Restaurant Review: Java Beach Cafe, San Francisco, CA

Java Beach Cafe
1396 La Playa St.
San Francisco, CA
415-665-5282
www.javabeachcafe.com

* Eat-in or take-out
* Cash only
* Ample parking nearby
* Last stop on the outbound MUNI N line

There's probably not too many beaches that a coffee shop would do all that well at, but chilly and foggy Ocean Beach in San Francisco is certainly one of the few. Just on the other side of the dunes, at the end of Judah where it intersects with La Playa (and where the N-Judah MUNI train makes it's last outbound stop), Java Beach is a haven in the frequently cold and windy Outer Sunset district of San Francisco. The coffee is organic, fair trade, self-serve with a number of different flavors, strong and pretty tasty. There's also the usual donut/muffin/pastry selection of the modern coffee shop, but made fresh rather than the generic factory-churned kind found at some other coffee-and-donut holes.

Also, on the breakfast side of things, they have bagels with various toppings (butter, cream cheese, peanut butter) running from around 1.25 to 1.75. You can also get a breakfast beer here if you care to, as they mysteriously have various kinds on tap to go along with the coffee and pastry. There's also some lunch/dinner items; they make a really excellent sub that is a good value for the money in terms of preparation, quality of ingredients and size. The prices seem a bit high at first - $4.25 for a small, $5-something for a medium and $6-something for a large, but they're huge (a small is a little bigger than a Subway 6-inch sandwich, for point of reference) and they're really good. A large can make two meals in and of itself.

Other amenities include free WiFi, which you will see copious people taking advantage of with their laptops. There's also two pay internet terminals in the back of the shop, running about $3 for 20 minutes of access. It's also one of the very few places to find a decent restroom in this otherwise mostly residential neighborhood. The only major disadvantage to this place is that it's a little too popular for it's size, and almost always seems to be crowded to capacity. It's hard to get a seat indoors, if you order food it takes awhile to prepare, and waiting for your order sucks as if there happens to be no seats, you're forced to stand in a little narrow space constantly dodging people who are going to and from their tables and to and from the restroom.

There's some seating outside, but when the wind is up and slamming your skin and food with sand particles this obviously isn't a favorable option. Anyway, it's really a great place, but unfortunately just has gotten too popular and really needs to expand or rearrange the indoors or something. As it stands I'd rather not fight for a seat and play Frogger while trying to get to my food, I only stop in here for a coffee to go.