I was here on Saturday 4/21/2012 and I agree with most of the recent posters, and had a similar experience as Misti W. First of all, its a small place. But I counted SEVEN girls and 2 guys working in the front (not counting the cooks, dishwasher in back). All the girls were standing around near the cash register just chit-chatting, with nothing to do. WAY overstaffed for such a small place, and not every table was full. Staff standing around doing nothing. On that note, when we first arrived, I asked for a pitcher of water with lemon for our group (one woman in the group already made it clear she was allergic to oranges). So a pitcher of water finally comes out, with sliced oranges in it. NO one drank it, and the allergic diner had to ask for another glass of water, sans oranges. Since when did lemons become oranges? Then, they offered mimosas. Again, with the orange allergy, we asked for any other kind of juice -- they rattled off a few (why there were 2 girls standing there taking our order, I dont know). So we all went with peach mimosas. Sounded delicious right?! Well they come back 10 minutes later saying they dont have peach. Only orange juice. So why did they offer peach juice and go on and on how it was so delicious? So we all order mimosas with orange juice (which would have been fine to begin with had they not offered peach mimosas). But allergy lady orders a strawberry lemonade. They have strawberry lemonade? They did not mention this to us -- so now we all change our order to strawberry lemonade mimosas (which again, was a discrepancy). 2 or 3 different girls coming to our table telling us different stories at different times so its very confusing and not organized. Anyway, they take our order then leave us alone for quite a while. Upon taking our order (4 of us at the table), we ask for separate checks as we were all paying for ourselves. Waitress sighs loudly and says "seriously? you want them all separate?". Its not like we were a party of 20. We were a party of 4. Big deal. So she did not do it; and we had to manually separate it out at the end. A few of us were done with first mimosa and wanted another one. All 7 girlies either just walked by our table or stood at the cash register and talked. I'm staring daggers at them, and even pushed my EMPTY glass way over to the edge of the table. Still no service. Finally food comes, and I'm able to order another mimosa. All our food comes except for one diner at our table, so she sits there with no food for quite a while and no waitstaff says anything to her at all. We are all done eating, by the time her food (beignets) arrives. The amount of any kind of sauce they give you is ridiculous. One lady ordered a cheeseburger and fries. The ketchup she got for all her food was like maybe a tablespoon in a tiny dish. Maybe one ketchup packet emptied into a tiny dish. The amount of any condiments is ridiculous. They should give 4x the amounts they do of ketchup or tarter sauce. All done eating, and some young guy comes to take our plates, but just stands back sheepishly grabbing each empty plate from in front of the ladies without saying "excuse me" or "are you finished?" or "can i take your plate"? Just shy and submissive trying to sneak empty plates away from us when we dont even realize he is there. Creepy. At the same time, the staff is putting the chairs upside down on the tables. We got the hint, and had to ask if they were closing, as no one mentioned this to us at ALL, not when we arrived, not when we were there. Just closing down shop at 3:00pm and not saying a word to us. The service here is really really bad. Be prepared to get ignored, no refills, and misinformed by many different people that are over-staffed at this place on what they really do or do not offer. make sure to check the hours they are open, as they run strange hours and close down at 3:00pm on a Saturday...??! I hope its just growing pains, and the waitstaff needs to be TRAINED on how to professional wait tables, customer service, being attentive, and how not to look like the Three (7) Stooges at peoples tables. read more

Man oh man the food is super good. So far we've only had breakfast here but it's been YUM. They've been working out their service issues. Maybe they started sending the waitstaff out to breakfast at other places to see how it's done? I still feel I wait too long for coffee here, but everyone's friendly and, well, let's get back to the main idea, the food being super good. Yeah. read more

My review is only for their breakfast. They have a little bit of everything (a diverse breakfast menu). The one problem is that there is always a wait. I guess that's what happens when your food is that good. Their beignets are delicious. read more

