Swiftwater Cafe

The Swiftwater Café is a restaurant inside the Hyatt Regency San Fracciso Airport hotel, but it has a decidedly outdoor feel. I’ve been coming here for more than 10 years, but usually for dinners catered for the dance competition I attend so I never thought to write a review of this restaurant before. This morning I was looking to grab something I could take back to the ballroom with me for lunch. Knuckles, the sports pub in the same hotel, wasn’t going to open till 1:00, so on a whim I wandered over to the Swiftwater Café to see if they offered anything I could take to go, and boy did they ever!
I was greeted warmly by the hostess, Liz, long before I made it all the way up to her podium. She is expertly trained in customer service. She inquired as to what I was looking for, and was holding the take out menu towards me as I approached her. They offer a variety of salads and sandwiches, including hamburgers, a chicken sandwich in a ciabatta bun, and even a grilled veggie wrap for our vegetarian friends. I ordered the chicken sandwich and she asked if I would like some water while I waited. She went in the back and brought out a complimentary glass of ice water in a to go cup. Yes, she wasn’t trying to up sell me, just trying to be gracious. The grilled chicken sandwich was excellent! The ciabatta bread seemed fresh and the herb aioli sauce was quite good. The fries were crispy and hot.
I went back the following day and ordered the SFO Hamburger for takeout and it was also very good. The brioche bun was a very nice touch, and the cheese delightfully gooey. Both the hamburger and the chicken sandwich were prepared quickly, and the fries still hot and crispy even after the walk to the ballroom.
Best of all, their take out food is put into compostable tree free containers. Even the utensils appeared to be compostable. This is the Bay Area so I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s nice to see ecofriendly products in use!
The catered dinners (I’ve been to at least 8) are usually pretty good, also. I’m a fan.

Stayed at the Hyatt Sunday Sept27, 2015 and ate breakfast there the next morning. I would say it’s «just ok». My husband wanted to try the breakfast buffet for $ 20/​per person, but after taking a peek at the food choices, commented that the food looked «rubbery». We ate breakfast around 10am, so it could be that the entrees had been in the warmers since 6am. We opted to order from the menu, and the food wasn’t amazing or anything. The coffee was very strong and savory though, I enjoyed it very much. Our waiter was friendly and chatted with my husband about the drive to Half Moon Bay and Mission Park. I would give it a 6 out of 10.

I tried calling the restaurant several times today and each time I got a recording. It almost seems like the restaurant is closed. This is most annoying and frustrating.

The non-​profit where I work was organizing a conference at the Hyatt SFO and I had lunch here several days in a row.
Their service is always professional and prompt. We’d worked with the caterers in advance so they knew everyone’s lunch order, and they had seat cards for everyone so they would know who should get what dish. They also brought out all our food very promptly. Below are the lunch entrees I got to try — please see my photos for additional details!
Although I never ordered the fries, I got to try them and I really liked that they were a combination of curly fries and potato wedges. They could’ve used a little more spice, and they were a little more crispy than my ideal potato wedge (KFC!), but they were interesting and good!
SANDWICHES
* Chicken Sandwich Grilled Chicken on Ciabatta, Sliced Tomato, Bibb Lettuce, Herb Spread ($ 15) — 3.5 stars
The ciabatta was good — I really liked its flavor and light texture. The chicken came in hearty pieces.
SATISFYING BITES
* Baja Fish Tacos (Lightly-​Seasoned Mahi Mahi, Shredded Cabbage, Avocado Salsa, Chipotle Spread. $ 15) — 2.5 stars
The avocado salsa was pretty homogenous in texture and didn’t seem very fresh. It was almost liquid and tended to fall out of the taco as you’re eating it. The fish and tortillas also weren’t that fresh. I was disappointed in this dish.
SOUPS & SALADS
* Caesar (Hearts of Romaine, Caesar Dressing, Parmesan, White Anchovy, Grilled Crostini. $ 12, add Grilled Chicken $ 4) — 3 stars
This was rather plain, and the dressing is quite heavy. There was one clump of a few anchovies in one spot of my salad, clearly scooped out of a can. THe chicken was dry as well, and it was cut into pieces that were way too big.

