Joe’s Cafe

I come to San Rafael to visit my husband’s family monthly and we always have lunch at Joe’s Café. The service is great, the people are nice, but best of all, the food is excellent. My favorite is the Tuna Melt. I have been looking for the perfect Tuna Melt, and I found it here. Equally, my family enjoys trying other entrees, and are so satisfied that this is the only restaurant we go to when we visit.

George is a swell guy!

This is a nice place to eat. Basic good food. I’ve not been disappointed. Good breakfast. Good lunch. Haven’t been for dinner menu

Used to have Joe’s my go-​to eating place. However my last experiences have been less than satisfactory. Minor happenings like being out of basic things — no roast beef left on their special for the day. no olives for their martini… short on breakfast items. Feels as if they are cutting back on their supplies. Not many customers each time I went in and noticed there were not many cars parked outside when driving by. Is Joe’s in trouble?
April 2016
Went back to Joe’s on a Sunday night. I found out that the management at Joe’s orders their menu food once a week. By the end of the week they may be out of certain menu items. Good explanation but ??? process. Just don’t go there on Sunday night???

Eat at Joe’s everyday, more or less.
Best tasting item is the broiled hamburger. Next best are the omelets. The big issue is the uneven quality of servers. Most employees are old timers but there is a turn over of kitchen staff.
The sphagetti sauce is forgettable. Best thing is Joe’s is open early and closes at 9 weekdays, 9:30 on weekends.

Well, I live nearby, so Joe’s Café is a reliable standby. It’s open till 9 pm weekdays and 9:30 on Friday/​Saturday. If you are expecting gourmet cuisine served with savoir faire, this is not your place. The menu is basic, uneventful and reliable. You know what you are going to get no surprises here! Several of the waitresses are old timers who provide attentive, caring service once they get to know you. The younger wait persons tend not to stick around very long.
Oh, the stories I could tell you about this place! But that would be inappropriate and not germaine to the subject of this review which is about food and service.
Breakfast dishes are my favorites; the omelette selection is great and as are the pancakes and waffels. SInce the recession, the cost of food, especially straw berries and lettuce have risen exorbitantly. I notice the serving plates and the portions have gotten smaller, but that is an industry wide thing.
This restaurant does serve an excellent hamburger on a bun with an offering of string fries or steak fries. Request thousand island dressing for the bun; it punches up the flavor!
The minnestrone soup is also a winner and available ²⁴⁄₇. I only wish this place served saltine crackers with the soups.
I try hard to like the pasta dishes, especially the spaghetti with giant meat balls. Perhaps it is the tomato paste with too much of a vinegary taste that keeps it from being really good.
BTW, the Bay Shrimp salad with avocado on iceberg lettuce is excellent and a good value.
Parking can be daunting if the local hot rod club is having a meeting or the Sheriffs Department has a group in the banquest area. Overall, I would miss Joe’s if it closed. There is a dearth of family style places to eat in Marin.

I have eaten dozens of perfectly cooked burgers here, and I am always happy with them. Isaac, our ever pleasant server, is great. Home style meals at good prices-​recommended.

Great place for breakfast! The eggs Benedict and the omelettes are great. Food comes out fast and hot. Service is great too!

Saw this place on the side of the road, stopped in with my wife hoping to find a new «go-​to» breakfast joint. Once you step in you’ll notice that the décor is dark and gloomy and I was losing hope that this would be a place we would return to. We were seated relatively quickly and ordered. My wife had bacon and eggs and I ordered the Yuppie, their vegetarian omelette. When the food cane, my wife’s bacon was obviously twice cooked and way over done. The hash browns lacked seasoning and flavor of any kind. My omelette was overwhelmed by spinach while the tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese were almost none existent. With the same flavorless hash browns. Overall, the food was bland and I do not recommend going here for anything more than a truck stop meal.

I’ve eaten at Joe’s Café several hundred times and the food & service is always great. Burgers, omelettes, grilled Salmon, Calamari Parmesan, special spinach, Swiss chard and all the pastas are first class. The owner, George and his wife Linda are very nice people I consider good friends. Morning servers Doris and Maureen are fantastic. I’ve never had a bad meal there. Occasionally, there’s a slip-​up, but they always make it right without any hassle. Hours of service are great. I’ve always recommended Joe’s Café to clients, family and friends and very few were ever disappointed.

