Cafe Kevah

–Views are quite amazing.
–Staff is friendly.
–Quite a decent parking space.
–Nice place to relax for a while, if you are in a road trip on CA 1.

This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Came on Monday around 11, not crowded at all. With this view, the wind chimes and non-​fussy counter ordering, I would have been happy with coffee and a stale bagel. Instead we got fresh parm/​egg scramble, AMAZING crispy bacon and delicious crispy onion potatoes, and some of the best brioche French toast ever. Go here

Forget about the more famous Nepethe upstairs! After walking away after seeing the restaurant’s overpriced yet mediocre food selection, we were glad we took a peek here before we got into the car. The food here was priced more reasonably ($ 15 – 20 per entrée), the selection looked more delicious, and even the view was even better than the restaurant upstairs.
In fact, all the photos of the stunning Pacific coast patio were actually from Café Nevah!
Aside from the stunning view, the food was equally stunning. My choice of dungeness crab benedict was perhaps the best egg benedict that I have ever had thanks to the generous amount of crab meats involved in this wonderful dish. Stopping by Café Kevah was definitely one of my biggest highlights on the PCH trip, and I highly recommend coming by either for brunch or simply a light coffee break.

80% of this review is for the view and nice atmosphere this little café has.
Located on the second floor of the restaurants and shoppe trio lies Café Kevah.
We planned on fueling up before our hike here because of cute pictures on Unilocal.Restaurant is easy to miss so make sure you slow down as your GPS tells you you are nearing the restaurant. Parking isn’t bad if you arrive early (before 11am), we were able to choose from basically the whole lot when we arrived but when we were leaving, we saw why people warn others of the parking here. It was musical chair at the parking lot when it gets packed, everyone is circling around to find a spot. Literally right when we pulled out, someone swooped my spot.
The café was not what I expected. I expected to be seated and order from a waiter but instead you order at the kiosk first and they deliver you your food. That really surprised me as I didn’t do much in depth reading the day prior.
Food wise: Food is okay, it’s not very good and it’s kind of overpriced. A glass of mimosa costs a whooping $ 10.
We ordered the following:
Reuben Sandwich: This was my first reuben sandwich ever. I’m sure a legit one does not taste like the one I had. I had a few slices of pastrami and sauerkraut slapped between cheese and two sad slice of bread. The sandwich was not very tasty. You do get a side salad with your sandwich but it’s pre tossed and not very flavorful. ¹⁄₅
2 Scrambled Eggs Breakfast Plate: This was the simplest thing but it was the best thing we ordered. You can’t mess up eggs, toast, potatoes and bacon. I really appreciated the fact that the bacon was CRISPY and not very greasy & they give you 4 slices of bacon and aren’t stingy like most breakfast places. ⁴⁄₅
Brioche French Toast: DRY DRY DRY, I expected my brioche french toast to be fluffy and soft but this french toast was just dry and sad and no where near fluffy. It’s as if they used old stale bread and just slapped it around some eggs and milk without actually letting it submerge and soak up all the egg + milky goodness. ¹⁄₅
Come here for the view, atmosphere and fresh air and enjoy with a glass of wine or cup of coffee but don’t eat here.

We happened to be at this place on Valentines and as expected it was pretty full. It has open seating with a seafacing view. The menu does not have many good options for vegeterians. However, the food is good. Its good to be there on a day when its not crowded. There were a lot of people from Napenthe (restaurant above this) waiting here for their turn to come. Also, since it is open seating, most people block your view while waiting for a table to open up.
Recommendation: To fully enjoy the view, go when its not crowded and around sunset time to grab a quick bite.

Be there before sunset.
We hit the place by 5ish on a winter evening with low clouds smearing down the mountains around, orange’ish sky line, chill in the breeze. It’d been raining all day. Just couldn’t ask for a better place to end the day after 10 hours of PCH drive.
A bottle of white wine, basket of fries, great sea food selection (if you luv ‘em), on time service and just a romantic ambience.
Great place and food. Must visit!

F– this place. They only have outdoor seating and there are no dogs allowed– and the owner has trained the employees to strictly enforce it. F you, owner. You have no heart and are probably unhappy with your life.

