Coffee Adventures

good coffee, that means a lot.

I am currently on a consulting assignment in the Cannery building in Fisherman’s Wharf. Noticed this place by accident a few weeks ago. They are hidden/​tucked away next to flashier restaurants with more signage.
The coffee at this place is amazing… strong, rich flavor and served up nice and hot. I also get a toasted bagel & cream cheese with some veggies and it is always served up perfectly (on a good chewy bagel too). The couple who run this place are sweet.
I agree with other reviewers that the décor of this place sucks and that the service is not that fast. However, quality & attention to detail take a little more time. Stop ordering the weak coffee and the microwaved & industrial crap at Starbucks, walk a block down the street, turn right, and support a local business!
Buy 12 coffees and get 1 free. I drank nothing but large coffees for my 12 and was offered any kind of specialty drink that I wanted for my freebie.

I can’t speak yet for the coffee, but this place does indeed have good chai. But, it’s a certain type – not the spicy, earthy type you might get at Samovar but slightly sweet but-​not-​too-​much-​so milk latte chais that we expect from a Starbucks or Tully’s.
I can understand what one reviewer said about the owner being a little eccentric; he was very quiet and a bit reticent when we first came in yesterday. But he genuinely seemed nice and was very focused on getting everyone’s food ready. (He was solo that morning.)

Not bad, but not great. Better than Starbucks.

Great coffee and tea. Skip Starbucks, come here instead. The owners are very nice, great personal service. My wife just loves the soy latte.

The coffee and service were decent. I don’t understand why Coffee Adventures receives such high ratings. I wouldn’t go back.

Very NICE STRONG coffee. Their coffee makes Starbucks coffee taste like syrup only. Best CHAI LATTE in the city. Yummy bagels and sandwiches. The prices are cheaper than cafes nearby. Bob and Nicole are super nice. They don’t make food and drinks fast but I’m OK with the wait. You can see everything they’re doing and you know it’s nice and clean.
The only thing I don’t like is the interior. I never like their decors since it was opened. They changed a few times and I still don’t get it. The coffee, Chai latte and the nice couple are soooooo good that I can ignore the interior.

This place is across the street from my work, and I wish it was so much better. I’ve gotta say, the fruit flavored green tea was bomb, and the black bean breakfast burrito was good too. However… the wait is redic. Seriously, unless you have a lot of time to kill, this is not the place to go. I like mom and pop local places sooo much better than big chains, but it’s hard to pick this place when I don’t have much time.

Right now I am giving this a 5 star because 1. its my first time here, and 2. The Chai Tea latte is quite possibly the best I have ever had. I wasn’t too big on the appearance from outside because the place looked like it was a taqueria or something. so I wasn’t even really sure where I was.
However, after going in and ordering the Chai from the Friendly owner I sat down and got on the free wifi. Which of course you need a password for, but its OMG! Fast! Shocker!
Luckily, in the 30 – 40 minutes I was there, other people started to come in and it looks as if they have Pastries and Lunch options as well! woot. I will give this place another shot and hopefully I will keep my 5 star experience.
Then again, anything that is better than Star Buck’s deserves 5 stars. Wait, if that would be the case everything would have 5 stars.

Came here after a chiropractic appointment and needed to grab a quick breakfast before my class. I came in and was greeted by a nice waitress behind the counter. The owner is there right next to her, standing some newspaper. I tried to order the Artichoke, Tomato, and Spinach bagel… the owner said something back to me but in such a low voice that I can’t make out what he said. The waitress repeated it to me and said they don’t have any fresh artichokes. Then after some reconsideration, I asked them if they can just replace it with mushrooms. The murmered something to me again, and the waitress said they ran out of mushrooms. The owner also added «we ran out of portobella mushrooms too, there was nothing good in the market yesterday»
Since they didn’t seem like they have anything in stock, I left with a everything bagel with some artichoke hummus (I was going to leave with some artichoke one way or another). The hummus didn’t taste like it was fresh made so it was probably store bought from somewhere. The bagel itself was nicely toasted, but I I don’t think it’s that’s hard to toast a bagel right?
Likes:
Local coffee shop
Nice waitress
Short simple menu
Dislikes:
Didn’t get to taste the menu
The owner needs to speak up if he’s talking to me

I love this place! This is my go-​to place for an iced mocha. It’s way better than Starbucks and its a local business. I work in The Cannery building so I usually try to stop in here before I head to work. The only thing that I would say about this place is that I wish they were open later in the evening!
I have yet to try their sandwiches (which I heard is delish from my co-​workers), but I’ve had their New Yorker Bagel (bagel with their homemade cream cheese, lox, and some onions) and its so yummy!

