Turtle Bay Museum Store & Coffee Bar

Great place for tea/​coffee after walking the River Trail. Usually have yummy scones to go with your drink. Some interesting items in the gift shop.

This is a pretty typical Museum/​Zoo/​Aquarium Store that you’ve seen at just about every Museum/​Aquarium/​Zoo that you’ve ever visited before. They have all your typical over-​priced tsotchkes, knick-​knacks, and souvenirs (I like to get a magnet from everywhere I visit!) that you’ve seen before and, of course, they’re all somewhat themed towards the exhibits/​attraction that you were just in. It’s a clever way to make some quick bucks off you right before you vacate the premises and that’s more than OK with me; in fact I’ve come to expect it.
The one thing that does separate this location from all the other one’s I’ve seen (and the reason it’s a 4-​star instead of a 3-​star) is they have a Peet’s Coffee inside and that is exactly what I needed after 4-​hours of milling about smartly; corralling my toddler; and right before a 4-​hour drive back to San Jose. I ordered a Turtle Swirl –some kinda Hazelnut thingamajig. Quite frankly I stopped listening after, «Hazelnut” — with an extra shot of espresso and it perked me right up. Highly recommended!

What a shame that this is part of Turtle Bay. I see by the website link that this is the new gift store and coffee bar. They should have kept the old store and café,
I saw nothing that looked good in the coffee bar, it all appeared to be prepackaged. There were even fewer things that were appealing in the store.

SMASHED PENNY COLLECTION
Of all the gift shops we stopped in on this weekend’s journey, this was the smallest. They sold clothing, figurines, CDs, and other pretty trinkets. It was all priced pretty similarly to everywhere else we’d been.
In the corner they have several complimentary magazines, including one titled «California» that reminded me a lot of our local «Diablo» magazine.
It was here I purchased the booklet for our penny collection. You know those machines that take your penny (and fifty cents and smash it with a logo of whatever scenic spot youre at?) well, they make books to put all of your pennies in. I passed on the book which I first saw at the Drive-​Thru Chandelier Tree. Stupid me. So I was pretty happy when I saw the same book here for the same price ($ 4.95). Now I can start tracking down more penny smashing machines :)

This review is for the «café» that is part of the the Turtle Bay Museum, but physically next to the building.
Husband and kids went here for lunch. Overpriced menu with sub-​par food. Sandwiches are pre-​packaged and not very tasty. You would do better to drive elsewhere, or pack your own lunch.