my wife and I went here for our anniversary brunch. She was so happy and amazed when i took her to the place because it’s very beautiful and very unique surroundings. Everything looks very high class. There’s live jazz band playing.
Then we started eating, we both had the Sunday Brunch using
certificates. One thing that immediately drew my attention is that there are FLIES crawling on some of the salami and shrimps! To me that’s a huge no no, especially in a supposedly high class place like this… heck i don’t find flies in cheap 12 dollar Chinese or Indian buffets.
the prime rib, of course, is awesome. So are the bacons, sausages, smoked salmons, watermelons… DON’T GET ANY ASIAN FOOD (sushi, siu mai, gyoza, etc), they are very below par and you can get better versions of them in most Chinese/​Japanese buffets.
We seemed to get very full pretty quickly though, I was full after just one and half plate. For the first time in my life i couldn’t finish the prime rib in my plate, even though it’s good.
the service was above average, as the servers repeatedly offer us drinks… free orange juice and even free champagne (we didn’t have the champagne). expensive hotel parking, but yes, it can be validated!
after the $ 50 off using
certificate, i end up paying $ 64… still not worth it IMO if you just base on the quality of the food. BUT, my wife was happy, and it’s worth it on that alone. and it has such a high class feel and beautiful environment, I’d say it’s worth visiting at least once, using certificate.
the place closes at 2pm, but we were able to finish in time (without hurrying, or anyone hurrying us) even though our reservation time was 1:15pm.

We came here for the first time for Father’s Day brunch. From the very beginning, we had poor service. The hostess was disorganized and not attentive. I had an 11:45 am reservation for 3 and after checking in, stood nearby the podium to wait for our table. A gentleman checked in after me for his party. The hostess walked away and when she came back, she spoke to the both of us as if we were from the same party. When we told her we are different parties, she just shrugged it off. The hostess then proceeded to seat a party of 4 who checked in after me. She was about to seat another party of 4 when I told her I have a reservation and have been waiting. She then sat my party before seating the other party of 4.
The booth seating is horrible! The booth seats are so old and dirty. Something under the seating was protruding up and made sitting very uncomfortable. Our server was also not attentive. We waited a while before our beverages were served. We had to ask multiple servers, multiple times, just to get cream for our coffee. The food is mediocre. It was not worth it for $ 50/​adult and $ 25/​child.

I’ve eaten here a number of times over the years, and I have to say the quality of service has gone down. I went for Sunday breakfast, because I enjoy the atrium and the waterfalls, as well as the breakfast.
The food was decent, and I liked the attentive service from the busboy who was diligent about refilling coffee and orange juice, but two things really took this from being an upscale restaurant to one more on the level of Denny’s.
1. The hostess was demeaning and rude. The restaurant was quite quiet when I arrived and when the hostess led to a table for two. I asked if I might be seated at a table closer to the waterfall she said «No, you are only 1» and held up one finger in case I didn’t understand the meaning of that. She then went on a bit of rant about a convention of 800 people who were at the hotel. A simple «I’m sorry sir we are expecting to be quite busy this morning» would have been a more appropriate response.
2. Another customer asked the waiter how many hotel rooms there were. The waiter went and found out and then returned to the customer and said that he had a joke to tell her «Why was six afraid of 7? Answer «Because 7−8−9.» The hotel has 789 rooms. I was a bit amazed to think that a waiter would be telling childrens jokes in a nice restaurant, and I looked over at the other customer to see a slightly pained look on her face.
Give the waiter his due… He was attentive for the rest of the meal, but the professionalism is lacking here.
Nice to have free wifi which does not require a password.

We opted to come here for Easter Brunch and per person for adults was $ 70 and $ 60 for seniors. The normal price I believe is under $ 50. The food was decent and the desserts were better than the actual entrees. The bottomless champagne was nice for the people that drunk in our party. The service was average. We had to ask for refills quite often.
It’s was okay in my book. There is definitely room for improvement with the food selection and service.

This has been our family tradition for years! This is the first year we have had to cancel our reservation because of the outrageous price for the Easter brunch. Our children were so upset! They continue to raise their price every year. It was $ 55, then $ 60, then $ 65, now $ 70 per Adult. By the time you add tax and gratuity it is approx. $ 90 per adult. We are so sad to have to find another place that we can afford as our family really loved going here every year.

