Steel Rail Cafe

Steel Rail Café is a fantastic new addition to Jack London Square. It boasts a perfect location that offers outdoor and indoor seating. The patio is dog friendly and they host special events regularly. See website for details. Today on the patio was something for children to enjoy. I think it involved crayons.
A group of six was East Bay Dishing inside due to the cold day. We were led by my favorite food blogger, Christina Mitchell @eastbaydish, so we had a mix of several menu items and enjoyed them all. The roasted, spiced nuts were delightful starter. We each got a small sample of the soup of the day. I am pretty sure the server said it is always vegan, seasonal and changes every few weeks. For the next few weeks it is curried cauliflower. Run, do not walk to try this amazingly delicious soup with the right balance of spiciness and a creamy texture without any dairy. #spectacular
We all agreed that the French Onion dip sandwich on Texas toast was our favorite sandwich. The buffalo chicken and godfather were also hits. The mac and cheese is in the section under melts. Super delicious — perfectly cooked noodles and creamy. Don’t worry, it is served in a dish not a sandwich. (Note to the restaurant — you may want to make it clearer)
The menu has 4 salads and you can add stuff to them to make a complete meal like avocado, bacon, a selection of meats and more. The hemp salad with a kale base and raisins and other tasty stuff was delicious. I enjoyed the on tap Chardonnay. The other wine choice was Pinot Noir. There is a selection of about 10 beers/​cider. They offer my beloved and hard to find, Badoit sparkling water. Although we drank tap today, I will be back for my tiny French bubbles.
The staff was so warm and welcoming, it was truly a joy to dine and have fellowship in their establishment. I can envision moving to 5 stars in the future, but the place is so special I wanted to review right away. A perfect Sunday excursion would be the JLS farmers market followed by a luxurious lunch with your doggie at Steel Ray on a beautiful day. Check it out!

This is the spot you dip out to when plank is overcrowded and it takes to long to get a beer. There are choice beers on tap and you should be able to find one to wet your whistle or tickle your fancy

Steel rail café is a must try. Great new spot in Jack London square. Great food and great vibe. Fresh and local

Unilocal recently held an Elite event here.
We rarely go to Jack London Square but now I may have a reason to return.
Whenever we’ve walked around JLS especially at night — most of the restaurants seem
to be lous, d and boisterous… Steel Rail seems to be more low key.
Steel Rail Café opened earlier this Fall and I wish them the best of luck.
Although the inside is smallish there is a nice patio (with heat lamps) and strands of lights
making it inviting at all hours.
We had a sampler menu (see the Elite event details) It was great!
There seems to be a large selection of alcoholic drinks, non-​alcoholic drinks, coffee, tea,
hot chocolate.
Their menu seems to have something for everyone… They open at 8am and have breakfast items from oatmeal to pastries to egg dishes.
Lunch and dinner offerings include soup, salads, sandwiches… and the prices are reasonable… most food items are from $ 6 – 10. The most expensive item I saw on their menu is $ 11.
Another BIG reason for liking this place is that the staff is super nice and welcoming.
Please give this place a try — you’ll be glad you did

We had food from their Caribbean Holiday menu and had their house made sorrel, ginger beer, signature jack spiced nuts, roasted yam soup, plantain chips, rotisserie chicken melt and their Jamaican Christmas cake.
I LOVED their sorrel and ginger beer drink. Both drinks are not alcoholic and THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS! I loved their plantain chips too! Their rotisserie chicken melt was so flavorful and so darn good! I wasn’t a big fan of the Jamaican Christmas cake, but then again, I’m not the biggest fan of heavy chocolate desserts.
This spot is definitely a great addition to Jack London!

This is an awesome new joint and a must try! They have reggae music and great food to go along with it. The inside area is kind of small which is ok because they have an outside area with the fire heaters/​lamp things (not sure what they’re actually called).
They don’t have a bathroom in the vicinity inside but the bathrooms are close by which is shared with the other joints who don’t have restrooms. The bathrooms were actually clean! I was scared that they wouldn’t be since its shared.
The food was great I had the sand which melt and also tried their banana chips. I had Cabernet as well. Super glad they had that bc that’s my favorite wine ! They have ginger beer which I tried a sip of from my friend and it was also nice (served hot or cold).
Over all I had a great experience here and will be returning !

