Mercury Cafe

Wait a half hour for a lukewarm wrong order. No thanks.
Unilocal wants this to be longer actually added as a review dictate meaningless text.

One of the few cafés in the city that serves up great food with high speed internet and a chill place to do work.

Great atmosphere but pricey. Double shot red eye was $ 7, normally its $ 4 in most places. Wifi a bit on the slow side but it works and is free.

The space is cool (pun not intended… Mercury and space. Haha) I was looking forward to checking out Mercury Café because it looked beautiful and airy with a high ceiling and lots of natural light. However, besides the lighting and the neat rustic door, I encountered a series of unfortunate events:
— There’s a frickin PIGEON that nests in one of the lamps. I very genuinely detest pigeons aka flying rats, and this one was flapping its wings all over right on top of the tables! As if that weren’t bad enough, it brushed off all the dust, feathers, and various disgusting things that accumulate in lamps, and you could actually see a shower of debris in the middle of the café. A dead bug and a dead spider landed on my laptop –_​_​_​-​;; At least I hadn’t gotten my food or coffee yet.
— I wanted a bagel with hummus and they ran out, so I got tomato instead. I had expected some type of spread, but it was literally just a bagel with 3 slices of tomatoes and a small sprinkle of pepper. What a waste of the extra $ 2… I could have gotten an entire local organic gluten-​free tomato from the farmer’s market. (I believe it was $ 2.25 for the bagel + $ 2 for the tomato) At least the pigeon wasn’t moving around as I was eating my overpriced tomato bagel.
— There were quite a number of flies; I’m not sure if there’s a garbage dump nearby or something. A fly kept landing on my leg as I was eating my overpriced bagel, and I couldn’t get it to go away – I must have looked like I had restless legs syndrome.
That’s my rant of exasperating issues; everything else was rather standard for an SF café – friendly hipster-​ish barista and decent coffee (except I can’t say I was too excited over the $ 0.25 extra charge for iced drinks). Mercury Café has a nice neighborhood café vibe, but the pigeon, the flies, and the tomato bagel disappointments were too out of this world for me.

Mercury Café is great in so many ways. It offers a simple and delicious menu, good coffee and an excellent environment. The only downside is the portions are small, but that’s to be expected from a café.

So I’m reading this book right now where it feels like scones are mentioned maybe every 3 pages. Characters are near constantly buttering scones and gorging themselves on the flaky crumbly goodness and I can’t take it anymore. I need a scone rightthisfuckingsecond.
Unilocal tells me that Mercury makes a great scone. There are tons of reviews with people raving about these amaa@@aa@zing scones, but I’m thinking they’re maybe a little nuts, because how good can a scone actually be? If there was an elementary school play put on about baked goods, the scone’s only lines would be «Oh no, I simply couldn’t! I am but a humble scone!»
I go anyways, the craving can’t be denied.
They pull out a fresh batch right when I arrive, I sit down with my scone and a chai, and that’s it for me. I’m done. I was doing that combination of scarfing because it’s so good and eating obscenely slow in order to savor it. It’s warm, it’s perfect, with fresh bits of strawberry hiding in its pockets. I am losing it over how good this thing tastes. The crust is crumbly and perfectly sweet, the insides are just ohhhhhh, words fail me. This is the scone to end all scones.
The sweet and dirty iced chai also comes highly recommended. It has a slight spiced kick to it, which is perfect. It’s actually similar to how chai is supposed to taste, with none of that saccharine nonsense you see in most coffee shops. I polished these two guys off in 10 minutes flat, and then grabbed a second scone to go. Already looking forward to popping it in the oven and having it for afternoon tea in a few hours.
To summarize: get the scone, get the chai, ignore me in the corner tripping out over how much I fucking love my scone.

This is a fabulous neighborhood café, with great customer service and yummy food. I’ve come in here dozens of times and everyone is courteous, the plan is super clearn, the wifi is free and fast, and the Avocado sandwich is heaven.
It’s even got places for you to sit outside and read/​talk. The only downside is that it borders a very busy (read noisy) street. But just focus on your coffee & sandwich and you’ll be good to go!

