Big Joe’s is a neighborhood brunch spot with a good mix of options from egg dishes to pancakes to sandwiches and burgers. It’s location is a bit remote for it to be one of the busiest brunch locations in the city, but it does get pretty packed on weekend mornings.
When I visited, it was for a late brunch after hiking and exploring Mount Davidson – the restaurant is just down the hill from San Francisco’s highest point.
Big Joe’s specializes in American classics with a bit of flair, from their version of an eggs benedict to the pancakes and French toast with tasty toppings. And I love that you can add on a half order of pancakes or French toast so you can eat something savory and then something sweet for brunch dessert. Big Joe’s also has a kids menu.
Despite a few glitches in the overall experience, I’d come back to Big Joe’s for breakfast next time I’m in the area. There’s a lot on the menu worth trying, and hopefully they can improve on the other issues, because there’s so much potential.
The Location
Big Joe’s is situated in between the Sunnyside and Westwood neighborhoods of San Francisco, just west of Glen Park and directly south of Mount Davidson. It’s easy to find, located on a major road, and parking wasn’t hard to find at all.
Address: 717 Monterey Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94127
Phone: (415) 333-2878
The Hours
(Closed Mondays)
Tuesday through Friday: 7 am – 3 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 8 am – 3 pm
Be warned that 3 pm closing really means they stop seating people at around 2:30 pm.
The Ambiance
Big Joe’s is a casual, cozy little brunch spot that feels like a neighborhood diner (because it is). There’s a funky vintage 7UP sign out front, and big front windows. There’s not a whole lot of seating, but we were seated quickly with a prime spot next to those big windows. There’s also a few seats at the bar.
The Service
The servers were friendly and it seemed like a family operation – our waitress seemed new, however. I asked if the egg tart was available and she told me it was, but came back several minutes later to tell me to choose something else. We had to specifically ask for everything – water and coffee refills, cream and sugar for my coffee, pepper (and they brought out the pepper grinder from the kitchen, so I guess they don’t put salt or pepper on any of the tables).
Most of the service issues can be chalked up to the brand new waitress, which is totally understandable, but there was something that bothered me about the whole operation. The restaurant’s sign states that they’re open until 3 pm. We arrived around 2 pm, and were still eating at about 2:30 pm when numerous customers tried to come in and were turned away. I understand wanting to get off work, but if your restaurant is open until 3 pm, then you need to keep seating customers until 3 pm. Yes, that means you might not get out of there until 4 pm, but turning away customers who arrived during your “open” hours is bad business.
The Price
The price of our meal was not bad considering that we both added on extra half orders, but the servings aren’t very large. Even with those additions, we almost finished everything on our plates. The breakfast entrees were about $8-10, while the burgers were $9-13, and the other sandwiches were in the $7-10 range.
The Food
Since I couldn’t order the Egg Tart, which is more or less a quiche, I picked out the egg and cheese breakfast sandwich instead. The sandwich came with beautifully sliced avocados, tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and perfectly crispy bacon on tasty ciabatta. I chose the home style potatoes as my side (instead of the mixed greens), and they were nice and crunchy, but needed some pepper, which was not available on the tables.
I added on a half order of the buttermilk pancakes, which were fluffy, even cakey, sweet, and delicious. They were topped with strawberry butter and came with a cup of syrup on the side. The menu mentioned something lemony, but mine did not include it, and no one mentioned why it was missing. They gave me basic butter instead.
I also got to try the eggs benedict with a half order of French toast. The eggs benedict tasted great, but I wish it had a little more in the way of vegetables to balance out the sauce. The hollandaise sauce was lemony and very delicious – it tasted homemade.
The brioche French toast had a nice texture and a delicious flavor pairing of pears, pecans, and vanilla mascarpone, and it too came with a side of syrup.
Everything tasted great – my only real complaint is that they were really stingy with the toppings. They gave us the tiniest dollop of strawberry butter for the pancake and six tiny cubes of pear and a drop of mascarpone for the French toast. I’m not even someone who likes to douse their food in condiments or toppings, but there wasn’t enough here to have a little in every bite.
I’m disappointed with this part of the meal, especially since they already skipped the lemon sabayon, they could have made up for it with extra of whatever they did have instead of just butter. I’m also disappointed that they seem to run out of some menu items, or just refuse to make them after a certain, unadvertised time. Overall, I liked the food at Big Joe’s and would like to give it another chance, but there’s definitely some room for improvement.