Zephyr Cafe

I like zephyrs. Kinda grimey and dirty but whatever, it’ got wifi, outlets, and it works for what I need.
12.3.13

It’s not closed folks… Please fix the Unilocal status claiming its closed. Its a perfect café and local hangout spot

came upon zephyr café in the recent past for a cup of joe (2ish). joe wasn’t memorable.
2.5 stars
décor or lack of it was. very little lightlng, dark. few patrons. not cool for leisurely reading. laptopping yes.

It’s not close! I think that’s a mistake. I was open yesterday.
The new owners are fantastic people. I highly recommend it.

Rude staff. Stale desserts. They were more interested in having a conversation behind the counter than to even help me out.
There are a lot better selections up the street. Simple Pleasures being one.

They are in the process of changing their name. They changed the awning today. It’s now called La Promenade Café.

Came here with my roommate to try and get some work done. It’s a little out of the way from our place, but she heard some good things about it.
[THE FOOD] ³⁄₅
I got the Balboa Sandwich. Was pretty delicious, had some crispy bacon, fresh avocado, and lots of nice add ins for the sandwich. However, I also got their cheese danish and that was a little less than satisfactory. Didn’t have that light buttery taste I liked and felt a little old. The oatmeal cookie I got was also average. Not amazing, but not terrible.
[THE VALUE] 3.5÷5
Again, not terrible, but in conjunction to the quality of what I’m getting, it’s not super amazing. More of a ‘get the job done’ kind of quality. I’d prefer a little more flavor or quality for what I’m paying for with the exception of the sandwich. I feel that was a pretty fair and decent purchase that I was more satisfied with compared to my baked goods.
I had originally wanted the Smoked Salmon Lox sandwich, but they were unfortunately out and didn’t have enough salmon. The one thing I noticed was that it was a bit expensive compared to other smoked salmon bagels/​sandwiches I’ve seen, but it may be that they just put a lot of salmon than other places. Guess I won’t know today, but almost $ 7.00 for a smoked salmon bagel? I’ve gotten the same thing at other places for 4 – 5. Again, it may be a quality difference, that’s just what I got from my past experiences because I love smoked salmon bagels.
[THE SERVICE] ⁴⁄₅
Friendly staff, very accommodating, and polite. Nothing to complain about at all.
[MISCELANEOUS COMMENTS/​TIPS]
Really cute place with lots of seating, outlets, etc. Nice jazz music without lyrics that make concentrating really easy. Overall a pretty good place to get work done.

Decided to go for the toasted sesame seed bagel and butter this time. It looks like they use real butter – nice. I also had the hot chocolate which for my taste is a bit too chocolaty. I always ask them to put less chocolate in my drink and they adjust my order with a smile. Impeccable service this time. I’m upgrading to the previous 4 stars.

I’ve started going back to Zephyr because it’s super-​convenient for someone I’m collaborating with on a project. This place must have changed ownership lately: the passive-​aggressive signs are down, the freaky 2^nd-​floor mannequin is no longer giving the evil eye to folks sitting in the back room, and the counter staff is friendly. Seems like each time I go, there’s some small improvement, and they’re adding up. Business seems to have picked up a bit. Good for them!

Best café in town! The food is amazing, and they also have great coffee. Definitely a place to go in the morning to get nice breakfast. They have the best tuna melt sandwich! They also have great customer service. I went there sunday morning and the worker is a huge Giants fan and she makes the best food and drinks. It’s nice, quiet, and overall an awesome café that every coffee lover should visit!

I liked this place even back when the «cheap owners» as other reviewers put it, were still here. I feel like this place is only getting better with the new owners and the renovation it’s going through. The menu is already growing and the atmosphere is a lot brighter. There’s no longer clutter around the café. Each table now has a set of the same chairs unlike the array of mismatched chairs/​armchairs thrown together at every table under the old owners.
Aside from being more aesthetically pleasing, the drinks (the dirty chai I had had a much richer espresso flavor) seem to have also improve. Maybe they’re using different beans? I don’t know, but I’ll be back to find out!

