Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe

Lemon bars, FTW.
Thai chicken salad… it was meh. Maybe I should have tried their wraps… lol
Service = friendly.
Prices = reasonable.

Tragically, there’s something very broken about this place.
The food is highly uneven. Some of it is quite good (flatbread pizzas), while other dishes are quite disappointing (salads).
What’s most remarkable are the terrific baked goods — muffins, cookies, etc.
I’ll stop in there to grab a muffin or cookie occasionally, but I’m increasingly likely to go elsewhere.
What ultimately is the major problem with this place is the attitude of the people who work there. As far as I can tell, there’s pretty much no management at all. Today, I passed by and at 8:15am there was no one working there and it was closed. Who’s closed at breakfast time in an office building of that size? Later, I passed by at 3pm and the place was closing early. Most of the staff seem to have limited language skills and an «I don’t care» attitude.
The rent must be tremendous at 1 Market. I can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t be interested in running this place better…

Camille’s is definitely a mixed bag.
The service is usually pleasant. But the fare is more unpredictable.
I like the café chicken salad sandwich. Very tasty.
Some of their wraps are OK, some are pretty boring.
Paninis are pretty tasty.
Salads are mediocre, don’t come tossed (I hate that) and come in a container with three sections (why? it’s really hard to eat that way).
Ambiance is a bit bland.
Overall I come here when I don’t want to wait in a long line. I am never wowed but it’s consistently average.

This café was a cute lil spot in the One market Plaza building. You can easily access it from Mission street if you want to avoid walking down the huge OMP hallway from Market.
My best friend and I went there for a quick bite to eat. Being 7 months pregnant and not being able to eat as much, I thought a sandwich would be perfect.
Place: It is a cute lil café with good seating (better than most SF lunch spots). They have a couple of smal booths, some high bar tables and stools and then regular tables and chairs. It was kept very clean and it was inviting.
Menu: They have an array of choices (which almost seem overwhelming when you are expecting only a few items). Tons of veggie options for veggies like me. yay! So they have mostly, wraps, sandwiches, panninis, and salads. The selection of wraps was amazing and everything came with chips and salsa. I ordered the PBJ sandwich (again I wasnt going to be able to eat as much) and then I ordered a side watermelon salad (which sounded amazing— feta, mint and balsamic dressing. yum!)… my friend ordered a Tofu Veggie Wrap Pannini. The orders came out pretty quickly even though there was a big line.
Food: For ordering something off the kids menu, it was still quite large. The PBJ was great— they def use a organic PB… and the chips and salsa was a nice salt addition. Watermelon Salad: One bite and I was done. GROSS! The watermelon had tasted rancid like it went bad and I was just not able to finish it.
Why did I give it 3 stars then?
Service: I walked up to the lady at the counter (who I presume to be a manager) and told her that the salad tasted like it had gone bad. Here is the thing, my gf and I were so into our conversation, I only walked up to return it after an hour… I have been to some places where they are so reluctant if you return something. She immediately apologized, felt terrible, and didnt wait around for me to tell her to refund me. She immediatley gave me back the money, and then said, Would you like a free cookie or bar of your choice? Sure… my gf wanted the oatmeal and it was done. AND! the icing— she gave me a coupon for FREE Lunch for two people. All for a $ 3.95 side salad mess up.
I honestly appreciate when businesses try to correct their mistakes and show how they value customers. She didn’t just meet my customer expectations, but dazzled me with her service.
Def going back to check out the wraps!

This is a limited review, since I’ve only tried a few things on the menu.
I really enjoy having a healthy menu alternative that doesn’t break the bank during the fidi lunch rush. My fave was the apple-​walnut tuna salad… just enough to give you some protein and energy to get through the afternoon «naptime» coma during a long day of work, but also light enough that you still feel like you did a good thing by having salad for lunch. =)

There is a sign on the counter that says «Wraps we keep under wraps». One of the three listed is the Sweet Herb Turkey Wrap. Inside you’ll find turkey, chives, dried cranberries, lettuce, carrots, and a lowfat raspberry vinaigrette. It’s bundled in a low carb tortilla.
This wrap should not be kept under wraps. It’s delicious.
And Unilocalers, make sure you mention Unilocal for your free cookie. Also delicious.

I’ve given this place two chances and both times they’ve failed miserably.
The people are nice and I’m not questioning this, but they run the most disorganized and clueless «fulfillment process» I’ve been unfortunately exposed to in a long long time… I waited 25 minutes to get my order. They had no clue what was going on and have no idea on how to manage a rush lunch crowd. I finally had to ask them about my order because while I was standing there … not once did they inquire about my order. I could have waited another 25 minutes if I hadn’t asked.
Once I got my order (a sad Vegannini sandwich) … I was shocked at what I got. Two thick pieces of bread with next to nothing in between. No flavor whatsoever, but they sure had a lot of tortilla chips.
That and a cookie … drum roll please … a whoppen $ 11+ bucks. Are you kidding me?
The sad part is I had the same thing happen before regarding the food (e.g. very little for your money and underwhelmed), but this time I got the extra special lack of service…
I give it two stars and should only give them one star if anything at all. The reason is the food wasn’t horrible. No taste and very blah, but at least not disgusting or repulsive.
How they’re still in business is beyond me.
NOT recommended. Go elsewhere.

