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Categories: Mexican, Diners, Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
Neighborhood: MissionMon-Sun. 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
"After trying the steak torta, carnitas burrito, and giving the steak burrito another try I had to raise the rating to 4. Awesome stuff."
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Ok, so my friend Carmen and I decided to get down to the nitty gritty of Red Cafe. And here is the breakdown:
*Quesadillas are "off the hook" according to Carmen, her favorite dish from here.
*Carmen does not like the fact (and I totally agree) that they charge $1 for mustard if it's a to-go order, plus they don't have to-go menus, if you insist on purchasing they'll charge a motherf(*&^g dollar!!!!!
*The pupusas are superb! If you are a vegetarian, this is your dish, they have mushroom, spinach, loroco, zucchini, beans and cheese, quite impressive if you ask me! However, avoid the pupusa loca! Pupusa loca is a massive/vulgar combo of all the ingredients mentioned!! It's like a pupusa pizza and the flavors are so overwhelming together, that all you taste is cheese and masa.
*For breakfast, Platanos con Casamiento (fried rice and beans, fried bananas with sour cream and cheese) is the killer, so yummmy for my tummy! However, if Platanos con casamiento is not your thing, you can order some Oatmeal Pancakes or French Toast, also yummy!
*Recently I discovered the Shrimp Caesar Salad and I am in love! It's so good, I just wish they would it serve with prawns.
*I also didn't rate Red 5 stars because I think the prices are a little high, come on, rice and beans are not that expensive and the portions are not huge, so why charge so much?
Totally yummy food in a little greasy spoon kind of diner and very nice and friendly service! My husband and I met up with a friend here for breakfast and it was very tasty.
A ceiling fan or two are in order there, it was hot and stuffy and I was sweating. The clientele is a mixture of real live Latino families and Mission-esque hipsters.
3.5 stars but I rounded up because that is how I roll.
The booths are hecka small, and seat a maximum of four people. Mind you, not four large people......
Pretty solid breakfast.
Friend wanted to meet here. The front lady was very friendly and cool about getting our party of three sat even though we were slacking.
The place is interesting. The menu is half California Diner, half Mexican; and the staff, decor, and, of course, mariachis are all Mexican. Yet the customer base seemed to be mostly Mission Hipster. Standard for the 24th Street area, I guess.
Anyhow the food was pretty much "OK." I had the oatmeal pancakes, which were more or less diner pancakes, and the bacon, which was....bacon. There was nothing wrong with the food, but there wasn't anything really right about it, either.
I was a fan of the fair pricing and friendly service, but seeing as how I don't live near, I probably wouldn't go back.
Five stars simply for the "Platanos con Casamiento" - definitely one of the City's best breakfast plates. Forgo the usual American fare for this dish! You'll get grilled plantains, 2 eggs, a scoop of incredibly tasty rice and beans, a hunk of queso fresco (crumbly white cheese), a dollop of sour cream, toast, and a sprig of parsley. The toast ends up being pretty much unnecessary in this meal, so focus on the main plate. Tastes best when each fork-full consists of some combination of the ingredients -- you definitely want these things hitting your palette at the same time, as they complement each other so well.
Red Cafe is what it is. Its a diner style place. I have tried the Breakfast Burrito and the Cheeseburger and Fries. How to really explain?? The Cheeseburger is a nice sized patty, a toasted bun, lettuce, tomato, and a few condiments. Special sauce, mayo and mustard. While this all sounds basic, its really simple and tasty. The is the great burger drip that everyone knows what I am talking about. There is the almost perfect diner french fries. And then there is the price. I got 2 cheeseburgers and fries for less than $13. Burger and fries. It is really a way of life. In the morning the breakfast foods are fantastic. The breakfast burrito is awesome to behold. My only complaint about it is they don't have a side of hash browns to accompany the cheesy tasty awesomeness that will soon be entering your body. But I like to order them and eat bites with or separately. The service is really quick. And I actually enjoy the club type music they play inside. Its like the party in my mouth is dancing with the music. I go here a lot and so should you!!! They have a lot of different foods all are pretty decent.
This place is the bee's knees & the spider's ankles. The service from the boys is spot-on; the girls could be a WHOLE LOT friendlier. The girl behind the counter (the one who wears the crocheted hairband ALL the time) can be a bit of a douche, but just ignore her attitude and concentrate on the food.
