Home Café - San Francisco, CA

If you’re looking for the perfect place to get some Instagramable lattes, then Home Café is the spot. Located a short walk from the beautiful 16th Ave Tiled Steps, this is a place you need to stop by to get your caffeine and sugar fix, especially before/after walking all those tiled steps!

The exterior of the café stands in stark contrast with the interior, its muddy building walls and bland signage making it an almost easy place to miss when walking by. Not to mention, the sidewalks are littered with old gum droppings and other trash leftovers, which isn’t exactly the most alluring of surroundings. However, once you enter the cafe, trendy Edison bulbs and dainty string lights illuminate the room, enlivening the subtle white and pink walls. The area is clean and well kept, but despite the cute lighting fixtures, the space lacked a certain brightness that is accompanied with natural light. Maybe it was the overcast day that San Fran was having, but I felt like the front windows and single skylight were not enough to brighten the room.

I was warned that the café gets pretty crowded on weekends, and a crowd was exactly what my friend and I encountered when we got there. The tables were filled with college-aged students, a handful working on their laptops and others just socializing with friends. The place had Wi-Fi and outlets, something that I noticed was lacking in many Californian coffee shops… so I guess the crowd of students made sense. The ordering counter was made evident by a cute chalkboard-like menu on the pink wall. I opted for the recommended Birthday Cake Latte, also known as a rainbow vanilla latte with sprinkles.  I think next time I would have tried one of the other flavors like Red Velvet or Lavender, as those are some of my favorite flavors when it comes to desserts. Yet, I figured since it was my first time in San Fran and the only time I’d be at Home Café for my whole trip, I might as well let the basic Instagram girl in me order the rainbow latte. My friend ordered the Cookie Monster Latte, which was also known as the cookie butter latte. We also both decided to split the Cinn-ful Sugar Toast, even though we were going to brunch about an hour after ordering. Oops. The lattes were pricey, $5 without tax, but this is a relatively decent price for a latte in San Francisco.

The barista who put in our order was friendly. While I was waited for her to charge us, I found myself eyeing the Counter Culture Beans on the counter. I personally really enjoy Counter Culture beans (also East Coast coffee on the West Coast!!), so now I was definitely looking forward to getting some pretty AND tasty coffee.

By a stroke of luck, we managed to snag a table just as a couple was leaving. It took a little while for the lattes and toast to come out— which I understand, considering that they were busy and lattes like mine required some preparation. After fifteen minutes of waiting, I finally heard my name called out and saw my beautiful rainbow latte waiting on the back counter for me to pick up.

My friend and I decided to dig into the Cinn-ful toast first. It was a simple slice of brioche bread with melted cinnamon, sugar, and butter on top. Each bite was fluffy and the cinnamon topping made me forget there was even bread in my bite. The toast vanished, although afterwards I wondered if I could even finish my latte from the sugar rush I had just gotten from the food.

Unfortunately, the latte did not taste nearly as good as it looked. It was really a disappointment, since the colorful latte-leaves and sprinkles that framed the inside of the cup looked beautiful enough to be in an art museum. I almost felt bad drinking it and ruining the design, but the taste made me forget about the aesthetics quickly. There was no birthday cake aspect of it; it just tasted like a plain vanilla latte and not even a good one; It was essentially a vanilla latte with food coloring. I felt like I was drinking milk, sugar, and incredibly artificial vanilla, the kind that just tastes like corn starch and sugar. I tried my friend’s  cookie butter latte to see if it was better and if it actually tasted like cookie butter— but this also fell short. Instead, it tasted like warm cookie crisp cereal that’s been left out for a while and gotten soggy. Sound appetizing? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

I didn’t end up finishing my latte. The sugar rush was making me feel slightly sick and my appetite was going to be ruined for my later brunch.

I understand the appeal of the place: cool, trendy lattes, a nice spot to get some work done, and a relatively cozy space. But I feel like the main reason people come to this place is to take pictures of the lattes. This was very much a café made for the ‘Gram. I wonder if the aesthetic appeal of the café overshadowed the quality of the coffee they serve there, but I guess they must be doing something right if they’re getting as much business as they are.

Coffee: 1/5

Food: 3/5

Price: 2/5

Atmosphere: 4/5

Overall: 2.5/5