How could you NOT stop here and enjoy a meal (or at least a cup of coffee)? This little café is perched right at the edge of a cliff in Big Sur. You’re surrounded by amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and beautiful unspoiled wilderness of the California coast.
Compared to the Nepenthe restaurant above it, this café is definitely more brunch-​y and less upscale. The service was a little slow, but the servers were friendly. The food:
Black Forest ham panini: good crunch on the bread and balance of the ingredients. The arugula was a nice touch. It comes with a salad which had a very refreshing vinaigrette. ⁵⁄₅
Cheese panini: mix of cheddar and fontina cheese. Basically a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was gooey and delicious, but I didn’t think it was worth $ 12. It was also a fairly large slice of bread and I was only able to finish half before the combination of cheese and carbs made me super full. ⁴⁄₅
It’s expected that you’re going to be paying slightly above what the food is worth at a touristy place like this. But next time, I’ll probably be trying something other than the cheese panini.

Café Kevah is a must-​see when cruising through Big Sur — even if the food’s not fabulous.
It’s a quasi-​self-​serve sort of place, where you grab a menu, order at the counter, and seat yourself on the patio overlooking the ocean while you wait for your food.
I ordered the Café Kevah Benedict, comprised of two poached eggs on an English muffin with Dungeness crab, avocado, Hollandaise sauce and new potato hash. And while crab benedict is usually nothing to be sniffed at, the overall quality of the food, as well as the Chicken Caesar Salad my partner ordered, was not worth the money. For mediocre food in a casual setting, it was an expensive way to sit and stare at the ocean for half an hour.
In hindsight, our afternoon would have been just as lovely if we’d foregone the menu items entirely, and instead, simply ordered a couple of cappuccinos and breakfast rolls from the counter.
Also, for a place that prides itself on «the traditions of family hospitality», the conduct of a male staff member surprised me: A group of Asian tourists helped themselves to water and coffee from the bar, only to be rudely informed that the coffee was not free. He subsequently grabbed their coffees and threw them away. With over 10 years of customer service experience under my belt, I would have handled the situation much differently by saying, «Welcome to Café Kevah. I hope you are enjoying your day. Just so you know, the coffee is $ 3.» Then give them a chance to pay. Just a thought. But what do I know? Maybe customers do this all the time, to the vexation of the staff members. But I digress…
Café Kevah closes at 3:30pm on the weekends, so if you don’t make it here in time, be sure to check out Nepenthe upstairs (do this anyway while you’re here!). Sit on the deck with a basket of fries and a bottle of Lagunitas and watch the sunset; you’ll feel both classy and economical at the same time!

Café Kevah offers you the same gorgeous (albeit slightly lower) view of the Big Sur coastline that you can get from its more popular and much more crowded upstairs neighbor Nepenthe.
I got a refreshing Arugula salad that was peppered with a good amount of goat cheese and dried bing cherries, and a glass of organic Apple juice to wash all of that down with. For a total of almost $ 15, I’d say it was a meal well worth it. The balcony itself was spacious, offering big tables with big umbrellas.
I highly recommend this place not just for the epic view, but also the bit of quiet you might get while you’re eating or drinking whatever you ordered. Plus, there’s a really cool artsy souvenier store below.

I give Café Kevah 5 stars for the view. Awesome! It doesn’t matter what you eat when your view is beautiful. Lucky us. The food, service and prices are great, too.

I am fortunate enough to be living in Monterey, which is nice since it is about 50min north of the café. Big Sur, IMO, is one of the most beautiful places that one can visit, and this café is a nice place for you to kick back and take a breather before you venture off to another adventure. Although the wait/​parking can be ridiculous, if arrive early, you can enjoy the surrounding while drinking some delicious coffee without too many crowd.
With that said:
I rate this establishment 5 for its atmosphere and coffee, while I’d rate the food little less since the food itself does not really reflect the price you pay. Don’t get me wrong, you ARE paying premium for the atmosphere, and for that, the surroundings probably does make the food taste a little better than it actually is lol.

THE TEA!!! the cheese plate, the service, the whales. the crab benedict. WHAT!!!
got there super early midweek and kicked back on the premises watching some woodpeckers and got right in at 9.
two hours later, … hit the road. was so good.
met nice people looked at whales enjoyed the suggestions of the woman running the show… so much that i ended up back there tonight for dinner at Nepenthe upstairs. and she was there again! great person.
everyone was happy and cool. will be back…
the tea the tea the tea
o and the cheese plate well. let’s just say i took that with me and it lasted a couple days after for the price it was incredible. really cool iberian themed item.
YUM.
and FUN.

I love this place. The views of Big Sur are amazing from here and they have some pretty good eats for being a «café». It’s all outdoor seating and you seat yourself. On my recent trip I ordered the crab Benedict and it was pretty good. Very generous with the crab and it tasted fresh. Their breakfast potatoes is not good. Has a funny taste that reminds me of bad tap water. Good cookies. Sometimes parking is super bad. I’ve been here twice. The first time there was no issue with parking but this time it was so crowded in the middle of the afternoon. We actually wanted to eat at the Nepenthe Restaurant but the wait was an hour long. Not sure why it was so crowded that day but you just never know with this place.

