Al’s Cafe In The Village

5 stars for Al’s because Kids Eat Free! PLUS the food is delicious (try the Coconut French Toast!), the staff is very friendly, and when you eat here, you feel like you’re eating with family.

Tasty breakfast if not totally hot. Nice folks. Casual service, but nothing to complain about.

The only place I go for Benedict anymore! I LOVE the farmer Bennie. Creamy hollandaise, perfectly cooked eggs (which is actually a problem I find elsewhere) and loaded on the spinach, mushrooms and tomato. And then crispy seasoned hash browns to soak everything up. It’s awesome, I recommend it highly.

Great food and portions. You can’t beat the kids free on Sunday’s. A little dive café right in the heart of Carlsbad. Super nice, and super friendly. You have got to try the fudge!

I have been here many times but the last few times i had bad service. The waitress does put are glasses in her dirty apron where she has her tips. The cook put chives on my eggs. I am alergic to onions and and always order my food with no onions. When i asked waitress why there was chives on my onions and bisquits and gravy she said pick them off cause cook doesn’t like to remake eggs. Didnt get refills on my coffee cause i think she had an attitude. Coffee was cold.

Forgot how good this place is.
My regular breakfast spot used to be The Grand Deli, but since they got bumped out for the incoming italian operation, I’ve been a bit adrift in the morning times.
Well, the breakfast here is solid, the coffee pretty good, but hold on,…they not only have Bloody Marys on the menu, but something called a Bottomless Mimosa!
Oh, it’s on!

The service was okay — not overly friendly or accommodating but not rude. The food was the same. French toast was sorta boring, eggs were decent but the waitress didnt know what ‘country style’ means. Wild man eggs did not have a lot of flavor. Home fries dont come standard with green peppers & onions but we requested them that way & they were tasty. Toast was cold. Water was wet.

First of all, their brown gravy is the best I’ve had. Period. It perfectly occupies that space between too strong of a flavor and too rich of a character; in short, the perfect flavor/​richness marks. This, of course, means that anything they add it to gains from this impeccable product. So their «Loco Moco», for example, whose ingredients are excellent in their own right gets fully kicked up the flavor ladder with their delicious brown gravy! Honestly, I could go on and on about this place but a lot of other people (see below) can tell you about their amazing homemade fudge, ridiculously excellent hollandaise sauce which makes their Eggs Benedict (try their «Spam Bene»; you can thank me later) simply superb and so forth. One of the absolute best finds since we moved to San Diego County!

Wow!!! We were on the way to the Village Faire and decided to stop in first… SO glad we did! Food was amazing; fresh, well flavored, and wonderful portion!!! Wait staff was awesome and even chatted with Al for a few minutes. Definitely be back!!!

Food was awesome, servers are nice, and they don’t mind you being picky. Good quality was awesome, and everything arrived swiftly. This little business deserves more spotlight. Pretty much the best breakfast I’ve had in a while.

Came here this morning/​afternoon with my good ‘ol pops for some brunch/​lunch.
The inside is very like diner/​café-​esque and it’s a seat yourself kind of place. Very local feel which I love. The fans and AC were on I think and it was still pretty muggy in there. Each table complies compete with their own pitcher of water so you can point your own as you go and you don’t have to wait for a server which I think is awesome! First restaurant I know that does that; makes a ton of sense!
We were promptly greeted by our very nice waitress. I wish I got her name, I’m usually really good at this but I just forgot– guess that’s what coming off a night shift will do to you!
For our food– He got wheat toast, two poached eggs, avocado and salsa– don’t ask why, it’s just his regular order pretty much everywhere we go when I can’t convince him to branch out. I got the Chicken Salad sandwich on a croissant with a side salad. The side salad was good, nothing to write home about. The Chicken Salad was interesting as well! Real nice chunks of fresh cut chicken breast with celery, pecans, cranberries, onions… I can’t remember if there was anything else. I enjoyed it. The croissant tasted a little stale but overall it was good. My dad seemed to enjoy everything. Best part was the total came out to $ 20.00 including the tip. I think that’s a steal nowadays for a sit down. Enjoyed it and will be back for more!

