Joe's Cafe is the kind of mom and pop place that offers diners the predictable in American fare. Comfort food, to many people, is still good food, and with the old time atmosphere, this place appeals to many people. We did not order enough to make this a fair evaluation, but I can say the menu is broad enough to satisfy many people and the service was very good.
This may have seemed odd to most diners, bread served with a cooked tomato salsa, but it so happens my grandmother used to make a cooked salsa that she used primarily on meat loaf, that we often ate with bread. Surprisingly, this in itself was a comfort food for me and helped to define the restaurant. My grandmother's addition of bell peppers would have enhanced Joe's salsa. The Cesar salad was predictable and not the best, but passable.
Speaking of meatloaf, it was moist but lacked much flavor. I was initially annoyed that it came layered over toast (removed by me prior to this photo) but learned when the bill arrived, that the waitress had given me the meatloaf sandwich instead of the meatloaf dinner. I owed her a debt of gratitude, because the amount of meatloaf was plentiful and I paid 30% less for the sandwich. the gravy reminded me of Bisto, a British powdered product that when mixed with water created a brown gravy of questionable taste. This was not home made gravy and the salsa would have worked better.
536 State Street
Santa Barbara CA 93101-1602
(805) 966-4638
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