Quetzal Internet Cafe

9/25/2017

I wouldn't call this the best coffee or the nicest looking coffeeshop, but it has a good amount positives to make it a solid cafe. It has an extraordinary amount of workspace and the internet is blazing fast. Not to mention the variety of items in the menu puts it well above most minimalist cafes around the area which brings me to my next statement. As I mentioned before, I wouldn't call the "coffee" a masterpiece or anything nor do they have the best pastries, so don't come here if those things are important to you, come here if you have a big group, want ample space to relax, or need the connection speed for work/school. And while you're here, take advantage of the food menu as well.

1/3/2018

They take forever to get you your food. Simple items take forever. So if you go in to get something easy prepare for a long wait.

11/30/2016

If variety is the spice of life, Quetzal Internet Cafe is a spicy place.  Breakfast, bagels, lattes, smoothies, crepes, and so on.  Beer, wine and mimosas for the afternoon.  Happy hour prices!
I had a latte and a toasted bagel with cream cheese that were reasonably priced, of solid quality and served quickly.

Now the decor is not spicy.  If you are coming to get work done and/or hook up to the net, this is your man.  If you are looking for art on the walls, no.  The place has the feel of a cafe bogged onto the side of the student union building at a state college.  Lots of exposed cinder block, multi-level seating with long tables to fit a crowd or to spread out. They should paint the walls with a Mayan motif to match the name.  This average Joe will be back as it serves quickly with solid food and drink.

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  Crepe Menu

  Crepe Menu
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  Happy Hour

  Happy Hour

12/8/2017

We went here for dinner. Ordered the rice crispy treat and brownie. The presentation was great. The wrapping was supreme. Buttt the rice crispy treat had a low m&m count. The brownie was less then moist. I decided to rate this place because they do offer internet.

6/14/2017

• 1 check-in

This place is really nice on the inside. It's clean, spacious and has that modern hostel feel.
The woman at the register was really friendly which is always a plus.

They offer wifi and have places to charge your computer, and they also offer Ethernet cables which I thought was really cool.

I ordered a veggie melt from them which was pretty good, but also really hard to mess up.

I also ordered an iced "matcha" latte. I put it in quotes because it was everything you don't want your matcha latte to be.

She used either half and half or heavy cream. Which is fine, but dear god I was hoping there'd be matcha in it. The faint matcha flavor was so nonexistent I was shocked it even had matcha in it.
It literally felt like I was drinking iced half and half. Never again.

Aside from the matcha latte this place is a good place to work and have a light lunch.

10/18/2016

• 1 check-in

Was looking for a spot to grab a light lunch and some coffee with a friend. Found this spot and it was pretty good.
I got the chicken caesar salad sandwich and my friend got the turkey club. (Each were about $8-9)
Chicken sandwich was good-although they put too much chicken. Was hard to even bite the sandwich as it was so tall and big. Once you take some of the chicken out, it's not a bad sandwich. The chicken they use is some precut/pre cooked chicken. Probably the frozen stuff. Little bland. Nothing gourmet about it. However, they use great focaccia bread! Super yummy bread and a nice little caesar dressing on it to make it flavorful.

Can't comment on the turkey club that my friend got since I didn't try it. She liked it and it looked like an average turkey sandwich you would order.

The place is nice and big and we didn't have any trouble finding seats on a rainy Sunday afternoon. They have a ton of options for food and lots of coffee and tea choices too!

Nice spot to stop in at, grab a snack, drink and work if you need-seems like everyone was on a laptop.

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  Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich with a small side salad. Side salad was not very good, wilted leaves

  Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich with a small side salad. Side salad was not very good, wilted leaves
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  Turkey Club

  Turkey Club
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  Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich

  Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich

10/4/2017

Just got in to use the restroom. Bad to buy a bottle of water for that. The restrooms are smelling, filthy and dirty.

4/8/2017

• 1 check-in

Quetzal's kind of a weird spot, with some interesting clientele... but holy balls do they have fast wifi. Plus their coffee's decent and they're open late.

I wouldn't go out of my way to cowork here, but if you're in the neighborhood it's a good place to get things done.

5/29/2017

I ordered a breakfast sandwich and large coffee.  Nice staff and quick service.  I didn't use WiFi but I saw lots of people surfing the internet.

Lots of seating and the area is safe even though it's near Tenderloin.

7/11/2017

I was in San Francisco for the AVP tournament by the Golden Gate Bridge, and this place was an absolute find! The coffee is great, the crepes are incredible, and their breakfast sandwiches and burritos are everything you'd want on a weekend.
Also: They have an excellent beer selection.
Pricing is great, food is great, and more importantly, the coffee and the beer are great.
The interior, too, is clean, the staff nice, and the vibe wonderful.
Five stars.
Feel free to see more of my writing at papercourts.com.