Took my friend and son to brunch. We sat outside on the patio, and sat back and watched the most interesting experience. A waitress dumped a pitcher of water which would of been in the gutter but it was actually on the car that was parked there. I also watched her take a pitcher of water that was half full from empty customers table and hand it to another table. This place was pretty dirty, I will add a pic to prove. We had to ask for cleaner water cups, and even wiped down the silverware ourselves. When the food arrived it was on par with dennys portions and quality wise. Except I paid 40 dollars. I feel gipped. No leftovers and subpar yet interesting experience. Maybe it was an Off day?

Excellent! We have been coming here for the last 25 years every vacation. The food is consistently delicious. The service is excellent. We’ve even seen some of the same staff over the years. The new remodel. Looks great.

Been coming here for years before Unilocal was around. Moved away and was back in Carlsbad visiting and had to go to Al’s. This place is awesome and looks great after a fresh remodel. The prices are very reasonable and the food come out quick thanks to «toastie» Tostado in the kitchen. Friendly staff, great food. I recommend the Crunchy French toast! Also make sure to get a sample of the homemade fudge after you eat.

A disheveled homeless druggie (she dressed & smelled like one, so…) had breakfast in Al’s Café today. No biggie. People gotta eat. She was a polite customer. Didn’t bother a soul. She ate. She left.
Then she came back. She forgot her bag. With her bare hands, the waitress picked up the bag and handed it to the person. The two exchanged a hug, then clasped hands for a few minutes in conversion.
The waitress then walked over to the fudge tray, used her bare hands to pick up some fudge, put it on wax paper and gave it to this person. Another hug and the guest was gone.
Without washing her hands, the waitress then used her bare hands to pickup plates, drinks, more fudge and proceeded to hand these items to customers.
Perhaps I’m wrong to believe that when someone handing food uses their hands to touch skin, hair, raw food or pets they are supposed to wash their hands. If I am incorrect in this understanding, please let me know.
How did I get to bear witness to all this? Well… my order took a long time to make because after ordering a roast beef sandwich, I was informed that they don’t have roast beef today. They also ran out of mushrooms and they didn’t have French fries. This gave me plenty of time during these menu deficiencies to look around.
⁸⁄₇ FOLLOW UP TO OWNER’S RESPONSE
It DID happen. Everyone at my table saw this happen and heard you telling the waitresses about your problem with the French fries. Instead of denying that the aforementioned didn’t happen, you should be instructing your staff to keep their hands clean.

1^st time in Carlsbad… relied upon you Unilocaler’s to guide me to the best breakfast in town. You landed me at Al’s…and I thank you for it. Yes, it might not be much to look at but the food and mimosa was incredible. Wouldn’t expect a healthy meal but that’s exactly what I got.
Farmers Bennie (fresh spinach, tomato) with a side of fresh fruit (not fruit cocktail) hit the spot!
Our waitress Sarah was super friendly and personable.
Thank you Sarah!!!

Its a rustic diner complete with a sticky table and plastic cups. Its right on the corner of Carlsbad village Dr. and Jefferson st. so the location kind of pulls you in. They have a few outside tables which is nice if you have a dog.
Service was really slow. These ladies were hustling and bustling but the seat your self motto just isn’t working for Sunday mornings. I sat myself and waited 5 min just to get a menu. Maybe consider having a host or putting the menus ON the table. In the 5 min a waited for a menu I could have decided. No drink order, no nothing after 10 min from sitting down.
Ordered the eggs Monterey. A scramble with bacon, green chilies, ago and cheese and come with toast or English muffin and choice of fruit, hash browns or country potatoes. I went with toast and potatoes. I like to go nuts, not healthy, for my Sunday breakfasts out!
They don’t skimp on the portions and the scramble was 3 eggs. My plate came out with hash browns instead of country potatoes. The server sent it back and a new plate was out in a few minutes.
The food was good. I wasn’t too happy about the wait or the messed up order but as a compassionate diner I realize that these people were working pretty hard and they were busy and the messed up order got fixed right away. Bumping them up from just OK to 4 stars.

