Johnny’s Rutherford Cafe

So many good choices and the food is always delicious! I’ve had their breakfast burrito several times and the salmon plate is my favorite. Their salsa is one of the best, it’s full of garlic and actually has flavor and spice. Love this place!

MANY choices. GREAT customer service. FAST delivery. AWESOME staff. Our company and members have made many delivery purchases from here, and each time it’s delicious! Especially the convenience of being right down the street, it’s our go-​to lunch spot!

Great sandwiches, been here a few times and always has a good sandwich. I docked a star because the soups. They were very filling but underwhelming. We didn’t feel satisfied. If they are using their own home made broth they need to boil it longer and use more bones.

Great service and great food! Everyone who works there is awesome. Great place or breakfast or lunch

Great lunch destination! We found this small café by chance by looking for sandwich shops. They had a very large diverse selection of any kind of sandwich you could think of and they didn’t mind making any substitutions or changes. The lady that took our order was excellent! She was friendly and helpful even to my difficult picky daughter. I would highly recommend them!

For the price their food is not worth it. I have given this place several chances and am finally done giving it a try. I just paid almost $ 6 for a breakfast burrito that was hard as a rock. It hurt my teeth to bite into it. When I unrolled the burrito nearly half of the tortilla was so hard I could not even tear it. They also charge a fee to pay with a card but do not forewarn you or have any signs that I could see informing you of this charge. The first two times I visited, my orders were completely wrong and I didn’t have time to go back to get them corrected because I was on my break. Two stars ONLY because the French dip is decent, but Overall I wouldn’t recommend this place.

Still bad-​Decided to give it another shot. All his prices went up and amount of their food decreased. I can accept a price hike, but one slice of meat on some bread is a sandwich now? A teaspoon of avocado is $ 1? My client and I waited 40 minutes for our food yesterday. It wasn’t busy. I was embarrassed to bring him there. This place just needs to shut down already.

Friendly and fast service. Across the street from my work place, it’s convenient for grabbing a sandwich.
It can pretty busy for the lunch hour so I recommend calling in your order or heading there either before or after the 12 to 1 pm lunch rush.

I came in here even though it was a bit out of the way in an industrialized area as you will find a lot of mom and pop deli’s but this one is different. The owner himself will help take your order, tell you whats best and even offered us a shot of his juice which was excellent. Plenty of seating, super clean and over 50 different types of sandwiches to choose from, both vegetarian and carnivores have equal amount of choices which is always a plus. I also got a few of the homemade baked cookies and they were almost as good as mine! ;)

I Love this place! Thanks Johnny!

I work in Carlsbad so good lunch deliveries are a must, and very hard to come by. When I tried Johnny’s I was excited to have found a great place that wasn’t too pricey. Unfortunately, I was wrong in a few ways.
I have eaten food from here about 10 times and have eaten in only once. I have nothing negative to say about the store because its a small café in an industrial park, what are you gonna do with that?
I’ve been enjoying trying new sandwiches and even managed to ignore the extremely unprofessional manner on the phone such as telling me to hold on in the middle of my order while they giggle and talk, wasting my time to finish some joke they began before I called?
No, my issue is with the lack of any sort of consumer happiness. I suppose their business model is «we make sandwiches, if you don’t like it, screw you»?
Today I ordered a simple sandwich and chips to get me over their $ 10 delivery minimum charge. 45 minutes after I placed my order (I work less than 2 miles from this establishment) I called again to see where I was at. The answer that was given me was «oh, our delivery driver wasn’t here yet, she just left.» Great, so now my sandwich is cold and I’m still waiting. After the 1 hr. and 15 minute mark I called again. «Oh, she forgot the credit card machine and had to turn around, she should be there any second.» I stayed on the line this time hoping to receive some sort of discount or coupon to return, nope. Just got put on hold, listened to the woman ask someone else what she should do and tell me «the boss» isn’t there so there’s nothing she could do. Then the deliver driver called the other woman in the store and I could hear her giving directions. Now the woman I am talking to says «oh, she is lost, what is your address again?» Are you kidding me? I gave you all of this an hour and a half ago.
Finally after an hour and a half, my order arrives and my nerves are fried. I am done with this place. Hey «bossman», teach your employees how to keep loyal customers and show them how to make a refund or at least offer a discount for next time.

Made my first visit today and was so happy I did. Johnny’s is exactly the lung spot I’ve been craving since our office moved to the area. Healthy, real ingredients and dairy & gluten free options! There are a few cafes in the area but none are as quality or have the options this one did. I was so happy I brought a menu back to the office. The other ladies have diet restrictions like I do and when I showed my boss she remembered Johnny’s from when she worked on the area years before. She was thrilled to be reminded and my manager left soon after to go get them both lunch. Every one was very friendly and I could tell the other patrons were regulars. Will definitely be back soon!