My wife and I were passing through heading to the Lucas Ranch from the East Bay. We had some time to kill and noticed this café off the 101. We looked at the menu and noticed like most places today it was overpriced. We asked if we could split an eggs Benedict. They say it would cost an additional 2 bucks. No big deal and I kinda get it, but still think it’s lame. While waiting for our food I thought «maybe the portions are huge, and the extra 2 bucks and the cost of the 12.50 Benedict will be all worth it». WRONG!!! It was one of the worst I’ve had and the portions was tiny. I still tipped the friendly waitress 25 percent and off we went. What this place needs is Robert Irving and Restaurant Impossible.
Although this is a bad review… I would give it another chance with hopes that it can only get better. It has potential

Eggs benidict was $ 12.59. Cooked very mediocre. Felt like lunch meat was in it instead of ham. Stringy, bland, and pathetic.
5 stars to my waitress. She literally was the best thing about this place. Food was a joke.

The food was okay and the service was friendly. I had planned on leaving a 4 star review. However, the integrity of their employee’s earns them a one star review.
Stopped in with my kids on our way home. I pulled an idiot move and left my wallet there. I didn’t realize it until later that night, as I hadn’t needed to use it. Called first thing in the morning and nobody had found it… which is impossible because someone would have bussed the table before seating other customers. The worst part was the self proclaimed manager I spoke with on the phone chuckled when I asked if a wallet had been found… one of those, «it’s funny that you think my employee’s would turn in your wallet» chuckles. I was ready to drive two hours back and get it, but his busser saved me that trip. Luckily, none of my cards have been used, they just got away with the $ 32 cash inside. Thieves are the worst.
Trash. Pure roadside trash.

Every time we come here for breakfast, we get greeted cheerfully and waited on promptly. This is one of the few places where they know how to make a proper omelette. The sourdough bread makes great toast. I love the Denver omelette. Everything in it is cooked perfectly. I don’t understand the negative reviews. My husband and I are both picky and we’ve never been disappointed here. The only negative is that one busser does look a bit glum and doesn’t speak. But the server more than makes up for it.

A great ‘go to’ place to go for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Wonderfully, friendly wait staff always attentive and the food is always good.
We go at least once a week because we love the calm quiet atmosphere plus full bar and really good food.
Go to joes!

I just ate with my grandmother and uncle the food was awful no flavor at all greasy scramble and home potatoes hard as a rock. Need a new cook sorry

Great food and excellent service, especially from Maureen! A blast from my North Beach past with the Columbus Italian sausage, Fresh eggs Sunnyside up and extra crispy hash browns ~ sweet breakfast. Coming back for their Osso Bucco dinner!

Stopped in for breakfast. Turkey sausage and spinach omelet was good. Generous portion of sausage and spinach was very fresh. Hashbrowns not greasy. Good service with lots of coffee refills. Companion’s food was also good. Only downside is the parking situation is a bit challenging. Not a lot of spaces relative to the number of tables. Not a lot of sit down breakfast choices near north gate mall so we were glad to find them.

Half star, and only because our server was pretty attentive. Had the tuna salad sandwich with salad. The olives tasted like chemicals and none of the veggies were fresh. There was a sour taste to the tuna as well. Salad came with a «balsamic» dressing on the side which looked like Italian and something pink. Canned green beans tasted rancid as well. The silverware looked filthy, so we had to wipe it off to eat. I sat for about 15 minutes without getting a water refill. This place is large and has the potential to be a nice place. Should have checked the reviews on this one. :-/

Zero stars. but I couldn’t post this with out marking over star, I have always passed by here and wanted to try it. Now I know why I never stop and keep going. The food is way over priced and under cooked, I eat better at McDonalds. The only thing good was the English muffin. Is there an unspoken rule that you can only drink 2 cups of coffee when there are unlimited refills, going to drink down add much as I can to get my moneys worth.
Not sure if they are new owners, but the place is empty despite the full parking.
For the best eats in San Rafael, is Lundys, never had a bad meal and it’s worth the money. I will stick to places I know. This place sucked.