Forgot to write a review after our visit! Place was packed the first time when we went on a Sunday morning, but that's to be expected. Ended up only having to wait about 10-15 minutes. I had the croque madam the first time around. Having lived in France, I guess I'm a bit of a French food snob, so I found the sandwich/bread quite dry. The boyfriend's omelette would have been a better choice! Went for a second time when back in town on a Tuesday morning for brunch. What I love most about Cafe Jolie, besides the food, is that they have a patio which is dog-friendly! The waitress even brought some water out for our pup. We split the bacon, spinach, gruyere, mushroom omelette (delicious!) and the banana walnut pancakes. Country potatoes on the side were nice and crispy, just the way I like them! Overall, a good option for brunch! read more

Cafe Jolie - Spinach, bacon, mushroom and Gruyere omelette and banana walnut pancakes - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Alameda, California

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My nephew ordered waffles... They were hard and cold... They forgot my coffee... Serious breakfast FOUL

Cute spot, with a great and central location downtown. We got lucky with parking, very limited. Servers were quick, attentive, and friendly. Highly recommend their coffee selection. I had a mocha and the whipped cream was so delicious! We ordered two omelets. The salmon was perfect, the fruit on the side was seasonal berries. Everything was presented tastefully. Omelettes were good, but I'll be trying the Benedict next time. read more

Great cafe for breakfast or lunch, big menu with French varieties and classics.

Nice little cafe and brunch place. Only certain breakfast items are available after 11am. I love their seasonal banana mocha, and their iced coffee is seriously the best I've had. The ambience is really nice, and the decor just makes you feel like you're not in Alameda for a moment. Service is always friendly. I've enjoyed most of the items I've had, but next time I'd skip on their Croque Madame. read more

My husband, Andy and I celebrated our 18th Anniversary with breakfast at Cafe Jolie this morning. It was a dining experience worthy of a Parisian bistro, and we toasted our union with a glass each of Champagne. Everything was served hot and fresh, the food was delicious and the service was excellent. It was tough to choose among all the mouth watering offerings. My choice was Jolie's Favorite: eggs (from Point Reyes) with roasted potatoes and chicken apple sausage (very light and delicate). He had the smoked salmon omelette with melted goat cheese and capers. We topped it off with beignets, served with fresh strawberries and chocolate ganache for dipping, and good strong cappuccinos. All in all, a memorable meal and a great way to spend a rainy Alameda Tuesday morning. read more

Well, someone with authority must be reading the Yelp reviews... thank you thank you thank you! We've been back 5 times now since I wrote the original review and things are dramatically different. I don't know if they hired more people, but someone is always in the dining room, the staff is much more aware/attentive, the food is hot and the toast is toasted. Life is good again on Sunday mornings! :) We'll keep coming back and bringing our friends and family. P.S. Had the croissant french toast for the first time -- fabulous! read more

We just ate here for breakfast and they sat us outside with no working heaters. The food presentation was okay, but the taste was definitely not worth the wait. We waited at our table for 15 minutes before a server ever came by to take our order, but they were very visible during the experience. I would definitely not recommend this place. It was my first time there and I will not be back. Neptune's down the street is fantastic and a much better experience read more

Took my boys here for breakfast. Was looking forward to trying somewhere new & after so many months of witnessing this place take shape then finally opening it was time to pay them a visit. The 3 of us walked in at 9am on a Sunday morning. We completely beat the rush. After about 15 mins at our table I overheard the hostess tell the customers walking in that the wait was 30mins. Shocked that the crowd was willing to wait. I don't blame them. The food was great! From the beignets to the crab cake benedict & ham n' cheese omelet. It's too bad that the food was being pushed out of the kitchen at the pace it was. I noticed & overheard a lot of tables around me complain about how long their orders were taking. But this I can definitely overlook since the food, staff & atmosphere were all delightful. The timing of the food will come together in due time. After all how long have they been opened? They're just getting into their groove. And we'll be there to keep checking in. Yum!! read more

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The first time I went here I liked it. It was cute inside and had a good selection, but the food was just average. After that, every time I went back in the food kept getting worse and worse. The beignets were hollow and not exactly beignets. Plus the service was terrible. Maybe I'll come back here, but as of right now I'm very disappointed. read more

