Swami’s Cafe

Always a nice spot to grab a bite. Staff is friendly, place is clean with dog friendly outside seating. My kinda place!

I honestly am so disappointed in this place. I was there on Father’s Day, and again last night. On Fathers Day they said they were short staffed but there were a lot of staff there that just seemed not trained. While the food was good the service lacked. I decided to go back last night since my son had two teeth pulled and could only eat soft food. I decided to go because the menu showed Mac and cheese. Upon arrival the host looked at me and my son and didn’t say a word, no «hi, how are you» nothing. I told her two and she sat us. They were not busy. Three parties on the dining area and a handful at the bar. Our waitress finally came over and took our drink order. The host brought them and when she did I said «thank you» she simply replied «uhh huh». The waitress forgot the crayons I asked for. That is fine but she was very impersonal and was not welcoming at all. The food was good but the customer service is severely lacking in this place. I went for Father’s Day and another night and they were awful. I would have rather done drive through. They don’t seem to care about customer service here!

Not only am I not pleased with the food, I am not a fan of the service at Swami’s either.
Having been to several of their locations, I can say that none were better than the other.
Long lines and wait times, mediocre food and non existent service.
Prices are too high for the quality that you get, often the food is cold and under or overcooked.
Not worth returning.

3 words: Gluten-​free pancakes. One of those breakfast staples you don’t think you’ll get to eat again, but then Swami’s swoops in and saves the day.
The wait here wasn’t too bad on a Sunday early morning. They have a huge selection of coffees and teas, but be aware, though they are self-​serve, I don’t believe they’re «complementary.» Some in our party were confused by how they presented it to us.
I had a veggie rama omelette and it was packed full of vegetables. The potatoes, to me, weren’t really my taste — they were seasoned more like… I don’t know… dinner potatoes than breakfast potatoes, but they weren’t bad. But my husband’s pancakes… yeah I’ll be ordering those next time.
This location in particular doesn’t have the same vibe as the others, I’m told. It was very Denny’s-esque.

It seems they don’t know how to handle any crowds. We waited almost 45 minutes for our food. Not worth coming here for the hassle. I ordered the spinach tofu stir fry and got two little leaves of spinach, tons of rice and tofu. To add insult to injury we got the wrong food and then we got the wrong check. It will be a long time before we ever contemplate returning here

I’ve been to the Encinitas location on Coast Highway a few times and I’ll probably stick to that one, in lieu of this spot. Same menu, and ambience/​vibe is better there. Nothing fancy here, just a café in a strip mall. This location is large, with plenty of tables.
Overall, I was left feeling like, eh.
I came in with some friends, we did have a larger group, so I’m willing to cut them a little slack, but service was really sub-​par. After sitting at our table for a good 5 – 7 minutes, with no server coming over to greet us, get drink orders, etc., a friend went up to the hostess table and then finally someone came over.
Water is only served upon request, which I know we are in a drought, but that’s just a little annoying in my book. Maybe if you order juice/​coffee/​smoothie an additional drink of water is only request, but do have nothing to drink at all? Not my idea of a good dining experience.
I ordered a pitaya bowl and while it looked beautiful, I’ve had better. This one was really on the tart side and super runny, more like a smoothie than a bowl. I do think the portion size was great for the cost ($ 8.95 I believe). My friend’s acai bowl seemed to be a much better consistency, so I’d stick with that one.

Terrible service, and have to send back my order every time! One time I had to send back my eggs cause when I cut inside the inlet it was still liquid…
Weird though cause the 101 location is always perfect ! Same restaurant just one location is bad and one is good

UPDATE REVIEW:
As per described on my last review, I was turned off of Swamis Encinitas a few weeks ago due to bad service and poor food quality on a Togo order. A manager or representative from the restaurant promptly replied to my previous 2 star rating and rectified the incident with an apology and a kind offer for a voucher for a free meal.
I just redeemed that voucher and ordered the very same thing I did the first time, Salmon Salad.
It was delicious and served just the way I ordered. Nothing was missing from this order and the staff were kind and speedy.
I have renewed faith in this spot for now and hope they keep up on dishing out good quality food.
Thanks :)

I was so looking forward to eating here. The menu looks awesome, it a funky surfer shack. Great selection of coffee and some much of the food that was being brought out looks great.
Ok, on the special’s board, lot of great choices. I decided to try the Mahi Mahi wrap. Described as Mahi Mahi, with lettuce, avocado, tomato, onion and special sauce in a whole wheat tortilla. Sounded great and ordered it and a cup of coffee.
Came to the table and it had one other ingredient that was not listed «RICE»!!! I have an allergy to rice. Had I know I would have ordered something else. Pointed this out to the waitress and was ignored. Ended up eating the individual components after I removed the rice. It’s a shame, what was edible had a great taste.
The coffee was good.

I love the gluten free bread and pancake options! I can have a yummy BLT Avocado sandwich here! Truly a treat when eggs, dairy, and gluten best be eaten by others. The coffee bar in Encinitas is perfect so you can choose what you want and serve yourself immediately when you arrive. We have always had good service at 5 visits so far. Thanks Swami’s!

