"In tyranny lies only failure. Empower every man and you will gain strength." - Robin Hood I always believed in helping the less fortunate. Be it an abandoned stray kitten or the homeless child in need of dry socks. Okay, maybe I'm being overly dramatic here, but my point is I fly by the code of Sir Robin Hood;) So what does me hanging around merry men have to do with a Cafe at a College? Culinary Cafeteria can be found on the campus of City College of San Francisco. It's easy to find just head to the cafeteria and you'll find it nestled there. Don't expect a French Café or anything like that. Do expect a cafeteria - sometimes with restaurant level food - serving to students and the public alike. There's a breakfast and lunch menu (not sure on dinner). The breakfast tends to be the basics like Omelette Combo, French Toast, Waffles, Scrambled Eggs combo, Bagels, Muffins, Pastries, Fruit cups, Hot Cereal, etc. The lunch is the Entrée of the day, usually some sort of Pasta, Hamburgers, Salads, etc. Fountain drinks and Coffee beverages offered too. Dessert options are day to day. On my latest visit I ordered the Entrée of the day which was Beef Stew. I chose cooked Spinach and Garlic Mashed Potatoes as my sides. I wasn't exactly blown away by my choice, nonetheless I ate every morsel on my Melamine plate lol. I've been here at least a dozen times over the years and never had any major complaints. Besides where can you get an Omelette combo for under $7? In the end, I wouldn't go out of my way to get to Culinary Cafeteria, but if you're in the Ingleside District by all means give it a try. Don't expect fancy, do expect a decent hot meal at a bargain price! So what's up w/ my Robin Hood mantra? The Culinary Cafeteria supports the Culinary program of City College of San Francisco. I might not be robbing from the Queens, but hey I feel good helping the community. It's all about giving back... read more

Culinary Cafeteria - Supporting Culinary School Lunch before my long flight. See you over the pond, lovers... - New American Near Me - San Francisco, California

I love the concept! Why not have a culinary cafeteria where student chefs can learn and serve their food! Not to mention, this brings the price down and offers great value for students, staff, and others. I fall under the other's category because I happened to have a nearby meeting with a client and thought it would be a good idea to grab something quick to eat for lunch. I wasn't disappointed one bit. Today's special was pork loin with tarragon green beans and mashed potato. It was delicious and packed with flavor. In addition, a side of baguette comes with the meal. The bread was SO.DAMN.GOOD. It reminded me of something that you would buy at Panera's. Would I come back again? I say YASSSSS! It's only $8 for a home cooked meal that would probably cost you $12 elsewhere. read more

Culinary Cafeteria - New American Near Me - San Francisco, California

The prices have increased, and they're using the rise in egg prices as an excuse. However, the quality of the food has significantly declined. Their sandwiches were great last semester, but this semester, they're disappointing. It's clear they're putting in less effort when assembling them. Instead of their usual in-house ciabatta bread, they've switched to cheap supermarket white bread. The amount of meat in the sandwiches has also decreased, with very little filling. It feels like they've raised the prices without improving the overall experience. read more

All the food here are made from scratch. Why? Because this restaurant is run my city college students. Here, they need to learn how to make everything from scratch in order to graduate and work in an actual restaurant or hotel and what not. They have breakfast lunch and dinner times open from a certain time period so get here on time. Many of the foods here are good like the burrito :) Although the chicken wings are good, they are quite expensive and really really small. Lots of seats around but may be noisy. If you're a city college student, come on down and check out the food culinary students made! read more

Culinary Cafeteria - Halfway done. Yummy! - New American Near Me - San Francisco, California

See all

Since I work on the CCSF campus, I eat lunch here almost every Monday, and I have to say this student run cafeteria is a unexpected treat. A entree with two sides is only about $7. The food always is tasty and the veggies always fresh and flavorful. Today I had Veal cutlet w/roasted cauliflower and sautéed zucchini, and it was delicious. Obviously this isn't a place you go for presentation or refinement, but it's a great for a solid affordable meal. read more

Culinary Cafeteria - Veal cutlet w/roasted cauliflower and sautéed zucchini - New American Near Me - San Francisco, California

I love the CCSF Culinary Cafeteria, and I try to go every chance I get for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Quality of ingredients they use, flavor-wise and price-wise - you can't beat it. I had breakfast sandwiches, jook, pork belly steamed buns, shrimp tacos, salmon and rice, hamburgers, all sorts of bread and pastries, and their coffee is yum. It is only when the regular school semesters are in session (not summer), so catch it while you can. read more

It's American style food and always something new each week. The price ranges from only $3-6 dollars for a plate of food depending on what you get and in all honesty, it's the same price for the amount of food you get here then over at the MickyD's two blocks away. The food here is made fresh everyday and having the convenience of not actually having to leave campus to grab more expensive food on my break is a plus! You can also checkout the No Name Noodle Bar on the other side of the cafeteria if your not diggin' the whole American food. read more

