CJ’s Cafe & Catering

Simple, clean, good, fresh ingredients, reasonable prices and friendly staff. It’s a little hard to find, since it’s on the back side of the Ernst and Young building, but otherwise a good location across the street from the convention center.

Went to C.J.‘s for a quick lunch and was pleasantly surprised. Soup was great (Beef Veggie) as well as the sandwich (Hot grilled Reuben). The new owner came and talked to us. Price was right, service was good. I’ll come back for lunch again.

The quality keeps going down the drain. I heard the owner is selling the place because it’s not profitable… maybe it’s not profitable because you can’t make a caesar salad (I mean why are there walnuts and blue cheese in this thing?!) Also what’s up with the taco salad… lettuce in a taco shell with chili laddled on it. YuM?! The chinese chicken salad can not be altered because… everything is prepackaged and they can’t take sutff out. Great.
I can’t wait for this place to be revamped with a new menu and an actual kitchen.

bad service and food is even worse… if that is possible. Gyro was warmed in microwave and the edges of the meat were all dried out, no flavor and only about 4 very thin slices of meat in the pita. This was after a long wait to order and a long wait for the food to be delivered. I can’t believe people give this place high marks.

Their warm breakfast burritos explode in my mouth.
Cheese, Chorizo, Red Potatoes, Ham, Salsa.
Fiesta for $ 3.

This closest café near the San Jose Convention Center & if you don’t want to splurge $ 3.50 on a bottle of coffee inside, come to CJs. There’s a great selection of salad, sandwiches, soups & even pasta. I had the chili & chicken cobb salad. The chili was topped w/​cheese and LOTS of red onions. It might’ve been great, except that the onion overpowered every bite. The cobb salad was missing the egg which I was looking forward to.
But the service is excellent. The facility is clean & the owner/​manager seemed to know most of the locals.

Holly slow motion breakfast burrito making! Went there for a quick breakfast burrito run and it took nearly 45 minutes to make 3 of them. I asked the staff member if they were almost done and she replied, «We have a small grill and when you order a lot of food it takes a while to cook because we make it fresh.» I ordered 3 breakfast without a side of attitude. You better wrap that shit up B!

The food options and quality have vastly improved since the new owners. The people are very nice, however service can sometimes be really slow. So if I am in a hurry I will phone in my order. It is good to support small business owners.

Great place to stop for a quick breakfast before starting work, particularly given the prices they charge. For example, you can get a breakfast burrito, or a couple eggs scrambled with stuff and potatoes/​toast on the side for $ 2.50 – $ 3.00.
Seattle’s Best coffee is served, and when buying bottled water you have «green» packaging alternatives. The owner is usually sitting right there, keeping an eye on service, so if things aren’t right for some reason, he’ll make it right. And expect him to ask you how the food is.
On the food, I’ve had good experiences and not so good. Salads never let me down, friends love their soups/​chili, but I did buy a lasagna/​salad lunch combo once where the lasagna slice was about 2″ x 2″, about 4 bites worth … what’s that about !!! Overall, I consider this a decent spot to grab a bite and look forward to trying more items on the menu, particularly in the sandwich/​panini category which the menu shows is their strength.

Excellent food @ an excellent price. Extremely friendly staff. Ate there for almost two weeks straight while attending the San Jose Convention Center (which this place is conveniently across the street from.) Definitely worth the visit. h

Totally love this place!!! Staff is super nice and service is as fast as it can be for the size of the restaurant.
They deliver for catering but not for the restaurant. They are reasonably priced. I would suggest it if you are looking for a great place to go for lunch if you are at a convention in San Jose or visiting a local Museum. They are in walking distance for all.

(aka Café Primo — but not for long) Great food, local hang out for down town «worker bees.» I work near by and love their breakfast burrito and coffee. Conversation is always great as the co-​owner Claudine is almost always there to greet you with a smile.
Customer service is outstanding and their menu changes often enough to keep you interested but not so often that it’s annoying. I’m not a huge fan of chilli but theirs is pretty good. They offer great baked treats from local bakers and always have fresh fruit and great salads.

This place is great good breakfast and lunch, the chicken panini & chili is the best. Have to try it out.

This place has improved light years since they changed their name from Café Primo.
The quality of the food has gone up and the prices have gone down.
Incredible lunch deals for downtown.
Pros: Good food, unbelievable prices, friendly people with good service, and free parking with validation.
Con’s: mmm… none so far.