01 - Jim's Coffee Shop - Alameda

Jim’s Coffee Shop, 2333 Lincoln Ave., Alameda, CA., (510) 523-5368

Date of visit: June 14th, 2008

One of the things me and my girlfriend like to do is find breakfast diners on Saturdays and Sundays. It's odd, but there's not too many if you think about the bay area. We really like Ole's Waffle house, but it's always packed. This Saturday we went to Jim's Coffee Shop in Alameda. We had spotted it before with a line out the door the week before ~ what does that mean? good food.

We arrived through the back entrance. It's pretty shady in the back, it reminded me of diners along freeways between So-Cal and Arizona. But when you go inside, the place is booming. The clientele ranged from seniors enjoying the paper to punk-rockers eating pancakes, and of course there were families. This was around 1pm. The decor is retro stuff from San Francisco before the 50's. Old newspaper clippings from 1942 and old black and white photos from the 1907 earthquake can be found lining their walls. There's also a fervor about racing there, probably the owners sponsor cars for Laguna Seca raceway.

The food is good. I had the linguisa and eggs (x3) and was stuffed. Their portions are large, and quite cheap for what it is. The coffee is nothing to rave about, but service for it is spectacular. I think it's a great place for a morning conversation. She had a waffle, eggs, and bacon. She said the bacon was crispy and tasty, which made the trip worthwhile, "Good Breakfast find" was what she called it. And that's what it is.

Yelp's two cents