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Cafe Flore Castro

If you find yourself in the Castro on a warm sunny day, head over to Cafe Flore. This coffee shop/restaurant and bar has a nice outside seating area. They have the largest number of tables outside of any place in the Castro. Even with the large number, the tables can fill up fast. Make sure you pay attention to the tables shown in this picture right outside the window, this part of the patio is hard to see and easy to pass up. Often times when the other tables are full there are empty seats in this long strip, many people don’t see it and pass it up.

The coffee, tea and pastries are great, often hard to make up your mind with such a large selection. At the far end of the restaurant is the kitchen, most normal days you have to order directly from the kitchen. On weekends they offer table service. In my opinion the food has much to be desired for, lacking in creativeness and taste. The prices are rather high for the quality.

Cafe Flore has free wireless internet access, at times their wireless access point can be flaky. As of late it has been more stable than in years past. Be sure to come with a full battery on your laptop or iPad as the power outlets around the place have been disconnected. I was told by another customer that years back, guys would fight over the limited amount of outlets. So instead of fixing the issue and adding more they just shut them off. You may notice a WAP named Free Wireless Internet, when Cafe Flore’s access point gets overloaded or starts to flake you may be tempted to try this. It’s a great scam, you get free access for about 10 minutes. Then it overrides your browser with a pay to continue screen. It’s a great scam.

I find the service from the staff to be a mixed bag, sometimes they are great, other times they can be ditsy and hard to get their attention. Another down side is that they only have one bathroom, it often times has a long line.

Cafe Flore is located at 2298 Market St, intersecting Noe and 16th St. It’s right across from the Lookout, which is located on the second floor the building, Gold’s Gym and Bagdad Cafe are also just across the street. This is just one block from Castro St. There is also a paid parking garage located next door on Noe St. Be aware the parking garage closes promptly at midnight!

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