Are you looking for a friendly, fast, delicious cafe with great coffee and good beignets? Definitely DO NOT COME HERE, then! The coffee was bad. The beignets were heavy, and tasted more like donuts. The omelette, despite it being supposedly a French(-themed?) cafe, was flat, mostly flavourless, and closer to fried eggs with stuff cooked into it. I had to ask 3 times for water. Most everything was cold by the time it got to our table. The waiter neglected to tell us of any specials, but we overheard him telling another table. (Oh well, it would have probably been bad anyway). And he was unfriendly when we sent back one of our orders (which was wrong). But hey, the hot sauce on the table was REALLY good! That's something, right? Edit: someone from this restaurant keeps messaging me here on Yelp. They wonder why I didn't let the server know my food was cold (but that's it- no apology for bad food or coffee or beignets) and in fact tried to lure me back with free beignets. Why would I want something for free if it's gross? (And, I didn't let the waiter know my food was cold because we'd already sent back one thing that was wrong, and we were just resigned that it was going to be a shitty dining experience and just wanted to get out ASAP). read more

So usually when u go to a restaurant there is one item on your plate really stands out like great hash browns etc... here EVERYTHING I ordered was PERFECT and DELICIOUS! Nice low noise atmosphere you can actually have a conversation with someone and not yell. Lol Beautiful views from the big clear windows Just a lovely place u will want to keep coming back to. I highly recommend Cafe Jolene! read more

people obviously come here for the decors because the food and service is seriously lacking. i walked in and was greeted by a waitress who was cleaning a table and was told that i would be seated there after wards, but before she finished wiping the table, she left.. the waitress who came to take my order had to finish wiping it. i ordered a latte and the crab cake Benedict. the latte arrived fairly fast... the crab cake Benedict however, took days... the latte was decent , the crab cake Benedict was very disappointing. the dish came with fruits and country potatoes. fruits - chances are.. they were cut in bulks and was left in the refrigerator for days because they were dry as f.... country potatoes - bland and not seasoned. no herbs, no black pepper and not even salt. crab cake Benedict - crab cakes were obviously precooked, thrown in the fridge and heated up right before they serve it to u. if i were to go buy some frozen artificial crab cake from Costco , it would have tasted better than Jolie's . not only was the food bad, but the waitress had the AUDACITY to hand me my check while i still had 1/3 of the dish unfinished. clearly there is nothing "jolie" about this place except for its decors. so here u go.. 1 star for the beautiful painting of the little girl on the carousel read more

I would have to say that I've given this place 4 instances for me to like it. But each time was a let down. The Good: The only nice cafe located on the West End of Alameda and seating layout, decor/ambiance is great. Food is OK, although I wouldn't call it exceptional or even unique. The Bad: The coffee here is simply unbearable! Service is always slow and at times, way too long to get your order. Even getting a drink takes at least 10 minutes, which is unacceptable if you ask me. I wouldn't go here if you were looking for a place for brunch and if you are hungry. You'll just get frustrated waiting for mediocre food to come. read more

Please do yourself a favor and do not eat here. We had dinner here last week and everything we ordered were drenched in oil and not just any oil, it was dirty and old oil. How do I know this? You can taste the grease of other food in you food. So disgusting. My husband, daughter and I all got stomach ache after eating there. We didn't have a great experience here the first time because food were horrible and they didn't have all the food listed on their menu. Thinking they were having a bad night, so decided to give them a second chance. Guess what, they were out of food on their menu again. Customer service was above average. read more

After reading the first 2 reviews, I decided to check out the cafe with my husband. He had a coffee & a turkey avocado sandwich while I had a soup, the apple croissant & a cup of cream brûlée with fruits on top. My husband is a coffee drinker and he had coffee in France before but the coffee from this cafe didn't wow him. He still likes Peets better. The only thing that really impressed me was the soup. I forgot what it was called but it's a tomato based soup. Everything else was ordinary, maybe because I had too much good food in SF. I didn't like the frozen, super sour fruits that sit on top of the cream brûlée. The cafe itself is beautifully decorated and the owner & servers are very nice. The owner said that they'll serve everything on the menu in April. I would love to know what their crabcakes taste like. read more

Breakfast : Amazing. Dinner : Not so much. Beignets and service are good in the am. Entrees, service and fries go cold in the evening.