This is a hidden gem. We are visiting SF and staying near City College. Our first three days we had great breakfasts but spent almost $50/ meal. We decided to try the Culinary Cafeteria since it was near the bus stop we needed. The food was delicious and very reasonable. Most days we fed our family of three for under $20!! We wanted to try lunch or dinner but we're always out and about when they were serving those meals. read more

Culinary Cafeteria - New American Near Me - San Francisco, California

See all

DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO CCSF STUDENTS If you don't go to the school, you aren't going to round up the crew and head out to the CCSF cafeteria, though the food is sometimes good enough to warrant that. You may be asking, "WTF are you talking about, Garrett?" I can explain. The CCSF cafeteria is run by the culinary school (o rly?) YA RLY! This means that you get high quality food at a very low price. EXAMPLES: -Artichoke and Leek Bread Pudding on a Bed of Mixed Greens with Lime Vinaigrette - $5.65 -Sorrowful Rice: Tearful Rice with Marinated BBQ Pork, Chinese Broccoli Greens and a Sunny Side Egg - $5.25 -Garlic Sauteed Shrimp with Chile Avocado Sauce over Rice - $5.75 also, their deserts are awesome, they have a much greater selection than I have illustrated here and you get free bread with your meal. because the cooks are learning, I have been told that the food is better at the end of the year. they keep weird hours too, lunch and dinner, but dinner is really early and there is a break in between meals where they are closed for a couple hours. read more

When I took evening classes, this used to be my go-to spot for an early dinner. The food was great and the prices reasonable. Although the prices have gone up (to be expected) the quality has dropped. Even if student-prepared, some days one wonders how the supervising staff allowed this stuff to be served. Much of it borders on inedible. I do have recent dietary restrictions (lactose) that preclude me from eating a lot of what is prepared so perhaps I shouldn't judge, but sometimes it's a pain to ask if something has milk and the servers have no idea. Much of what I could eat is overcooked and improperly seasoned. Perhaps the first shift does a better job but I'm going to avoid this place until things improve. read more

This place has by far the best college cafeteria food I have ever eaten. They have freshly baked pastries and bread everyday (crispy in the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside) and their prices are incredible considering the quality of the food. My favorite food they serve is their soup, because they always offer at least one vegan/vegetarian option and they taste amazing! They get really creative with the foods they serve. I bring lunch to school everyday, but I oftentimes buy an entree anyways because I can't resist. Yep, their food is THAT good. read more

Taste Buds. Also could be called Unhealthy Buds. Another alternative is This Is Why America Is Getting Fatter Buds. The consistent response to my asking for egg whites, turkey burgers, veggies burgers or grilled chicken - no. But I could have had my fill of cheeseburgers, sausage, creamy scallops and a few other not so healthy options. I realize I'm less tolerant than most, but come on. Not a single healthy option? Ridiculous. It took one of the cooks going to the back to find some turkey to make me a panini and fortunately he got the theme of my questions and asked if I wanted butter on the bread. Absolutely not. And so much for a cheaper price to get it a la carte. Apparently french fries are the default whether you want them or not. Second star is for the lady at the register who OK'd a piece of fruit instead. My arteries thank you. As you can tell from my previous yelp, City Room next door is a much, much better option. read more

The Noodle Bar has been really successful this year. I've gone there 3 times this week. You can order various asian dishes for around $5, and can upgrade to a meal for $2.50 more. The meal gets you a drink, and half order of delicious honey almond chicken wings. The sauce on the wings is so good, I usually pour the rest on whatever dish I get. Favorite dishes are the broccoli beef with noodles, and the chicken fried rice. I hear next semester they'll have Latin cuisine in that section. Looking forward to it, but will miss the noodle bar. =( On the other side of the cafeteria, the carving station always has a good variety of meats. Next to the carving station they offer about 4 different sides, and sometimes chicken. You can buy bulk salads in the cafeteria, and they let you mix and match. They usually have about 4 or 5 different choices. $2.65 for a small, 3 something for a large. These are cold salads. I like this one they make that has corn with ranch dressing =) I mix it with the tuna salad. Makes for a nice veggie lunch, if you're veggie. Down from the carving station they have a station where there's always a pasta of the day. Usually around $5, and they normally have veggie options. I loove when they make the bacon penne with alfredo and mushrooms. The sandwich station that comes next is almost always very good, but you have to catch them early. Many times they run out of their dish, and they shut down after that. Last time it was pulled pork sandwiches on a sweet Hawaiian roll served with coleslaw (the person in front of me got the last one). I've had nutella with strawberries and/or bananas which is not nearly as substantial, but very tasty. They make panini's here with different combinations daily for around $5. They also have two choices of soup everyday, one usually veggie. The desserts are usually reeally good and inexpensive too. They normally have about 2 or 3 different delicious desserts for around $2. read more