Great food, great price and great owner! I normally go somewhere and get the same thing over and over again, not at Johnny’s. I try a new sandwich almost every time I go there and I have never been disappointed. Best sandwiches in Carlsbad in my opinion, you gotta try it.

This place is insanely good!!! It was really hard to choose what sandwich I wanted.
So cool my boss recommended this place and got everyone lunch, everyone got different sandwiches and everyone LOVED them. I work right by California Café and they have Costco gross sandwiches for more $$ than this place.
I got the sweet&sassy sandwich #48. Yummmmm!

years ago… just out of college… i didn’t want to commit myself to any career… so i decided to work at a deli that was only open during business park hours and that kept my evenings free for fun…
Rutherford’s had recently opened and they needed someone to run the register and make deliveries to the nearby businesses. i was totally down for that!
I had my lunch here every single day…
I learned how to make smoothies too! yum…
Johnny (the owner) is a super healthy guy… all his food was healthy.
he made soups daily…
used fresh fruit for the smoothies…
sandwiches were piled high with fresh veggies!
I need to make a return trip here… it’s been too long!

The food is pretty good but the environment made me uneasy. It doesn’t seem like there is a harmonious work structure at all. That makes it awkward to try and sit and have a nice lunch. Didn’t seem like they really had their heads on straight. The staff (including the owner) had to guess who’s sandwiches were what. I get that you get busy but when there is only like 6 people in a sandwich shop, shouldn’t be too hard to remember who ordered what. But if you’re close by and for a quick bite, especially if you aren’t staying, I guess it’s alright.

working in the Carlsbad industrial park there is multiple café’s and delis. I decided to give johnny’s a shot for a week. Needless to say that twice I was treated rudely and I was made to feel rushed. The last straw was when I phoned in my order and was rudely taken care of. I just wanted to remove mayo and tomato from my sandwich and add mustard oil vinegar instead. I was met with a huge sigh of annoyance by Johnny and told «Really? You’re killing me man… can I just put the oil on the side?»
It was very offensive, and last time I checked you own a sandwich shop Bro thought that was your job… They’re lazy and have no business dealing with single orders. Its obvious the only thing they care about is large catering orders.
Food is above average, just don’t change anything about your sandwich or be prepared to be talked down to and rudely offended.

I ordered a BBQ chicken Roll (#7) and it was delicious! The guy who was taking the order (with a tattoo of a star. I think) was super nice. He came by to ask if everything was okay as he was offering me a sample of their Strawberry Banana smoothie… which was super good. I will order that next time.
Overall experience was good and it was fast! :)

Johnny’s Rutherford Café isn’t the kind of place you see from the street. To find it, you gotta be looking for it, and you need to know ahead of time it is there. There is no signage but for two window decals with maybe 8″ letters that say «CAFE» and a chalkboard sign out front that is taken inside at closing time.
I’ve been twice. On my first visit I ordered the special Lets Dance with BBQ Beef, smoked Gouda cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato. I have always loved the combo of smoked Gouda with BBQ sauce, but when I bit into my sandwich I couldn’t taste the Gouda. I also couldn’t find it. Maybe it was there hiding in the mayo or the bread, but the rock n roll looking guy behind the counter brought me another slice no questions asked. I assume that was Johnny — seemed like a good guy. A naturally charismatic small business owner.
On my 2^nd visit I had the Hot Smokin Tom, with peppered turkey, jalapeños, jack cheese and LTM on toasted sourdough. Great sandwich, although I’d have liked more cheese and peppers. I love the classic combo of turkey, jack and jalapeños, and the peppered turkey is a nice addition.
I like Johnny’s Rutherford Café. The place has a big selection and a lot of personality, thanks to the engaging owner positioned behind the counter but also found mingling amongst the regulars and newbies alike. Good place, especially if you work nearby.

Great place! Love the traditional and unique variety of cold and hot sandwiches here.
I’ve tried the
Chicken Breast Sierra — hot and tasty with a spicy kick from the jalapenos
Sweet and Sassy — definitely a sweet treat with refreshing quality
Sunshine — a good roast beef sammie with sharp horse radish cheddar cheese. Nice blend of ingredients. A meaty taste.
Fruit smoothies are also good.
Always ordered take-​out for lunch and I’ve enjoyed the items I’ve tried.
A must try! 4.5starts!