Wonderful prix fixe menu on Mother's Day. There was live music, service was attentive, and the food was solid. The organic greens salad was ok, but the filet mignon was tender and flavorful. My wife enjoyed the duck confit as well. The beignets were a nice treat for dessert, too. read more

Came here with hubby food was good customer service was great. We we're surprised how nice they were to allow us to come with our baby shih tzu(out door). They even gave her a water bowl to drink off of even though she was eyeing us to give her what we had the whole time lol . Food was great I ordered the steak and eggs with country style herbed potatoes OMG SO GOOD! Hubby got the Monte Cristo also tasted the Beignets with chocolate dip really delicious. We went on a Sunday morning great area if you want a nice sunday breakfast! read more

Cafe Jolie - Yummy!! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Alameda, California

My food was really good. I just wish that it wasn't so expensive. I like to be around $25 when we go out to breakfast on the weekends and we left there spending $36 with a tip. I also thought the portions were kind of small for how much we paid. read more

Since it's the only french place on the island, it will do. The pricing is the usual french food pricing. The food, nothing memorable. I do remember enjoying the flavors and service. It's a good addition to the neighborhood and Alameda itself. I have yet to try its baked goods. I will definitely go back to try that. It reminds me a lot of La Boulange. read more

Nothing to write home about. Service was great but the food is less than mediocre. For a place like this I expected a lot more from the flavors than just basic. I want to emphasize though that the service staff here is very attentive. read more

Had breakfast here with a friend this morning and I was not impressed. I really wanted to love this place just on looks alone however the food and service leave much to be desired. We arrived and there wasn't a wait which I was really happy about and we both ordered lattes which arrived cold, when we told our server she seemed uninterested and blithely replied "I'll see what I can do" I ordered the steak and eggs, my friend had the crab cakes Benedict and when our food arrived I literally had three small slices of potato on my plate with a cheap cut of unseasoned poorly shaped beef maybe a piece of chuck steak? When I asked our server if that was the home fries she said yeah that's the portion. I'm a caterer and I understand food costs and potatoes are literally pennies on the dollar. If I'm going to give you $15.95 of my heard earned dollars I need more than half a spoonful of potatoes and a bloody piece of mystery meat. The crab cakes were lackluster and my friend had to add ketchup for flavor. And after dropping our plates our server disappeared until she dropped the check... Did I mention that I had to ask for a steak knife twice? This place looks like a nice place to eat but it's just a mirage. Save yourself the trouble and go to Olie's I read more

I am so glad this place opened on Webster St. The veggie salad is fantastic, and I love their omelettes! I've brought a few friends here over the past couple of months, and they all really liked their food. The parking is easy and I've had good service each time. read more

Magnificent. Such expertly prepared French cuisine the likes of which I have not experienced since culinary school. The Valentine's day dinner was sublime. I started with escargots, slightly undersalted but still very tender and perfectly cooked. Lamb wasn't on the price-fix menu, but my girlfriend called ahead got them to order a nice rack of lamb just for me. When I said "Chef's discretion", the Chef prepared it just right. Slightly rare, nice char, buttery. Tender. Flavorful. The elegant sauces and beautiful poached vegetables highlighted the meal without making the meat share too much of the spotlight. C'est magnifique. Desert, a bread pudding with chocolate and raspberry sauces garnished with fresh berries was light and lovely. C'est bon. I was so happy and I can't wait to try more of their cuisine. I'll eat anything, but nothing beats French classical and nobody in Alameda can beat Cafe Jolie. read more

What is the big deal about Cafe Jolie? I don't get it. It's a nice looking restaurant but I wouldn't say the food is all that great or the service exceptional. On the contrary. I've been there 4 times because that's where my friends wanted to go, and each time was disappointed. One time, I was there for breakfast with a friend. They messed up her order so they took both our plates away, later brought her correct order and my same order. Yup, same order. It didn't need to be changed, it had just been sitting in the back waiting for my friend's breakfast to be re-prepared. Granted, I don't like eating in front of people, however, for them to take my plate away only to have it sit on a counter and then bring it back with hers was pretty stupid. Cold eggs just don't cut it. Other times, parts of my meals didn't show up and the food servers acted as if I was an inconvenience. I gave Cafe Jolie a shot, and I believe 4 times is more then enough. Nope, ain't goin back. read more

