Cafe 222

Had some hiccups in getting a table– stood at the check in stand for a few ten minutes before anyone even said hello. To make matters worse, the coffee-​while-​you-​wait had no mugs/​cups available. So we couldn’t even have any while we waited for someone to talk to us. Boo!
But once we sat down– service and food were great! The patio seating was comfortable and well-​heated. The waiter was extremely attentive and super friendly, even when we dropped a bottle of hot sauce and it shattered all over the place.
I had the tamale and eggs. Totally a five star dish! The waiter subbed in tomatoes for toast and didn’t get the least bit upset at the request. The tamale was perfect: dense, with a delicious filing, covered in mexican gravy and sour cream! My friend had joe’s omelette– spinach, peppers, onions– tasty and delicious!
We’ll probably be back tomorrow.

Great service. The food is excellent. Definitely recommend it.
I would get there early. Line can be long

Adorable and delicious. Peanut butter banana french toast is as good as they claim — but is so rich and filling that it might be impossible for one person to finish on their own. Bring a friend.

Great Breakfast spot a little on the pricy side $ 30+ for two is pushing it. Whole grain waffle was the cats meow and the standard eggs, potatoes and toast was extremely yummy seasoned nice and eggs came out a perfect over medium. They have a lot of coffee drinks to chose from as well which is a plus. Staff is super nice and very attentive.

Apparently bobby flay said that the peanut butter and banana stuffed French toast was the best thing he’d put in his mouth.
Well, bobby must have been high or drunk because in my mind it tasted/​looked like something I’d knock together after a night at the bar. This is doing the basics in a very average way. Think stoner student chef rather than gourmet breakfast.
Bang average.

I almost misremembered this as a Guy Fieri recommendation, but sadly it was none other than Bobby FLAY who put this place on the map.
My girlfriend at the time and I came here a couple of years ago. We excitedly ordered the french toast and waffle based on Bobby’s recommendation. Two things I remember well: 1. The service was awful (and that’s an understatement). We waited outside for quite some time just to be seated, which is to be expected, but then received no attention for at least fifteen minutes. 2. The food was average diner fare at best. I could’ve made this at home. Actually, I was shocked at how mediocre the meal was considering most restaurants featured on Food Network tend to be one or two notches above average.

Great place for breakfast! Came down here with a friend while visiting San Diego, he told me it was a really good breakfast place so I had to check it out. I had the chicken fried steak and my friend had the PB banana french toast. The chicken fried steak was delicious! It wasn’t crunchy or crispy as I would of expected it to be. Not sure if mine got to soggy or not but the flavor in it was really good. I tried the PB banana french toast and it was delicious also! Also the coffee is refillable so that’s also a plus! I definitely recommend checking out this café out if you are ever in the San Diego area.

One of the better breakfast options in downtown San Diego, for visitors. Small and situated on an inconspicuous corner, Café 222 was started by one of the better known chefs in San Diego. The options here are wide and varied– I personally recommend any of the stuffed french toasts and the Green Eggs and Spam. The 2−2−2 is a good choice, as is the Croaker. It’ll be packed when you get there, but turnover is fairly quick and don’t hesitate to sit outside; service is just a good out there, which is a rarity. Is this the best breakfast since breakfast was invented? No. That’s not the point– But it is a different kind of location, with a cool, kitschy feel to it, and it’s a San Diego icon. So if you haven’t gone, you need to try it and Unilocal it while you’re at it. Make sure to check in– Deals are there! Bottom line is that it’s really not that expensive, and everytime I’ve eaten here it’s been hot and served up quick and by a nice server. Check it out.

Second time around got eggs Benedict. It was okay. The egg was a little over cooked. Got it on the biscuit which I really like. I asked for jelly on the side and they gave me those prepacked smuckers one which I found to be kinda lame. I mean other places make house made jelly and jams which adds to the experience for me so that was a bummer but the taste was not extraordinary but it was definitely not bad. Too much potato on the plate.
Friends got Huevos Rancheros and was not impressed. I didn’t eat it so I can’t say for sure but it looked good.
Bathroom: Decently clean, could use work.
Verdict: Maybe ask for recommendations from the staff. I think I just got the wrong thing. Last time it was great. But should the experience differ so much? I don’t know. I will go back here to give it another try because of my first experience.

Nice restaurant and good atmosphere but the food was not tasty.
The potato taste really bad, the coffee was too strong and the service was terrible.
It was the first time ever for us that although we didn’t like how the food is served, still the waiters refuse to replace the meal!!!

This place was a block from our hotel so we decided to try it one morning for breakfast. We wanted a table outside but not in the sun and they were able to accommodate us on their side patio. They actually had several outdoor spaces so there are plenty of places to sit.
Our waitress came and took our drink order while we decided on what to eat. She brought the drinks in a timely manner then took our food order. I had the pumpkin waffle with a side of turkey bacon (no pork bacon here). The waffle had a very good pumpkin flavor, not too strong, just right. The turkey bacon was just alright. It does not match regular pork bacon. :)
Mom had the strawberry waffle. It had fresh strawberries and whipped cream on it. It did not even need syrup. She also got a scrambled egg on the side. It was cooked fine.
Definitely a good place for breakfast in the Gaslamp. Lots of options, especially a lot of Mexican options if you are in to that.

This place made the best PB banana french toast ever! Seriously just go here for that and you will be happy.
I don’t know who the chef is in the back but you sir are a master at making yummy french toast and pancakes!

