Sammy's Cafe

Sammy's Cafe is a pretty nondescript cafe in San Francisco.  There is nothing about the name, location, signage, or menu that makes it stand out.  It is a basic cafe, offering breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and pastries, and lunchtime salads and sandwiches.  They once had a location on Van Ness, but are now located on Bush Street. 

What does stand out is the service.  I've visited several times, and always been greeted kindly.  I've mostly ordered in advance online, but even with that, they took the time to be friendly.  I once called to ask a question, and they were happy to answer, not seeing annoyed in any way (was asking what kind of baked goods they had that day).  Service matters, and in this case, is the thing I remember most about Sammy's.

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Setting

Storefront.

Sammy's is located on Bush St, between more hip Polk St and busy Van Ness.  The signage out front certainly shows it is there, but, it isn't flashy nor unique.  There is no real reason to notice Sammy's, if you aren't looking.

Coffee in the Sun!

Outside they have two mini tables, each with two chairs.  Not exactly the nicest street to sit on, but it does get morning sun, and sometimes, that is all that matters.  I enjoyed sitting there for a few minutes.

Seating.

Inside, seating runs the length of the restaurant, small tables, both regular height and some small two-tops.

Cute Entryway.

Additional seating is in the entryway, window seats around a low table.

Massive Bathroom.

I don't normally review or include photos of bathrooms, but, this one was notable.  It was huge.  Seriously huge.  On the right when you walk in is even an entryway table with flowers.  And next to the sink is ... a table and chair?  I have no idea what they expect people to be doing in this bathroom, but looks like a lovely place to hang out.

Drinks

For coffee, I'm pretty sure they use Peerless.  I don't see it on menus anywhere, nor are there Peerless signs, but I saw the bags of beans.  Places usually boast about their beans when they use somewhere like Peerless, so I was a bit surprised for that detail to be under the radar.

Teas!

Under the pastry display is the loose leaf tea selection, really extensive.  I'm not really a tea drinker, but if I were, I'd probably be very excited about this.

Coffee Station.

The coffee condiment station was more interesting than most.

Standard sugar packets, Splenda packets, and honey weren't all that interesting, but they also had a shaker with brown sugar, and one with cinnamon (why only brown sugar in a shaker?  I imagine white sugar is the most popular, wouldn't it be more economical to buy that in bulk?).

The creamer selections were the interesting part.  First, standard half and half.  But then, rather than offer a light option like skim milk, or an alternative dairy like soy, they had pumps with super concentrated flavored Coffee Mate, vanilla and hazelnut.  I love mixing in some flavor, so this was exciting to me.  Note however, it says concentrated, and it means it.  It looked like just a little trickle that I added, but I wound up with far more creamer than I intended.  Whoops.  I of course forgot this the next time I visited, and did it again.  Seriously, beware!  A little goes a LONG way!

Iced Decaf Coffee, Small. $2.

On a hot day, I ordered a decaf iced coffee.

The person making my drink scooped tons of ice into a cup, and asked if that was enough ice or too much.  It looked like way too much ice to me, particularly if I was getting pre-brewed iced coffee, so I said it was a bit much.  Turns out, she had a good amount, I just didn't know it.

To make the iced coffee, she actually just brewed a fresh shot of decaf espresso, so it melted most of the ice almost immediately.  She did top it off with a little water (I think?), but it was super strong, and, super melted.  Whoops.  After I took a few sips, I asked her to add more ice, which she did with no problem, not making me feel bad that I had rejected the earlier amount of ice.

It wasn't really a great flavor, but I jazzed it up with the hazelnut and vanilla creamers, and it was totally transformed.  I also added sugar.  It was basically like a Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee at this point, ridiculously creamy, sweet, and the two flavors I always got at Dukin' Donuts, so I was nostalgic and happy. 

$2 for a big cup like this was a great price.  ***.

Decaf Iced Coffee, Small. $2.

Another hot day, another decent iced coffee (er, Americano, really).  Nothing spectacular, but good.

Again, I added some of the creamers, and basically turned it into Dunkin' Donuts.  Very enjoyable for a hot day. ***.

Decaf Coffee. $2.

Another day, it was colder, so I opted for a hot coffee.  If I wanted regular, they have two choices of pre-brewed coffee, "Dark House Coffee" or "French Dark Roast Coffee".  But I wanted decaf, so a decaf Americano was made for me, fresh and on the spot, instead, for the same price.

It was fine.  Decent enough for decaf.  Piping hot.  And I again loved adding hazelnut creamer, but I need to remember NOT to put other sweetener in first, since the flavored creamers are already plenty sweet!

***.

Baked Goods 

Pastry Display.

Ordering is done at a register when you enter.  Near the register is the pastry display, not an extensive selection, but decent enough.  You know that baked goods always call out to me!

The first thing I noticed was impressive looking croissants ... impressive in their size, not necessarily the quality.  They are massive, likely great for making the breakfast sandwiches, but they didn't look flaky or like croissants I'd really want.  Only plain croissants are available.

The scones looked decent.  Blueberry, raspberry, iced pumpkin, and cranberry orange were on display this day, nicely labelled.

Muffins.

Next, muffins.  They looked fairly generic, but were available in a number of varieties: blueberry, chocolate, lemon, poppy almond, and banana nut (I'm guessing the flavors, since, they weren't labelled).

No real dessert options, except for some rather dry looking slices of pound cake (banana, chocolate, lemon, or pumpkin).

Finally, massive chunks of coffee cake.

No prices listed in the display, nor on signage around the storefront, so you kinda had to just trust the prices weren't crazy.

Coffee Cake.  $2.95.

I'm not generally one for coffee cake, but this kept catching my eye.  I don't like cake really, any kind of cake.  I eat cake of course, but usually just as an excuse to eat frosting.  Why would I order coffee cake?  I have no idea.  I blame the streusel.  Seriously, look at that streusel!

The cake was about what I expected.  It was pretty dry, flavorless, uninteresting.

But the streusel.  I wish I had a better shot, but, I think you can see, there was actually MORE streusel than cake.  Yes, the streusel layer was even thicker than the cake layer.  The streusel was tasty, lots of cinnamon, sweet, crunchy.  It did pair nicely with coffee, as it should.

On top was what I think was powdered sugar.  I didn't like it, as it seemed kinda chalky.  I'd say it was flour, but that doesn't seem right either.  Not sure why it was there.

So, overall, this was ... coffee cake.  Again, not really my thing, but I really enjoyed my streusel, and that is what I wanted anyway.

$2.95 price was higher than that of scones or muffins, which I don't really understand, but it was a massive chunk.

***.