Café Aquarius

You would think I'm some scouting agent for PBS, but no, it was sheer coincidence that I happened upon Cafe Aquarius during the same week it was featured on "Check, Please! Bay Area". I was in the East Bay looking for a place to have lunch after getting my haircut and stumbled upon it through my Yelp iPhone app when I was around the Emery Bay Public Market. I noticed several rave reviews, so I thought it was worth a try. In hindsight, I should have come about four hours earlier for breakfast, especially for the scrumptious-looking cinnamon rolls.

Alas, I arrived at the tail end of the lunch rush, and a certain wrap-up apathy had already crept into the morale of the waitstaff. I had to ask to get a table in the mostly vacated space and was seated next to the window as the mid-afternoon sun was searing through the pane. Probably to minimize sunburn, I decided rather quickly to go for the daily special - a $3.75 cup of the Cream of Potato Soup and the $11 Roasted Pork Tenderloin - both accompanied by a slice of their housemade pan de agua bread (see photos). No argument that the bread is tasty and picks up soup and gravy with equal ease.

The soup, however, was more perfunctory, a semi-satisfying broth, not overly creamy and accessorized inexplicably with two large clams which gave it a slightly briny taste. The pork tenderloin was a plentiful portion but sadly rather dried out by the time I got a few slices of it. It came with a scoop of wild rice and a mixed green salad that smacked a bit of hotel buffet. And yet I finished it all with no hesitation probably because the setting is so inviting with its cobblestone floor, bistro tables and retro-style artwork (see photo). Yes, breakfast next time.

FOOD - 3 stars...passable lunch options, breakfast looks far more appetizing here
AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...charming bistro interior on a quieter block of Emeryville
SERVICE - 3 stars...nice but not overly attentive after the lunch rush
TOTAL - 3 stars...when the moon is in the 7th house, it doesn't necessarily mean this is the dawning of Cafe Aquarius

Low-key, no fuss, and oh-so-chill brunch spot in E-ville.

Expect a short wait on Saturday; Sundays are pretty empty. Customer service and attentiveness is stellar as is the food.

Buttermilk Pancakes: Holy shiitake... these angels fell straight from the skies above and onto my plate. The waitress is not joking when she says, "These are not for sharing!" Fluffy and so perfect in every way; my new favorite pancakes!

Hash a la carte: Salty deliciousness to perfectly compliment my sweet pancakes. After a couple of bites, though, I had to take a break... and chug water.

Biscuits & gravy: More salty, chewy, creamy goodness. Too bad they didn't have fried chicken or something... guess I gotta go to 900 Grayson for dat.

Homefries: Nothing special but can't go wrong with a side of taters.

Green Tea Tropical: To wash it all down and to help with digestion. I want to buy a box of this. My tummy ache from heavy drinking the night before subsided.

Decent prices, reasonable portions, excellent service, and YUMMY food. Got 'em!

It's been god-knows how long since I've been to Cafe Aquarius. Blame the free lunches at work. So we have these Groupons for the cafe for a while now. A few more months and they will go to waste! Noooo!!!

Not about to allow such a catastrophe to happen, we booked it over for lunch today. I love love love their burger aka "65th st burger." It did not employ your conventional burger bun as the vehicle for the juicy patty but a nice crunchy, crispety (yes, I know it's not a real word..I must have been watching too many commercials) roll that's not too bready, providing the perfect textural contrast to the beef. With each bite, I couldn't wait for the next. It's been a long while since I've had me a yummy burger like this. The burger came with a big side salad for $10.

A good alternative would be the Marina fish sandwich $9, also accompanied with a big salad.

I also loved me their pastries. Yummalicious...so get them early if you can! Because they'll be gone later! I cannot wait to come by one weekend for their lemon ricotta pancakes for brunch.

One gripe. The wait to be served can take a bit. There was one waiter when we arrived, but the owner (I think) pitched in later as the cafe filled with hungry patrons.

This visit was a direct result of the Check Please! Bay Area show that aired last week and showed some delicious eats at this place. We intended to try the vaunted Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and the Hollis Hash as well as the cinnamon rolls.

We can definitely say that food-wise, this place knocked it out of the park. More on that later.

But today the word of the day was S-L-O-W. . . .

We had a party of 5 before us that waited over an hour at around noon on Sunday. Our own party of three waited 45 minutes before we were seated. It was a full 90 minutes from when we first arrived to when we were actually served our order. The waitress that we had was nowhere to be found after we were seated such that it took a second request to the person who was seating everyone to fetch her (whereupon she just said "Oh I'll just take your order."). Water arrived in 10 minutes after seating.

