Swami's Cafe

My husband had the stuffed French toast, and I had the eggs Benedict with spinach and avocado. Both are delicious, but way too much food! We will share a dish next time we visit. Self-serve coffee bar was great.

This place was a real hidden gem! Its a no frills cafe, but the food was absolutely delicious and a relatively normal price. The orange cranberry waffle was one of the best things I've ever had, and they were very generous in the amount of marmalade they put on it.

Swami's is among the best breakfast places in downtown San Diego. My family and I ate there twice this past week, and all four of us were very pleased with all of our meals. The drinks are also amazing! I had the raspberry orange pancake the first time, and the red velvet pancake the second time. Coffee and orange juice to drink - both excellent. My son had a Buffalo chicken wrap and watermelon juice; the second time we were there he got a cheeseburger with apple juice. My wife ordered the pineapple upside-down pancake, with eggs and bacon, and LOVED it! Our daughter's stuffed French toast was delicious (I tried a couple of bites!) and the service was wonderful. Highly recommended!

James Lovett

Great food at decent price. Chilequiles and steak are so good, best we've had. Pancakes are good too. Self serve coffee bar is a cool concept for $4 per person.

Anna

Really delicious! In addition to what’s pictured below we also got pancakes and a latte and a coffee. The latte was absolutely delicious and so was the food. The ambience is also really nice! Staff was very friendly

Alex Pritchard

Get breakfast spot. Was super quick to bring my order to me. I ordered the breakfast potato burrito. Fantastic breakfast burrito. Can't say enough about the burrito. Size of a small van. Very good. I'd come back again for sure.

Tarek Qazzaz

To summarize the place, welcoming staff, big and interesting menu, good food and relaxing atmosphere.. You walk in to a welcoming staff and a cozy setup. The place is busy enough to make you feel that people go outo their way to come and have a Sunday breakfast here.. the overall vibe is relaxing. They play unimposing and cheerful music. The menu is big, but also diverse in a good way. I liked that they have a lot of Burrito options and I ended up ordering the delicious potatoes scrambled burrito. My wife orders the pan cakes and they came out big, fluffy and delicious. We loved it!

Julie Antonic

So incredible we ate here two days in a row! Krysta was absolutely amazing and accomdating to our gluten free and vegetarian needs. The food was delicious! Fresh and flavorful, we enjoyed Mimosa flights, the acai bowl, Swami's breakfast combo, the vegetarian hash and several of their smoothies. Cool, relaxed and trendy location (we stayed nearby at the Beau). Krysta also gave us recommendations for great spots to visit during our stay and was right on with her recommendations. When on vacation, it's not just the scenery and attractions that bring visitors back---it's the people you meet. Krysta is such a great representation of how wonderful San Diego is. We are already planning our next trip back!

Chaz Nezha

This review is for a recent lunch at Swami downtown. Our group of six arrived around 11:15 AM to beat the rush. The waitstaff were friendly, took our orders promptly, and served us quickly. Both the quality and quantity of the food exceeded expectations.

Penny Young

Gorgie was a great server and the food was delicious. A great start to our day.

Kayla Mitchell

Visiting San Diego. We ate here twice. Drew was our waitress both days and she was WONDERFUL. So sweet to our kids, gave great recommendations, remembered us. She was great. The food was delicious. Seriously, everything we tried was so good! I hope we can come back some day.

Kelly Armstead

This restaurant was fantastic. Great, reasonably priced food; great portion sizes, and the staff were great. I had the Pastrami Burger, and my friends had the Black bean burrito and the 3egg omelette. We all felt our food was fantastic. ****Great Music play lists!!!! Owners Daughter said she creates the lists. We were loving her selections.

Cindy Hanson

My husband had the stuffed French toast, and I had the eggs Benedict with spinach and avocado. Both are delicious, but way too much food! We will share a dish next time we visit. Self-serve coffee bar was great.

Saahil Panikar

This place was a real hidden gem! Its a no frills cafe, but the food was absolutely delicious and a relatively normal price. The orange cranberry waffle was one of the best things I've ever had, and they were very generous in the amount of marmalade they put on it.

Adam Gibbons

Swami's is among the best breakfast places in downtown San Diego. My family and I ate there twice this past week, and all four of us were very pleased with all of our meals. The drinks are also amazing! I had the raspberry orange pancake the first time, and the red velvet pancake the second time. Coffee and orange juice to drink - both excellent. My son had a Buffalo chicken wrap and watermelon juice; the second time we were there he got a cheeseburger with apple juice. My wife ordered the pineapple upside-down pancake, with eggs and bacon, and LOVED it! Our daughter's stuffed French toast was delicious (I tried a couple of bites!) and the service was wonderful. Highly recommended!

