Apple Box

Cute place on the Petaluma river. Had a good lunch with a good friend. Grilled chicken sandwhich with a tasty side salad. A bit of a language barrier with the counter person. But got past that and our lunches were great.

Five star seating, fresh delicious, beautifully prepared locally farmed food. Everything is delicious and the owner highly accommodating! I will always go here when in town!

Seriously the best latte ever… With some fresh shaved dark chocolate on top… Heaven in a glass. The couple who took our order were very friendly.

Amazing place for a morning breakfast or coffee! Great pastries, amazing drinks, and sitting outside on the river front is priceless

The food is ok I guess, kind of bland for my taste. The service is blah and should be worked on. The inside in pretty neat. I like having coffee and looking over the river. Nice location. I’ve been here a handful of times but I don’t think I will be back to eat here.

The owner was incredibly rude and had a very mean tone and attitude. Not really sure why you would own a business if you don’t like people. Strongly recommend avoiding this establishment.

A group of us just rode 50 miles from San Francisco to Petaluma and this was a great stop for lunch. Great sandwiches, salads! I had meatloaf and veggies and it was delicious! We all sat outside along the river in the sun. The owners were the nicest people and even brought out the food to us! I would highly recommend stopping here for the great food. Oh and they also sell antiques and housewares too. But we can’t take those on our bikes!

The staff is incredibly rude! From the gentleman taking the orders, to the woman who rung us up — everyone was rude, short, and unfriendly. After we found a seat we went to the counter to tell them where we were sitting and the woman YELLED AT US that she would bring our food out. We will not be returning ever! I would not recommend this place to anyone. Save yourself the hassle and go somewhere else that cares about your business!!!

One of the stars is for their outdoor seating area right on the river, which is a fantastic spot to enjoy lunch on a nice day. The second star is because the two people I went with said their food tasted pretty good (mine was bland).
Let me guide you through our Apple Box experience:
Nearly every day for a year I have walked past the Apple Box and thought how cute this place was, in such a good location and a neighbor to the Wild Goat Bistro (which is awesome). A friend came to town for a visit and I wanted to take her some place where we could enjoy the beautiful weather (Saturday, March 7^th 2015) and sit by the river. Hey! Why not take this opportunity to check out the Apple Box? We arrived and the inside of the place was a bit funky, I’m ok with funky though.
We made our selections, a turkey sandwich, a salami sandwich, and a falafel pita. My visiting tried to order a half sandwich and soup but the sandwich she wanted wasn’t available as a half order– it wasn’t communicated well, but no big deal she opted to have just the sandwich. Moving on.
We selected our drinks from the cold case and went to pay. We were in line behind another gentleman who was ordering a bagel, the girl at the registered grab the bagels out of the case with her bare hands (after handling money) to hold them up to show the guy the bagels… I hope those were display bagels and they pulled the one they were going to serve him from back stock. After a good 5 – 10 minutes of awkwardly standing there waiting to pay while the girl then fussed with the phone and the credit card machine, she decided it was the card to blame (with more poor communication). We jumped in with cash and paid, annoying but moving on.
We got a great spot to sit outside, they brought us our food, everything looked good! The side salad that came with the sandwich was tasty, probably my favorite part.
Then comes the soup… oh, the soup. So despite being told my friend couldn’t order the soup and sandwich combo and her saying that was ok she will just get the sandwich, they brought soup anyway. We should have nipped this in the bud by saying we didn’t order soup, but we were confused so the soup just sat there.
Towards the end of our meal, the lady who took our order approached our table saying we received the soup by mistake and need to pay for it. When we said we would not pay for it as it was her error she grabbed the bowl and walked away without another word (while a lady sitting behind us very rapidly received a bowl of the same soup that was looking rather congealed around the edges…).
For anyone looking for a lunch spot on the river, Taps is just right across the way…

I used to love going here bc of the atmosphere and food. But the service is so bad that I have to skip. The people do not speak English very well and make it very hard to pay for your meal. I waited once to pay while the lady literally did the dishes by hand for 5 min even though she saw me waiting to pay. The final straw was finding a PLASTIC GLOVE in my Sandwhich. There was no apology or refund given.