Went with friends for drinks for a birthday. Didn’t think of it as a place for dinner or drinks, but the bruschetta & spinach artichoke dip were good (bread was a bit hard, but had a nice flavor). Wine was good. Friends said breakfast is great, so will need to go back & try it!

Wow! I’ve been to the Oceanside location and I am so blown away with this location!!!
If you are looking for a sit down restaurant I strongly recommend that you try this place. The food and service is remarkable. I was seated and I had my order placed through Natalie for the first part of my order! They didn’t have the Salmon scramble on the menu like the Oceanside location does, but Natalie took my order and assured me they could make it anyways! The manager helped her put the order in she was very nice as well. Karelly took the other half of my order and did a wonderful job making sure I was taking care of! All around awesome staff and with a huge selection you can’t go wrong. I highly recommend coming and checking them out!!!

I been going to swami’s café for a few years now. I think it is the healthiest place around the beach. They juice freshly, they have yummy acai bowls, smoothies, breakfast and sandwiches. Sandwich, burritos pretty big and could be fattening but they list every ingredients in the menu. Once I ordered and tried to pay with my American Express card. They do not accept Amex, but cashier lady said it is no big deal, pay me next time. I was thrilled. Went back same day and paid.

So many items to pick from! As a first timer you need solid time to take a look through all the yummie options. Had the CA omelette super good & a veggie option. Also ordered a multigrain blueberry pancake SOOO GOOD! Love the location it’s close to the beach.

Firstly, I’ve noticed over the years that Swami’s uses some ingredients that really would be better if they chose fresh. For example: jalapeños. The only time CANNED jalapeños are good is never. That pretty much goes for anything canned. Fresh is best. That said…
I ordered a scramble today. I didn’t notice on the menu it had green beans or I’d have asked them NOT to include those. I like green beans sometimes, but these weren’t good, but hard to pick out. I added black beans and omitted zucchini and cheese. Aside from the green beans, the scramble was good. I couldn’t eat the toast though, because the «butter» wasn’t butter. It was margarine. I didn’t ask because the toast was ice cold when it came out,
My husband enjoyed his chorizo scramble type dish. Except for the canned jalapeños of which he picked out more than a dozen.
My son enjoyed his blueberry pancake. They offer real maple syrup for a charge.

Love the self serve coffee. Mixed Guatemalan Colombian and Hawaiian coffees :) great service and yummy brunch. Thanks Swamis

We stopped in for a late dinner ‚(7:30). Only to find the happy hr go’s till 8:00 ! :-) So we ordered off it. Street taco, burger sliders & fish & chips. All great. Full bar & several tasty local brews on tap. Including a hard to find Ballast Point Grunion. Will go back soon. Might upgrade to 5 stars. :-)

It’s a fantastic place to eat and have a great time! Awesome employees and great service! Acoustic music every Saturday … swamis is definitely the right place to be!

I am utterly disappointed with my experience at Swamis. As an avid Unilocaler I have been stalking heir menu, reviews, and photos for months now waiting until I got the chance to try this place. With multiple locations around San Diego, Swamis seemed like a great place to go for a great salad or veggie sandwich (sometimes I have trouble finding loaded healthy salads). Called to order a Swamis Salad and Wheat Grasshopper juice on a Saturday early evening. They didn’t tell me over the phone no juice during the dinner hours — not a big deal but a little sad. I got my order to go. When I came to get it service was slow, especially given the lack of customers inside, and the wait staff continually went to help existing customers after greeting my multiple times. I probably stood in the doorway for 6 minutes.
Upon opening my salad it was rather bland. Reviews online say it’s loaded and delicious. Option to add chicken or salmon (I could’ve done this) but I was thinking it was going to be more than the spring lameness I ate tonight.
I guess partially this is my fault, the other Encinitas location seems to have better reviews. The menus are also different and differently priced (kind of odd to me…). The Swamis salad at the other location is cheaper and has more contents! I am glad I didn’t add protein, but my salad was still $ 2 more at this location for less. Also, no toast on my order to the side.
My experience, although not terrible, will not lead me to be a repeat customer. I feel somewhat cheated out of the $ 10 I spent on some spring greens and mushrooms. Will look elsewhere on my next salad quest.

We tried the dinner here last night, we’ve been for breakfast which has always been good so we thought we’d give their new dinner menu a try. Sorry to say but neither my husband nor I was impressed or liked the food we got.
We tried the lobster mac n cheese to see how it was comparing to other places we liked. There was no description on the menu so I assumed it would be Mac n cheese with lobster chunks. It was not. It was really pasta salad with puréed lobster. It tasted like mayo and tuna. This size was very large for an appetizer too, but at $ 10.50 I think you get a lot. Then for dinner I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. This was a good size and rather good. But my husband ordered a California salad that had fruit in it and asked for chicken to be added. They never said the chicken would be curry flavor, so needless to say that curry doesn’t mix well with apple! The service was so-​so. The server was very busy with two other tables, so she was trying but we ate our whole dinner with no water because she was so busy. I think this restaurant is a breakfast only for me.