Sonoma Valley Bagel & Cafe in Rohnert Park, CA: A Review

Venture inside and you'll find an interior strangely large for the lack of foot traffic that they get. It certainly leaves you plenty of space to sit down and stretch out, however, though the vibe is strictly low-budget coffee shop with plastic tables, barely-cushioned stools and generic wooden chairs (and the requisite "easy listening" radio station piped in.)

Now, Sonoma Valley Bagel is a small northern California chain operated by a company called East Coast Bagel, who are actually a California-based bagel company that operates everywhere else in the state except for Nor Cal under the East Coast name. Confusing enough? Point is, it's the same food that's served at East Coast Bagel, and the bagels actually are halfway decent.

The pricing here is a little weird, though. A plain bagel is $1, which is reasonable for a restaurant, and they have a pretty wide selection. Ask for cream cheese or a similar topping, however, and the price goes up to $2.50! An extra buck and a half to spread on some cream cheese? Really? There's various deli sandwiches made with bagels for about $5-6, which is somewhat less random and crazy - the usual selection of ham, turkey, chicken, egg, and various salads. And there's a small stock of donuts and pastry if you need a sweet morning treat.

The thing that was the deal breaker for me, however, was the coffee. They serve that industrial Java City stuff that you can maybe tolerate when it's cheap, but really, it's no better than gas station coffee. And here, it isn't really cheap - $1.75 for a small is premium coffee prices, not nutty-aftertaste Java City prices.

I don't totally hate the place, but the high pricing and awful coffee sends me packing across Commerce to New York Bagel, who have better pricing and MUCH better coffee. Recommended only if you absolutely cannot get out of your car for some reason.