One of the things that this place does not do, is combine tables. So a party of 5 will see (as they did today) many other smaller parties of 2, 3, 4 being seated before them even if they came later. This probably needs to be adjusted during peak loads, since the Check Please! buzz causes a surge that seems to last about a month after each airing, according to the waitress.

Now to the Cafe's credit, and they are such nice well-meaning people there, they did offer us (and the party of 5 I mentioned) coffee and a selection of their croissants in understanding of our lengthy wait.

So I did get, as compensation for waiting, a coffee and what I was going to order at the table: a single, large, stunning, crusty, buttery, cinnamon roll, the likes of which I have NEVER tasted before. With a thin crisp coating of almost caramelized cinnamon sugar crusting over another golden brown crust protecting a moist tender pastry, truly this was the bomb of all cinnamon rolls. And these will probably hold the gold standard by which all other cinnamon buns will be forever judged. If you think this is hyperbole, you have no idea how good this was.

The Hollis Hash of pastrami with perfectly done homefries was large and excellent, topped with two grilled slices of their fantastic Pan de Agua bread. This bread is not like French nor Italian bread but the best of the two combined, chewy, crusty, like a great sourdough texture, but without the sour-ness. We had it plain, no butter or anything, and it was perfect. You must try it to see what I mean.

OK now for the BOMB of the BOMBs here, the thing that pretty much what everyone raves about.

The one.

The Only.

I give you: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes!!! (And the crowd goes wild!).

These are the best of the eggy Swedish pancakes, Lemon chiffon sponge cake, and Lemon curd custard, all rolled into 4 large 1/4" thin powdered-sugar-dusted works of culinary art. These light, delicate, melt-in-your-mouth slices of heaven will make your eyes roll-up and your lips curl into a HUGE smile as you savor them. I am telling you: very few food items I've had have ever been such an immediate hit. And they will be yet another standard by which all other versions will be judged (and I'm now searching for recipes to make these).

So this place is on my list of one of my best new places to go to for breakfast. If you can avoid the crowds, and the wait, this is a one-of-a-kind place that you must try.

Review for pastry case only, not cafe food.

I just made myself a high noon tea hour... yep! With the aid of Cafe A, of course.

After walking in the sun all morning with my dear friend (A, I *sure* do hope you're reading this, girl) and laughing our heads off against the fabulous blue that can only be the Bay's beautiful glow, she introduced me to her hood for some delightful European-styled pastries...Pat, nice to meet you again, and I will be back!

I spotted a nice array of goods, from cheese puffs to danishes, to fruit squares, to cheesecakes and strawberry-rhubarb tart. Though the croissant-products could have a been a wee bit fluffier, still, I could tell that there was some artisan goodness there, and took a dive on the chocolate side.

Taking care not to crush my pain au chocolat, I was a good girl upon coming home, and gave my kitties some love, checked on my plants, and then brewed some great Tao of Tea (Portland, how can I NOT love you?) and then proceeded to nibble on that lovely piece of edible art... did I snap a photo? Nope; this was gonna be pure bliss; no distractions allowed.

Having already had Rooibos with her, this time I chose a triple jasmine, which helped to cleanse against the richness and decadence of the fully loaded smooth chocolate in the chocolatine. Whoa mama... someone got quite generous with the cocoa bean here. My croissant was loaded medially AND laterally with the crazy goodness, and the nibbling soon devolved into full-out munching. The croissant itself was very flaky, flavorful, and there was a good amount of rise from dough, and good air in between as well.

And now I'm grazing on the goodness of friendship, sunshine, and awesome repose-worthy snack. We are a lucky bunch here in the Bay...nothing but great food all around us.

In researching a breakfast spot that doesn't get uber packed and crowded... I came across this place and thanks fellow Yelpers!

S.O. + his mom and I walked in here when they opened at 9 am. Walking... the place is cute and quaint! It is tiny and I can imagine this place getting packed when it's the morning rush crowd.

We got seated and given the menu... served coffee and water.

From the reviews... I told the S.O.'s Mom that they're known for their lemon ricotta pancakes... and S.O. knew they were known for their eggs benedict so as a group we were all set.

I ordered the following:

- Aquarius granola with yogurt: their granola was just the right sweetness and crunchiness (not jaw / mouth breaking like the others I've had) and the yogurt and fruit was just the right amount. I finished it all! I wished they could serve equal amount of granola and yogurt... I ran out of yogurt but had a lot of granola still left.

- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes: folks, these aren't no joke! They're delicious! They're so light and fluffy that I managed to eat almost all three of them.

