Jackie’s Vinoteca & Cafe

I think they recently re-​opened and today I had my first sandwich here and it was definitely one of the best I’ve had. They bake their own bread and everything was super fresh and may I say gourmet.
This place is my new favorite lunch spot for work days.

New owners — now called Java Wasted Café.
Went in for a quick breakfast (egg and cheese on a bagel and bagel with cream cheese)
The new owner wasn’t very friendly, and her cook seemed to resent being there.
My egg and cheese sandwich came with butter (didn’t ask for butter), and was so salty it was inedible. The bagel with cream cheese was at least 2 days old and they didn’t toast it like I asked. My man couldn’t eat that either.
I know you just opened a week ago, but get it together guys.

The sandwich I had here was excellent. Really, when you’re talking about meat between bread with a few vegetables you wouldn’t expect much variation between one sandwich to another, but the turkey sandwich was really good.
Wi-​Fi was good and stable, though I had a little trouble connecting at first.

Because I am in a great place in my life*, brimming over with self confidence*, and totally comfortable being friends with my exes*, I found myself at lunch here on a recent workday with one of the ones who got away (or was I the I one that got away… it’s been so long, who knows anymore?).
Some lunches are better than others and I’ve got to say– Jackie’s was a pretty 4-​star experience. From the $ 5 huge house salad to the smiling and accomodating service to the giant bottle of balsamic vinegar they brought me at my request, no questions asked, to the entirely pleasant and not weird interactions between ex-​turned-​friend, Jackie’s really made a lasting impression.
The house salad is huge, with veggies and cheese if you request it, and all for (again) $ 5. They also have a plethora of good-​for-​you organic juices and (thank god) pellegrino. I’m getting adjusted to no longer working in the financial district and have been less than impressed with a lot of the places on my drab strip of Valencia, but Jackie’s is now at the top of my list for a quick lunch out or for takeout. They have just two salads on the menu but a bunch of sandwiches and I’m guessing wine, from the name. Good people, yummy food, go here.
*Ahem…

I love Jackie’s. I’m a regular, and as many times as I go there, the person behind the counter is always helpful, smiling, and happy to see me, whether it’s the employee or the owner… The coffee is just right, the sandwiches are inexpensive (I especially like the veggie) and tasty, and the wi-​fi is strong and reliable. They also sell fresh fruit, which is terrific for health nuts who don’t want baked goods but still want snacks. I may have been at Jackie’s 50 times over the last year and change, and I’ve not once had a bad experience.

7am don’t need no ‘tude with my coffee.

After a solid first visit, I’m now pretty bummed out by this place. My second time around, I ordered the same thing I’d gotten last time: a roast beef sandwich. This time it was way smaller, had fewer ingredients, and came with weak-​ass kraft cheese. Even the side salad was worse. It seems like the food has gone way downhill.
It’s a shame because the folks who work there seem friendly enough and it’s a great place to work. But they need to offer better quality for the price.
(Here’s a link to a photo of the awesome sandwich I had the first time:
)

I’m sitting at 105 Valencia Street, at a little French-​influenced café by the name of Jackie’s Vinoteca and Café. Instead of heading down Market to get home as I usually do, I turned down Valencia Street just to see what there was to see.
And what I found was Jackie’s, with the Parisian tables sitting out front, where people can wine, dine, and talk outside this little café. I haven’t seen too much of this seating in the city, so that was enough of an incentive to draw me inside.
On the menu was some appetizing bites: the croque monsieur, the French open-​faced sandwich with Gruyère cheese, ham Dijon mustard and asparagus on French baguette.
If I was hungry, I would’ve considered the Mozzarella En Carroza (thickly sliced fresh mozzerella with tomato, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegarette on French baguette) or the Spicy Shrimp (cooked large shrimp, provolone, avocado, cucumber, fried chili peppers, and again, on a French baguette).
As a vegetarian, the surest bet would have been their vegetarian (goat cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts on foccacia) served either cold or grilled along with a side of greens.
Instead, I went with a glass of white for $ 3, and sat down to do some writing on the sidewalk tables.
Although Jackie’s Café tries to play up the Frenchness with the food, wine, and décor, there was no escape from San Francisco. It was too windy outside to ignore. A cracked-​out guy yelled car as he jay-​walked over to Jackie’s and asked some patrons for cigarettes. And there was nothing to see but passing cars and the highway overpass.
An overall pleasant and productive experience at Jackie’s. I’ll be back soon enough to try their sandwiches.

Really cool place, a block away from Market and very quiet. I’ve spent the whole day hooked up on the wifi, having bagels, muffins and a delicious spicy beef sandwich.

I love this place! So glad to have a café here, good coffee, great muffins (new), and super friendly owner.

I’ve only had coffee and bagels from Jackie’s, but I’m a fan. The space is bright and sunny, Jackie herself is super sweet, the coffee is damn good, and the bagels are actually seriously decent for being made in SF. I also like the little tables on the sidewalk where you can sit and watch the neighborhood go by.
I’m happy to walk past Caesar’s to get my morning fix here.

So many good things about this place. I was pretty surprised to see the mediocre reviews. So here goes:
I work two blocks away and this is now my go-​to coffee place. The coffee is strong, delicious, and consistant. And less than $ 2.
Awesome sandwiches. They have a mozzerella basil tomato on baguette which is amazing. Good veggie goat cheese sandwich too.
I can also vouch for good palmiers — a flaky heart shaped delicious sugary thing.
The atmosphere is relaxing. They have a used reading material stack. They have a clean bathroom. They take credit cards! Thus, 5 stars.

