Z Cafe

We come here probably once a week or so. The menu isn’t a full book, but there’s a good variety to please everyone. We have tried almost everything on the menu, and this is a place we frequently bring our friends and guests. A few of the regular things we order:
The Hawaiian BBQ chicken is great — not special or unique from other places, but still a solid choice.
The tri-​tip is wonderful — tender and flavorful — but drowned in the mushroom sauce. I order this because it’s so tasty, but I’ve learned to ask for the sauce on the side.
Sriracha Teriyaki Brussels Sprouts — these are a must try! The sauce was inconsistent for a while, but they’ve hit their stride and it’s perfect every time now. A little spicy, but not too much — I’m a wimp and I can handle it. Such a delicious flavor!
Burgers are a solid choice. Your basic burger is available, along with a couple variations. I love the Z burger, but I’m a sucker for anything that comes with blue cheese and caramelized onions!
For breakfast, my husband loves the chicken fried steak and eggs. I love the French toast! I’ve had such great meals time after time that I have a hard time venturing out to try something different in the morning.
Lattes are a great option here — affordably priced compared to local coffee houses, and the vanilla latte isn’t overly sweet, which I love.

Amazing breakfast and lunch and great service/​friendly faces! I have been coming here for years and I have never been disappointed from their breakfast. It’s a simple menu with great choices, a few of my favorite things that I would definitely recommend getting here are:
–California Omlet
–Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs (amazing!!but will fill you up for a good portion of the day)
–Or even just simple one egg, toast, and hash browns here is really good
This place is very casual and very friendly. So if you just got up in the morning and wanna go grab a great breakfast this is the place to go that will not disappoint.
*the only thing is after Church on Sunday’s, just like any other place this place gets pretty packed

Food was amazing and so was the service! I was very please!
I will definitely be coming back and recommending this place to friends and family!

Been here twice. 1^st time had the Prime Rib. It was very good. Horseradish sucked. Vegies were not al dente, but raw. 2^nd time was for happy hour. Had 2 handrolls for $ 5. Great deal ! Service at the bar sucked.

Great food! I have been here at least 20 times. I’ve had breakfast, lunch and dinner here. The food is always delicious. (One caveat: brown rice. Last two occasions the brown rice was really undercooked. They fixed it.)
The good:
–The staff is pleasant.
–The prices are great!
–The food is yummy!
–Great espresso, beer and wine selection!
–Lovely, airy outdoor patio for dining.
–Daily specials and happy hour!
–Tons of parking.
–The restaurant is tastefully adorned with art from local artists. It’s always fun to see the new displays.
–The restaurant is clean.
The «bad»:
–It’s so good, sometimes there’s a longer wait.
–When it’s busy, service is slow (duh).

Had a really great breakfast here on Sunday before golf up the road at Golf Club of California. Yummy huevos rancheros with perfectly poached eggs. Friendly staff and friendly diners next to us. Would definitely return.

Well, Well, Well. I finally tried Z-​Café. A customer of mine recommended it, so I tried it. Craving a nice steak, I took the family to the «Z».
I arrived first and was professionally greeted by the hostess. After telling her I needed a table for four, she offered me table in-​side or out, it was my choice. I chose a table by the televisions, so I could watch the game while I awaited the arrival of my family. This turned out to be not such a great idea, as my Grand-​son got scolded for watching while we ate. My fault, his lesson learned.
So we all ordered up a beer, and decided on the Coconut Shrimp and the Calamari/​Zucchini App’s, these arrived hot and perfectly prepared, and were an excellent start to what would ultimately be a great dinner.
I had the 24 oz boneless ribeye, it came with garlic mashed potato’s and asparagus. I also had the small dinner salad, My son ordered the Z-​Burger with fries, and his girl ordered the Halibut with potato’s and Brussel Sprouts. The Grandson had the Burger sliders and fries. My steak was flavorful and cooked medium. If I had to complain about something, It would be the Potatoes, Next time I’ll order the fries. The asparagus was cooked al-​dente’ and seasoned well. My sons and grand sons burgers were thick, juicy, and tasty. My son’s fiancé’s Halibut was cooked perfectly and was flavorful and flaky. The house salads were unbelievable, Huge, fresh and very tasty. In fact, we remarked that we could order the large for lunch and be completely satisfied.
We were told by other customers that Z-​Café’ was the go-​to place in Bonsall for breakfast and we are all looking forward to having another family meal there, Try it you’ll love it!
James Leitholf
Executive Chef/​Owner
Niko’s Express Italian Deli

