Pelton Cafe

Reviews

• Craig B.

  star star star star star_border 26 May 2026

  Solid old timey breakfast and lunch spot. Fun, quirky, country interior with crayons for the kids.
  
  All the usual suspects: lots of meat, eggs, potatoes, and bread products.
  Basic, good diner food
  
  The the NY Steak was perfectly cooked with just enough Salt n Pepper and the Biscuits were hot n fresh.
  Go for the Hash browns. The cottage potatoes were not cooked right.
  The Cinnamon French Toast was descent and the Bacon was cooked just right.
  The Grapefruit juice was Pink n just sweet enough. And the coffee was medium strength and plentiful.

• Kathy H.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 23 May 2026

  It was my first visit to Pelton Cafe, my son suggested we meet there for breakfast before my mother leave back to Europe.,,
  We had to wait outside (16min)  as there were no tables available on a Monday morning at 10:45am.
  The service was ok only 2 ladies serving entire cafe and also cashiering...food display on plates was very poor my bacon looked grayish and once I bite on it it was rubbery like taste, the scrambled eggs looked like it had no life etc..I dine a lot out especially for breakfast and I must say that this one flunked big time. The bill was on the high side which was truly disappointing at the end.
  Don't see another reason to visit there again, Denny's has better food portions, and presentation and lower prices than they do!

• Joseph B.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 11 May 2026

  I've had four breakfasts here; four too many, one might argue, but I did have to complete my Great Breakfast Expedition of the 2010's (which will be comprehensively Yelped). Without question, I wanted to like Pelton Café. It has at least two generations under its belt, tucked inside the long-established Pelton Center, and it maintains its popularity with daily visitors. The interior is comfortable with mostly window seating; the walls are decorated with relics of the Wild West.
  
  Now then, nod along with me if you can relate: have you ever set foot in an establishment and thought to yourself, "There is no way I will order the steak here."? Yes? No? For me, ordering steak at breakfast diners is a risky practice I have only recently discontinued, and eateries like the Pelton Café only serve to reinforce my avoidance. From the Book of Joe:
  
  "Rule #4: order steak ONLY from a steakhouse, preferably one that has a dress code."
  
  However, I must have been really hungry or under-caffeinated, because on my first visit to Pelton Café, I ordered steak and eggs, the classic, All-American, side of bourbon and cigarettes breakfast. It was simply not good, and the only saving grace was that I ordered my eggs over-easy - the *yolks*, dear people, are what helped soften this impenetrable impostor of passable beef. Never again.
  
  The three following breakfasts, all of which I attended at the bidding of friends or family members, were omelet based. Each time I would hold out for the possibility that breakfast would be acceptable, but I emerged disappointed each time. The omelets themselves were dry! So dry. Order a well's worth of water to ease your mind. But even drier, and much more to my dismay: the home potatoes. I don't know which home these potatoes hail from, and I do not want to know.
  
  It might be anticipated that we, the patrons, are primarily focused on the entrée, not the sides. Not so. The sides are as important as the entrée, I do declare. I do not order food with the intention of throwing away a third or a half of it. Potatoes are not a garnish or decoy. However, I despair the imaginably irreverent treatment these potatoes might get in the kitchen: cooked well in advance, drying to a tasteless crisp in a deep pan, awaiting a lethargic scoop to dump onto the entrée. That, I'm afraid, will not do.
  
  If a breakfast was truly good, or even "A-OK", you needn't exhaust the restaurant's supply of ketchup and Tabasco; only a dab to taste should suffice. Here, to ensure your mouth doesn't lock shut from the dryness, I would recommend an emergency flask of sauce, and throw in some WD-40 while you're at it. Pelton Café misses the mark for me. I shall not return.

• Teresa B.

  star star star star star_border 10 May 2026

  This place is so cute inside!  I grew up in San Leandro but never really shopped or ate anywhere at the Pelton Center.  Found myself with a client (touring homes) and we were hungry for lunch. There are many different cuisines to choose from but both actually wanted breakfast for lunch.  They have Mexican and American dishes on the menu.  A good variety.  I had the cactus scramble nopales) with tortillas.  It was so good!
  There is a lot to take in on the walls, there are old photographs of San Leandro people and places and also several old artifacts.  The booths are old and wooden and the you really feel as if you stepped back in time....it would be fun to take kids here for a burger and milkshake.

• Ultima M.

  star star star star star_border 9 May 2026

  Went there on a Saturday, we were lucky to find parking as it can be rather difficult in that shopping center.
  
  We sat at the bar because there were no tables available. We were greeted right away, service was friendly and efficient.
  
  I ordered the tuna melt on wheat, it was tasty and fresh.