My girlfriends wanted to come here based on the Food Network of course. We all decided to order something different and share.
There was not one single thing on this menu that wasn’t fan effing tastic.
I would live here in this restaurant, and eat all day long if I could.
The staff was lovely, and helpful with all the questions we had about menu items and ingredients (some of us are allergic to things so we had to make sure that the ingredients weren’t present in anything we ordered), they were so attentive, but not toooo attentive.
And even as popular as this place is, the wait really wasn’t that long, even for a Sunday afternoon! Fan for life right here.

This restaurant was featured on «best thing I ever ate» for their peanut butter banana stuffed french toast. We went for brunch here.
I got the famous peanut butter banana french toast ($ 11), comes with 3 pieces of french toasts. This was good but its not worth the $ 11 for just french toasts and no other proteins. There wasnt enough banana in it; my order only had very few thin slices of banana inside.
And hubby had the all american breakfast which is the basic eggs, sausage, home fries and toasts; cant go wrong with that. Home fries was delish though.
Servers were nice and polite; however, it took while for food to arrive.

Wow, this place has spectacular pancakes and french toast. I ordered the All American and it was pretty tasty but the star of the show was the buttermilk pancakes and the PB and Banana french toast. The pancakes are moist, fluffy and full of deliciousness. I didn’t try the PB french toast but my husband said it was the best french toast he’s ever eaten and loved every bite of it.
If I am in the area again (aka visiting the Cat Café), I will definitely go here.

Café 222, not the most unique name for a business and not a unique experience for me either. I stopped by on Saturday morning for brunch. I arrived around 10:45 and was told it would be about a 35 minute wait for a table of 2. Located only a few blocks from the Gaslamp area, I was able to browse around World Market while we waited for our table. If you’re like me and can’t wait for your coffee, you can help yourself to a cup while you wait, but they will add it to your tab.
The restaurant was packed so were seated in their small patio off to the side of the restaurant. It was quite awkwardly tucked in between the restaurant and the other side of the apartment building, whereas someone’s bedroom was right above us. No view and I definitely felt Iike I was sitting in a cement block.
Sorry for the tangent about the scenery, let’s get into the food. I ordered the Café bene. The Benedict was served on an English muffin and came with spinach, tomatoes and I added ham. It also came with a side of seasoned potatoes. Surprisingly the star of the dish was the potatoes. They were seasoned well and slightly crispy. Overall the dish was good. Looking back, I should’ve ordered the French toast, which is probably what the café is known for having been featured on the Food Channels Best Thing I Ever Ate. While I have a food regret, I think I’ll survive and try another brunch place next time. Like I said not the most unique experience and worth making the trek to come back.

Based on the rave review in the Lonely Planet California guidebook and the fact that they were on the Food Network, I expected better things. The food was fine, but that’s about the highest compliment I have for it.
The restaurant was cute, clean, and the service was good, but they need a better system for seating people when there’s a wait. We got a table way before others on the list and if I were them I might have been upset!
I had the Benedict Arnold and it just wasn’t great. It seemed dry, and that could have been because of the high biscuit-​to-​hollandaise ratio or because the yolks on my poached eggs were fully cooked. My hubby had the frittata, nothing special, and a waffle that could have been lighter and fluffier. It kind of seemed like one that I could have made at the hotel’s continental breakfast.
We left Café 222 full, but my favorite part was the teacup/​saucer/​spoon chandeliers.

Café 222 is a solid place to eat, ‘tho sort your reviews here by date, since I initially came to try out their «Corned Beef Hash» only to find out it’s no longer offered and isn’t on the menu (as of this April 2015 posting).
It’s okay ‘tho… I tried their waffles, a Belgian waffle which was good (a bit more solid and dense than fluffy, so it depends what you’re looking for in a waffle), but their breakfast potatoes were great.
It’s a tad off the beaten path of the main Gaslamp district, but walkable and actually a better location than the main drag, so it’s a good area and nice location.
The service is fast and friendly, and meals cost around $ 10 – 15 for breakfast here.

We split the peanut butter banana French toast. It was good but maybe I’m spoiled because I make this for myself regularly. If you haven’t had it then theirs is good. But I felt like the dish needed something more for the price.
The service was great, the place is clean. We sat outside which was nice. It wasn’t busy at all on a Tuesday morning.

Breakfast heaven! And featured on the Food Network with a stamp of approval from Bobby Flay. Not that that matters… ;)
Every year, a group of my closest friends and I gather to do the annual Hot Chocolate 15k/​5k at Petco Park and every year, we end the run with a victory breakfast at Café 222.
Talk about generous portions! And where some cafes lack in quality by over compensating in quantity, this one most certainly does not. Portions are large enough to split depending on how hearty your appetite is and for me, my eyes are typically bigger than my stomach. So meal splitting is the way to go for me. They serve up tasty sausage patties and turkey bacon if you are feeling especially carnivorous. I’m not usually not a fan of turkey bacon, but theirs gets my vote!
I usually order a la carte and create my own but recently I ordered the Croaker. Intrigued? It’s their own spin on the classic Croque Madame featuring toasted bread, ham and gruyère topped with eggs of your style and then dressed with a tasty béchamel sauce. With a side of country potatoes. YUM! I’ve also had the Green Eggs and Spam and a few other items which were equally as good. No complaints from this chickadee!
Service is always friendly and our food arrives fairly quickly. Arrive early to avoid waiting, although inevitably, this popular spot will be over flowing well into it’s opening hours due to it’s popularity and small space. But it is worth the wait and I can see why!

Was told That it was one of the best breakfast you could have, this peannut butter and banana french toast… The meal came cold, not real Syrup and a big bunch of butter on top (I litterally thought it was ice cream)… Anyways, I do Not mind to eat unhealthy once In a while, but it has to be worth it!