So if you go with your family to the same place for the Thanksgiving buffet two years in a row, does that make it a tradition? In my family, it does. Either that or we’re too damn lazy to figure out another place where we can graze on turkey with all the fixings without having to touch a potholder much less a pot. The reason we’ve been going to Swiftwater has nothing to do with the quality of the food. It’s because my octogenarian dad moved full-​time to San Mateo, and we needed a place where we didn’t have to give the menu a moment’s thought.
We just picked what we liked and scooped it on our plates until our belts got too tight. Seconds and thirds were inevitable. Truth be told, this is nothing new for my family. My dad used to take us to the cafeteria for dinner all the time when I was in grammar school. Swiftwater is really just the atrium of the Hyatt Regency near the airport (photo:
). For about $ 55 per person, you basically get bottomless mimosas and free reign on all the buffet tables. It’s like a Carnival cruise buffet with tables and counters filled with every conceivable food you could possibly want. Of course, there’s turkey ready to be carved (photo:
).
However, there’s also a lot of shellfish (photo:
), roast beef, overcooked vegetables, salads, sushi, and a ridiculous array of desserts (photo:
). This is my dad’s idea of a great value meal, and to his defense, the food isn’t all that bad. It’s just the hotel-​style preparation that gets to me — high volume, huge warming trays, food temperature veering between lukewarm and steaming hot but nothing in between. Grazing was a higher priority than tasting. And did I mention how packed the space is with multi-​generational families? Heartwarming yes, but they sure take their time loading their plates. Gluttony maximus.
FOOD — 2 stars… standard-​issue hotel-​level buffet, lots of variety prevents them from doing any one thing well
AMBIANCE — 2 stars. packed like sardines in a Hyatt
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… initially attentive but wavers as the space gets more densely populated
TOTAL — 2 stars… see you next year, I guess

The food was good and the service was friendly and fast, but I can’t give a place a great review when their full bar doesn’t open until 2pm! What am I supposed to drink with lunch?! Full bar would up this review but at least a star and a half.

Used a $ 50 off $ 100 coupon to enjoy a brunch with my folks. Great atmosphere awesome initial service (more on that later) and great selection of foods!
So the price per person is about $ 46 a person on an awesome brunch.
The food is awesome! Huge selection of different foods from seafood to sushi to steak and made to order blueberry waffles. They have an omelet bar, fresh oysters, tons of seafood choices, pasta, and the best bread pudding I’ve had in a while.
That’s just scratching the service of the different varieties of food here.
The seafood is fresh! No fishy smells, great tasting seafood and sushi ain’t too bad.
They have hot foods such as breakfast items rotisserie chicken, pork loin, mashed potatoes, etc.
This place is basically a Vegas style buffet…
WITH Mimosas :)
I had a couple just to brighten up my day.
I tried my first macaroon here. Yum!
They have all different kinds of deserts! Cheesecake, carrot cake, different kinds of fruits.
I’m stuffed the food was awesome!
The service isn’t bad… BUT and I understand for the most part considering the fact that there were tons of huge 10+ parties here, all taking up hella space.
I’ve asked for a refill on our drinks and they completely forgot about it… And they take a super log time to grab your plates which kinda sucks…
The food is great! And I don’t wanna judge the service to hard… Yet. I’m definitely coming back sometime though!
Pricey LOCAL alternative to a Vegas style brunch! Food is definitely worth it though.

I took my father here for a late Fathers’ Day Brunch. I’ve been here before and knew what to expect. The Thanksgiving Day Brunch is uh-​mazing. The regular brunches are ok. I think it’s a bit pricey but that is based on how much I can fit in my belly, not necessarily the quality. There are quite a few options of yumminess which I love. Drew and Marcial have helped us before. This time John also helped us. These three gentlemen are very nice, very accommodating and are at the top of their game. Drew checked in with us just enough and was extremely polite. Marcial is always nice, and makes sure we are not wanting for anything as well. John was great too. I feel the wait staff reads the customers well in terms of knowing when to approach and how often.
The fellas at the stations for the omlets and the meat were very nice, greeted us with smiles and truly made our experience very nice. I asked for scrambled eggs, they were perfect. The gentleman at the meat carving station made an effort to conversate and was very pleasant.
The food is pretty good too. The cheese blintz are still on my mind today and I enjoyed the garlic mashed potatoes with the mahi and vegetables. I love that I can have that and sushi all in the same meal. Say what you want but I love me some variety haha ;)
You guys have a great team here and we enjoy our visits. See you next time.