I love coming here with friends and family.
The atmosphere is energized and this place is always busy!
I don’t really suggest having the sushi because it takes a long time to get and it’s average.
But the salads burgers and Hawaiian bowls are so good.
They also have a nice bar you can drink at also.

food always good, taco Tuesday works with couple cold beers during happy hour.
Good place to chill at bar.

We stopped here on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. Although it was very busy, the service was quick, friendly and attentive from our server Kristy B. I ordered the Reuben sandwich and my GF got a Cheeseburger that she asked to be rare. Her Cheeseburger indeed arrived rare which is hard to find these days! Both sandwiches were delicious, but our fries were cold and soggy, the only reason that we didn’t give it 5 stars. We’ll be back as there’s many more things on the menu that we want to try.

Once again Unilocalers get it right. I got in the car and said to my wife… 3.5 stars.
Location is nice. Good ambience but a bit loud with the high celings. Conversation tends to «bounce».
Menu was wide and varied but the lack of a kids meal surprised me. (Until we got the food, more on that below)
Wait staff was very kind and seemed eager to please but a bit short on competance. Several items were left in the kitchen. When we asked them to make a drink a certain way they were very accommodating… and then proved they weren’t listening.
So, highs and lows.
The food however is what earns them the solid 3 stars. It was just so… so.
For example my «homemade sweet and savory corn beef hash» was clealry made by Hormel.
No matter what temp we orders the burgers at they came out charred.
And everything except the onion rings were severely under seasoned. Even under salted. Which, looking around and seeing a large amount of clientele somewhere between active seniors and just short of their date with the Reaper, the menu suddenly makes sense.
I would not go back. But I do give them points for trying.

I was surprised. The food was great and the view… spectacular! I got am ample amount of food for a good price. The restaurant was clean, staff friendly and attentive. Go there! Sit outside! Lots of very nice places to eat nearby too… but I will be coming back here! I have a new favorite restaurant!

We have tried the Z café twice now and have enjoyed it each time. The happy menu is good and the prices are fair. The drink selection is good and our beers were cold and the house wine was nice. The service was kinda slow and we had to ask a few times for our server to come back to our table. I had the prime rib dip sandwich and it was delicious. My wife had the salmon and she really enjoyed it.
We went back the next day for breakfast. Again the portions were hugh and worth every penny. Breakfast is breakfast. Hard to screw it up. Only suggestion I have is more sausage in the gravy. It was really bland. More spice is needed to really taste like biscuits and gravy. Food was slow coming out of the kitchen but overall it was good. We will definitely be going back again. Hope they read this and make changes to the gravy.

We had a quite nice meal at Z Café tonight. We shared a chicken quesadilla that was quite large and tasty with guacamole, salsa and sour cream. I had the salmon Hawaiian bowl. The salmon (the waitress told me all their fish is wild caught) was cooked perfectly, the brown rice light and fluffy, the carrots and broccoli was excellent too. My husband had the Hawaiian barbecue beef plate. He said the meat was full of flavor, tender, rice was very good along with the vegetables. Our friend had shrimp and sushi that she thought was good.
Tuesday nights they have taco night with beef or chicken tacos for $ 1 each, Corona beers for $ 2.50, and there is also a happy hour each night. A lot of people were at the restaurant and the noise level was not bad at all. Wait staff were professional, friendly and efficient. I would recommend this restaurant.

