Nutmeg Bakery and Cafe

Today was my first visit ever to Nutmeg. My friend suggested it for an afternoon lunch. Being a vegetarian, I found a lot of healthy and tantalizing options. I decided to go with the Southwestern Salad. Even though the place was busy we were able to find a seat right away. Food didn’t take too long to come out. The salad definitely tasted better then it looked. A ¹⁄₃ of the way thorough my salad, I found a small piece of ham. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it so I let it go. But then half way through I found another piece of ham which did make me upset. So I informed one of the staff and he kindly took it back and offered to bring out a new one.
The owner brought out the new plate of salad and made sure everything was to my liking, which I greatly appreciated. But I was bothered by the excuse he made. Something about the onions and ham being next to each other in the prep area and new staff training. Well then fix it, I am just here to eat the food. *smile*
Regardless of the incident, which was an obvious mistake and later corrected, I’ll be back for sure.
So many other things to try on the menu, breakfast, panini and baked good. :)

Nice ambience. Good food an quality ingredients. The AM panini is filling; the Mexican mocha is good, too. Free WiFi also. This place needs to open earlier, especially on weekdays.

Everything was delicious! It’s very cute inside. There’s a patio outside that is pet friendly as well.

I know many folks love this place. Tjhis venue gets too crowded (especially weekends) and food was pricey. Got several baked goods to take home and try and most of them were dry. Portions were big, but I prefer quality over quantity.
If you visit during the weekends, the earlier you get here the better — there will be more baked goodies to choose from since they do run out. I do love that they get adventurous with their use of herbs. Love lavender on baked everything.

Came here for lunch /​brunch this past Sunday — had an excellent meal consisting of their egg and sausage scramble (homemade sausage!), biscuit, and a kouign amaan to go along with it. Everything tasted fresh and homemade — the eggs were fluffy and the sausage was delicious. The agua fresca for the day was a cantaloupe and grapefruit, which was also great! Probably one of the best brunch meals I’ve had in SD. Cost is on the average to high side, but happy to pay for quality.

I will never come here again. The owner is in the habit of checking in with some people by touching them on their shoulders and arms whilst asking how their food is. I don’t appreciate it. It continues to happen. I’ve said not to. It continued.
I originally had a longer update, but the owner’s wife was very upset by it, and the owner and I had a discussion via messaging here, and although I owe him absolutely no favors, I’m changing my review. The substance of my original update is still here, but it’s a lot shorter.
The food is good, but not good enough, in my opinion, to receive unwanted touching. I know this important to some people so wanted to make it clear to those people that this has occurred 4 times on 3 different occasions.

Been here a few times now and it always delivers a great overall brunch experience. Their brunch menu changes regularly which is great cause you get to try whatever is in season which generally means fresh and better quality foods.
They also have a nice espresso bar to cater to almost any coffee or tea drink you can imagine. A couple of fyi’s though — come early cause they get busy and if you come with a party might be a good idea to have someone grab a table while you’re waiting in line to order.
It’s also commendable that the chef comes around and checks on each table every time we’ve been here. This is definitely a brunch spot that will be in our list of frequently visited restaurants.

Cute place to get some yummy brunch of the weekends! Highly recommend the pork belly breakfast and lavender mocha. Good place to eat a big meal or just get a coffee and chill. Lots of families with young children on the weekends. Big parking lot is a nice bonus!

Five stars for weekday breakfast.
Here are your choices for a local breakfast at 9a on a Monday: Champagne Bakery, Broken Yoke, IHOP, Culley’s. And then there’s Nutmeg. By way of comparison, Nutmeg is an order of magnitude better. Because they freakin’ make stuff in-​house.
Let’s start with the eggs. Nutmeg uses Eben-​Haezer eggs — the best local eggs you can get. Firm orangey yokes that sit up proud. The potatoes: crispy outside, soft inside. Frying makes them delicious. Now the bakery items: including house-​made croissants that rival anything I’ve had in San Diego. The thick-​cut bacon is good and the home-​made pork sausage though fresh, has too much something — sage? — for my taste. The coffee is super good — not bitter — and unlike many other reviews, I find the staff to be friendly, helpful, happy, and attentive.
Lines are long, and slow, but so what. The tables are cleared off quickly, so there’s typically a place to sit.
To all you reviewers who have given less than 3 stars for breakfast service: shame on you. You’ve got to put everything into perspective: Nutmeg uses expensive ingredients, employs honest-​to-​goodness bakers, and cares about what it serves. This isn’t a Sysco-​driven food-​mill. It’s a labor of love.

Excellent food, reasonable prices. Went in for brunch. Only complaint is their limited selection on weekends. Need more variety.
Lavender mocha was DEEEEECLICIOUSSSS

Not good for any party larger than 6. They only have 1 table to accommodate which is a 1hr wait if a party as large is there before you get on the list. Didn’t get to try the food due to the wait so we left and went to Broken Yolk to get my platoon for family ready to eat as they were so hungry they could eat a horse.
However, due to the wait I ordered a lavender mocha with almond milk and a «everything cookie» were delicious. Eater beware that on weekends they also have specific menu items so if you see something you want it may not be on the menu that weekend. That was definitely a downfall.

This place is great. The lines and wait is a bit long. They have a great French Toast. My kids ate is all up, but the best of all was the cinnamon bun. Make sure to get is warmed up. It was nice and moist with good amount for frosting. I definitely would come back to get more of the cinnamon bum and to try some other items on the menu.