This is my go to spot for coffee meetings. I’ve now been here four times, but I must admit, I’ve never had anything to eat or drink. For this it’s great. The staff are stoned, so you can sit forever. And the location is perfect (Coming from sunset? right off fell/​oak street. Taking bart/​muni? 2 blocks. Southbay person? Right off the 101) and there’s always free street parking within a couple of blocks. Just watch out for street-​cleaning Tuesdays from 12 – 2.

Extremely nice people, excellent atmosphere and great sandwiches/​coffee.
We wanted to go to Straw (next door to this place) but the people over there were extremely rude with over an hour wait time. Now we’re actually very happy that they were rude so that we could discover this place!!! Will definitely come here again, great for brunch/​breakfast, hanging out with friends or studying/​reading a book.

Had a cup of coffee and a bagel both were great, there’s outdoor seating as well as Wi-​Fi.

OK seriously I have no idea why this place is rated 4 stars. The service was terrible. The staff are either all half asleep or too spaced out to notice. While the staff member was taking our order the other staff member was telling her some other information in front of us. So unprofessional. I got the biscuit egg and tomato. It took ages and literally was the driest thing ever. I got a breakfast hot tea with it. That was brought without a spoon. When I asked for some milk the server came back with a giant carton of milk for me to pour. There was nowhere to put the teabag. My wife couldn’t stop staring at a giant spider web with a spider eating a fly. At least someone was satisfied here.
The food took an age and it was not even busy her. It also came without a knife.
I won’t be back. It is scruffy but not in an endearing way, in a run down way. The music is stoner gold. Literally tracks of people screeching. The staff are real bad and the food was one star. Oh dear.

It’s a pretty decent spot — big and spacious. Very San Francisco — sparse in its coffee additions: no artificial sweetners, or flavored syrups. The coffee is pretty good though.
The sandwiches are a tad overpriced for what they are, and the barista (at the least the one I had) is a little derpy. I live a block away on Haight, so this does in a pinch but I personally prefer Café La Vie 2 blocks down.

This place is great! The scones are made fresh and absolutely delicious. The code brew iced coffee is fantastic. I also love the bright open windows and the sun comes through. It’s a great place to study, might be favorite spot now. The sandwiches are huge too! Only positives for this place.

Not sure what’s happened? The fresh squeezed juice was $ 6.00 and was literally about one cup. They were out of English muffins. Out of multiple other items on the menu (and it was only 10am) Mismatched glassware because we were told that the rest had gone missing? Everyone seemed miserable and completely unapologetic for the lack of food, silverware or service. Meh! This charming sweet spot was a total hole :(

One of the best cold brew iced coffees I have tried in the Bay Area. If you order it «for here», they serve it in a big ol’ pint glass. I asked for mine with soy milk, and the barista kindly obliged. They also have almond milk, but lately I’ve been more of a soy gal.
It’s weird how time changes us, isn’t it?
Mercury offers free Wi-​Fi, but I was too chicken to ask for the password. For someone who claims to be such an extrovert, I guess I’m actually pretty shy and nervous, especially when I think the barista fella is kind of cute (in that tall, gangly, mildly hipster sorta way). What can I say, I’m single and apparently ready to mingle *wink wink, nudge nudge*
They were playing some good ‘80s records, which I really appreciated. This seems to be one of those laptop cafes, so if you want to chit-​chat, you’re probably better off doing it on their outdoor patio area.
Would I return? Absolutely! It’s a quaint, cozy spot just off Octavia Street, a hop, skip, and a jump from Civic Center or Van Ness. They also offer some vegan soups and possibly sandwich options. I had just eaten, so I didn’t look too closely at the food menu, but even a bagel with avocado or hummus would pair nicely with your coffee du jour.

What a great little café! Roomy. Great light. Solid food/​coffee choices.
Ambiance: 5 stars. Never too crowded. Always a great music selection (they play new music every Tuesday). Positive vibes. Great, great natural light.
Working from home score: 5 stars. Reliable internet (café internet as well as reliably xfinity connection). Plenty of outlets.
Food: Solid 4 stars. They have great coffee. Simple and delicious sandwiches. They also have a few beers on tap– for the more relaxed work/​reading mood.
I hesitated to write this review because it feels like my secret place. But it really does deserve 5 stars. Yay Mercury!