The breakfast here is solid - tasty and dependable. You must try the fried plantain breakfast - it rocks! The country scramble with ham & avocado is another one of my faves.
Chill. Friendly. Homey.
Great place to sit at the bar on the shiny red stools, make small talk with the cute guys behind the counter, and chow down on some comforting chillequiles.
I actually prefer the soup-ier chillequiles that my line cook friends would make late night, but this crunchy, hearty, filling amalgam of scrambled eggs, peppers, and freshly fried tortillas satiated my Mexican desires for the night.
Major plus for friendly service and the cook actually serving our split plate chillequiles on separate plates - totally expected to play fork wars with my girl date.
$7 for large plate of chillequiles plus soul comforting refried beans and sour cream on side.
Not that I can eat like this often without having heart problems later but the Salvadorean breakfast is worth the gut bomb.
Eggs, tortillas, casamientos (bean and rice mixture) and plantains with a taste of Salvadorean cheese and sour cream. OMG.
So good. And so full. You need to take a nap after breakfast, no joke.
Service was pretty friendly and prompt.
I love this place... so so so good.. And really cheap.. Good coffee, great French toast, great omelets and even better service... Now i am a breakfast snob so this is a tall order from me! I highly recommend checking this place out... I mean fo two people under 20 bucks how can you go wrong?
Great mexican-style breakfast. I had the vegetable omelet on the recommendation of my server, and I was quite impressed (although I did kind of want to eat cactus). It came with excellent hash browns and average wheat toast.
They kept refilling the coffee faster than I could drink it. kind of messed up the coffee/cream/sugar ration, but I can deal. Great for all the caffeine addicts out there...
The prices were reasonable - about $8 for a large omelet. I would go back any time.
No frills straight-up breakfast. Very simple, pretty fast, just fine if you're starving. Or broke. Or both. Very friendly service, totally reasonable wait and the place was bustling with families.
I mean, a girl can't go to MBC every single Saturday & Sunday...
The food is EXCELLENT, the service is EXCELLENT.
However, the night club music is just awful.
A small but solid step up from standard diner food.
What's great about Red Cafe is the service.
All the waitstaff is well above average, and this one guy in particular is super. His English is a little shaky but he makes up for it being extra careful when taking orders. You can see him concentrating and carefully LISTENING -something that's pretty rare in service workers.
So when my friend puts in an annoyingly confusing order, he gets right every time. Plus he is super polite and quick.
and oh, the place is also unusually clean.
Red Cafe is a completely solid, Mexican-American greasy spoon. I wouldn't necessarily say the food was anything to write home about, but it certainly held it's own. Combine that with the fact that the service was solid, the prices are decent, and the location's convenient, and you've got yourself a win.
This is a cute little traditional bfast place with a Latin flair. My omelet with shrimp and hashbrowns subbed for iceberg lettuce was really good. Sitting at the bar was cool. Lots of coffee and water refills. The plantains, arroz con moro and crema looks really appealing for next visit.
Atmosphere was very meh, and didn't go with the food.
Food was good, although our orders weren't quite correct. I had the grilled cheese, which I will almost certainly go back for, but only because it's close to my work.
Prices are decent. It's basically diner food with slightly cleaner plates.
I would have given four stars except that we had to wait 20 minutes for the (otherwise very nice) waitstaff to notice us so we could get our check and gtfo.
My lunch break is only so long, gentlemen.
Seriously, though, good grilled cheese.
This place is a block away from me.
I remember eating here long ago, but tried it out again this morning.
I decided on the open faced omelette, which had chicken, green onions, mushrooms, and your choice of bacon or ham with hash browns on the side and toast.
This was the JUICIEST omelette I've ever had in my life. I'm not sure if that's the right word for it, but it was very tasty and had lots of flavor.
Definitely worth the price.
My manfriend ordered the steak and eggs, and demanded that I add that his steak was delicious and that he would definitely return for the steak.
Two breakfast meals and two Cokes = $22.
Not bad.
AND THEY HAVE BACON SALT ON EVERY TABLE!
!!!!!!!!
The service was very friendly and attentive. We arrived before noon and the place was packed with mostly neighborhood families. They had a live band playing music, which was kind of cool but could be terrifying/annoying as hell if you were suffering from a massive hangover.
All in all, I would return for the convenience but I'm into more traditional weekend brunches (hollandaise sauce!!!)
BACON SALT!