Small, small menu selection, but attention to detail and quality, good focus on food safety and hygiene and good customer service…

Steel Rail is the perfect addition and may be my favorite spot in Jack London Square. Nestled right in the heart of JLS, you can now find an indoor-​outdoor casual eatery offering up salads, sandwiches, breakfast, coffee, beer, wine and even some tapas style bites and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Score, right?
I had an egg-​in-​the-​hole which was solid, and the morning pastries are heavenly, but what I’d come back again and again for is that harvest salad. A plate full of fresh greens topped with persimmon, blue cheese crumbles, pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts all topped with a deliciously light champagne vinaigrette. A definitive 5 star salad right there.
I’m a sucker for a sandwich and haven’t yet had the opportunity to sample Steel Rail’s. But, with options like a smoked turkey & avocado BLT and the Buffalo Solider: rotisserie chicken breast, hot sauce, slaw, blue cheese, you know I’ll be back.
Coffee is good and strong and staff has always been super nice.
A delicious, affordable and casual way to experience Jack London and I like every bit of it.

Wasn’t eating at the time but the food looked good! Had a latte and it was okay — not the best I’ve had but definitely better than Starbucks.

Woman at counter hardly smiled and wasn’t that warm or friendly. Definitely had a bad vibe going on.
Man working behind the counter was super nice, came and turned on heaters for us to help us stay warm, invited us back for happy hour and shared a promotion card with us for bottomless mimosas at brunch! His smile and friendliness would definitely make me come back.
Great spot in Jack London, outdoor, affordable, amazing salads, vegetarian soup, something for everyon.

This is exactly what Jack London needed! Amidst the slew of pretentious, expensive restaurants there is now a down-​to-​earth spot for more low-​key locals to hang out.
I had the best mocha of my life there on my first visit (although the mocha from my second visit was just «good», but they’re still new so I’ll chalk it up to that) but what made it taste sweeter was the free wi-​fi. Finally somewhere I can drink and get work done! This is something the area sorely needed.
They’ve got great happy hour beer prices and a good selection of beers on tap. I like the food I’ve tried so far (The Reuben and french Onion dip sandwiches are awesome!) The staff is courteous and kind. On my last visit I witnessed the chef, who had just gotten off work, offer to hop back on duty after a large crowd showed up right at closing. They were so sweet.
The cute dog-​friendly patio has heaters, and is more subdued than over-​the-​top Plank or Lungomare across the way. Overall it’s a very polished but relaxed atmosphere that I would highly recommend to anyone in the area for brunch, lunch, coffee, or beers!

First time here came with my neighbor we usually go to lungomare about 5 times a week but decided to try this place out. very nice lady who took my order I only had ice coffee and croissant with some cream in it, mmmm good! I will definitely be back again and also apparently on the weekends they have $ 15 all you can drink mimosas The only thing that I was bummed about was the ice coffee was $ 4 and it was pretty small with no refill. Im certainly glad they opened a new place here in Jack London !! think my wife will like this place as well!

Iron heel sandwich. Good flavor. Recommend.

By the recommendation of my coworker, I decided to try Steel Rail for lunch. I had the Buffalo Soldier sando and my partner, the Iron Heel. Expecting my sando to be spicy, I was disappointed. I could not tell if there was hot sauce in the chicken and blue cheese.
The Iron Horse though was a good sando. The smoked cheddar and horseradish worked really well with the roast beef. I enjoyed his more than mines.
Overall, I think its a mix bag. I will have to try another sando to see if I like this place.

Great new place in jack london! We stopped in real quick before we got on the ferry! Great food and great selection of beer! The cheese platter that they have was amazing! Definitely get the jam! The service was awesome! Definitely recommend this place!

Awesome new joint! I heard about this place from a colleague and was pretty excited.
There’s plenty of good coffee around Jack London, but cold brew on nitro is a whole different game. It’s nice to shake up that morning coffee routine with some smooth, creamy microbubbles.
I wandered over WAY before they were open to serve (oops) but the folks working this place were incredibly nice and opened their doors early so I wouldn’t be left hanging without caffeine.
The space looks rad, the beer list has a nice small selection of local brews, and I’m super excited to try their pickles, house marinated olives, and cheese board. That’s totally my HH jam right there.

Been twice, staff needs an education in customer service or at least some vitamin B injections, food was okay. Cashier got our order order wrong and rang up the wrong salad. When the wrong salad came to our table, and we pointed out the error, the cashier looked at the receipt and said we were charged for the salad that came out, totally missing the point that he rang up the wrong salad in the first place. Then when we asked for an adjustment based on the fact that the salad’s price online was less than what we were charged, the cashier’s only response was, ‘oh they keep adjusting the prices, i’ll let them know.’ No offer to refund the $ 2 difference or comp us something else like a coffee.
Food was okay, basic, not exciting, but fresh. Good for some quick eats.
Nice location, and could be a nice addition to the area, but service needs improvement given the number of other food options.

