Nicole’s Cafe

I was looking forward to the pancakes as I heard they were the best in town. Unfortunately the three little pancakes look like they came out of a microwave and a box. In addition they were under cooked. Sadly the tasted like wasted time and money.
I’m giving one star because they were friendly and I noticed that no one else ordered the pancakes.

Stopped on our way to Clio. Ruben and tri-​tip sandwiches delicious! Homemade potato salad. Service very good! Worth the stop.

Here for first time & their hot dog was surprising good. Gonna order their deli sandwich next time because two friends came with me & loved it. They provide free wifi. =) People who work here are really friendly & motivated helpful. TY

The service here is excellent, and it’s so nice to have someone remember your name and drink order.

I’m David from Anaheim, CA. Being born and raised in Southern California I have had my share of good coffee. So while on vacation here in Portola, Ca, I noticed
a little coffee shop on the corner of the main street called Nicole’s Coffee, so I wanted to give it a try. Wow, it is some good coffee. Probably one of the best I’ve in California as far as coffee shops.
But they don’t stop there.
I also walked my brothers dog there. Why does that matter? When the server noticed
I brought the dog, they gave her a dog biscuit. So not only do they provide great service and happy attitudes, they provided a smile to the dog as well. I don’t know
about the food but it was worth the walk for the coffee. Great job there.

Wonderful food, wonderful people. Nicole’s is the best!!!

I am almost positive this is the place we ate at while in the area. The railroad memorabilia makes it almost certain.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember much of my trip other than that the place was really cute, the service was very friendly and I had the Indian taco (made with Indian fry bread) and it was quite good.

On a motorcycle trip with the boys. Used the Monocle feature on the Unilocal app to find Nicoles. Super happy with the choice. Fresh and delicious ingredients, friendly staff, clean everything. Quick, easy, perfect.

I really like this place. Great soup! Always friendly service.

First the Disclaimer: My friend, Nicole, bought this restaurant 2 months ago and renamed it.
I finally made it up there last week. I knew the place was a hole in the wall, and didn’t expect much.
What a pleasant surprise.
It’s a tiny restaurant with 3 tables and drive-​through. It has an old fashioned, Grandma’s kitchen feeling that she has combined with Railroad memorabilia.
I brought another friend of mine along, and thought the sandwiches we bought were really good.
Mine was the tri-​tip that Nicole barbeques and serves on Friday only. My friend had the paninni pastrami and provolone cheese with jalapeño peppers on it.
We shared, and I loved both of our sammies. The potato salad was better than most places, but I don’t like hard-​boiled egg slices in mine (I know that’s weird), so I was picking through it. My friend had the pasta salad side made with the squiggly noodle and pesto. I liked that much better.
She had a mango smoothie, I didn’t love that at all because it’s made from a mix rather than fresh fruit.
I had the french roast coffee and it was strong and fresh and hot, just how I like it.
The restaurant is open M-​Sat at 7AM and closes at 3PM. Being Nicole’s friends, we were allowed to stay and visit long after the doors were locked. Of course I’m going to love that! Who wouldn’t?
I’ve only tried the few items I’ve discussed here, but the prices were low ($ 6.50 or so per large sandwich), and the coffee was excellent.
Breakfast features all sorts of homemade breakfast burritos and toast of all kinds or bagels with cream cheese or peanut butter or whatever you like.
She makes fancy coffees too, lattes, ice mochas, but I was too stuffed to have one.
There’s room for improvement here because right now you go up to the counter and order and it really isn’t smooth, especially if there’s a talkative customer ahead of you as there was in my case. There’s hardly anywhere to stand because the register and door are in the same tight zone.
At just under 500 sq ft, this is a very small place. Half the space is dedicated to the kitchen, so the restaurant is about the size of a bedroom. The tables are bitty, but the chairs are really comfortable office chairs. You can sit in these for hours, and we did.
Nicole’s restaurant is so clean that if I dropped my food on the floor, I’d still eat it. Way to go Nicole.