San Francisco - How much to expect to pay for breakfast
 

Hello,

Considering stay at the Hyatt Regency, 5 Embarcadero Center - Continental breakfast is an additional $20.00. Is this a good deal? Don512 did you get the breakfast when you stayed at this hotel?

What can we expect to pay for breakfast in San Francisco? DH likes to have the full American breakfast (is that what you call it) eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, toast, coffee when on holiday.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Sandy

$20.00 for Continental breakfast! NO IT IS NOT a good deal. Take DH out on the town, mingle, see SF and get breakfast.

No, it's not a good deal, it's a tourist or business person ripoff price.

You are pretty far away from most places that would be serving breakfast, as your area is in the fringe tourist area.

I'd try and check the area out first. You can pay very little to a lot, just like any other city. Don't expect to find a chain restaurant nearby.

The one thing that you are close to, that is great, is the Farmer's Market and restaurants at the Ferry Building. http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/

You might consider a hotel on / near Union Square, sort of the heart of the shopping district in SF. Lots of breakfast choices there. Try Sears Fine Food on Powell (cash only) for a pretty good breakfast. The line up the street is an indicator.

sobolik and Rastaguytoday - thanks very much. We are not fully committed to this hotel.

Also considering Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf, White Swan Inn and Chancellor hotel on Powell.

Any thoughts on these? I do have another thread going on hotels but so far no one has replied. I didn't have a very good heading, so that may be the problem.

For some reason I am having a difficult time putting together our San Francisco holiday, can't quite work out if we can walk places or will need to use the public transport or combination of both.

Sandy

I checked out The Chancellor Hotel on a recent visit to SFO, and was impressed with it. It is not high-end, but it is definitely well-situated and well-run. Check out the reviews on tripadvisor.

GerdaFaust:

Thank you - just read many of the reviews on tripadvisor. Am I correct in assuming that the rooms only have a bed and maybe a desk with a chair. No actual other seating?

This hotel does have a very low rate but prefer a room with at least one easy chair.

I look forward to your comments.

Sandy

Also, I think you are close to Red's Java House. A lot cheaper than $20.-. Yes, ITA with the Ferry building options also.

Suggest you call the hotel directly, as I did not stay there, but simply toured the place and visited one room to check it out. Looked OK to me.

For your conventional, American-style breakfast, I'd suggest checking for Mel's Drive-In, or Lori's Diner.

Each chain has 3 or 4 locations in the City. The Cow Hollow Motor Inn, out on Lombard has a Mel's right across the street. And I believe there's a Lori's in the Union Square area.

The Ferry Terminal location, while a superb, great food emporium, doesn't have much home-cooking food. I was there one Saturday morning, hunting for a conventional sausage-&-egg (or bacon) sandwich, finally found one offering an egg and apple-smoked bacon sandwich. Bought it, bit, and almost gagged--the bacon was extremely fatty and barely-cooked. I skipped breakfast that day....

I like, Mel's, don't care much for Lori's Diner. Dottie's True Blue, and David's Deli both near Union Square have better breakfast IMO. Oh, and I ask for bacon cooked crispy and inspect it to make sure it's done. Red's Java House does a good job with a breakfast sandwich.

If you are in San Francisco on a Wed. night, you might like to go to the Top of the Mark Hopkins hotel and hear LaVay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers...live big band, they play jazz and swing and there are usually several swing dancing couples in vintage clothes dancing. The view is great and its a fun thing to do.
I'd stay around Union Sq. if I were you. So much more convenient.

I would keep your hotel. It is in a good location, convenient to all of the public transportation. There has to be a place for a conventional breakfast. I am sure I saw at least one in Embcadero Center. If not, hop on BART, go one stop to Powell, and walk two blocks to Union Square. There is a Lori's one block up from that, and you will pass the lines for Sears Fine Foods. Or, turn left two blocks earlier and go one block to Max's. Rather upscale, but cater corner from that is the Pine Cone, a very small place with good conventional breakfasts. There is also another Lori's down Mason from there, but we have had sloppy service there, and don't go back.

I had the "full American breakfast" as you call it (we don't, but we know what you mean) at the Hyatt Regency, room service, and it was not at all worth the $20 I paid.

The Hyatt Regency Embarcadero is a fine hotel with a very interesting architecture from the inside, it's built around a huge open interior atrium extending almost the entire height of the building, which is a three sided semi-pyramid. Like Hagia Sophia, it is to be seen from the inside, the outside is nondescript.

I would never discourage anyone from staying there, and I would encourage anyone to visit there while in the city, but I would not have breakfast there.

There will be many small places offering breakfast around the hotel. $20 is too much. What do they feed people there? Caviar?

At a neighborhood diner (like Lori's lorisdiner.com) you can expect to pay about $10 for basic full "American breakfast" - coffee, eggs, bacon, potatoes. Add a couple bucks for OJ and tip and it'll cost you $12-13 each.

Hello everyone:

Lori's diner looks fabulous - absolutely must try. Great suggestions from one and all.

We have decided to pull the trigger and go with the Hyatt Regency.

I am so excited to be going to San Francisco.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Sandy