I used to hang out here back in my college days. The place desperately needs to be rennovated. It feels dirty inside here as if vagrants with cornflakes on their beards sleep on the couches. Also, the tables are not cleaned enough.
The coffee was ok, but as I left Zephyrs, I felt like I needed to take a shower.

Haven’t had any of the pastries, but the coffee is pretty dang good, and this place has so much room inside. The coffee also isn’t expensive at all. Plenty of couch space and table space for working. The view is generally of fog, but this place is super chill, and they play some pretty good music.

This place wasn’t busy when we walked in. Ordered 2 cappuccinos that took a super long time to make and then weren’t even caps but bad tasting lattes.
Up the block is Cassava with an amazing honey spice latte. Get that.

Still a fan but wanted to update about the food — loved the soup and the salad that I bought. I had the barley soup and it had carrots and other veggies in it. The salad was fresh with no wilty leaves. The salad dressing was put on the side (without me even asking!) and actually very good (balsamic vinaigrette with olive oil).
The coffee is only alright. I would probably two or three star the coffee.
The bathroom is not the best. I know that isn’t really about the food or the customer service, but the bathroom kind of smells bad? like a clorox bleach kind of way. And it is a unisex (boys never put down the seat…) so it isn’t the cleanest. I kind of hope they plan on renovating that, as well. PLEASE make separate restrooms for boys and girls! Boys never seem to keep their bathrooms as clean. Yuck.
Watermelon cups still awesome.
I think someone in a previous review had complained about the wifi not working. The issue is that after you sign into «la promenade café guest» you need to open your browser and it will prompt you for a guest password, which is then «Welcome». I had this issue earlier today and remembered another customer informing me of this.

Getting Renovated as we speak.
Good Prices, no fluff, straight up decent customer service.
Free Wifi, but if you want to use an outlet, you should probably buy something more expensive. After all, they got a business to run!
:)

This place provides, quite possibly, the quintessential place for study. There are plenty of tables to fill, and it’s quiet enough so that you can zero in on the task or studies that need to be performed.
Still, the coffee itself is a bit overpriced, and they don’t accept card either. They do a decent job at providing their basic food, but it’s not particularly awe-​inspiring.

This café is perfect for studying especially for large groups. The workers there are all pleasant and kind.
It’s located on Balboa St near many places to grab a bite if you decide to eat elsewhere other than the café. Overall love this café mucho!

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to try any of their drinks! I was meeting someone here for an interview and upon arriving the woman at the counter immediately asked me what I wanted without giving me a chance to check the menu. I asked for the restroom key and she looked at me puzzled and said ‘are you customer?’ I told her ‘yes, I’m meeting someone here’ and she pointed toward the bathroom and said ‘you go then you buy’ and the story ends there. I would have walked out immediately if I didn’t have the interview to stay for.
Note: this review doesn’t depict their products, simply their unfriendly service.

This neighborhood is like Asian central in the outer Richmond, can’t say that I’ve ever been here but it was a beautiful day to be around the neighborhood. I remember swarms of Asian kids all over the streets after getting out from school. I drove from some other part of SF and got to see a lot of the neighborhood, interesting place in SF. I saw a Purple Kow across the street from the place which is supposedly a great milk tea joint. They had lots of Chinese owned businesses around the street and seemingly lots of decent food choices as well.
I met up to collaborate and speak with another entrepreneur here, we had access to secure Wi-​Fi through a web portal and had plenty of space to ourselves in a booth. Power plugs are available and they have even more space in the back which a lot of students seem to make use of. The teas aren’t expensive and the places is clean enough. It’s just pretty darn old inside, I can’t really imagine myself coming back here or fitting in. A lot of old people seems to come here to hang out or read but there are more and more young people making use of it.