SUNDAY — We’z Doin’ it RITE!
Had a
certificate for this place and thought — hey, brunch sounds nice, why not?! Walked in from the top of the parking structure through the overhead walkway and WOW — you can’t miss that atrium! We walked up the ramp and saw the hostess who seemed mildly annoyed that I had made a reservation (wha?!)
We were seated at a table for two near the waterfall (yet, near the bussing station) ~ This actually turned out to be good: we were not in the flow of traffic like some of the tables and we were in eye shot of the waitstaff who were EXTREMELY attentive! Mad props go out to Todd and Johnny. My glass was never empty and our plates were cleared promptly between visits to the buffet. Service was professional and friendly.
OK. the food — Not 100% awesome, but a huge selection of FRESH salad, cheeses, pickled things, smoked meats, olives, breads of all sorts at one station, then turn around and a massive shrimp and mussel display on ice surrounded by smoked salmon and peppered trout along side bowls with cream cheese, capers, red onions, chopped hardboiled eggs and bagels… Turn again — omelet station made to order, then turn again carving station with lamb and some other meats, sausages, eggs benedict (don’t bother, they let them sit so the yolk is solid and the english muffin gets soggy) and there were large warming pans with chicken, pasta, rice, veggies, spring rolls, mashed potatoes and even dim sum! (the potstickers were dry, but the dumplings were good) … and the desserts — looked damn good! The bread pudding is rumored to be some of the best ever (I’m not a fan, but my brunchmate sure cleaned his plate!)
They do validate parking — but if you stay longer than a couple hours, apparently they charge a couple of bucks. We had to pay $ 2 to get out of the garage — granted we were there from 11:00 until 2:30 ;) We were also never rushed. There was a HUGE line of at least 100 people from some conference group that were waiting to get in at about 12:30 — but, nevertheless, no rushed feeling at all.
The Jazz band was nice, never too loud or overpowering.
The brunch is a bit spendy at $ 50 a person once all is said and done, but I ate pounds of shrimp and expensive meats and cheeses and drank champagne at an alarming rate — Went back to the buffet 3 times — if there were fresh oysters you can believe I would have just stood there and pounded them back, too ;)
I would absolutely go back.

Had breakfast here as it is located in the Hyatt hotel and I ordered what they describe as sourdough toast aka French toast.
It was not terrible but it was tasteless bread coated with egg and pan fried with a few stewed fruit which was equally tasteless. At $ 14 this is the most expensive ordinary breakfast I have had in a long while.

Was here recently for a Sunday jazz brunch celebration with a large group of folks. First time I’ve been back to this Hyatt since the early 00’s. The last and only time was at night for some sort of convention – didn’t even know there was such a large atrium area within the premises.
Was pleasantly surprised to find a well stocked brunch buffet with multiple stations and a great assortment of items. Why hadn’t I heard of this place sooner? As someone who is a sucker for breakfast buffets at resorts and hotels, this place is right up my alley.
As with most buffets there are a lot of so-​so items, but there were certainly a few of them that were on target. Fresh blueberry pancake station and the omelette station worth checking out, but beware that the omelette station can take a while.
Wait staff was helpful and their timing on drink refills and plate cleanup was impeccable. Overall atmosphere inside of the massive atrium was quite nice. Maybe not an exciting first date type of place, but definitely somewhere you can take the in-​laws for a pleasant weekend brunch once things get serious.
Pro-​tip: park on the roof of the parking garage. There is a skyway going from the café level directly to the garage roof level. Can get a bit windy out there.

