There seem to always be people here, but never seems too busy. The wi-​fi is free and steady and is a very major plus.
The pastries always look so cute and well presented. The prices are a little bit steep, but nothing completely insane.
A must try for hot days is the frog fuel ice cream. I am fascinated by things that I have never seen before, and ice cream that references amphibians? I’m all over it. It’s a coffee ice cream with a yummy twist (that was cheesy, I know, but I don’t care. It was worth it).

The coffee is decent, the music unobtrusive and the wi-​fi reliable … mais je n’aime pas the way the employees hang around chatting behind the cash register, while dust-​bunnies, coffee stains and overflowing trashcans and bus-​tubs can be seen all over the place.
They need a manager on duty there to crack a whip.

The sweet looking counter boy cut me a gigantic slice of clafoutis. teehee. :) Immediate props.
Then told me the macarons were 85 cents. Let me repeat. EIGHTY-​FIVE CENTS. And these weren’t diminutive pinky-​out versions, no, not like those snotty two-​dollar types. (I’m looking at you, Miette!!) Hefty, biteable, chocolate-​with-​hazelnut-​cream, deliciouuuus. Not perfect, and really, for the size and price, I wasn’t expecting perfect. But definitely a good interpretation and worth the (ridiculously low) price I paid!
Oh and many many pastries were 25% off at night! I had a fruit tart with a thin layer of chocolate snuck between the custard and the crust – mmm.
Will be back for the macarons and a taste of other sweets! And ICI ICE CREAM without the Ici lines? Ooo. Ah. Star off for the cramped space and wi-​fi user giving me the evil eye for chatting. Hmph.

I personally wouldn’t come here for food. Nothing seems very food oriented. However, the lattes are great and they’re the only place in the area open late (until midnight). What is with this town closing up at 10 pm???
Good coffee, free wifi and friendly people. I’m a new regular (well, errrrr… for as long as I’m a student…).

Why is divorce so expensive?
Because it’s worth it!
Just look at that smile!

With that said, week five of my «divorce diet» has lead me to the surprisingly friendly, cute, clean and bright Café Saint Honore.
(Can I find a man like this too?)
For only $ 6 I had a fresh peach purée, a fresh salad with egg, toasted almonds, goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette.
The clerk decided she took too long to make my salad (I didn’t mind) so she popped a mini baguette in the oven and served it to me piping hot… for FREE!


You realize, of course, that this means I had a very well balanced meal: the fruit and veggie group, the dairy group, the nuts and grains group, and most importantly to me, the wi-​fi group!
Everyone who knows me will tell you I LOVE FREE STUFF! Even before divorce I was a free-​a-​holic. The main reason I was determined to be a Unilocaler was because I wanted free parties with free food and booze!
So, not only did they give me free bread, but they always have free wi-​fi, and it’s the high speed good stuff too!
So what’s not to like?
Married or not, sickness or health, richer or poorer: eat here!

The fact that they are open on Friday night, not a bar, and have free wifi gives them an automatic 3 stars.
I walked in to find a place warmly lit, plenty of places to plug in my macbook (they are über apple friendly), aromas of coffee and cinnamon buns filling the air. Heaven!
The owner greeted my warmly, was great about giving me a decaf au lait (after 6PM no caffine) and a freshly out of the oven, warm frosting ooozing over it cinnamon bun. YUM! So far 5 stars.
That the décor is so cute, the bathroom clean, the owner nice enough to watch my laptop while I run to the bathroom were all bonuses. Also, did I mention they have ICI ice cream. It’s like going to ICI but without having to wait in that ridiculous line. Truly I’m a HUGE fan of this place and cannot understand why anyone would rate it less than 3 stars. Seriously, open late, good coffee, clean and cute, FREE wifi! Go!

Diminutive, cute, and quaint. A trifecta of adjectives I use to describe my appendage. Oh, and Café Saint Honore.
Located on the corner of Solano and San Pablo, this wonderful new addition to El Cerrito is open until midnight, the free wifi (noticing a trend here?) luring me to this phone carrier hot spot like a mosquito to the blue light of death, or a corrupt hedge fund manager to the new economic stimulus package. Take your pick. Parking is plentiful at the right hours and you’re located at the start of Solano street, which is highly capable of satiating almost any ethnic craving you could possibly have.
Never mind the $ 2 tea or hotdog sandwiches. Ignore the silly tables that were not ergonomically designed for a laptop workstation setup. But pay attention to following phrase, because Café Saint Honore has a totomo kawaii password to get you onto the world wide web: frogfuel
Plenty of snacks, clean, and well lit, I was able to produce a decent amount of work without visual or audio interruption, thanks to my choice of seating away from the window and peace and quiet of respectful patrons. For a while, that is…
*Untz Untz Untz Untz*
WTF is that? I looked around on the street and did not see a Tahoe with tinted windows and dubs at the cross walk waiting for the light to turn green.
Further investigation produced the biggest drawback and the only chink (I’m Chinese, I’m allowed to say this as often as I want) to Café Saint Honore’s armor: the shared wall with Ivy Lounge. Ivy Lounge belts out music that shakes my seat like a resonating bass tube rolling around the trunk of a low rider.
Listen, if I wanted to move my rump, I would listen to «Shake That» by Eminem and start dancing. I don’t know if there is a sound ordinance, but wow, it reminded me of my college floor mate who played his music too loud, despite our begging and pleading for him to reduce the decibels during the wee cramming hours of early AM.
A bunch of us broke his radio, denied it, then moved. However, there is no logic in this setup, no valid reason, and it would just be me vs a pack of drunk locals. I can do the odds calculation of who would get his ass beat this time around.
Thank god for skull candy headphones. I still really adore Café Saint Honore.