8/26/2017

Waited 15 min to get two quesadillas.  Neither had cheese, but were very messy, cold and not tasty - as we discovered after leaving the restaurant.  Should never have tipped!  We threw away the food.

3/29/2017 Updated review

Updated review.

They are so much better. Quick, precise and helpful. They seem to always be smiling and happy to help. I have never complained about the quality of food, it is all good, but the service was bad. I now have been in enough times and have had great interactions that I would recommend this place to all.

Good job guys, way to step it up.

6/5/2017

I'm only going to address the cafe as I experience it and remember it.  It used to be classier.  In the past, customers had a chance at real dining.  A waiter came to your table to serve water, gave you a menu, and took your order.  Today, the service is cafeteria style.  You stand in line and place your order with a cashier (if he or she is paying you any attention; otherwise, you have to call the cashier to attention or wait).  A service boy brings you your order and quickly disappears.  Receiving your order does not take long.  

The seating arrangement in the cafe is lousy.  Sunshine and its heat really burn up the place, keeping it overly warm when it's not winter, and the shades and windows look like they once belonged to Ms. Haversham's home from Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" -- old, worn, and in disrepair, and the cement floors and metallic walkways turn the place into a noisy echo chamber.  

Why does a customer have to hear the prolonged, loud stomping of feet when a man or woman exits the bathroom two tiers up and walks all the way down the metal walkway and out the door?  

In the back area of this large restaurant, laptop-using students or computer nerds who have no intention of making their stay brief occupy the most comfortable and shaded spots available.  The rest of the seating area in the back is ablaze in bright sunlight with excessive heat such that even if you manage to endure the waiting period seated here waiting for your order, you will have to listen to the incessant chatter and monologizing of at least one or two of San Francisco's priceless, mental hospital escapees who also have no intention of making their stay brief.  Listening to whatever others cloistered in the back chatter loudly on their cell phones is no better treat.

The men's bathroom looks like a smudgy highway restroom at any anonymous gas station.  It used to be only customers used these facilities -- if the cashier gave you a key.  Today anybody can walk in and out -- without even being a customer, and that's the reason for the dark and smudgy way it looks.

The middle area where seating is close to the food bar so you can see the service boy exiting the kitchen with your order is often crowded as well, but it is an area that welcomes the less talkative and noisy.  There are holes in the long dining tables where your Internet connection goes.  Without a computer, you feel like you're just dining in a place that's like a garage that makes certain technicians happy to be there when they're there, but makes no sense to anyone else.  The holes don't have covers.  I guess the owner stopped replacing the stolen ones.

Lastly, there's the music that comes over the intercom.  The restaurant goes out of its way to appeal to young people, youth who view themselves as hip, as cool.  I listened to so much music from the Sixties on my first visit there that the songs forced me to relive my entire late adolescence and early twenties -- from Cat Stevens to Mick Jagger over and over again.  The second time I dined at Quetzal the music was of the type called world music with some sort of jazz-fusion spin to it.  Again, because the restaurant is an echo chamber, even low volume music makes you feel you're inside a large stadium with speakers going full blast.  

It never used to be like this.  The music used to be quieter and always tasteful and instrumental if a little boring.  You could eat in peace and be in your own world, not the world the service personnel chooses randomly for you.

The best part of Quetzal, however, is the food.  A lot of five-star reviewers speak of Quetzal's food.  I agree.  I have ordered the Cobb Salad over and over again, either to go or "for here."  It is absolutely healthy and delicious and there is artistry in its design or presentation.   It makes me happy just to look at it.  Under 10 dollars, this salad is a real bargain.  (But once I order coffee and pay the tax and the tip, the meal comes to $15.  That's a bit pricey.)  And, I think, the price is definitely worth the value you get.  I've checked out all the other restaurants in the neighborhood offering large salads or the famous Cobb Salad, and nowhere are you going to find in lower or upper Polk or lower Nob Hill such abundance at so low a cost as you find at Quetzal.  That's why I keep going.  The salad is good for me, filling and delicious, and the price, considering the competition, is completely reasonable, aka a real bargain.

I also recommend take-out.

8/16/2017

• 1 check-in

Best place in the city for a cafe au le. Service of food items is slow but the coffee is worth the wait. The staff is always attentive and courteous which more than makes up for the slow food service. This is a great spot to work away from the office if you need a break or change of scenery.