A great find for breakfast in the Mission. These folks take great pride in serving fresh, simple food, and you can sense that from the second you walk into this clean, airy, minimally decorated coffee shop.
They prepare the food right behind the counter, so I sat and watched as they whipped together my huevos rancheros along with the meals of other patrons. I was amazed by the slow, loving care the prep cook took with each dish - right down to a little sprig of parsley on each plate.
The food was tasty, the coffee was decent, and the service was smiley and efficient. This was my first time to Red's, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that as far as coffee-shops/diners go (and they go pretty far in my book), this is the pinnacle.
Only in the mission can you get a menu as eclectic as the one at Red's (take your pick - american or mexican standards for breakfast or lunch), all while be serenaded by a mariachi band in the back. It was my I Love The Mission Moment #1511.
Went with an american breakfast - egg white scramble. Bummed they forgot 1) my toast and 2) to take out the mushrooms, but I'm looking past that thanks to the no charge bananas and strawberries on the side (rather than hash browns), the outstanding shrimp salad I had for dinner later on, and the aforementioned mariachi band.
I've walked by this place 800 million times without stopping in. Last weekend I was torn between the french toast ($4!!) and the plantains (plantains!!). I went with the latter and felt the shameful joy most closely resembling the kind one might feel while having ice cream for breakfast or a bacon-wrapped hot dog while Jewish. You guys, we're talking like two whole fried plantains, served with beans and sour cream.
As an added bonus, we got live mariachi tunes to accompany our brunch. The place is kinda cheapo, though. But I've been looking for a simple diner that isn't out in the farthest reaches of the Sunset (quite literally - Bashful Bull II is on like 47th and Taraval).
**BRUNCH REVIEW ONLY**
A little breakfast/brunch place in the Mission that's not about the scene? Sign me up! We went by on a Saturday around 11-noon and was seated within minutes. In addition to the usual brunch items of omelettes/scrambles, they have some mexican classics like huevos rancheros and machaca. I actually went for a plate of eggs with fried plantains, black beans, and sour cream (platanos casamientos). Yum!
Brunch with a Spanish flare.
You have a choice of flour or corn tortillas with your meal. The omlette was very tasty, potatoes were crispy and spiced well, and the customer service was friendly and helpful. They even keep the vagrants out.
Definitely a place I will be hitting up for breakfast.
i only remember having some pupusas here... they were tasty and freshly made to order
regret not going here more often when i used to live a block away but i guess that's how it goes... you figure you'll always get a chance to go since it's so close by... and then time flies by and you've moved to a different address... so typical
favorite Brexican in the city...
breakfast burrito, huevos rancheros, can't go wrong, and they can make it HOT, like burns your tongue and hangover off HOT.
5 stars for the friendly and accommodating staff!
4 stars for the atmosphere. It was crowded without being stuffy, busy without being obnoxiously noisy. My boyfriend and I didn't have to wait long for a seat. The decor is minimal.
3 stars for the food. Coffee was amazing and the servers consistently went around asking folks if they wanted refill. I was excited to see corned beef hash sandwich on their menu, only to find out that they use the canned ones you can buy from Safeway. Albeit feeling cheated, the sandwich still tasted okay.
In short, great service, mediocre food, relatively cheap prices. It definitely beats forever waiting in line at Stack's or Chow.
I ate here just the other day before flying back to crappy St. Louis and have to say this place is top notch.
Service was great (the waiter didn't bother me too much but at the same time he did refill my coffee, etc..) and the food was tremendous.
I had the platanos casamientos and it was so damn good...
San Francisco has some awesome restaurants.
I don't know how many times I have passed this cafe in the busy mission district. Today my aunt and I just happened to stumble upon it, and I loved it.
They have food like oatmeal pancakes in addition to the traditional continental breakfast stuff. I will be back.
They also take ATM, which I love.
This place is solid. Nothing fancy, none of the crazy wait for 2 hours crowds that I'm used to around SF. Great friendly staff, good food, and I can get a breakfast burrito or huevos rancheros.........oh if you're feeling adventurous, the plaintains and beans are a really good alternative breakfast....
One word: CHILAQUILES
Chilaquiles are, in my opinion, the king of all breakfast foods! Red Cafe does a nearly sauce less version which made me apprehensive at first glance but the result was crispy and tasty.
I would definitely go back and order them again!
