Today at noon Mika and I found ourselves at Zocalo, with an hour to wait before picking up Camila from daycare. We hadn’t had lunch, and Mika was hungry, so we studied the alternatives in the area (Bancroft & Dutton). There is Paradiso, which is good but expensive; Villa Portofino, which is not open for lunch, Al Attles’ California Cheese Steaks, where Mike and I had had lunch yesterday, and the Cornestone Cafe. Clearly, the Cornerstone Cafe was our only choice (OK, we could have walked a couple of blocks and eaten at Mae’s Soul Food or Tuttle’s Sea Garden, but I didn’t think of it, and I don’t think Mika likes fried fish/chicken anyway). So to the Cornerstone Cafe we went. All in all, we had a nice meal and I’d go back with her there again.
The Cornerstone Cafe has a pretty short menu, it includes some salads, soups, pastas and sandwiches, as well as daily specials. They also have a brief kids’ menu, heavy on angel hair pasta. Mika had the plain angel hair pasta, with butter and Parmesan ($3). She was very happy with it, and ate every single bit. The portion was a bit small, but it did come with bread and butter.
I once again tried the burger, this time with cheddar cheese and avocado. I ordered it medium rare, and it was a bit overdone. It was moderately juicy and it tasted better than I remembered. In all it was fine, better than what you get at most coffee shops, but not particularly great. I didn’t like the fact that the burger was ready at least 5 minutes before the pasta, and they let it sit in the counter so they could serve both together. They really should work better on their timing.
The burger comes with your choice of salad, fries or something else. I went for the fries and I didn’t like them. They were a bit dry and unseasoned.
Mika had a fresh-squeezed lemonade, which she liked, but found too sweet. I had a coke.
We ate at the counter and service was great. The waitress and the guy behind the counter kept checking on us, and making conversation with my little girl.
Best of all was the bill, $15.50 for the two of us. That’s definitely a bargain for that type of restaurant. As I said, yesterday we ate at the Cheesesteak place and spent over $22 – granted it was for two adults, but still.
Cornerstone Cafe
600 Dutton Avenue
San Leandro
510-562-2535
Original Review
Leave a Reply