I’ve lived in the same complex as Jackie’s when the space was Zen Records. Back then, all I kept wishing for was a cute corner café that sold some tasty sandwiches. It would be so nice to have a backup plan for those days when I just didn’t want to cook, or a place where I could comfortably indulge in coffee sipping and people watching.
Well, my wish came true! A café opened up! However, in the year and a half they’ve been open, I’ve gone a total of twice. Both times were so memorably bad that I’ve given up any hope of improvement.
The first time, I ordered a soup and sandwich already thinking,“this better be a tasty sandwich for $ 8.50″. I was the only customer and it took the woman behind the counter 15 min to make it. Did it taste like 15 min of work? Not at all. It was as if she followed a manual and assembled a sandwich. The owner, who is actually the owner of the architecture firm next door, conversed with me the entire sandwich-​making time. While he was pleasant enough, he failed to be aware of how unusually long the sandwich-​making process was taking. He also failed to ask me what I thought of the place, or my food.
Fine. They were just starting, they’ll get better, right? One day, I was planning a day trip where I had to pack a lunch. My plan was to order a bagel for dine-​in, re-​park my car, come back and eat my bagel then leave with my sandwich. Once again, they had no other customers. I ordered an everything bagel w/​cream cheese, and a sandwich to go. I re-​parked my car. I come back and they didn’t make the bagel because they ran out of everything bagels. Sesame seed would have to do. I wait 10 min for a freakin’ bagel. I start eating the bagel and I notice it’s incredibly salty.
«What kind of cream cheese do you use?» I hollered across the café.
«We use…», and Jackie proceeds to whip out a large generic brick of cream cheese from the fridge.
«Oh, well, did you know it’s really really salty?»
«Oh…that’s probably because I sprinkled salt on top»
«OHHHH,» Yeah. That Would Explain It. I have never heard of salting cream cheese before or since.
She offered to remake my bagel, but obviously she hadn’t even started making my sandwich, so I chose to forgo the failed bagel. After another 15 min, the sandwich was finally done and I left in a huff. The entire time there were NO other customers! I just don’t get it! How can they expect to stay competitive with service times like that? My prediction is that they won’t. I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll be replaced by people who do.
Summary: Expensive, slow service, usual fare, little ambiance. They do nothing for me. The only thing I would consider is their day-​old 1 $ muffins as a grab-​go option.

Sorry Jackie, but I’ve had salads twice as big for the price ($ 7), and my smoothie was average at best. That I had to wait almost 15min for it dropped you another notch.
Kudos for livening up this part of town, but I think you are way off on the price/​food ratio.

Jackie’s is right around the corner from my house, closer than Caesar’s even, so I’ve been giving it a chance.
So far I’ve only had coffee and bagels there, and both were fine. The bagels are actually superior to most coffee shop bagels – not those super dense rock hard things found in the majority of places.
I’ll have to go back and try a sandwich – they look good and not TOO overpriced. Plus they have beer. BEER!

Decent place
Its Clean, Cute and Close. I would give it a 3.5 overall.

One star for being close to the office.
One star for serving salad and fresh squeezed juice.
But that’s it. Salad’s are small, overpriced and just Ok. Sandwiches seem to vary. $ 3.50 for a cup of OJ?
I hope that the owners will take all the reviews to heart and hear that we want higher quality and quantity for that price.

So like you can see where they buy their food — Costco.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they display their Costco pretzels and tortilla chips out in the service area for all to see. It’s just visually unappealing.
Service felt half-​hearted.
The hot chocolate didn’t really taste like hot chocolate. More like hot milk. My companion had the lemonade, and was bitterly disappointed. No pun intended.
The chocolate chip cookie! Oh! It was uncool. Under baked, pale, and hard.
Isn’t weird that the first review didn’t even TRY the café? How can you give 4 stars to something that you’ve NEVER TRIED? Nice.

Definately give it some time before visiting — they opened I think a few weeks ago and certainly haven’t worked out the kinks. They were out of several things I tried to order and I got my food 15 minutes before my husband did and we ordered the same thing, and when both arrived they were cold. The item I ordered was missing a salad that it was supposed to come with and when I asked about it the gal had to look at the menu to see if it came with one. When the salad arrived it was a plate of spinach with 4 small tomatoes, 4 walnuts, and a drizzle of balsamic on it. Lemonade wasn’t good either.
I’ll give it a few more shots I think because it’s new and maybe they need to figure some things out.

I usually go to Muddy Waters or the Delessio Market & Bakery for my morning Depth Charge, but this morning I thought I’d shake things up a bit and try this place. It’s located on that stretch of Valencia between Zeitgeist and Market Street. There aren’t any food or beverage establishments within the immediate vicinity, so I though this place had great potential.
I walk in this morning with my commuter mug and asked if I could get a coffee with a shot of espresso in it. One of the ladies behind the counter seemed to be busy and mentioned that they didn’t have any regular coffee ready and that they only had decaf.
Say what?!
What kind of café opens at 7 in the morning and only brews decaf? I have to assume that someone fucked up and accidentally brewed the decaf coffee first. I felt frustrated, because I had forgone going to Muddy’s in lieu of checking this place out, and now I still had to walk another block or so before I get my coffee from Delessio. Is it wrong of me to expect a café to have, well… coffee? And caffeinated coffee, at that? I don’t think so.
The busy lady behind the counter says it’ll take about 5 minutes for the regular coffee to be finished. She doesn’t seem that friendly, but then again, I’d be pissy if someone fucked up and brewed the decaf coffee first too, so I didn’t take it personally. Maybe she was thinking: «Shit, this is a first customer and we don’t even have any friggin’ regular coffee! She’s never coming back».
If she was thinking that, homegirl’s probably right.
so…
…I continued on towards Delessio.
:/​