Time: 11:47am/67°F partly sunny
Purpose: Meeting with a client in JLS at 12:30, I figure allowed myself some time to check out SRC also.
Ambiance: Chain patio area with eights table sits two to four makeshift bench for communal table. For group seating there are five wooden high back lounge chairs, but no fire pit in middle. Front entrance next to Scott’s is the fuel bar. It starts with Faema E61 espresso machine and menu panels above. Inside is a eight person seater with old school adjustable stools. Three three to four tables inside with most seating facing windows. There’s a small wooden counter rail like affixed in front of window perfect for cuppa joe and people watch. Beautifully copper wrapped rivet counter from front to back. Brass half dome kettle for draft beer sits front of counter along with acrylic pastry display case. Behind counter wall adorned with wine glasses/​bottle wines, television above and large cartoonish drawing of Jack London Waterfront area. Inner back corner is all open kitchen prep/​production counter with partition glass separating employees and customers. Can be a little stuffy, but theres two sets of doors open front and back allowing cool breeze circulation.
Staff: Young crew about mid 20s and up. Greeted me right away showing eagerness and upbeat. No problems encountered while there as things are simple and easy to understand. Girl at counter pour me a sample of their drip coffee. I went ahead order small cup and sat outside.
Cleanliness: Grade A, place is brand spanking new. Nothing seen that would suggest otherwise. Debris are wipe down and silverware clear immediately after patron leaves. Condiment/​utensil, and self help water station clean also.
Eats/​Drinks: Small drip $ 2 from mr. espresso muffuletta sando a choice of potato chips or pickled veggies, took the latter. Made on baguette grilled press to perfection. Sando consist of four type of meat. Salumi, capicola, salami, mortadella along with provolone and good amount of tapenade spread. It was a delicious sando not too salty with cheese halfway melted generous meat portions. Meat use here are slice to order not processed Gallo, Land O’ Lake type. Pickled veggies were just that nothing special cauliflower florets, string beans, and couple of radishes. I could’ve ate another one as size wasn’t that big, but for the price, no complaints. Wash it down with mr. espresso. To be honest, I’ve never like this brand. Today, it may perhaps change my thinking of what they’ve to offer. Mr. espresso may have two brand and oakwood roasted version is their premium. I drink it black as always nothing added just to soak in the flavor. It’s the best that I ever had coming from this brand. Flavor and tone was seen and tasted. Comes close to brew being that of varietal and monsooned coffee as it wasn’t acidity at all, very surprised.
Main Features: Mr. Espresso (Oakwood roasted beans), Linden Street Brewery, muffuletta, 5 Boroughs, Sunset salad.
Products/​Services: Coffee, beer/​wine, breakfast/​lunch, mid day bite, after 3pm menu, oatmeal, polenta w/​poached egg, soup, salad, sando, pastry/​danish, spin drift bottled soda, nitro cold brew, kids menu. Pastrys on weekends only.
Punch Lines: Close-​together table, décor leaves something to desired, pleasing flavors, modest cost, drool-​worthy, laid back, calm vibe, light bites, zippy service, lively atmosphere, can’t go wrong, casual, JLS, outdoor setting, kept its standards, satisfactory.
Tradeoffs: They open late mid morning not early enough for crowd heading to SF on ferry. Half a day is gone for some and theres no way to try it after work, closes early or ran out of items.
Final Thoughts: It’s about time a café not connected to hotel or restaurant comes to JLS area. There are two other coffee roasters nearby with one offering free coffee on Friday, but it doesn’t offer much food or snacks. I like what it has to offer while the prices for sandos will bring me back when ever I’m in area. I hope other businesses can see what the area has to offer, and take up some of those empty store fronts, eye sore. Base on my experience SRC is a good place to grab a bite and go about your day.

Delicious. I ordered the Muffuletta sandwich with chips and a pint for lunch — $ 13. Very reasonable.
The portions were great. Lots of meat on the sandwich.
I will definitely be going back.

Steel Rail Café (JLS) is slated to open next Friday ⁹⁄₂₅
locale: eat real ‘15
brew: cold pressed coffee (free)
smooth, no acidity, passed on cream, ice, sugar, tasted good
eats: drink from coconut (3)passed