The Lunch Box Cafe & Deli

Cute, cozy little spot. Food is delicious and made with love had a filling breakfast for four under $ 40. Forget IHOP!

Friendly waitress and good food for a reasonable price. I will definitely come here again

If you’re looking for a quick & delicious bite to eat in La Mesa, look no further.
Like Sylvester McMonkey McBean said,
I’ve heard of your troubles,
I have what you need
My prices are low and
I work at great speed
And my work!
It’s 100% guaranteed.
Now just imagine a Lunchbox employee saying that. It’s funny.
I said it’s funny.
You better laugh.
At least laugh in your head.
For my sake.
I just ate a Hot Pastrami Sandwich here & I’m trying to leave a good review.
Mmmm, pastrami.

This place has the most delicious bacon, tomato, cheese & spinach omelet. Their breakfast potatoes are TO DIE FOR. my mouth I watering just imagining how delicious the first bite was. 5 starts for the food. 4 stars only cause they close early. =,[
Their pancakes are pretty good too!

Decent food here but they have one waitress with short hair and tats who is a little contrarian. She likes to correct people about the menu even when she’s wrong. Weird. And their homemade cooked were not good. Cute place and décor.

I love this place. It’s close to work so I am often there. I haven’t had any item I didn’t like. I love the chicken salad sandwich on raisin bread. Delicious and decadent! All the ladies at the front are so nice. There is one in particular. Dark hair, always in a ponytail. Any way she has helped me often. I’m a little embarassed that I can’t remember her name. One day I thought I had forgotten my debit card and she said I could pay the next day! She knew me by name and knew I’d be back but still what amazing customer service!!! Luckily I found my card. I will never forget that. Gone seems those days. A time that people/​businesses trusted their regular customers. I will forever be their customer and I will always recommend them! The only bummer is closed Monday’s and I’m often sad when I remember this. These people work so Hard and are successful because of it! Give it a try :)

We were looking for a different breakfast place to eat in La Mesa one Sunday morning and googled breakfast places & up popped the Lunch Box so we decide to try it. What a great experience. This mother, daughter owned establishment has a home cooked traditional feel to it. Everyone was very friendly and you could tell they liked working there as well. We met the mother and she was very gracious This place is a good value for your money and we highly recommend the public to partake in this eatery.

So I’m a little biased because my mother in law cooks here, but I was so impressed by the attentive staff, speedy service and cleanliness of this place. We had the privilege of meeting the owner who gave us a short history of the expansion in 2011, she was very sweet, and quickly returned to work to keep up with the hustle and bustle. I wish we had taken more photos, but we were HUNGRY!

What an AMAZING place! Such incredible service and food! I’ve only been there twice because I don’t live close by. I get my hair done next door and was recommended to try! Words cannot do them justice! Thank you for your outgoing attitudes and great food! If I lived closer, I’d be there every day!!!

Another hidden gem in La Mesa! Yes, watch out East County Restaurants Unilocaler on the loose… :)
Food:
Thick Sliced French Toast with butter & powdered sugar
Grilled Croissant with spinach, Fresh sautéed spinach, two eggs, bacon provolone & tomato on a grilled
Parking can get tight, find street parking if needed. I was able to find parking in the parking lot. Lots of people are always waiting but happy to say that we only waited for about 15 minutes.
Service was good and the food was delicious and satisfying.

Overall, pretty pleased.
I tried this place on a couple of different occasions with some friends. You get good quality breakfast food for, sometimes amazingly, low prices (specials, etc).
The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars is because the coffee was just normal diner tasting coffee. I’m picky about my coffee. Haha, good spot though, would recommend.

Great Breakfast Spot!!!
Has all the breakfast favorites!!!

Some amazing sandwiches! Huge sammich’s! And some really amazing salads as well! If you are looking for a sandwich and you are in the area, this is where you need to go!