What a rip-​off!!! I ordered the Thai chicken salad for $ 8.20 and only got 4 little pieces of chicken. What’s worse is that they couldn’t even add a few more pieces of lettuce to «fluff» up the meal portion. I would have only given one star but the Thai dressing was pretty tasty.
Too bad I’m still hungry!!! Will not be coming back here… unless I win the lotto.

Ordered for delivery and the staff was accommodating and on time. For that I would give them 5 stars.
I ordered the Tuscan Tomato soup and loved it. I also ordered a chicken Caesar wrap and it was OK. Maybe if I just ordered the soup I would have given Camille’s 4 stars. The wrap just seemed kinda runny/​watery.

Wrap it up!
I’m a huge fan of wraps, so when I saw Camille’s menu on my recent trip to SF, I was immediately drawn to it. I went in and tried one of their breakfast wraps, the 3 Cheese Scrambler, and a side of fruit. I was happy to hear that I could customize it a bit, so I added tomatoes.
Well, it turns out that the average 3 star Unilocal rating is right on. (When will I learn to stick with only 3.5 stars and higher?)
The wrap was underwhelming. They used processed egg beaters, which is fine, but I actually watched them put it in the microwave and dump it into the wrap. Still would be fine, but when I bit into the wrap, the eggs were super hot and the rest of the sandwich was cold. Not a great combo…
If I lived near Camille’s, I’d likely return to give it another shot… maybe I’d try a cold wrap for lunch. But, since that’s not the case, I’ll likely give another SF establishment my money next visit to town.

Popped in for a quick bite and it was pretty great. I mean, you can’t really screw up a panini too badly unless you char it. Their foccacia is pretty right on for a panini, tried the veggie one without cheese. (Stop laughing, I know, it’s not a «real» sandwich, let alone a panini without the damn cheese-​but I“m allergic!)
At any rate, I probably wouldn’t break my legs to stop in again, but it was a nice choice to fend off starvation at the moment.
Be warned, this place did not have a restroom, it was under construction and therefore closed. (Hey, I only mention it cause some people wanna know these things!) The restaurant is located in the ground floor of an office building, there is a food court also inside-​they have one you can use. (Also had live piano music playing in there that afternoon as well… kinda nice)
Huge outdoor patio seating and lots of empty tables. Inside seating too, but it’s loud as they call your number over the loudspeaker to come get your order.
All in all, a good lunch at a price that won’t kill ya. Win-​Win!

I think this place deserves more than three stars. I had the Michelangelo wrap and a Pecan bar here two days ago. The food was good, tasted healthy, and to my surprise, it is pretty healthy!
I’ll keep coming back here during my time working in One Market.

I work right around the corner from here, but went for the first time today. I’m a vegetarian, and one of the only things to order for me straight off the menu was the Sonoma wrap, so that’s what I got.
I must say, definitely not worth the $ 7.65 for the wrap. You do get corn chips and what tastes like el paso salsa with it, but the wrap is pretty small. The ingredients just are regular lettuce, carrots, cheese, some tomatoes, and like 3 black olives. The sauce is honey mustard, which I wouldn’t get again. The quality of the ingredients just aren’t really up to the price tag of the thing.
The good thing about this place is there was no line and the service was very nice — people behind the counter were kind and straight forward and my wrap came out fast.

Used to walk 8 blocks from work to hit this place 2 – 3 times a week, but right after I pimped Camille’s as the perfect workday lunch spot in a 5-​star review, management changed.
They’ve since gone through some growing pains but getting better each day. I’m still hesitant to give back that 5^th star. But with faster order-​taking, consistently brewing the tropical iced tea rather than the plain black tea, and continued quick preparation of delicious wraps, Camille’s will soon reclaim its spot at the top of my list of favorite workday lunch spots.

I love their sandwiches… they taste healthy and are super filling. The tuna sandwich is my favorite.
Plus, excellent service ALL the time :) Hurray for frequent buyer cards! Great place for lunch (a little pricey… but really fresh foods)

I found it to be thoroughly mediocre.
For a place that is supposedly so fresh I found everything I tasted to be really bland and my friends complained about the same thing.
Looking at their corporate website I also find it really concerning that the veggie wrap I had contained 31 grams of fat and enough sodium to salt a small aquarium.
Doesn’t take good? Isn’t healthy though it projects an image of health? Isn’t particularly inexpensive? Check, Check, and Check.
Not Coming Back.