Excellent amazing food, tons of variety, decently priced! Puts Laney College's Culinary program to absolute shame! They are opening an experimental restaurant this semester called the "No Name" Noodle Bar, even cheaper, food prepped by the 2nd semester students and cooked up by the 3rd sem students. I eat here twice a day sometimes, the other food on campus (outside the cafeteria) is overpriced greasy trash. read more

I was skeptical at first. Given how disgusting the other food place is on CCSF campus. Yet I took one bite of the Mediterranean wrap and I wet myself. I highly recommend it. Fast service as well. read more

A friend is checking out City College where I attended in the early 80s. What I remember best about CCSF (besides Dr. Susan Rouder, polys sci genius) is the great cafeteria they had as part of a culinary arts program. Nostalgia led me to see if it was still open and I am happy as pie to say it is. Though they limit hours i.e. 5-6:30 for dinner. They have beautiful meals for very affordable prices. The article posted says it all "Gourmet food at reasonable prices..." See the review posted below for more information. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/16/WBGGBG6B1O1.DTL read more

Culinary students working really hard making good food. The girls should be wearing the hair up more, I see a lot of hats with long hair hanging out the back. Not sure if all that exposed hair is good in the kitchen. read more

Affordable and generally an okay place to grab a meal on campus. My only criticism would be the eggs at breakfast; there is always a puddle of butter/oil underneath, enough to soak 3 napkins. We are known for incorporating healthier and locally sourced options, and so I hope that the culinary dept continues to hold true to this! read more

Culinary Cafeteria - One side order of the breakfast scramble. Good, but literally a pool of butter/oil collecting on the bottom of the plate. - New American Near Me - San Francisco, California

I love going to this cafe! I swear the foods are as good as other restaurants They also offer good deals Like I think 1 entree and 1 side would be $5-6 and the portion is a lott I really love their cheesecake and I guess its only like $2.5 Oh yea and the staffs are friendly . 5 stars! :) read more

Great chow place for bfast through dinner. Plus, the prices are affordable. Average price is $6-7 which is pretty good for SF considering it is a culinary type outing. read more

See all

The cafeteria food at school is OK.. I don't understand how can people give more stars for amateur cooking than what most restaurants get. The portions they give you doesn't add up to the amount they charge you. Student pricing? Nah. $5.75 for a piece of chicken and some potatoes? Serious? Or get this, $6.00 for a cheeseburger and some frozen fries.. I can go to In-N-Out for a better meal + a drink. If you plan on getting full before class, don't go here if you don't want a small portion meal that is charged for profit. read more

So I have been going to school at CCSF for about 3 years now and every semester I get stuck with a schedule that has me at the Ocean Campus for 12 hours. After my class from 1pm-5pm I have an hour break before my 6pm-9pm class begins. All semester I had been looking for a decent place around campus that I could get a good hot dinner for a good college student price. And trust me, there are a few places around CCSF that you can get some really good food at, but I guarantee to you that you will not find the same hugh quality food for the same low price that the City College of San Francisco Culinary Cafeteria offers every evening from 5:00pm-6:30pm. After class ended this past Thursday, one of my friends from class suggested we eat at the Culinary Cafeteria which is just on the other side of campus. We were all sketched out about it...but we didn't have too much time before our next class started and it was already getting dark, so the closer the better was more of our thought process. She told us that the dinner there was a full on meal with a protein, veggie, and starch all for $6!!! What?!?!?!? $6??? Are you sure? Either way, we followed here past the Lunch Box and pass the Library to the Culinary Cafeteria and when we walked into the cafeteria (which was heated and warm, not freezing like outside in the Ocean Winds) we saw people eating steak! What?!?!?!? Steak!!! So when we got in line to see what the dinner special was for the night we were super stoked! Steak with a Bearnaise Sauce, Potato Frites, Brocolli, and a roll all for $6!!! We also added a drink for 80 cents and dessert...I got a mini pumpkin pie ($2) and my classmate got a Pineapple Cake with whipped cream ($2). Not only did the food look good, it tasted good. The steak had a good grilled flavor and wasn't burnt or dried out, the Bearnaise was AMAZING, the brocolli was as good as you can make brocolli, the roll was a nice treat, and dessert was tasty and so fitting of the season! AND ringing in at a total of $8.80!!! I wondered to myself, in this recession...why aren't more people eating here. But then I thought about how huge the cafeteria is and how many people were there...and it was quite a few. So if you have night class at CCSF or live near CCSF or just want a gourmet meal for a not so gourmet price...go to the Culinary Cafeteria at CCSF (between the Student Life Center and the book store - it's closer to the Ocean Street side) ! It will totally be worth it! Shoot...I'm planning on going there the rest of the semester on Tuesday and Thursday nights until they close for finals. And I already can't wait till next semester (I hear they open after a few weeks from the beginning of the semester to get the students prepared for service). But seriously...this is the best place to spend your money when you really don't wanna spend money at all!!! read more

