Rising Loafer Café and Bakery-Dependable lunch, fun party!

Lunch date #23: Mom's birthday August 17, 2012

Such a grand day! Mom loves to have fun on her birthday-who among us girls doesn't? Since it was her special day, I thought it would be fun to go to one of her old favorites: Rising Loafer, (428 Main Street, www.risingloaferpleasanton.com). She was delighted that we had several surprise guest diners with us: my brother Gary, Emily, Jordan, and our dear friends Kelly, Kris and Dorothy! Perfect group for a perfect birthday lunch party. I have to laugh since Mom prefers to call this restaurant "Rising Loaf", which I do suppose is more technically accurate. This was one of regular lunch spots, before we started the 'project', but I realized it had been some time since we had been there. We were all looking forward to it.

Location 5 points: Downtown with parking in the back, say no more.

Perfect lunch party

Ambiance 3.5 points. While I prefer the outdoor tables, we had a rather large party that day so we sat indoors. The overall appeal of this place is not in the décor by any means. Rather simple bakery style with several tables. Kris pointed out the packing boxes and Windex on the sideboard in the dining room. Not a high class sort of place. Mom was thinking to give the place a "3", but then we looked back to see that we gave Dean's a "3"—which should have been a "2"…oh no what to do? We decided to give Rising Loafer a 3.5.

Menu selection 4.5 points. They do a good job with choices. Many lunch and breakfast items from which to choose. The home-made bread is always an added bonus. A good variety of sandwiches and salads making the choice difficult. I went with the turkey club on oat bread and a side of potato salad. Mom chose the chicken salad on lettuce greens. Dorothy ordered the quiche and was surprised to choose the type of cheese offered; which they melted on the top—rather different!

Service 4 points. Considering this is a bakery/café we didn't expect attentive service, but the server was on the ball. He was on time to take our order, the food was served pretty quickly and he was right on hand getting refills. We were especially pleased with the little offering of a few bakery treats to honor Mom's birthday celebration.

Birthday girl!

Food 4 points. Everything was good. My sandwich was large enough to take half home and I finished off the potato salad. Everyone else felt their meals were fine. Jordan was especially happy with the Sun Chips-his favorite. Unfortunately, Mom wasn't overly thrilled with her choice—I was wondering why she chose the chicken salad scoop onto greens instead of a sandwich. She forgot that they do a nice turkey sand with cranberries. Still she insisted that it was "good to try new things!" I was happy we were planning to grill some burgers for dinner that night—have to get a burger fix on your special B-day!

Value 4 points: Overall pretty reasonable at about $8-9 per sandwich. The ½ sandwich combos with salad were about $9. Seems a pretty good deal for good food and a good location. Mom didn't get to take home any left overs this time, but she was too happy as the birthday girl to notice!

Overall score for Rising Loaf (er): 4.2 points. Our memories were correct—it is a good spot for a nice lunch. Nothing fancy for sure, but good food at a reasonable price. We certainly had a grand time celebrating the birthday of a very special lady!