Steve’s Cafe

Awesome and varied daily specials. Frequent customer but still haven’t been able to decide which is better — the food or the service!
This place is SOOOOO worth the occasional wait time!

Service was wonderful! Fun and upbeat personality and very attentive… Food was amazing!!! They don’t skimp on the helpings either. Haha just how I like it :)

Exceptional food! Slower service, they are always very busy. Popular place on Saturday mornings.

Great place, great food, great service. We drove through on a rode trip and didn’t want the usual. They were amazing and had big portions! It was a busy Saturday morning but we were taken care of and constantly checked on. They also let us try the Huckeberry and Marionberry which were soooo good. Im also not really a hash brown person, but I did like them more than I thought. I would definitely come back.

What a Fabulous Café! We all found something we loved. The sweet potato fries were the best I have ever had. The reuben and French Dip were great. Omelet fresh and tasty too.
We have been back several times. Portions are good, and the smaller options are wonderful when I’m not so hungry.
Staff was friendly and efficient.
Can’t say enough about this place.

I wish Unilocal offered 10 stars, I would give them all to Steve’s café. Since my original review, I have been here multiple times and I can honestly say that the service and food is as consistent as it gets. I LOVE the ambiance of this place. It carries the warm and cozy feel you enjoy during breakfast. Their coffee is excellent and instantly you are greeted by warm and friendly staff. I feel as if Steve’s café is not another breakfast place but a place you can go and have a family environment breakfast. You just aren’t limited to one server. It’s as if everyone cares and is willing to help any table, not just the ones that are assigned to them. Steve’s continues to be my favorite in Meridian to have breakfast. Did I mention the best hash browns? Make sure you try them.

Great options for everyone, breakfast and lunch. Best hashbrowns I’ve had in a while and I’m not really a hash brown person. Service is really what will bring me back. The server wasn’t super great, friendly but only came to our table twice and our food took a long time. But he owner came over to personally apologize and took a significant sum off of our bill. Other staff offered us coffee as we waited and consistently checked our table for a refill which was nice. Everyone that left thanked the owner and said it was great as always which is pretty rare and special to see that everyone praised the restaurant as they left. Definitely a worthwhile breakfast spot.
Taco Burrito– I had it with egg white and no taco meat (vegetarian) and it was still very large and came with good salsa. Wasn’t super flavorful but fulfilled my breakfast burrito craving.
Huckleberry Stuffed French Toast– flavor was great, sweet, fruity and cinnamony but has barely any filling in it :(so it was mostly bread.

Always FANTASTIC!!! Even though this is my «first check in», I’ve been here at least a dozen times. Steve’s NEVER disapoints. Omelets are huge and the huckleberry pancakes… Mmmmm. I love to take out of state family/​friends there. There’s always extra to take home so that’s one less meal I need to cook!

Steve’s is great. It’s in close proximity to Denny’s and IHOP. I would go here hands down to those places. The prices are reasonable. They do have affordable smaller breakfasts that are not ridiculously small and still leave you hungry (well at least for me).
I’m not a big pancake fan but I love their huckleberry pancakes. There are huckleberries in the pancake. I think they make their own syrup but I’m not sure. It’s not thin but has some «chunk» to it. Their service is pretty consistent. I think out of my 10 visits there was only one time it was a little slower.
They keep the place clean. You don’t find sticky residual (syrup? lol) on your table or menus from the previous people.
I have only been there for breakfast. I have not tried them for lunch.

Horrible! Don’t ever order their orange juice. This is not Minute Maid and frankly tastes more like dirty socks.
Service was awful. Our waitress didn’t even bother asking why we ordered hot chocolate and avoided the OJ. Most places would apologize and comp. the OJ. We were charged almost $ 6 for the dirty sock juice (OJ).
Our waitress asked the table behind us several times how they were doing and continued to talk to them while at our table.
We will not return. Save your money and go elsewhere. So much for a breakfast date with my wife.

