The Grove- great for eating, studying, and people watching!

The Grove is an eclectic café on Fillmore Street, in San Francisco. If you do not know much about San Francisco, Fillmore Street is where you go if you are— about 30 years old, trendy, and (probably) wealthy. The boutiques, restaurants, bars, and specialty shops are all high-end; or at least they act as if they are.

The Grove is no different. The food at The Grove covers quite a range. The breakfast options are delightful. A few of the delicious bagel combinations include: Raul’s Bagel (scrambled eggs, melted American cheese, and thick-sliced bacon), Derek’s Bagel (hummus, avocado, sprouts, red onion, and tomato), and The New Yorker Bagel (smoked salmon, cream cheese, and sliced red onions). The bagels however, pale in comparison to the rest of the Grove’s extensive menu. Other breakfast options include—granola, oatmeal, French toast, breakfast burrito, waffles, and crab cakes. If you are more of a lunch person, the Grove offers hot pressed sandwich platters, salads, and a full entrée menu. For example, the Berkeley Bowl is an amazing (and huge) salad that features sweet tomatoes, carrots, English cucumbers, red onions, ripe avocado, roasted peppers, alfalfa sprouts, and garbanzo beans with homemade ranch dressing.

Although the menu has endless options for any craving at any time of the day, it is not the food that keeps the Grove packed from open to close. Looking around the café, food is not what covers the tables—it is laptops, books, and briefcases. It seems like since the invention of laptops and wireless Internet access, people have started to leave the comfort of their homes and head to a café or anywhere else they can find. I know getting out of the house to do work, helps me focus much more on the task at hand, instead of the dishes, laundry, and even the television. The Grove’s laid back atmosphere makes it easy to study and get loads of work done. They have an ample amount of outlets to plug in laptops, and they offer an Internet service with daily or monthly rate options. Most importantly, no one will hassle you if you sit and do work for endless hours and only order a white chocolate mocha.

The Grove opens early and closes late. I love this place. It has everything I need—a ‘homey’ feel, Internet access, and great food. Just a warning…the Grove is no secret so it tends to get really packed. But hey, who doesn’t love a little people watching?