Copper Kettle Irish Cafe & Bakery

My family and I like this place well enough. The food is straight forward, though sometimes a bit inconsistent. Sometimes the coffee is spot on, tasty and hot, other times it’s a bit lukewarm. Sometimes I get a modest scoop of mushrooms, other times I get a generous side bowl. The folks who work here are friendly, but a few times I think they were short staffed so during those times it was difficult to get their attentions, ask for refills on coffee, etc. We almost always get a loaf of their Irish Wheat (soda?) bread to take home as it’s the closest thing to the kind a family friend makes (she lives 2 hours away). It’s quite tasty! Most times it’s pretty chilly inside, though this last time we went the heater seemed like it had been turned on. If you’re in the area and you want an Irish breakfast –beans, tomatoes, and all, this is a good place for it.

The servers here are attentive and I love having breakfast here. It feels more down to earth than a lot of places in the city and has many regulars who come in every morning either to hang out or to get their daily coffee and pastry.

Super sweet service from a cheerful nice Irish lad.
I had a currant scone and while it wasn’t a transcendent religious experience the way Arizmendi Lakeshore’s scones are, it was quite acceptable for $ 2.50 and I could tell it had been made with cream in the dough.
Know this: it’s cold inside! Turn on the heat please!

We had a great experience with the charming staff and delicious food. It was pretty quiet when we went at lunchtime on a Saturday. The portion sizes were pretty big for the breakfast food. We will definitely be back.

This place is fantastic. Went this morning for their full Irish breakfast and it did not disappoint. It was huge and great value. The all Irish staff and owner were incredibly friendly and efficient. The plane was buzzing on a sunday morning and everybody seemed happy and fed. I also picked up a tin of cadburys roses a must have for Christmas. The pastries and Irish groceries looked great also but we were too stuffed to try any. We will be back.

Yeah, not going back again. You don’t get a lot for what you pay. I would overlook that just to support a small neighborhood business. Especially an Irish one.
But the waitresses. .. they are terrible. They ignore you, don’t check up on you, don’t bring you the normal things you need to dine. What are they doing? And the tables are sticky dirty…
The only time the waitresses have been attentive and bubbly is when the owner lady is there!

What a charming restaurant! The lovely Irish ladies on the staff were sweet and attentive, occasionally singing along delightfully to the 80s songs on the radio. I ordered a simple breakfast of imported Irish sausages and home fries with eggs, cooked perfectly over-​medium as requested. And the whole wheat Irish soda bread! Served with butter and marmalade, it was delicious, the best I’ve had in the city. I would have bought a loaf if they had any left for sale. Wonderful conversation with people randomly seated together next to me, who conversed openly with those around them, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. I left feeling heartened and full of good food and cheer.

This place is SO lame. You’d have to be dead to be a worse waitress than the one who «served» us. She drops a warm diet coke on the table and walks away… No glass, no ice? She never came back to take a toGo order we wanted to make, I had to get up and walk over to her several times to get things. It wasn’t busy at all. Like two other tables. And the food is disgusting. Do not ever ever go here. EVER. I think any good reviews of this place are friends of the owners. I have no idea how this place is still in business. Garbage.

This place is awesome and the servers are great too. I took a group of Brits/​Irish here for early breakfast 8am and we loved it. The bacon was traditional Irish Bacon, and the number of actual Irish their eating was like you know it’s a great Chinese restaurant if Chinese people eat their. Go early as they fill up fast…

Great neighborhood place, open early. Friendly clean and good coffee.

I don’t like to give bad reviews but today was really a disappointment at this place. I want to like this place because it serves breakfast and it is close to our house. When we went last time the waitress/​server got our order wrong plus she charged us for two coffees instead of one. Not too big of a deal though.
Today we went and had a totally different experience.
PROS:
The weather was nice & an outside table was available so we sat outside.
CONS:
I had to get the menus for us.
The server took forever just to take our order. She took even longer to bring our drinks. There was no ice tea but she didn’t tell us until it was time to bring it. — If there was none, why didn’t she tell us sooner instead of when it was time to drink it? (And how hard is it to put some ice into tea?!!) We had already waited more than seven minutes for our beverages.
We switched our order to coffee and the half-​filled glass had a spoon sticking out of it. I had to go inside to get the sugar and cream.
When I reminded her of the water, she brought warm water in a carafe (not even room temperature.) Again how difficult is it to put some ice into a glass? (plastic cup in this case.)
When we asked about our bread the server said, «Oh bread only comes with eggs.» — Ummm excuse me but we both ordered eggs. (Either the California omelet or the corned beef hash with eggs did not come with bread. I don’t know which one.) I had to go inside to get butter and jam for the bread.
She never came back to ask us if we needed anything so I went inside to get more water. This time I asked for some ice in the water.
Each time I went inside to get something, the lady behind the counter was pleasant. — Why can’t she teach customer service to the server?
Servers have more contact with the customers so she should show quality of service. If she is the face of the restaurant, that’s why there aren’t any more stars for this place. If she only gives service to the long-​standing customers, then this place will never get any new, satisfied customers. We gave her a nice tip but it was about 15% more than she deserved…

Love this place and would send any of my friends or family. Of Course I go there often and understand sometimes it might be very busy.
I get the eggs Benedict with the Irish style bacon. Love it. Large helpings and the eggs are perfect. My 16 month old loves the pancakes and fresh fruit. Also the strawberry pastry is fkn wonderious.
I only give it 4 stars because until I got the timing down of when to go it was hard to park. But the food I eat is solid and understand people this is a Irish place. The food is cooked the way they do back home. Eat it for what it is and it’s the best you can find anywhere in many many blocks. I live kinda close and always feel welcome. In fact I know where I’m getting lunch.