Excellent food and a neighborhood gem. Breakfast here is fantastic and the service from the staff has always been excellent. Steve is an asset to the community and has always stepped up with supporting it.

We usually get here once a month. Food is always good and service is normally better then normal. Today wait for food was extremely long and found out that they had a computer glitch and backed up tickets. Manager and server were very apologetic for the delay. Best part of the customer service was manager comped our breakfast. We were not expecting that but greatly appreciated. That is awesome customer service and we will continue to come back and make sure we share this experience.
Anymore it is hard to find good customer service in the treasure valley restaurants. This is what should be.

We tried a ham scramble and a mushroom and swiss omelette, one with fruit and one with pancakes. Both were fine but «fruit» only consisted of melons and the pancakes were flat and lacked fluff. As a tea drinker I am also interested in getting more than just «extra hot water», extra tea bag would be nice (don’t ever see coffee drinkers have to recycle their coffee beans). This is a good, plain jane breakfast and decent portions but nothing that blew me away.

I really wanted to like this place. Its so close to our house and the first time we went there, I had the best hash browns I have ever tasted. Really.
However our most recent experience was not so great. We were a table of 3. One person was 5 minutes away (we verified by text and didn’t just say that) We asked if we could be seated before the arrival of the third person in our party as the restaurant was getting busy and we made a special effort to get there early on a Sunday. (oh joy)
The person at the front (the owner I believe) was adamant about not seating us until the third person in our party showed up. I get why restaurants do this. A huge party comes in and with not everyone there, they take up valuable tables.
Logic people. there are three of us! We will not take up valuable space and I was not kidding when we said 5 minutes away.
Once we sat down, we ordered our food and the server was very nice and prompt. Our food came out quickly and she had a wonderful energy… the only good thing about this place at this point.
The food was disappointing. My eggs came out too runny (i asked for over medium) The english muffin was barely toasted so it tasted like a gluey mess with the butter. The hash browns were not the hash browns I tasted the first time we went here. They were oily and soggy. A shame because I think they once had the best hash browns in town. and I love my hash browns :)
My mother in law enjoyed her stuffed french toast. However I was surprised at how small the portion was. Granted I think portions these days are way too big. However in this case, I would say the portion was too small.
Unfortunately we won’t be back. The demeanor of the person in charge of seating together with the food made this experience a negative one.
Highly recommend Mo Jos in Meridian… great food, great service. It does get very busy with lines out the door so get there before 9 am on the weekends.

Super busy on Saturdays. Good food but waited a while to seat and get food. Waitress was very short. She was nice but very busy so I got a little bit of the soup Nazi feeling.
Food came out as ordered. Had to ask several times for forks as they were so busy she forgot.
Summary: great food. Basic atmosphere that is friendly for families. Go on a weekday when less busy.

My daughter and I had breakfast here and really enjoyed it. They have a varied menu with nice combinations and lighter fare I’d you prefer that.
Hash browns are really great as were the biscuits and gravy. Daughter had a chicken apple sausage which we huge but delicious
Like the family feel it has and enjoyed the service and food. Great alternative to your chain greasy spoons around town.
Would definitely return and look forward to it on my next trip to Boise!

Great place! Loved the huckleberry french toast and pancakes! What a treat! Delicious bacon, cooked to crispy perfection. Big portions. Very clean. Very friendly staff. This place is a fave of my aunt and uncle, who live locally.
One downside… I live in Portland.

This place was a tasty treat!
Pros: Tasty food with generous portions! The servers were very friendly and quick to refill drinks. The cinnamon rolls are also a must-​try! The place is very clean and bright with a lot of windows to let in the sunlight which I really enjoyed.
Cons: Even though my group made reservations in advance, we still had to wait around 20 minutes for us all to be seated. Other than that, no complaints!
Overall, if I lived closer, I’d be a regular!