- Triple soy mocha: not as strong as I wanted it but ok.

Overall... service was friendly and prompt. Prices are good and decent as well. The S.O.'s Mom really liked the food and we were glad she did!

I think I found my new breakfast spot on the weekends! I'll definitely be taking the fam here to try it out! Plus I want to try their pastries next!

Dear Cafe Aquarius,

I love you more now than ever before. Lemon ricotta pancakes melt in your mouth, open faced egg sandwich is simple and perfect, biscuits and gravy are BUH-OMB! And your pastries are still delicious!

Almost every Friday the bf wakes up, walks across the street and buys me pastries so that I can wake up to your delicious chocolate croissant, fruit cheesecake and cheese danish (plain, blueberry & strawberry are all good). What a fantastically amazing boyfriend I have... that brings me fantastically delicious pastries... that are now contributing to my fantastically fat ass. Thanks Cafe Aquarius!

XOXO,
My growing ass

I went here for brunch with Baba one morning.

It is SOOO effing cute.

First off, seating is somewhat limited, and the seating that is available is exclusively on patio furniture (yes, despite being indoors). There are plastic vines on the wall in addition to stills of what looks like science fiction movies. I may not understand the theme, but I am wildly amused by it.

We were seated quickly by a happy gentleman. He greeted us with water and big plastic menus.

I got an open faced egg sandwich and Baba got an eggs Benedict dish.

Holy crap, portions are HUGE. I figured I'd just get a sandwich, considering it was like, $6 or something. I was easily intimidated by it.

However, it was DELICIOUS. Bacon, perfect. Eggs, perfect. The bread was surprisingly yummy (I'm a MAJOR carb fan). Baba was very pleased with his dish as well.

Overall it was really cute and I would make a return visit, mostly for the food, but also to make sense of the decor...

Here's the thing... as I write this review, I have 9 restaurants that I have bookmarked which waiting for me to write up a review. I felt THAT compelled to write a review.

A Look Around:

Cafe Aquarius is intimate...which is my way of saying that it's small and tight. I went around 11AM and thankfully avoided the lunchtime crowds. I'm beginning to think the trend is that the best restaurants are the smallest restaurants. Seriously, my party of four never felt so close to each other. Since tight spaces = small tables it was tricky trying to fit all our plates and side dishes on the table.

What I Ordered:

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
Earthly Delight (w/ a side of Apple Sausage)
**Cafe Aquarius has two different menus for the Weekday and the Weekend**

What My Taste Buds Say:

In short, my taste buds told me to keep coming back to Cafe Aquarius. I'm not one for the overuse of hyperbole, BUT this review is littered with them as I thought every bite of my meal was incredibly satisfying.

The Earthly Delight is a light, velvetty omelette stuffed with a generous serving of luscious shittake mushrooms and creamy gruyere. I'm an avid egg-eater, but I've never tried anything this good. It was close your eyes good. I ordered a side of Apple Sausage to pair with the omelette because I thought I'd need hearty protein to go along with my omelette, however, I felt it was more of distraction than an enhancement.

A first glance, the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes looked like any ordinary pancakes. That is, until you actually begin to cut a piece. The texture of these pancakes was light and creamy which I felt was more similar to cutting into bread pudding than a pancake. Eating these pancakes was mentally transformative. The moment the pancakes met my tongue I felt sheer pleasure. When I ordered the pancakes I had figured that they were going to be tart since lemon happens to be apart of its name. Not so with these pancakes-- the lemon flavor was beautifully subtle and definitely not tart. They'll give you standard maple syrup to drizzle but you can definitely do without it. In fact, I'm adamantly opposed putting maple syrup on these babies. Don't mask a good thing with sugar people.

Overall:

I've had a two month hiatus from reviewing on Yelp. I felt that I had little inspiration to write about restaurants that were only so-so. Well, the drought is now over--I've found my inspiration. Cafe Aquarius is great eating. GO HERE!

My hubby and I were cruising around the neighborhood for a breakfast place and we saw this joint and decided to give it a go.

There was a small line and we waited about 5 minutes, then we were seated and our order was taken 5 minutes after being seated.

Now the main issue with our experience at Aquarius is that it took 25 minutes for our food to arrive. It really should've not been the case because we only ordered a side of eggs and 2 cups of fruit and OJ.

Wow... 25 minutes for that? And when it came to paying our bill it was nearly impossible to get a hold of our waiter. I finally just went up to where he was standing placing an order on his computer handed him the credit card, paid and left.

My straightforward advice to C A is if you already know it's going to be crazy busy please have more than 2 servers working that day. The lack of service will eventually make people not want to come back.