I’m a fan of this quaint little restaurant. The prices are more than reasonable. The service is great. The food is delicious. You won’t leave here hungry either.
I stopped in a couple times before for takeout, but today was the first time I’ve dined in. I brought my son with me and he was quite pleased with his food. He asked if he could come back again, while we were still there. It was completely full when we arrived, but the wait was fairly short.
Our server was Sylvia, and she could not have been more lovely. My son doesn’t eat eggs and she offered him choices to substitute with after he inquired. He settled on a sausage patty. She was great with him, very patient, she later told me she used to be a teacher.
Our food came out pretty quickly. He was thrilled with his French toast and bacon combined with the sausage patty. Mine was delicious. The pancakes were huge! I was glad I went with the order of two and not three. They were so airy and fluffy. My eggs were perfectly cooked and the potatoes were great. The sausage patty that came with my breakfast was actually surprisingly good. We also ordered coffee and a hot chocolate. Yes, a lot of food. All of this came out to $ 18 with tax. Yep, you read that right. Like I said, the prices are more than reasonable.
It’s a small shared parking lot. Don’t that dissuade you. There is street parking available. We parked on the adjacent neighboring street and walked over. It’s so worth it. They’re open for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is served until 11 on weekdays and 1 on Saturday. There’s a small amount of outdoor seating as well.

This place is fantastic! Food was delicious. Prompt friendly service. They also have a lunch club card. Buy 9 meals and get a 10^th free.

Finding this place really made my day. My office is over in Grossmont Center and I’m just a quick drive up the street from this awesome spot. Took a little «extended break» from work the other day to endulge in some breakfast with a friend of mine. We originally meant to go to IHOP but came here instead. Best. Decision.
I got a breakfast sandwich. Eggs, bacon, cheese on a croissant. It was really delicious. The bacon was cooked perfectly and not too thin/​crispy so it loses flavor and is just salty crunch. My friend got french toast and bacon and I have to admit I was a little jealous. Prices were reasonable and the service was super friendly and quick!
I’ll definitely be back to try this place for lunch a time or two or ten since I’m right up the street. Hopefully lunch will be as awesome as breakfast was.

This may be my new favorites breakfast place. I had a craving for French toast and was just going to go to IHOP when my friend suggested we try this place near his work. Maybe we ditched a little work on this quest. Maybe not.
My question was… Do they have French toast? They did, and it was delicious. Huge thick slices of Texas toast, perfectly dipped in their egg mix and whipped butter on top. I want some now. My friend had the breakfast sandwich and it also looked yummy. I had OJ, he had coffee and at the end of our meal we both agreed we needed to come back one day for lunch.
If you are looking for something fresh, inexpensive, quick and delicious, go to The Lunch Box Café. I know I’ll be back.

I have been wanting to try this place for a while and I finally had a chance.
I had a hard time choosing because everything looked so good! I got a breakfast burrito and my dad got a power breakfast.
Oh my gawd! So delicious! The prices are perfect and the food was so so soooooo delicious!!!
The servers were totally on top of it and were great.
Being that my studio is down the street I will definitely be back!
Thank you for the yummy breakfast!!!

Super delicious, simple but quality. Friendly, fast staff.
The specials aren’t too adventurous, but are well thought out (eg crab avocado omelette, yogurt bowl with honey, fruit, and muffin). The coffee is realty good, not an after thought. Busy, but not ridiculous. Upbeat, mixed background crowd, low key setting.

Came here the other day with a few classmates since it was a few doors down from where we were studying. It was a cute and cozy place. We all ordered something from the lunch menu. All the sandwiches comes with kettle chips, and a cookie. They had specialty sandwiches, hot sandwiches, wraps and salads. There was many to choose from.
I personally got the Turkey, Avocado & Bacon… w/​lettuce, tomato & mayo on sourdough for $ 7.95. Absolutely delicious. Although I do wish there was some kind of hint of spice and the bread to be toasted. But other than that yummy!