Good café to stop for a coffee and snacks.
Outdoor seating area with a good view.

Beautiful, cheery spot to stop for lunch on the way to or from Big Sur. It was a little foggy on the water the day we ate here, but that didn’t detract from the experience because the views of the hills, winding Hwy 1, and bits of the beach were still gorgeous. The food isn’t amazing and the service is slow, but the scenery is well worth it. Pretty decent granola, smoothies, and grilled cheese.

Best crab Benedict I’ve ever had! Chai latte and chocolate ganache jelly donut. Great spot, amazing view. Watch out for the birds, they will grab your food if you leave it unattended for a second.

I’ve got to start this review off with. Remember your in Big Sur here. You come here to relax. Your here to be silent, calm and at peace.
With that said moving on:)
This place is best known for it’s view with it’s outside seating. A lot of reviews I have mixed feelings about here. Due to the that one thing. You can’t base a restaurant entirely off it’s views and location. It is about the food as well as the service and every other aspect.
I’ve been here MANY times over the past 20 years. It’s above a great little store called the Phoenix and below the Restaurant Nepenthe.
I’ve had just about everything from the menu here.
The food isn’t bad. But isn’t amazing either for the location and expectations I had set originally. The staff is helpful and professional without question. And the food comes out pretty quickly so that’s a plus. The only issue I’ve always had with the food here is that it isn’t seasoned at all and it’s pretty bland. It’s cooked right sure… but would a little bit of seasoning and actual cooking skills be so bad? lol. Food is fresh though so that’s good.
Moving onto the atmosphere and the establishment in general. It really depends on what time of the year you come here. On off season days it’s just a little café that’s calm and relaxing with a great view (which many other places offer) and other days it’s absolutely insanity with tons of tourists/​foreign people. So if your going here during a busy season don’t expect to find parking. You’ll most likely have to park far down the street on Hwy 1 and walk all the way up quite a ways.
Overall I recommend this place if your near by during an off season for the right experience. The view/​atmosphere is what makes this place special. But basically any where you go to eat in Big Sur will offer a view and a great atmosphere. That’s why I only have this place 3 stars. It’s not impressive compared to other places for food in the area. But like I said, check it out you may enjoy it. Could be a hit or miss if your expecting to much.
Food: Average
Décor: Above average
Staff/​Customer service: Above average
Cleanliness: Clean. This place is cleaned everyday just like a restaurant should be.
Bathroom: Clean

This was a good alternative to Nepenthe which had an hour wait. Located just on the terrace below Nepenthe, Café Kevah also has breathtaking views of the Pacific. The terrace provides beautiful sweeping views of the mountains and ocean.
Food is fine but pricey, however you are paying for the views. I highly recommend stopping by and ordering a drink and watching the sun set. They also offer wine and alcoholic drinks. Sandwiches and salads only.

On our road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco my BF and I decided to stop at Nepenthe in Big Sur. Long ago he came to Nepenthe with some friends and he decided to stop here so I could see how wonderful a place it is — especially because of the view. However, we arrived too early. We decided to hang out at Café Kevah instead. It turned out to be just fine since I was not truly hungry enough for anything but a light brunch.
This place is all about the view! Big Sur is pure magic — even for people that don’t believe in magic like me. It is fabulous!!! It’s a great place to relax. You can see the outlines of several mountain ranges as they gracefully disappear under the sea. You also get to see the ocean and beautiful pine trees. If you are lucky you might catch the waterspouts of whales. We didn’t get that lucky but we were fortunate to have really great friendly service! The lady that served us our food was nice enough to take a picture of us! The view, just the view you get from here, which is unreal, merits this place 5 stars.
We ordered an arugula salad with goat cheese, sunflower seeds, red onions and oranges. It was pretty good! We also ordered a cheese plate. It had brie, blue cheese and some cheese I did not recognize but which was the best on the plate. It also came with Spanish chorizo, olives, grapes and crispy bread slices. It was not bad but there wasn’t enough bread. My BF had a mineral water and I had a double cap. The food merits 4 stars.
Café Kevah has a fairly large patio dining area with a great view. There are benches along the edge of the dining area you can use to just sit down and take in the impressive, unforgettable view.
The café has a pretty large parking lot but it gets full quickly as it serves the café and Nepenthe as well as a really cute curio shop.