(See pic)
Came back and had the Rustic Italian flatbread pizza. A bit different from other pizza places such as California Pizza kitchen. The dough was actually not totally toasted to brown and was on the lighter side, good for lunch as it did not overload with too much grease.
Service was fast and the pizza only took 8 mins or so to be ready.

5÷6÷2008 Update:
I have a very forgiving nature (bordering on sucker sometimes, slap me now!). It also doesn’t hurt that today is BOGO at Camille’s! Walked down here just to give them another try since you can get one entrée for free w/​a purchase of another.
Ordered the BBQ chicken pizza & the Club Med wrap. Paid about $ 9.00 for both orders. That works out to $ 4+/day for lunch, kids! What a deal!
Pizza: It’s definitely bigger than what you get at Boudin’s. Not greasy and tastes delicious. My mouth was watering while I was walking back to the office cuz it smelled heavenly! Even though their sandwiches suck, they definitely know pizza!
Wrap: Is sitting in my fridge. I am going to eat that for lunch tomorrow. Will amend the review after I finish it.
Based on the pizza alone, I’m bumping my review from 2 to 4 stars.
BTW, BOGO is offered on the first Tuesday of the month. They will remind you of BOGO if you sign up for their email list.
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Where’s the Beef?
After filing my CA taxes at Rincon, I wandered around the area to find something for lunch. Briefly flirted with the idea of buying a fattening cheesesteak from Theo’s but I ultimately hightailed it out of there because I had to watch the food intake (just because you’re preggers doesn’t mean you can eat like a fat pig).
Wandered by One Market and saw this little sidewalk café. Went in saw that it was busy so that gave me confidence to place an order.
I ordered the Napa Valley Chicken Panini with a cookie and pop. The wait was about 10 minutes. Ran back to the office to devour my panini.
Opened the box and saw the fat panini bread. That was about it because there sure wasn’t a lot of food between the bread! The chicken was diced ala Quiznos (not like the honking half slice of breast meat you get at Lightening Foods at EC 3). Mushrooms were not fresh. It looked like the canned ones that chinese restaurants serve you (they were light brown all around). Onions, sun dried tomato glaze was non existent.
Really for a $ 9 sandwich (close to $ 10 if you included the tax), they could have put some more meat into it. This was like eating a dinner roll.
For a franchise (they are a franchise if you check out their website), they offer a piss poor serving of food. Damn it for me wanting to eat light. I guess it’s light if I’m looking for my next meal within the next two hours! :(
Won’t be coming back here.

Like I’m meeting Tiffany at the mall…
And she’s like «Oh my gawd, you have to see this»,
But I was like, «No way, you’re kidding!»
So OK, I was totally like, you know, «What-​evuh…»
…and this was a conversation between two stockbrokers eating their paninis at Camille’s. OK, it wasn’t…but it might as well have been because it feels like you’re in the middle of Valley Fair shopping mall on a school night… instead of the middle of the lunch hour at One Market in the FiDi.
Everything feels pre-​packaged and chain-​like, including the people who work here, which makes this place feel like a sore thumb on the manicured hand that has Lightening Foods as its index finger and Jamba Juice as its middle index. Gee, did I carry that analogy too far?
Anyway, the food is unexciting. I tried the $ 6.95 Chicken Caesar Wrap which came in a herb-​garlic flour tortilla. The combination of the shredded Parmesan and creamy dressing more than overpowered the paltry chicken pieces hidden inside, and the saltiness made finishing it a near-​impossibility. OK, I did finish it, but hey, I didn’t like it.
They have the usual suspects — the panini sandwiches, the big salads, the smoothies — nothing too earth-​shattering except the healthy-​sounding sunrise natu-​wraps for breakfast. The big plus is the expansive outdoor seating which makes this an ideal destination for lunching with colleagues on a sunny day.
Not sure why the cashier here is so surly. I was thinking maybe he was doing an impression of one of those old-​time waiters on the Lower East Side in New York. But no, I think he’s just surly. I think I’ll take a pass given that Il Massimo on the next block is a much friendlier place with a similar menu selection.
So Tiffany and I were totally not into this place.
She like said «You expect me to eat that? As if!»
And I was like, «Well, it’s not like you were Mary-​Kate or Ashley, Pork-​Butt.»
Then she was like so mad that we didn’t trade lip gloss.
FOOD — 2 stars… not a wrap, more a rap… on the knuckles of my poor salt-​saturated palate
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… like it’s the mall, isn’t it?
SERVICE — 2 stars… surly…c’mon, put on a happy face!
TOTAL — 2 stars… What-​evuh!

Camille’s is a good reminder that suburban sprawl can happen to your metro area. This is a good spot for a quick lunch during the work week, and they do have a lot of choice outdoor seating.
Foodwise, I was a little underwhelmed. I had the «Caribbean Chicken» salad, which looked like every other salad they had, but with spices and dried bananas. I’ll try them again, perhaps for one of their wraps.