It's extremely disappointing that there aren't more food options on or near campus, but that said, the CCSF cafeteria is the campus' saving grace (well, that and the Pierre Coste Dining Room). The food is absolutely delicious, the selection isn't half bad, and everything's very affordable. And they take credit cards! It's something like $5.50 for an entree, a side, and a piece of bread (and another 75 cents for a second side). Sign me up! read more

Love this place. Well priced, and convenient. Huge dining hall with plenty of seats. Their food is always fresh and delicious. I love everything about this place except students in the back may seem interrupting at often times. read more

It was my first time in years going to the main campus. I was tired and saw the cafeteria closing (and heard from friends the food was delicious) so I ran inside into the serving area before they closed entirely. I got a cup of iced tea. They only had chicken and broccoli left so I took it. The chicken was sooo tender. The broccoli al dente. I also bought a plastic container with cut fruit slices (watermelon, honeydew, grapes) all refreshing. I saw some pastries and grabbed a slice of pumpkin loaf, a large snickerdoodle cookie, and lastly a baguette which was beautifully shaped like pointy ended rolls attached to each other. All for less than $20. First, everything tasted FRESH!! Everything was tasty. I was surprised about the cookie since alot of cookies are overly sweet but this one was only slightly sweet and tasted like a large slightly sweet soft cake cookie. I LOVE when cookies are not overly sweet. But I could definitely smell and taste those mild background snickerdoodle spices, again not overtaking your senses, just awakening them. I thought I could save the baguette for a week but they tasted SOOO fresh and tasty and the inner parts were so soft that I had to eat them all that day from one bus stop to another and eating them without anything even on them like butter or jam or cheese!! If this is the way the school cafeteria is now, I'm coming back often!! read more

The students have no idea how good they have it. We went for breakfast and it was amazing - try one of the scrambles, homemade sausages and crazy delicious pastries. Kudos to the program instructors - your students have serious talent. Freshest, most delicious breakfast we've had in a long time. read more

Honestly, this is the only kind of cafeteria food I wouldn't mind eating, just because it's run by the Culinary program at CCSF. I know most people would say that their food is really expensive for the portion sizes, but trust me when I say this, it's definitely enough. They do sell a lot of heavy food, so for me, two to three slices of turkey is definitely enough turkey for me. I really enjoy their dessert more than their main dishes though. They always have something delicious waiting for you, not to mention they're always presented beautifully. The best dessert I've ever had here was probably this pomegranate dessert that had (I believe it was) some kind of whipped cream with gram cracker crumbs. Super delicious! I would have gotten more, but like I said, their portions are fulfilling enough. They always have something new, as well as regulars. I really recommend students to at least come by and check it out. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday during school hours, unless stated due to holidays, etc. read more

I been coming here for a couples weeks now and the food is fresh and delicious. The pastries look amazing and dangerously delicious. Im totally for coming here versus whole foods or any other place. Good job students food is top notch. P.S THE FOOD IS PRETTY AFFORDABLE. read more

Best pastries on Ocean Avenue.. ohh when they are warm from the oven and you're supporting higher education: it feels like a good way to start a morning read more

They've opened the Cafe Med this semester. Had the Lamb kebabs and they were awesome. Tender and tasty. This bodes well for the rest of the menu. Student prepared food. Good portions. Good price. read more

The student cafeteria is delicious AND cheap! Everything is cooked fresh by students, with a daily hot menu that changes and always burritos, desserts and salads. Given the food wasteland that is CCSF, I can't see why this wouldn't be a weekly stop (daily if you can)! read more

I got a fruit salad for brkf, and only the grapes were ripe. I couldnt even eat it. There goes $4. I also dont know why there are slim to non healthy options. read more

parking? across the street and you'll have to pay for parking, unless you are disabled and have a placard, then lots of parking. if you are looking for free parking, you'll have to be the Luckiest person of the day to park on the street. I used to eat here, every morning for breakfast. it was the BEST! I don't go to the school anymore and sometimes, i'll stop by, because i'm the luckiest person on the earth that day, and park. I'll run in, order some food and CHOW DOWN. I honestly have NEVER had anything I didn't enjoy here. I don't even eat some foods...well, i don't eat certain veggies. Here? I'll eat them because its like eating at a restaurant...a high end restaurant...well the FOOD IS. Not the people or the service, or the atmosphere. I LOVE THE ATMOSPHERE THOUGH! LOL. This food is the 'Best Hidden Secret' for the Price and Taste. Thank You Students...it seems like, You're Gonna Go Far! read more