Their nopal (cactus) omelette is tasty, and something you don't see on a typical diner menu. Serving mostly breakfast items, they also have sandwiches/burgers and Mexican dishes, such as quesadillas. I'm fond of the veggie burger here; it's cheap, and they don't skimp on toppings. It drips with so much grease and oil that it's almost as unhealthy as a regular meat burger.
With several tables and booths, the dining area is that of a no-frills diner. Red Cafe dishes up good comfort/hangover food for when you don't want to hit one of the many taquerias that perpetuate the area or wait at any of the more popular breakfast spots.
this place is solid. The staff is nothing but friendly. The food is great and the prices are fair. This place is nothing fancy, but it has character, which is even better. Their menu is wide, so there is always something that will satisfy whatever craving you may have. When I worked close to Reds I was here all the time, I need to start making it back.
Ladies cook the food,
Chilaquiles and coffee
make my tummy smile.
Well, I just can't see why this place is getting such high praise. I went to Red Cafe with a friend recently and our experience was... to be kind... not very good. Actually, it was not very good at all. So much for being kind!
My friend was really in the mood for Chilaquiles on the day of our visit. Since Red's got such high Yelp user reviews, specifically for Chilaquiles, we figured we'd give it a shot. The place looked nice enough as we peeked inside. Upon entering though, something didn't seem quite right. It somehow just didn't look or feel like the type of place that made good Chilaquiles if that makes any sense. Chilaquiles WAS on the menu though, and again... the good reviews. Well, I wish I'd listened to my friend when she suggested we leave, but we had already ordered our beverages.
The menu was kind of unappealing to me. It appeared to be half Denny's and half Chevy's. I am generally not crazy about places that can't decide what they are. You know, like those places that do Chinese food and donuts. You can pretty much be assured that either the Chinese food, or the donuts, or more likely BOTH will be bad. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of a place that does Chinese and donuts. Finding a good one of those would be the equivalent of some wonderful surreal dream. "What? Wor Wonton Soup and a cinnamon raised donut for dessert? Somebody pinch me!".
Anyways, I figured I'd play it safe and order the chicken Fajitas. My friend ordered her desired Chilaquiles. She was rightfully concerned...
My Fajitas were pretty bad. I don't like Chevy's and Red's Fajitas were worse than Chevy's. Just plain bland, uninspired Fajitas. Enough about that-- my beef is really with the Chilaquiles.
I must mention here that I am of Asian descent and have had Chilaqules maybe three times in my life, BUT EVEN I know what they are supposed to be-- or at least supposed to resemble. What my friend got was pretty much scrambled eggs with some tortilla, peppers and onions mixed in. There was a small container of beans as an accompaniment. This dish, whatever it was, tasted okay but it was NOT Chilaquiles.
I realize that there likely are several regional versions of this dish... maybe that was the case. Like... MAYBE. But more likely, they were just Chilaquiles gone wrong. In fact, from here on out I will just refer to that dish from Red's as scrambled eggs which is what it more closely resembled.
In my admittedly novice opinion, Chilaquiles are all about the sauce and the tortillas. The tortillas should be somewhere between crisp and tender (but not chewy or mushy) in a flavorful sauce made from a base chipotles or tomatillos. Red's scrambled eggs had some plain ol' raw tortillas tossed in (likely fresh from some package) and the was NO SAUCE. We even asked for Queso Fresco on the side, in which they just figured to mix in with the eggs during the cooking! Now, is it just me or isn't that pretty much Queso Fresco blaspheme??? I was dumbfounded. My friend was pretty upset.
On a positive note, the service was efficient, the prices were fair and our waiter was very friendly.
If I were to go back... no... (I will not go back), if YOU ever decide to try Red Cafe, order from the Denny's side of the menu. The Chevy's side doesn't cut it from what I can tell. If you are in the mood for Chilaquiles, heed NOT the reviews here on Yelp. You will thank me for this. I can't help imagining that every time that Red Cafe doles out some of their "Chilaquiles", simultaneously thousands of sweet abuelitas somewhere are rolling over in their grave.
Finally, if I am completely off in my understanding of Chilaquiles, please retort to this posting. I think it would only be fair in defense of Red Cafe. But I will still never go back.
Oh yeah-- I also got a pretty bad stomach ache from the aforementioned Fajitas...
Many folks may walk right by the Red Cafe without even realizing they did so -- indeed, it's easy to miss among the color and clamor of the 24th/Mission area. But now that you've read this, you aren't allowed to do that any more.