Allow me to start with the good —
Easy to find, seated quickly, friendly service, real grapefruit juice. Unfortunately, that completes my list of positives.
Found myself in Carlsbad and in the mood for corned beef hash a short time after St. Patrick’s Day. I hit the internet to see who could provide for me close by. Up popped Al’s Café in the Village, mere blocks from where I was and with the menu item of «Al’s Locally Famous Hash», with two eggs and toast, for $ 6.95.
I arrived at Al’s about 9:30 to find it half full, with both indoor and outside seating. I was shown to a 2-​seat booth inside. Knowing what I wanted, I ordered without looking at the menu, the hash and a glass of grapefruit juice. I asked for my eggs to be over easy as I like to mix the runny yolk with the hash. For choice of toast, I selected an English muffin.
It took a little longer than I expected to receive my food to arrive, based on the half-​emptiness of the restaurant, but that is my opinion. I won’t fault Al’s for that. However, the hash was very disappointing for something billed as locally famous. It consisted of two ingredients, the oil to fry it in notwithstanding: chunks of corned beef and potato. That is all. I spent a moment looking for evidence of anything else. Onions, bell peppers, even seasonings. Nada. Being in a hurry, I cut into the egg topping the dish and allowed the yolk to run. It was closer to over medium than over easy. Most of the yolk had solidified.
The English muffin was harder and drier than a teething biscuit.
As mentioned in the positives, the glass of grapefruit juice was the good, real white kind, not the pink, overly sweetened grapefruit juice cocktail pawned off by my establishments.
When I went to settle up, I was given a bill for $ 12.66. Confused but in a hurry, I simply paid and departed.
I looked at a couple of things prior to writing this review.
Firstly, I Googled and read no fewer than 20 recipes for corned beef hash, with authors such as Alton Brown and Emeril, and from websites like Food Network, Bön Appétit, and Epicurious. Not once did I find a recipe for fried chopped corned beef and potatoes alone. All had at least onions added, and most had additional ingredients to include seasoning.
Secondly, I double checked the website for Al’s Café in the Village, previously provided above. It lists the hash at $ 6.95. Al’s own website. The menu link here on Unilocal has the same item at $ 8.50. However, with my ticket total of $ 12.66, none of these prices work out.
In hindsight, I wish I had stopped a few blocks west and had the chorizo hash at Señor Grubby’s.

Very good breakfast find in the Village!
Parking was easy, menu’s big, and the service was friendly. It’s a very casual, almost classic diner-​y place. They appear to have lots of regulars since the waitress welcomed at least 3 other parties who seem to visit frequently.
Though it was breakfast, I opted for the tuna melt with fruit from the lunch menu. It was really good — not too much mayonnaise and on the drier side (in a good way!) The bread similarly wasn’t too greasy and tasted great. The melt’s also quite big and enough to share between 2 people.
Al’s also has fast WiFi, which is very convenient. I’ll definitely be back to explore more of the menu.

I came here a few times for a promotion. Al is a great guy and he cares about his business and his customers. Unfortunately, this place is not for foodies. I have ordered a few things off the menu, and most of the food was disappointing. The beef stew was pretty good, though.
They sell fudge either for dessert or on the side — they also sell it at local farmers’ markets. The fudge is amazing and probably the best fudge I have ever had. There are lots of different flavors and you can get 3 chunky pieces for $ 10, including tax. A great deal. Ask for samples if you are apprehensive.
The staff is also very friendly.
I would stop by and order the fudge if I ever craved it.