I like to come here to work a few times a week. Very relaxed environment free Wi-​Fi is a plus and the main draw in addition to proximity. I appreciate their true independent café status, which signs all over are quick to point out. The staff is always friendly and pleasant. My main complaint is with the tea selection. I cannot comment on coffee as I am not a coffee drinker. It’s probably decent… I don’t think a café can survive in this town without decent coffee. I digress, the tea selection is bagged Stash brand teas.
This is a general gripe for a lot of cafes from me so please don’t feel singled out, dear Mercury Café. But why oh why do café’s think that serving what amounts to be the Folger’s coffee of the tea world is acceptable? As an avid tea drinker I implore you to find a better tea. In general it tastes like, well, nothing. Additionally, Stash Tea is not local. If you want to serve amazing tea from a local supplier, then there are options! Really good options! Delicious loose leaf options that won’t make this tea lover cry on the inside when she is asked to shell out $ 2.50 for a mug of dark, hot water with a bag floating in it (I mean, let’s be real that bag of dried flavorless plant matter cost you $ 0.10 at MOST and I wouldn’t even care if it tasted good, but it doesn’t… $ 2.50 is pretty steep. no pun intended. ha!).
If you change this one thing about your café this tea lover would be a most devoted tea drinking customer. I would even stop moping about the fact that you charge $ 7 for a bowl of granola. I get it, I get it, it’s organic and local. yada, yada, yada. In fact, I would even go as far as to end this review on a good note– I like the music in here and in all of my visits I have never heard anything even remotely as terrible-​sounding as whales dying. I mean, most of it I’m not going to go out of my way to listen to or buy BUT I appreciate hearing the musical meanderings of the staff while I work… and sip my flavorless tea as my heart weeps inside my chest. Ha. Sorry I couldn’t resist.
Anywho, this café is a great place to work and I will keep coming for that reason. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you that… I mean, I’m taking a stand against bad tea. :P Ok, I think you get the point.

Today, after 4^th of July, it’s pretty empty and thus the wifi is fast. We came here for a light lunch after a 7-​course barbecue last night with 2 heapings of desserts.
—- FOOD —-
Holiday sandwich: 3.5 stars
Turkey cranberry a little dry, sauce is unevenly spread. Stacked with turkey slices
Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich: 4 stars
Hummus arugula feta. A solid, fresh sandwich served with side salad, of which the dressing was a delicious vinaigrette with mustard seeds.
According to my partner, they make delicious lattes too. Unfortunately, at some point in the afternoon the staff turned on more pumping-​thumping music that made it more difficult to concentrate on reading, so we had to leave. It’s still a great location for me, and I’d come back with noise-​cancelling headphones I guess?

This is the kind of space you sit down, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and post up & get shit done.
It’s located on a busy corner in terms of car traffic, but as far as people traffic, not too many folks are walking past this place, do it’s peaceful, especially on a Saturday for the city.
I tried both an iced tea & an iced coffee, both were pretty great. The tea was lovely and not sweetened (which I prefer).
The service was great. The barista was very friendly and the café was chill. I got a ton of work done, which is exactly what I wanted and the barista wasn’t making me feel bad or anyone feel bad for just ordering a drink .
I’d highly recommend this place for free-​lance workers searching for a spot to work at!

Ive only been here once and I thought it was so so… not the best café but still good. We got there at 10 and they had already run out of bagels and hot chocolate. So I ordered tea because lately I’m lactose in tolerant when it comes to milk and I also ordered one of their freshly baked scones which was bomb diggity! Nice and soft and warm!
The café itself is very spacious and has good seating. My boyfriend ordered a caprese sandwich which was $ 10 and good but way over priced! It wasnt the best I’ve tried but it was decent. He also ordered a latte and that wasnt too strong and had a great taste so I was pleased with that.
My yogurt was straight up greek yogurt and tasted like sour cream with some granola and blue berries. But hey… at least I felt happy eating it ;)
Overall, this café was ok. Parking sucked of course cuz its SF and its on the corner so not too tough to find.