Like others who have reviewed this café, I, too really wanted to like it. I love having a «not bar» open late in Albany. It’s a nice sunny space and the owner really is quite nice and friendly. I’m still really hoping they can stay afloat in this risky economy.
However, the food and service leave much to be desired. On my first visit when the café had only been open for about a week, I went in hoping for some good coffee & croissant. The coffee I got, but the only pastries to be found was a half empty tray (uncovered!) of plain and slightly singed croissants. I don’t know about you, but I like to see a little variety in the pastry department. At least a couple of choices. And certainly no burn victims! Suffice to say I passed on the pastry.
On subsequent visits things seem to get better. The pastries are showing more variety and they now live on covered trays. Then on my most recent visit I decided to try a sandwich. I wasn’t expecting much, just a simple salami on baguette. First, I placed my order with a remarkably dim girl who must have just started working there that day. She was very slow helping the 2 ladies ahead of me and kept having to consult with the sandwich-​making boy behind the counter with her.
Once the ordering ordeal was done I sat and waited… and waited… and waited. The ladies who were helped before me got their sandwiches after several minutes (to the café’s credit, at least I could see those sandwiches were made fresh). Noticing that there was no further action behind the counter, I could tell that my order was not in progress. I had to go to the sandwich boy and ask if my food was going to materialize in the near future. He was clearly not informed that an order was waiting. He was apologetic and I appreciated that. However, when there are only 4 customers in the café, you’d think it would be easy to assess if everyone has been taken care of!
The sandwich itself was fine, but I had to take it to go since I wasted my time waiting around. It was a disappointing experience and I really hope they get their act together.

Unfortunately, this was one of the worst café I have been to. The service was horrible. My spinach salad was half rotten. The spinach came out of a box from costco (NOT KIDDING). In my salad, there were spinach, walnut, and dried cranberry (with literally 1tsp of salad dressing).
It was definitely something I could have made at home for $ 1, and save myself $ 4. My friend’s sandwich was cold and put together carelessly – the bread was not toasted. I am actually surprised there were customers in there. I am sorry, but this café was horrible, and I WILL MOST DEFINITELY not return.

Tres charmant! You are greeted and farewelled en français. The space is bright and cheery, painted white w/​blue and yellow accents. As others have mentioned, there is free wifi. Alan and I had lunch here today. You order at the counter, which has cases of tempting croissants and other pastries. He ordered a croque monsieur, which comes w/​a side salad and I ordered a curry chicken w/​chutney, at least I thought I did. Evidently she didn’t hear me and we had to reorder it. Since we’d planned to share the sandwiches it wasn’t a big problem. The croque was more a panini than a traditional croque, which is coated w/​egg and grilled*, but it was very good and I’d have it again. At $ 7.50 w/​the side salad we thought it was very reasonable. The curry chicken surprised us by being a warm chicken breast w/​chutney and salad greens rather than the curry chicken salad we had both expected. It was OK, but had little curry in evidence. It was also reasonably priced at less than $ 6. I had Mighty Leaf breakfast tea and the low fat milk I requested w/​it came foamed in a demitasse cup. Nice touch! Alan’s latte looked beautiful. I’ll return.
*After consultation tonight w/​our friends who are newly returned from France, I understand I was misinformed about the nature of a croque monsieur. No egg. I was sure I saw egg on the one Alan had in Paris that serves as his gold standard. I sit corrected.

I really want to like Café Saint Honore. It’s bright, cheery and could be a Francophile’s dream. However, the two sandwiches I tried were really mediocre and overpriced for what they were.
The tuna niçoise sandwich I had did not resemble what niçoise is supposed to be. Absent were the anchovies, garlic, black olives and hard boiled eggs. The sandwich was basically tuna salad with a slab of cheese on it served on a baguette. Now, I’m fine with tuna salad, but if I order something special like tuna niçoise, I want at least something in it that’s a step up from the usual tuna salad sandwich. And $ 6.75 seems a bit expensive for tuna out of the can.
Again, I want to like this place and it has some good points to it like being open until midnight, free WiFi and chess sets set up at several of the tables. They’ve tried to make it a hangout place, but personally I need good food if I’m going to log in a few hours at a place.
One thing that will probably bring me back is the Ici ice cream which they serve and even have a special flavor that’s made just for the café. This means I don’t have to go over to Oakland when I get a craving.
Skip the food and go straight for the ice cream case!

I don’t know if maybe i had high hopes for this place or what but i got shuuut dooown! Didn’t like it. Yeah the idea of a café being open until midnight is what intrigued me but the entire lack of good food is what is going to stop me from returning. The guy working the late shift was kinda lame-​O, maybe he could see it in my face that i was dissappointed as soon as i walked in. I payed $ 4 for a pastry tart for my dad… he no likey. The croissants were displayed with no protection from outside germs. SO NO KOSHER! argh! Myabe if i’m at the Ivy Room and it’s late and i’m desperate for a «lunchables looking» sandwich then i’ll go here. If not, TTYN!