Apple Box gets 5 stars for their prime waterfront location and their cute décor that is the essence of Petaluma. The whole restaurant seems to be filled with antique and refurbished furniture, and even when you’re inside the café you can look out on the Petaluma River. I ordered a latte which was mediocre. I generally like my lattes to be creamy but this one was pretty strong and bitter, but they do grind their beans fresh and make each cup individually so that’s a plus! I also got a chocolate scone which was also mediocre, it didn’t taste fresh and it almost had a faint banana taste as if it had been stored near the bananas. There is, however, lots of open seating available and is great to bring a book and read.

We LOVE this place! Always look forward to having breakfast here when visiting Petaluma. The food is awesome, the juices are fresh squeezed, and the atmosphere is relaxing and full of character situated along the river… A real gem, couldn’t ask for more

Found this little river spot over a year ago on the way to Bodega Bay. I couldn’t decide what to order with the carrot ginger soup so the woman helping me suggesting a turkey sandwhich. The sandwhich was well crafted. I went back about six months later, and through a suggestion from the same
Woman I ordered the Brie & Salami & a Chai Tea Frappé. The bread was crunchy and soft, a few tomato slices, greens, soft warm Brie, and salami layered this piece of heaven.
Pre-​made deli salads are available and a wide array of salads, sandwhiches and soups. Tastes homemade!
The walls of the Apple Box are lined with local art, cards, and a corner of a few home items.

So confusing to order. Lady didn’t know the menu at all and we ordered pancakes only to find the don’t serve pancakes. Then the Orange juice was «fresh squeeze» but watered down a lot. Then the bagel we ordered wasn’t the plain one we picked out. Then they brought us the wrong order of food to only correct it with more food that isn’t ours and ended up being the table next to us who also had bunch of problems with their order. We waited for a while longer until it came and the eggs were super watery and gross. It was like my high school boyfriend had made them for me without knowing how to cook.

Such a cute little spot. Wonderful view of the river part of the bay. Good Mediterranean food made fresh. Friendly service.
Really enjoyed the fruit smoothie by the river on their patio. A beautiful patio for the Fall.
Will return to this area.

I came on a clear day, service was excellent and kind. I had ample choices of seating outside overlooking the Petaluma River.
I ordered the Steak sandwich and coffee.
Pros :
Came with a greens salad, bread is best I can remember in town, meat well cooked and slightly spiced.
Your coffee is hand poured, not from a pot sitting for days.
Cons :
Bread this good should not be covered in sauce like this. You’re doing your bread an injustice.
That spice on the steak was good, but was almost wondering if I could get it in a medium spice. kick it up a notch !
Coffee was hand poured, but lacked a real flavor or texture. I want to say it was probably store bought pre-​ground. It was GOOD for what it is. but I’ve been spoiled by freshly ground coffee at home.
I think this place can easily get into a 4 star caliber. some tweaks here or there with the coffee, sauce levels. their service was excellent to me, and I will likely return to try their lasagna next. That bread tells me they’re doing something right!

Stopped in for coffee and a drink. At first, I was annoyed at how long the coffee was taking but then I realized that they individually brew each cup. It was fantastic! So fresh!
Also enjoyed a fresh squeezed apple juice. I generally do not drink juice as I think it’s just sugar water but this juice was like drinking an actual apple. WOW!

We used to eat here about a decade ago. We were in the area and thought we’d try it again for lunch. Luckily, their BLT remains mostly the same as we recall. The bread seemed a bit less substantial, but otherwise the sandwich + side salad was great.
I deducted a star as my wife said her sweet tea was awful. But this is No-​Cal, not the South…
Definitely recommended for lunch!