Julien Letonnelier

Enjoyed a nice brunch during our weekend in San Diego. The cafe is super cute with really friendly staff. The menu is huge and offers a large range of choices. The pancakes were tasty and the granola is homemade. The coffee is a self service with a few different coffee choices.

Perfect little quality breakfast. Great options for the standard breakfast with some dishes that had a little flair. It's always nice to find places like this when traveling because hotels generally have mediocre breakfast options. The service was friendly and fast. It was busy but the turnover is quick. Definitely stop here for a yummy breakfast and perfect start to your day.

This is an incredible gem! The food is reasonable and very delicious! The highlight was our server Georgie! Explained the menu options perfectly, guided our choices, and in a previous life must have done stand up comedy! Highly recommend

Swami’s is consistently amazing. We always feel taken care of here. We got the ham & ham omelette and the steak & eggs. It was so good we came back a second time. Definitely a spot we will return to when we visit SD.

Denise Montoya

Perfect little quality breakfast. Great options for the standard breakfast with some dishes that had a little flair. It's always nice to find places like this when traveling because hotels generally have mediocre breakfast options. The service was friendly and fast. It was busy but the turnover is quick. Definitely stop here for a yummy breakfast and perfect start to your day.

Kim Oanh Shepherd

Swami’s is consistently amazing. We always feel taken care of here. We got the ham & ham omelette and the steak & eggs. It was so good we came back a second time. Definitely a spot we will return to when we visit SD.

Katelyn morrison

Absolutely amazing food, reasonably priced, and had zero issues eating the gluten free orange raspberry pancake (celiac). Note that you need to mention the GF toast needs to be kept out of the shared toaster if celiac, but that's it! Would definitely go back in a heartbeat!

4.5/5 Great breakfast - you cannot go wrong with any item from the menu. Helping sizes are big. Sourdough bread could be better. My favorite thing about this place - the big selection of coffees to choose from!

This café was good but nothing I’d go out of my way for personally. It’s definitely a no frills spot with reasonable pricing and the setup is very convenient—you seat yourself, there’s a self-serve coffee bar, and you pay at the counter when you’re done. The staff was very friendly, and it was busy when we went on a Saturday morning, which is always a good sign. However, my food was just average—nothing bad, but nothing particularly memorable either. They did have a large menu to choose from and I may have just ordered the wrong dish (had the veggie hash). If in the area, I would go back to try something else on the menu!

It's a small gem hidden in San Diego Downtown. The service was good. It has an interesting coffee bar concept so you are not waiting for a server to give you coffee. I tried their eggs and strawberry banana pancakes. The food was delicious. The pancakes were served with parsley on top, not sure why. I think some crunchy like walnuts would have been delicious. I'd definitely go back and try more things on the menu.

The mimosa flight flavors were unique and really tasty. We ordered the red velvet pancake, which was ok, the lobster Benedict, which was good, and some a la carte items like bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns, which were good. We didn't try their coffee bar, and the waitress stated that that is what they are known for, so I still recommend giving this place a try. Our total was over $100

Sarah D

This café was good but nothing I’d go out of my way for personally. It’s definitely a no frills spot with reasonable pricing and the setup is very convenient—you seat yourself, there’s a self-serve coffee bar, and you pay at the counter when you’re done. The staff was very friendly, and it was busy when we went on a Saturday morning, which is always a good sign. However, my food was just average—nothing bad, but nothing particularly memorable either. They did have a large menu to choose from and I may have just ordered the wrong dish (had the veggie hash). If in the area, I would go back to try something else on the menu!

Alessandro A

Upon arrival, a clear sign guides you on whether to dine in or take out. For dine-in, grab a menu and take a seat, as the staff will come to your table to take your order. For take-out, head to the counter to place your order. The menu offers a wide variety of food options. The food arrived quickly and was delicious.

Varun Gupta

It's a small gem hidden in San Diego Downtown. The service was good. It has an interesting coffee bar concept so you are not waiting for a server to give you coffee. I tried their eggs and strawberry banana pancakes. The food was delicious. The pancakes were served with parsley on top, not sure why. I think some crunchy like walnuts would have been delicious. I'd definitely go back and try more things on the menu.

Berre Daoodi

The mimosa flight flavors were unique and really tasty. We ordered the red velvet pancake, which was ok, the lobster Benedict, which was good, and some a la carte items like bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns, which were good. We didn't try their coffee bar, and the waitress stated that that is what they are known for, so I still recommend giving this place a try. Our total was over $100