I've eaten here 3-4 times and gotten coffee on the go a few times. The food is fresh and tasty, but nothing to write home about. It's coffee leaves a lot to be desired and over priced. The decor is amazingly beautiful and I've never had an issue with the wait staff. It's usually very busy on the weekends, but has enough patio space and they'll let you bring your furry friends. :) Dog-friendly is always a bonus with our family! read more

Cute, cute, cute... How can you not love an establishment that sits right on the corner, has outside seating, and has you feeling as if you're in Paris, Manhattan, or Rodeo Drive. 5 stars for ambiance and location. 2 stars for everything else. The place is usually packed, there always appears to be an abundance of servers/wait staff/hosts, but the wait is loooong. I find that a bit unacceptable. Will I return, probably not. Well, unless I just want to hang out on the corner at one of their outside tables, if I can get one! read more

So delicious. Love this place. The chop salad is amazing. The brunch items are spectacular, as well.

I'm sure that this a great place for couples. Two people at a time. We came here with our three kids with grandparents. They sat us at the corner booth and kept forgetting to bring us a high chair. Because of where we were at it was a fire hazard. The very very young hostess sat us there. We barely fit. Please get your act together. read more

So disappointed in this place! Food tasted OK, nothing special for the price...even the presentation was ugly. Host was very rude and our server was only there to take our order and drop the check. She asked my friend for her ID and before she could hand it to her, she had already walked away to take another table's order. The 2 stars are for a clean restauant, nice atmosphere and overall good location with tons of parking. But for that price and customer service - I won't be back. read more

Read all the great Yelp reviews and boy, were we misled! Had breakfast today. Coffee was horrible...very bitter. And I like strong coffee. Beignets were undercooked on inside and tasted like the fryer oil. They almost had a texture like they were made with cresent rolls from the can. I had crab cake benedict, husband had an omlette. Skimpy sides...each came with 1 strawberry, 2 small cubes of honeydew, and about 6 wedges of the potatoes. Potatoes were over seasoned. Crab cake benedict was not good...tasted very "crabby" and was very undercooked. Husband said omlette was OK. WAY overpriced! My crappy benedict was $15. Do yourself a favor and don't bother coming here. read more

Should have listened to fellow Yelpers, this place means well but does not deliver. My omelet was very bland and friend's cinnamon French toast was cold. Chaotic floor....they need to ramp up game...but still, nice folks. read more

Wish I had something nice to say, but I don't. The service was lousy...how do you forget the patron sitting closest to the kitchen. Various staff walked past me for 15 minutes before anyone took my order. I had a hard time deciding because nothing sounded that great. I ordered the croque madame and it was ok. The bschamel sauce was weird, crappy bread and just not that fabulous. I did like the sweet potato fries, but not enough to return. read more

I think I knew from the moment I saw cheesy decor that the food quality was not going to be great. For the price, my salad was not so good. The desserts looked interesting though I don't think I'd go back. read more

Astonishingly poor service, astonishingly poor food and coffee. It's been a long time since I had a meal at a restaurant that offered such a poor overall experience. You'll find a better latte at a chain shop, and (as hard as this is to type) a better omelette at I Hop. Avoid the flavorless, doughy beignets. You will do better for breakfast literally anywhere else. read more

I had been dying to try this place. My daughter and I went in for lunch/dinner. It's beautiful inside with a great atmosphere, but the food, very heavy. . .too heavy. My daughter had the fried Brussel Sprouts. As she said "they are not bed, they just taste weird". Walnuts, green onions, capers and a sauce that was a tangy kind of sweet. It was a strange taste. The her green salad was just that, a salad of lettuce , a few carrot slices and scant tomatoes. I had the Cobb Salad. It had the most beautiful light baby greens. So, I don't understand why they put this very heavy dressing on it. I couldn't finish it. It was just way to heavy. The best thing about this meal was the bread. Very fresh and light. read more