Met several friends here on Sunday, used the room in the back. Nice space. A bit pricey (about $ 15 for ‘Cobb’ salad and drink from the cooler). The ‘Cobb’ salad was very tasty, but made just like a regular salad with big leaves of lettuce and other ingredients, not the traditional petite chop of all ingredients. Also had to wait quite a while for it. I checked on the status of the salad after 20 minutes and they said they were cooking the egg now… wait, what? Where they waiting for the chicken to lay it before that? And when it did finally come 30 or so minutes later, I didn’t even get a full egg =\
All of my other friends liked their food. It is good food, but don’t expect swift service.

Really wanted to love this place. Basically in a nutshell the people working at this place appear to own it with some other help. They are bit too busy which turns what could be a very quaint inviting appeal type of place into a «meh, we don’t care if you really take a seat or not» type of place. This is utterly disappointing. However, I tend to like to give a place shot despite reading the warning signs … in this case those were … hardly anyone in the restaurant, severe lack of service, clutter — clutter — clutter everywhere, and ALL the neighboring restaurants were busy while this one was not.
But it was overlooking the water on the pier AND had outdoor seating (which was a plus in my book despite not utilizing it that day — hey it seemed like it could rain).
That said, the food seemed fresh and Mediterranean themed — which I love. We ordered food, grabbed drinks from a cooler, then went up to pay. We waited patiently in line behind the counter where the lady was taking payment when she promptly left it to assist a customer from the line — and didn’t come back. So my friend and I stared at one another, shrugged, and took a seat.
We opened our drinks and started sipping on them when I realized I just wanted some basic water. I went to get still water which was available with cups from a jug near the door. Well, I should say, would be available if it were filled enough. The water didn’t reach the stop cock so I contemplated in vein who I should ask to refill it. Looking to one side, the people were really busy furiously making food behind the counter. I glanced around the rest of the establishment and came to the realization there was literally no one else available to ask to fill it. But there WAS still a little water in the jug. So I just unceremoniously haphazardly tipped it to fill the cup I had. Anywhere else I think staff would have come running as this jug thing was not small nor light. I looked across the room and beamed smiling at my friend like I had just done something to warrant a Nobel Prize, held up my cup and giggled taking a sip.
On my way back from my water capturing escapade I stopped by the counter and asked if I could add onion to my sandwich, noting the board said that was available by request. The food was eventually brought to our table. My friend liked his side salad of mixed greens, scant balsamic dressing, and turkey sandwich saying it was «basic and good». I am a little more picky about such things. The meat and bread in my pastrami sandwich were very good and of local expected quality. However, my «side» salad was a Caesar which was a humongous portion of lettuce, scant shaved parm, and «croutons». The croutons were literally day (or more) old stale bread unseasoned or toasted. It was squishy to inedibly tooth breaking hard as the bread cubes were from all the types they carried, so very inconsistent in texture. The Caesar was not a side salad with a portion so large that was falling off my plate since the lettuce was cut into big chunks and there was so much of it. I was, needless to say most disappointed since each element of a Caesar make the salad as there are so few of them. Fair to say the dressing was quite good though. My sandwich was less than memorable and the onion, while they did get some on it, was cut very large. I LOVE onion and couldn’t manage to get these down my throat. I even cut them into smaller more edible pieces and still had much left. The meat was incredibly fatty warranting a comment from my friend «Well, you did order pastrami!» There was so much fat it was obvious someone should have trimmed it before slicing, however the quality of the meat was good.
A lady came up to us as our plates were cleared asking us to pay, almost like we had done something wrong, like trying to get out of paying. I just rolled my eyes at that point. Icing on the cake.
All in all, I really did want to like this place. The lack in service and haphazard thrown together style of food, despite the high quality ingredients, leave me with meh and not wanting to return. Not to mention I couldn’t get over sitting in the severe clutter of things for sale. There was no theme, almost like you were in your grandmother’s house right before an estate sale.
I guess next time I’ll heed the warning signs.