Stopped in here while on a roadtrip with my friend and we were sooooo happy! The plae was busy and bumpin in the morning (always a good sign) and when we ordered hot chocolate instead of coffee (because even though we are 28, we are children) nobody batted a lash. Said hot cocoa was delicious and came with tons of whipped cream by the way.
I had the stuffed huckleberry french toast and she had raspberry cheesecake french toast. Both were INCREDIBLY delicious. I could’ve eaten several more without stopping to think what my waistline would do.
Friends we were with had egg/​meat/​hash brown combos, and everything was very fresh and good and well portioned.
I would definitely definitely recommend this place whether you are a local or just someone passing through.

We liked Steve’s. A lot. With some of the negative Unilocal reviews we almost passed it by. That would have been our loss. Because inside the cheerful storefront we found warm greeting at the door, sparkling bright «all people are welcome here» ambiance, good food with many items house made, a menu with options for vegetarians to omnivores and it seemed for those who eat gluten free or vegan too, very fair prices, breakfast served all day (yahoo for that) and super efficient and friendly service. The sign outside says «Breakfast and Lunch among Friends». That’s just what it felt like inside. We will be back.
FOOD
Noting the owner’s surname is Italian (Vincelli), my hubby (whose name ends in a vowel too) asked if the Italian sausage was homemade. Yep. And so is the chorizo and so is the chicken apple sausage. The Italian variety is on his «to try» list for next time.
I appreciated that among the extensive menu of breakfast offerings they had a handful of great options for «lighter fare», which means things like half portion of Eggs Benedict or Classic Breakfast. Nice.
The kitchen got my poached egg just right (and I order them in completely non PC ‘well done’ format which is tough for kitchens to do), the bacon was crispy (and enough to share), the biscuit (baked each morning) was fluffy and the hash browns were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and not one iota greasy.
My hubby liked his huckleberry pancakes and the huckleberry syrup that came with them was just sweet enough and not too much so it tasted like fresh berries. The short stack was more than enough to fill him up.
They grind their own coffee beans and the coffee cups were kept filled with a good medium roast brew.
PRICES
Seemed more than reasonable for the food quality and serving sizes. In our case, breakfast for two with two coffees came in at about $ 18.00. Deduct the beverage and for food alone you’d be under fifteen bucks. A very good value.
AMBIANCE
Booths line the walls and in front of the window. Formica tables with wood chairs are in the rest of the space and are thankfully spread far enough apart to avoid «sardine can» seating for diners and too tight squeeze getting to and from for diners or staff. There are also a few stools at an open counter. At the ‘shoulder time’ between breakfast service and lunch all the booths were taken and just a couple of tables with folks who all seemed as if local regulars.
SERVICE
Topt notch, from greet and seat through order and eat they hit every beat. We asked several questions about items on the menu and our delightful server could answer every one.
THIS N THAT:
1) STRIP MALL LOCATION /​PARKING: Steve’s is tucked off of Fairvew in a little strip mall and can be a bit tough to spot at first. The benefit of the location is an ample sized parking lot.
2) ACCESSIBILITY: Level in the door and throughout the space. Ample standard height seating. Accessible parking in the lot.
3) WOULD RACISM FLY IN Unilocal REVIEWS?: I’m wondering if a reviewer commented in assigning a two star review that he saw too many people inside Steve’s with Mexican or Asian heritage and went on to outline stereotypes if that would fly as «funny» in reviews? I bet not. I’d find it obnoxious. So why is it a Unilocal review where a leading criticism offered up in a snarky way was that there were too many older people dining at Steve’s on the day the reviewer was there a funny review… at least in «Yelp votes»? Ageism is like racism in my book. Neither one is funny. And no matter how hard that Unilocaler may try, he’s gonna be in that population one day. These older folks are people who helped keep the world safe and the economy fueled in their day. Should we expect they stay home from a neighborhood café? Please. And yep, getting close to that age myself, I take it personally. Enough said.
4) THANKS DUE: to Unilocaler Carl Y and his spouse because it was their good mention of Steve’s that led us to ignore the two star reviews. Otherwise, we may not have ventured in. We’re glad we did.