Another review that has regrettably slipped through the cracks for me but fortunately Nutmeg bakery and café gets its props! I’ve been here a handful of times now and it has become one of my favorite spontaneous weekend brunch places. The place itself isn’t too large but there is an ok amount of seating, especially since they patio has been improved. You will find a line at times on the weekend and the parking lot will be dominated by patrons of this place but it’s good. They have a regular menu for the weekdays but for the weekend it seems they change it up so there’s something to look forward to and try. The salmon benedict and steak quesadilla I’ve gotten the last two times I’ve been here have been delicious. Especially the benedict. Bring it back as a regular!

Good food but it seems to take a while for the food to come out (at least 20 minutes after waiting in a ~10 minute line to order). The breakfast burrito was yummy with a delicate taste, even though it had kale in it. The turkey panini with smoked Gouda was also delicious. By the time I got to the strawberry french toast it was already soggy, so not sure if it was good when it came out fresh. It does seem to be a popular dish though.
Also I noticed they have a much larger selection of sandwiches to choose from during the weekdays, but the weekend menu is limited to a few items.

Suggested highly by a good friend for its good breakfast food and brunch, I had to give Nutmeg Café a try. Located in a shopping center, there is plenty of parking near by so you won’t have search far. You order your food first and then have the option of self seating inside as well as outside. They also take reservations if you call in advance.
For breakfast I choose the two egg platter. It came with two eggs any style, home fries, thick cut bacon, toast and fruit. As for my drink I had the fresh watermelon lemonade.

Was excited to try this place because of all the other Unilocal reviews. Line was out the door with limited stuff to choose from.
My sisters were waiting in line and I found a spot for us to sit. While I was sitting a random blonde girl walked up to me and said «are you sitting here? You can’t reserve seats!» I’m like my sisters in line and paying and she walked off all pissed. I’m sorry you can’t find a spot to sit but don’t take your anger out on me!
Our food took 20 mins to come out and they messed up on our order. They brought out the vegan plate and we didn’t order it so they brought out my two egg breakfast and it had NO toast so I asked for it. guess which toast they gave me? The toast from the wrong order vegan plate that they brought out earlier! I saw scrambled eggs on the toast! Really? You couldn’t get me new toast? Horrible!
Food is extra salty and expensive. Not worth it!

This place has been flying under my radar and it wasn’t until DH asked me if I’ve heard of Nutmeg! Where was I all this time??! We decided to check this place out this past weekend.
Order from the cashier up front and sit wherever you’re comfortable. They’ll bring the food to you. I see this place very popular to students or someone who just wants to get away for a bit to do some work while having some awesome food and drinks.
Anyways, we ended up getting a cranberry orange scone, mango-​papaya stuffed french toast, honeydew strawberry agua fresca and mexican mocha. Everything was really good. We had the scone warmed up and then paired with some butter, it’s pretty awesome! The french toast was served with 2 perfectly crisped honey cured bacon that’s just out of this world. The agua fresca and mexican mocha was pretty bomb too!
I would love to go back and try their paninis and whatever agua fresca they have on rotation. Their weekend menu is smaller but I’m sure you’ll find something awesome.

I remember when this place first opened up & it was just a small restaurant. But wow, it has become so popular that they had expanded it!
I came in during lunch this past Tuesday not knowing how popular this place had become & the line was out the door! I decided to venture away from my go to sandwich, Smokey Tom, & tried the
Capri Panini, served with chips = Roasted chicken, pesto, sundried tomato spread, mozzarella — Yikes! For how much sauce this panini states it has, it was pretty dry. The sundried tomato spread was actually overwhelming. The chicken was dry. Some of the chips were burnt. I was sad! This place used to be amazing but then again I have not been here for years. I will definitely come back to get the Smokey Tom & believe that the quality of food may have been contributed to the lunch rush but still… Quality should always be consistent!
Chocolate Chip Cookie — Phew, at least this was still good! Still one of the best cookies I have ever had! The dough is lightly sweet & the cookie is puffy.
Cantaloupe Lemonade — Very light & lightly sweetened.
Customer service was a little off. I would ask for help, lock eyes with a worker, then the worker would ignore me. It happened several times which was annoying…

I came here often since I work nearby and it’s a real treat.
My favorite is their Tres Quesos Panini, hold the tomatoes. Brie, sharp cheddar, and provolone make a gooey concoction. Add to that caramelized onions, sautéed spinach and jalapeños to make it perfect! No real need to worry about spice. The jalapeños just add a tiny bit of quick to the Panini. The home-​made baked chips are addicting! The nice cracked pepper looks beautiful on top. I really couldn’t stop eating them despite me saying that I would save some for later. It might be a little crammed during lunch hour but it is worth the wait. Line moves fast and all of their staff is always there to help out if you need anything extra.

I might’ve found another café that I can add to my top 5 for best breakfast burritos. To bad it’s all the way in So Cal. I’ll be out there again hehehe!
S E R V I C E:
Service was excellent, you can tell the manager takes pride in running this establishment. Not only did he stop by our table, to make sure everything was good. But he also stopped at other customers tables as well which I never seen before. Service at other establishments are never this good, but that’s what you get when you don’t support local and smaller café shops.
F O O D:
I ordered the breakfast burrito with the spinach tortilla and organic eggs. What a mouth watery sensation, top 5 breakfast burritos I’ve had in a while and breakfast burritos are my go to when go out to restaurants. The burrito was very moist, with some really good flavor too it, the spinach tortilla held up everything on the inside very nicely. No food was spilling out, which is really good!
All in All, I think everyone should go support this local café if you’re in San Diego, or ever is in San Diego make a stop to Nutmeg Café!