A mix between an American and Latino diner, it's the most unique combo I've seen of the two in my time here in SF. (What it's NOT is "Tex-Mex" or anything resembling that) Think traditional American egg breakfasts with a side of tortilla, plantains, and beans (casamiento platanos) or breakfast burrito with a side of hash browns. Not to mention the SF staple of freshly-squeezed orange juice -- something that transcends even the highest border wall.
What I love about Red Cafe the most (aside from the above-mentioned side of plantains) is its authentic feel...Latino families enjoying brunch after Mass and it being a Latino-run business in general. I hope we gringos can find a way to enjoy it without taking over and pushing out the OGs.
I recently found out the name is derived from the owner's home country: The coffee beans are ripe for picking when they turn red.
PROS:
-close to 24th/Mission BART
-never a too-long wait (max 20 minutes)
-authentic and good-quality food
-plaintains for breakfast
CONS:
-street musicians can sometimes take over the place
Sometimes a breakfast place is so good, so cozy, so wonderfully comfortable and free of long lines and hungover hipsters, that one struggles with whether or not to share such a gem with the world. I can't hold it in any longer, though. I am infatuated with Red Cafe!
I admit I was hesitant about going to Red Cafe for the first time, as I was in the mood for diner food, and the outside looks more like a bar than anything else. Once inside the doors however, it was love at first sight.
We were seated immediately in a well padded booth, and right away we were given some of the best diner coffee I've had. When reading the menus, I was ecstatic to see my favorite Mexican breakfast dishes, along with all of my American greasy spoon favorites. Beyond the typical huevos rancheros, Red Cafe offers chilaquiles, cactus omelettes, and more standard fare such as pancakes and eggs with hash browns. In addition to delicious food, the service was quick and very friendly, and when I went back yesterday morning, there was even a Mariachi band adding to the charm of this wonderful little breakfast place.
In my opinion, the best thing about this restaurant is the friendly service. From the time I put my name on the list, the host addressed me by name, including when he held the door for me as I left. As for the food: I had the huevos rancheros, listed as Eggs Rancheros - not sure why, since everyone in this town understands huevos, even the more colorful meanings. Anyway... the eggs were over easy with a salsa picante, there were hash browns and refried black beans. I had corn tortillas rather than the other choice which I think was toast. As soon as I ordered "huevos rancheros" the waiter started speaking to me in Spanish, which I thought was great since I like to try to stay conversant. Lots of places won't give you the time of day in Spanish unless you don't speak English.
The eggs with the salsa were great, the refried black beans had been pureed to within an inch of their lives and the corn tortillas were straight out of a package. I can't really fault them for that, considering the very reasonable menu prices, but the refried beans were soupy on top of having the consistency of baby food (to be kind...ha) So, the bottom line on the food is that it was absolutely nothing special for me this morning, but the service was lovely. That's where the 4th star is coming from.
We had a great breakfast here that cost $30 for three people including beverages. Got seated in under 10 minutes. Fried plantains. Does it get any better? The huevos rancheros was unique and the salsa was much better than it looked. It had a good afterburn. The chillequiles were fantastic (we shared and it was great). Highly recommend this small, clean, updated place. S
Terrific American breakfast/lunch diner food with lots of Mexican alternatives. Plus, the greaze here is very reasonably priced.
My favorite is the Omlette Nopal, an omlette with cheese and nopalitos (tender, pickled cactus). That with a side of bacon and a cup of their medocre coffee and I'm set. It is kind of weird that they put the cheese atop your omlette though.
This place has ALWAYS been a diner, though sadly it used to be the kind with a jukebox at every table. But no longer. Oh well, where else am I ginna get my cactus omlette?
Service was fine and the food was just okay. The chilaquiles weren't anywhere as good as they are at Luna Park (surprising, but so true!). The decor is soutwestern-dinery, but very, very tiny with cramped seatingn in the booths (hard for even 2 people to fit on one side!).
My omelette and hash browns compared poorly to Pork Store in terms of taste, portion size, seating, atmosphere, and price.
Breakfast service was impeccable and unparalleled for all my wanderings about in The Mission. My coffee cup runneth over ...
The breakfast quesadillas are awesome, and the staff is very not only very attentive but also helpful if you have any questions about the menu.
I don't know what this place was before this present incarnation, but the interior design is good, if not a little off in places. Like, the tables are too big for the booths along one wall, but hey -- the food's good so quit yer bitchin'.
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