Cafe Sofia breakfast
I’ve found the new no. 1 spot for breakfast. Cafe Sofia is running a breakfast special which is a super deal. At R20 for an english breakfast and coffee, it makes Beleza look expensive. The alternative is the 3 egg omlette with feta, chorizo and peppers for R25 including coffee.
We went to the Cafe Sofia in Seapoint this morning to test the breakfast. The special is available at all Cafe Sofia’s (the other 2 are in Kloof Rd and Rondebosch). We both opted for the omlette option and it was pretty good. I would have like the filling to be cooked a bit more, but it was fine as it was. The 2 slices of olive ciabatta were awesome, and they brought butter and jam which I used on the second slice for a nice sweet end to the meal. The coffee was great, it came with hot milk and it was quite a big cup so one coffee was enough. The person sitting at the table next to us had the bacon and eggs option and it looked pretty good from where I was sitting and she was raving about it.
Service was ok, not the best but good enough that it won’t stop me from going back. I ordered a glass of water and they didn’t give me any uphill, just offered me ice and lemon with it. Admittedly the water never came, but I think that was a waiter issue.
So, I have my new breakfast spot. I look forward to reading your comments.
ps. don’t forget they have free wifi.
October 13th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I had breakfast at Cafe Sofia in Seapoint again this Saturday. The experience was not as enjoyable. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that our waitress could not speak english. It took us several minutes to explain to her that we were not trying to substitute a fruit juice for the coffee but in fact wanted a fruit juice in addition to the breakfast with coffee. We thought we had broken through to her, but realied our mistake when only 2 out of 3 coffees arrived.
The milk arrived after the coffees were cold, the milk was cold when I had asked for hot milk. The breakfast arrived with the eggs sunny side up (and under done) when we had asked for over easy.
There were 3 of us having breakfast, but the waitress brought us 2 butters and 2 jams. I asked for chutney, she brought nothing.
The service was bad enough to make the breakfast not really worth it. I can’t imagine a whole meal with that waitress serving us, I’d rather go hungry.
Hopefully that was a once off disaster, let’s see what happens next time.
November 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I had breakfast at the Kloof Street Sofia again this morning. What impresses me is that even though they know I am probably there for the breakfast and the restaurant is already full, they are still helpful and friendly.
They managed to organise me a table and the omlette was good, as was the coffee. I asked for some jam for my second slice of toast and they brought it quickly.
This makes a person want to go back when there is no special. They get you there with the special, then they show you how good it is so that you want to go back. That’s the purpose of specials. Some places forget that, the special is often of a lower standard or they don’t give you the same amount of attention if you are just having the special, and this reflects badly on the restaurant.
Having said this, Kloof St. Sofia is definitely a lot better than the Seapoint one.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
A new Cafe Sofia has opened in Somerset Road, Green Point, diagonally opposite Boardmans.
I had the breakfast special this morning, and was very impressed. Good coffee, and 2 eggs with bacon that wasn’t too fatty. Great value, I’ll be back.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Some friends and I had breakfast at Cafe Sofia in Kloof Street a little while back. Definitely the worst dining experience I have had in a while.
We had to seat ourselves as the waiters scuttled off in every direction to avoid picking up another table. After a lot of arm waving and come-hither gestures we finally caught the attention of a young lady, who attempted to take our drinks orders. Unfortunately she couldn’t speak a word of English… (This seem to be commonplace in more and more restaurants these days and is becoming a bit tiring.) I have actually started to avoid trying new places as it just gets too frustrating to have to order your meal through a game of charades followed by a lot of pointing at the menu and animal sound making.
Back to the point, we never received the drinks and never saw her again. We then re-placed the order with another waiter who brought us only half the order. After a lot of confusion with yet another waiter joining the scene, we received double our initial order. Thankfully so as it had taken so long to arrive that we were sufficiently parched to require the addition round.
Then came the food order. This went down remarkably well. I was a little concerned that it had gone too well after the upset with the drinks. When our food finally arrived it was ice cold! They had forgotten some additional side orders but was generally not too bad. At least we each had a plate of food, what difference does it make if its not what you ordered. Everyone likes surprises right. I must say it tasted good though.
After our meal it was fast approaching lunchtime, a couple of us stayed behind to have a beer and decide what to do with the rest of the day. So we waited,.. and we waited… and we waited. I saw seasons go by and fashions change in the world around us before we saw the waiter again and by there third time we had asked for a simple beer, we had just about had enough! We went up to the service bar to place our order directly, only to find that our beers had been standing on the counter, open, for the past half hour. Needless to say they were warm and flat by then. So we cut our losses, paid our bill and left. Unsatisfied, frustrated and vowing never to return.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
That’s a horror story, when you have a dining experience like that you wish you had just stayed at home. We should be compensated for the stress and for the waste of our time!
April 25th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I’m at the Cafe Sofia in Greenpoint, using the free wifi to tell you about my breakfast experience.
It was great! Service was excellent, coffee came quickly and was hot. The breakfast came quickly, the eggs were done to specification, and the rest was up to scratch. On top of it the plate was warm so my breakfast stayed warm the whole time. The breakfast is still R20 including coffee, best value in town.
The internet is working fine. This is definitely the best experience I have had at a Cafe Sofia so far. Greenpoint gets my vote.
April 25th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I find that although the breakfast with coffee seems like a good deal it isn’t because the coffee is gross. So in fact one is paying 20rand for a breakfast where there are far better deals in town. I seem to recall dax saying the other day that he had had a fantastic coffee at origin. If you did in fact enjoy the coffee at origin then you can never go backwards and drink this rubbish that is served at cafe Sofia.
April 26th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Penelope, you’re right, the coffee is not great and certainly doesn’t compare to Origin. But one Origin coffee is basically the same price as the Cafe Sofia breakfast with coffee. I wouldn’t order a refill, but I think it’s good enough, all things considered.
Nice to see someone is keeping an eye on me ;-)
ps. that Origin coffee was really good.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I just stopped by this weekend for a drink in Rondebosch, and decided to try out the Spanish chocolate, which was described to me as being a thick, concentrated hot chocolate drink topped off with foam. It was terrible. It was overwhemingly sweet; so much so that the chocolate could not be enjoyed. How disappointing. The cappuchino was rubbish as well.
August 31st, 2011 at 11:07 am
[...] to try something new rather. I checked the web to see if the special was still on and read that Dax gave it a good review so off we went on Sunday morning. You get : 2 eggs, bacon, toast, chips and [...]