More like 2.5 stars. This place is «just ok». I come here often because my friends love this place, and I love their company.
I suggest you skip the «Hawaiian» dishes. They cannot even make Loco Moco taste good. It’s just gravy, rice, over-​medium eggs and burger patties. The gravy was horrible, rice mushy, and my eggs were cooked hard.
I had the steak and eggs, and that wasn’t memorable. I think to stick to basic pancakes or something next time I come.
I promise to stop with these so-​so reviews soon lol.
Pros:
Ambience
Decent coffee (gave a cup to-​go)
Friendly service
Cons:
Hawaiian food is garbage
Food not that great

We came here for happy hour food specials and brought the kids. They ordered the sushi special from the happy hour menu. Shrimp temura, and the california roll and nigiri. They ate the raw fish and almost all of the rolls. The soup of the day was chicken tortilla soup and it was just ok. There were pieces of soggy tortillas and no chicken. I ordered the Mahi Mahi Hawaiian bowl with mixed vegetables it was good but not great. Everything else was good tho that I tried from the kids plates of sushi. The atmosphere and art was the best part of the restaurant!

For my 400^th review and 100^th of 2015, I thought I’d go out with a bang!
So what to do when you’re out in Bonsall with nothing but time on your hands and in need of a bite to eat? Go to Z Café!
We found this place a couple years ago on suggestion from a friend. So glad they mentioned it to us. Now, whenever we are in the area, we hit them up. Z Café offers an extensive menu with various plates to please any palate. They offer standard bar food from burgers and fries to rice bowls and salads for lunch as well as steaks, prime rib and seafood for dinner. Breakfast items include pancakes and french toast to eggs benedict and omelets. They’ve also brought in sake and sushi to round out the experience. Service has been spot on each and every time we’ve visited and the food was delicious.
I’ve enjoyed breakfasts and lunch here both eating in and to go. The rice bowls are a perfect match of salmon (or other), rice and veggies. Breakfasts I’ve enjoyed included pancakes and loco moco.
All in all Z café is a great place to eat while in Fallbrook. They offer friendly service at a not too expensive place and a great ambiance.
Keep on Unilocal’n!

Nothing to rave home about here — seems like the people who ordered breakfast were the most satisfied in my party. I had ordered a BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger, and my bread had mold on it, but still the new sandwich overall was alright. Tortilla soup was pretty good though.

A neighbor recommended the Z Café for me, as I am always looking for a place I can dine with my pup. Their patio was very spacious, which is ideal for me. Plenty of room for the pup to sleep! Even on a hot day, the seating was shady and breezy! The restaurant itself was full of life with Sunday social groups and football fans catching the game.
I thought the food was great, I haven’t had Loco Moco in years! The ingredients tasted fresh as did the coffee. Even for a busy Sunday the staff was kind and attentive.
I had a wonderful first experience and will definitely be back!

Don’t you love it when a place exceeds your expectations? I came here on a Friday morning to meet up with a good friend for brunch. Despite the current 3.5 Unilocal star rating, this place definitely deserves 5 stars in my book for all these reasons:
— Extremely friendly and courteous service: our waitress Marissa was the best! She was really nice and upbeat with uncanny timing — she could tell that my friend and I were having a major catch up session and gave us plenty of time with the occasional check in on our food and drinks.
— Quality food without compromising quantity: I love their menu, it’s essentially all-​American comfort food with a Hawaiian twist (e.g. Loco Mocco, chicken katsu). But heads up, this is going to the few places where you can get an incredible amount of food for under $ 10. Let’s just say that my chicken fried steak could have easily been 2 – 3 separate meals! Yay!
— The environment and overall ambiance: very relaxed but fun. There are paintings by local artists available for purchase that serve as décor. It can get hot in Bonsall so the AC was much appreciated!
Overall, I couldn’t find anything negative about this place. Although I came here for brunch, I look forward to coming back to try their dinner and happy hour specials!