My sister an I used to live a block from Copper Kettle and it’s been almost a year since we’ve been back. This used to be our all time favorite spot until this morning. There were three of us and a baby trying to find a table but the there were two or three dirty tables so we ended up sitting outside which wasn’t too bad. We knew it was a busy day but we sat outside for 15mins and no one came out to check on us, we had to get our own menus. I think the management changed because there weren’t any familiar faces working and usually the servers are really bubbly and welcoming even if it’s busy. We ended up leaving to eat somewhere else and we saw one of the servers come out to pick up our menus as soon as we left which was terrible because she had time to go outside to pick up the menus but not service us.

Service was good. Food not bad. tables dirty. felt a bit expensive for the type of product.

The best omelette in the area !!!
The two very sweet and nice ladies working here are so friendly and kind
The food is great, the fresh warm bread they bring with the meal is amazinggggg!
Very nice atmosphere feels like home.
A must visit !!!

The couple times I’ve been there they’ve gotten my order wrong and the food is just not very good. They’re very short and rude with me and I think it’s because I’m not Irish. I go there because it’s close but I’m done going to this place.

I like supporting local neighborhood businesses, but I just can’t imagine myself ever coming back to this spot. The experience that I had here was not a pleasant one at all. My wife and I ordered the corned beef hash and the Irish benedict. The food took 45 minutes to come out, and the whole time we were waiting, the waitress never came out to check on us or see if we needed anything or even give us some bread to munch on (which should have come with our meals anyways). By the time the food came, I wish I could say that it was worth the wait, but it really wasn’t. The corned beef hash is mostly potatoes with very little corned beef (unlike some of the pictures here which show a good amount of meat). The poached egg in the benedict had the yolk fully cooked (never experienced that before with an eggs benedict dish). Also, our meal was supposed to come with some of their soda bread, and they never brought that out. After asking, we were told they did not have any today (would have been nice if they had mentioned that when we first ordered our meals which stated it would come with soda bread…) and another waitress had said they would bring us some toast. By the time we were 90% finished with our meals, they had still not brought us any toast.
Two stars because the food was not horrible or inedible, so if that’s your standard, please check this place out. For the rest of us who want to feel like we’re getting what we paid for, skip this place. Parkside Tavern up the block has much better food for brunch.

I stayed in San Francisco for 6 days and had breakfast here twice. Have been missing food here ever since we got back. There is nothing more comforting than a big warm irish breakfast in the morning.

I really want to love the copper kettle, it’s a local business, run by friendly people, but I really can’t give it that high a rating.
This has become a bit of a local for me, but it’s more about location and being the best in the vicinity than choice.
The pro’s:
The copper kettle reminds me of a good old English greasy spoon and I like that they sell authentic English/​Irish groceries, which is fantastic for ex-​pats.
The food items on the menu are pretty good, I like the mini Irish and the hash scramble the most. Tasty and reasonable portion sizes.
However the best thing about the copper kettle is that they sell proper English style thick cut bacon, which you can also buy raw to take home to cook.
The cons:
Don’t be fooled, a lot of the things on the menu aren’t actually Irish. They don’t have breakfast burrito’s in the land of Éire, for example — although maybe they are American Irish!
There are always queues and it can take a while to be served, quite a few times they’ll forget to bring you things from your order. I’ve seen much busier greasy spoons, and indeed busy restaurants here in San Fran, work far more effectively than this!
The take away breakfast bap’s can also be dry and chewy depending on how long they’ve been left in the heated cabinet, although they’re nice if recently made.
Also the cost — whilst you get good portion sizes, i find it to be on the more expensive side.

Came in on a quiet afternoon hoping to find a little spot for some Brunch and reading.
Upon walking in I wasn’t sure if I sat myself or waited to be seated so I stood quietly for a moment until I realized no one was coming to greet me and I headed up to the counter where I was asked if this was for take-​out or dine-​in. After saying dine-​in I was told to pick a spot in the nearly empty café.
Was given a menu promptly and after deciding what to eat my order taken, coffee and water were brought and I dove head first into my book.
A very short time later my meal of Irish Eggs Benedict was brought. The food itself was decent. The English Muffin didn’t appear to be toasted and was a pain to cut with the really cheap flatware, and I do mean CHEAP, the fork I was using kept bending while I was trying to saw through the muffin with the cheap knife. But I digress. The ham was cooked perfectly. The hollandaise sauce left something to be desired, it really lacked much of any flavor of lemon. Eggs were perfect.
I’m not sure how they decide which waitress gets what table, but I felt super rushed to get out of there. It wasn’t that busy and I made an effort to look around every few minutes to make sure the tables weren’t full. The girls who worked the floor were very polite, but 5 minutes after 1 girl had asked if I was done eating (which I wasn’t) the other would come to ask me if she could clear my plate. Same exact thing happened with the check, one girl came to pick it up though I hadn’t gotten my money or card out yet and shortly after the other girl came to see if I was ready. I’m sure they were just trying to be attentive, but I felt rushed.
After I paid, I ended up going up the street to another café and ordering another coffee so I could sit and read and enjoy the afternoon without being rushed.
I’m unsure if I’ll be back, might be willing to give it another go, we shall see.