12/17/2016

This place is incredible. Great food, coffee, wifi, service and space. Stop here to eat especially for breakfast (all day) and organic coffee at fantastic prices! It's an internet café so take advantage of the strong, free wifi.

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  The morning display

  The morning display

10/26/2016

• Listed in Best TRUE Internet Cafes

Here's what I look for in TRUE internet cafes from #1 MOST IMPORTANT TO #6 LEAST IMPORTANT:
1. BEING ABLE TO download THE INTERNET at a high rate, continuously
2. LOTS OF OUTLETS
3. SPACIOUS-lots of room so you can work in a private space without bumping into others
4. COMFORTABLE-has lots of little private tables with maybe some couches, sofas.  One thing I hate is those large rectangular sharing tables with benches where everyone is very near each other, side to side with each other
5. LONG OPEN HOURS
5. REST ROOMS-more than 1 or 2 stalls-Quetzal has a separation of men/women's bathrooms with at least 3 stalls for the women's bathroom(including a large stall for the handicapped)
6. COFFEE/FOOD-lastly, decent to good food at not too high prices--they serve frittatas, english muffin breakfasts, all kinds of healthy smoothies, delicious pastries & sandwiches

There are also tables outside the cafe if you'd rather enjoy the sun.

9/9/2016

• 1 check-in

I wish I read the reviews before I came here. I had to use the restroom but I had to buy something in order to do so. Silly me, I decided to get an egg breakfast and added bacon for $2. It was disgusting. My eggs were cold, like they were made earlier, my bacon was definitely microwaved, and the hash browns seemed like mashed school tater tots. Also, the bathroom seemed really sketchy and wasn't well lit. 2 stars only because the place looks nice, there's plenty of outlets, and strong wifi.

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  Waste of $ in my opinion.

  Waste of $ in my opinion.

9/5/2016

The food is mediocre, and the service is slow.  The whole place is poorly managed, disorganized and their employees speak English poorly.  That's probably why they got our orders--both of them--wrong.  How do you screw up an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich?  The place itself is a little weird.

UPDATE:  It has been about an hour since we ate here, and I have a horrible stomach ache.  Thanks, Quetzal, for whatever rubbish you try to pass along as food.  Try getting someone with actual cooking experience and buy better quality ingredients.

6/17/2017 Updated review

• 1 check-in

I've been here before the staff is mildly friendly sometimes there's a language barrier which has the cashier asking me to repeat myself multiple times, that can be annoying but i can handle all that. The prices are pretty pricey. Today I got 2 pastries for a little under $7. Wow, OK so they look trendy, place is always clean I get it all. What I don't get it how 1 of my pastries taste like sour mold and smells like mold. I discovered it by not smelling it first but simply putting it in my mouth, chewing and instantly tasting sour mold almost warm...disgusting. At my job ( a nearby restaurant) I literally spit it out into my hand in front of people....it was that bad....so I take it back seeing how I spent near 4 dollars for it and the girl tells me. "No it csnt be we just got those in this morning." So now I'm lying? I ask her to smell it I tell her to even taste it she continues to defend her pastry claiming "she'll show me the invoice from this morning ." I told her i didn't care if they received it aa I Walked in the store its rotten. She offers me another one....it's 5pm I've been at work all day I don't want  a pastry anymore I'm no longer hungry haven't been since chewing mold...I ask for a manager she goes in the back for 2 seconds and returns with "he's not here anymore." I took my pastry back and will be returning tonight to see if he's there. She kept saying "we just  got them in.." Like I'm gonna be like "Oh you did? Then me and  my coworkers who I made all taste a cheezit size piece of it were all making it up for $4

Update: yesterday in waking by cause I literally live on the same block as this place . And she stops me from inside and says "hey! I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about what happened." The sound of her voice was sincere made me kinda feel bad for getting mad thst one day. She says "i can give you  a refund no problem." I smile and say "yes please that's all I wanted" She proclaims she offered me either a refund or a new pastry which doesn't make sense because why would I take my pastry back and why would I get so upset if she was offered what I came back to do? But for the sake of letting it go and moving on I said "well either way thank you very much I truly appreciate this." She says "I'm really sorry that happened" I say, "me too I was having the worst day so I'm sorry too" walked out feeling very pleased

Oh ya and also went on to tell me how they no longer do business with that company that made me he pastry  which tells me I was right and they must of had

8/13/2016

GO HERE!!!!!!!!

I go here every day on my way to work. I walk up from Civic Center every day and this spot is the perfect place on the way into the office! Esam is an extremely kind and generous owner/employee. For example, I ordered a chocolate croissant one day before realizing I didn't have the cash to cover it and after telling him this, he comped it for me!!