Convenient location for tourists. No one was sitting inside (there is a track as others have mentioned) but a few ppl enjoying outside. Friendly service, although make sure you have a few 10 – 15 minutes to spend waiting for your bagel sandwich if you order one. Meticulously made, and the salsa spread is spicy! Really liked it. Not too many pastry options, but lots of sandwich options. Cappuccino is average.
Good place to stop over for coffee.

A terrific cup of coffee *and* a computerized slot-​car track for the patrons. How cool is that?
Yes, there’s a real slot car (Scalectrix) track here. It’s digital, so it supposedly supports more than 2 cars racing at once. They have their own cars that you can use as well as a slick race timing/​control system so there’s no ambiguity about who won.
Plus the coffee’s really good. I had an expresso, and this is one of the few places that seems to do it just right. It was served hot — how it’s supposed to be — not lukewarm like so many places do because they either don’t warm the cups or decant it into 3 containers before it reaches your cup. And it was strong without an overwhelming aftertaste.
Plus the owner (Bob) is really nice. The slot car track wasn’t working quite right when we went, but he still took the time to get it going so my 4-​year-​old son could have a go.

Breakfast with coffee: less than $ 4! Good lunches too.
Owned by a cute older couple, the lady told me once, «We set our prices for the locals, not the tourists». They really do; you get a lot for your money here.
They make their own delicious lox cream cheese spread right there at the store, with lots of chunks of lox. Never had anything quite like it… it’s so good on a toasted bagel!
Buy 12 drinks and get your 13^th free.
Keep an eye out for the day-​old pastries to the left of the counter in a basket… just $ 1.

Three years ago we were looking for a good coffee house, which isn’t a chain, near our hotel for our week-​long vacation. The internet was our best friend in turning us on to Coffee Adventures. The man and wife who run the house are absolutely adorable! From the very first visit, it was like we were old friends. After a couple days dropping in we were greeted with, «the usual?». This is what sets them apart from the high-​priced nation-​wide chains we try to avoid whenever possible.
Three years later, we are still visiting our friends at Coffee Adventure each time we make a trip to San Francisco… and we can’t wait to get back! (They make a mean café mocha!!)

Was I here on an a REALLY «off» day ?!?
I was excited to get here so I could quench my craving for a good chai latte. and, after all the good reviews. how could things go wrong, right!!!
Well, I have to admit it didn’t go ALL wrong… but I don’t think the place lived up to the hype of the reviews.
First, I got there and thought they were closing… because. No lights. Barely any pastries in the displays. And… no people.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning and there were a LOT of tourists around. so I KNOW I wasn’t the only one in the area… plus the two other dives next to them were filled with people. why weren’t they?
Maybe because they didn’t even bother. I walked in and the lady behind the counter was on her cell phone. Fine… I know there’s more to life than making coffee drinks. At least, she was polite enough to get off the phone and talk to me as soon as she saw me.
I asked for the vanilla chai latte. She asked, «Would you like any pastries or anything to eat?» But I thought to myself, «There’s nothing here to even choose from.» I mean from the five pastries in the display and no lights turned on… what the heck were they gonna feed me!!!”
«Nope, just the chai.thanks.»
I’ll try them again, I think, because the chai was decent and close to my son’s school. Maybe they were having an «off» day. I’ll update my review when I do.

Found this via the Unilocal app’s location gizmo. It was only a block away from Fisherman’s Wharf. I would have just got coffee or a mocha, but since several reviews mentioned the chai tea latte, I went for that. And a coffee. Both were excellent. The chai tea was made from brewed loose leaf chai tea, not a mix. The proprietor was friendly and helpful too, so I’ll be back. We ate breakfast at nearby restaurants, but got our coffee (and tea) here every day of our stay.

If there’s a red Unilocal sticker on the window, you know it’s good. We got coffee from here this morning and I have nothing but praise for Coffee Adventures.
I ordered the White Chocolate Mocha and it tasted so rich and flavorful. I could taste all the elements, unlike those chains that all have nearly no semblance of the flavor. I also ordered an apricot Danish. It was like having homemade cheesecake for breakfast. Again, the flavor was real… Real good!
The only downside: I don’t live in the city! :*(

Probably the greatest pretense-​adjusted latte in the city. Bob and Nicole run the show, and Bob makes a mean latte. Bob works pretty much every day, which means your latte is made by the same person every time, which means it tastes exactly the same every time — delicious.
Given that this is located next to the two worst touristy breakfast places in the city, you can get some solid cheap grub here, as well as a mean latte. I considered renewing my lease at my old apartment so that I could keep going here every morning, but it was not to be.

This is a review by a decaffeinated vegetarian wuss
That was a pretty damn good decaf mocha with whipped cream. No bitterness at all, no chocolate syrup bomb lurking at the bottom of the glass, somewhat real whipped cream (pressure vessel though not a «Redi-​whip» device).
If they made the smokers out front unwelcome by removing the ashtrays and got a real pastry bag I would add a star.
Also, parking is expensive at the meters on a per minute basis but service was brisk