Normally I wouldn’t come all the way to Burlingame to eat, but my family decided to grab Sunday brunch here. Price-​wise, adults cost $ 50 per person, children about half that, and children under 4 are free. So, is it worth $ 50 for Sunday brunch? Nope, not really.
Swiftwater Café is located in the atrium of the Burlingame Hyatt. Pretty easy to find, as you just walk straight up the stairs and you’ll see all the food. When I first arrived, I actually thought to myself, «Oh there’s a decent selection. This might not be bad at all.» Well, I was swiftly proved wrong. The buffet area has roughly 5 stations: meats, salad/​fruit, breakfast items, omelet area, and other miscellaneous hot items. On top of that, the beverages are included so you can drink all the orange juice and cheap champagne to your little heart’s content. What I thought was pretty funny was that they advertised the orange juice as «fresh squeezed» but when walking past where the servers hang around, I just so happened to see a couple gallon containers of Tropicana orange juice. I guess it’s freshly squeezed by Tropicana?
Anyhow, onto the food. The one thing that I actually liked was the omelet. These are made to order, so you can throw in any type of meat and veggies and the guy will just whip it up in a couple minutes. Eggs, meat, and veggies. Not much to complain about this one. As far as the meat section, well that one kind of sucks. When I was here, they had brisket and pork loin. Both of these were sliced to order by the carver. What really ruined it for me was that both the meats were incredibly flavorless and ridiculously dry. I mean if it was seasoned properly and not sitting out there for hours upon hours, it might have actually tasted decent. In reality, it was far from decent.
For the breakfast items, they had freshly made blueberry pancakes, kind of freshly made Belgian waffles, and your usual breakfast goodies such as sausage and bacon. Out of all of those, I’d say go with the blueberry pancakes. Those were actually pretty good, but everything else was just ok. Salad and fruit bar is pretty much what you’d expect: salad and fruit. The random hot bar was ok I guess, but yet again, the taste was just passable. There were dishes such as dim sum, assorted veggies, ribs, and prime rib. All of which sound good, but were just on the ok side.
Lastly, there are the desserts. With that are multiple types of cakes, macaroons, and other small tidbits. Pretty hard to mess these ones up, but I felt that the cakes were just really loose. With just one touch, my cake completely crumbled. The macaroons was alright.
All in all, for $ 50, you might as well buy 25 Sausage Egg McMuffins and call it a day. At least you know what to expect and will be satisfied. Swiftwater Café, I shall not partake in you Sunday brunch again. Bleh.

For $ 12, this is a great breakfast buffet. There’s an omelet bar where you pick what/​how you want it, excellent steel cut oatmeal, fresh OJ, great coffee, house-​made granola and wonderful service.
I’ll be back!

Swiftwater Café is the restaurant within the atrium of the Burlingame Hyatt.
I’ve been here for Mother’s day brunches in the past but most recently came for their Champagne Easter Brunch.
It’s $ 60 per person and the «cruise» food is pretty good albeit pricey. While I liked their cocktail shrimp, their oysters weren’t good. The carving and make your own omelet stations were standard. I liked their Belgian waffles and even though I had a ton of smoked salmon, you’re paying for the atmosphere.
They should reduce the price on the kids, 5 – 12 years old are $ 30! My nieces and nephews eat like 2 pieces of bacon, some fruit, and some chicken nuggets get full and then run around the hotel! There is alot of room for them to run around though and
the Swiftwater didn’t have any problem seating my extended family group of 18. Definitely good for special occasions like for a Mother’s day brunch.
The live jazz band was pretty cool, they should give them speakers since you couldn’t hear unless if you were right in front. The bunny was a nice touch.
Definitely a niche brunch
Here’s a link to their Easter buffet menu. (
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Atrium (
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Live jazz and Easter bunny (
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Buffet (

Sunday’s Champagne Brunch was A-​OK. The Hyatt hotel is a beautiful hotel that has an outdoor tropical look from the inside. As they have a waterfall and tree’s surrounding the area.
Sunday Brunch: 10:00am — 2:00pm. For food they served a variety of items such as a salad bar, an omelet station, pancakes, sausages, salmon, mussels, prime rib, bacon, rotisserie chicken, eggs benedict, french toast, pasta, and many desserts. I can go on and on about what they had, but it was all too much! lol Did I mention that they had bottomless champagne? for a cost of $ 45.00 a person. For pricing it seemed right but I wasn’t feeling wowed out about the food. I can’t complain because I pigged out! hahah But I’m on my way to the gym to work it all off =)
Check out my pictures!