We live in the San Marin neighborhood in Novato and really really wanted to make this our usual neighborhood spot. Unfortunately it’s just too overpriced for what you get on all accounts and a bit of a gamble. From breakfast/coffee to lunch/beers; It’s all objectively 20%-30% too much. It went from ‘we’ll be here regularly’ to realizing ‘it’s a real treat as an expense and not worth it when food is hit or miss’. We’ve had food where we’ve said it substantiated a $18-$20 pesto chicken sandwich (sandwich only, no drink, post tax & tip), and had times were the food/topping portion was so bad and a rip-off we swore to never come back. Sandos are made in front and put in a subway style toaster for quick heating. $6+ coffees and $8+ beers are not the answer either. The focaccia bread is generally exceptional, everything else is mid-tier at best. There appears to be a high turnover of cooks/staff that may allude to the differing service quality. I’d say “check it out if you’re in a pinch and hungry after a local hike on Burdell”. Otherwise I’d say go next door to the market and get a made-to-order sandwich from the deli for $10 and a Pliny for less than the cost of a sandwich at Trailhead.
It is scary because I really believe the place would be slam packed if they just lowered their prices $3-6 on everything (ie, margins), had $7 beers/happy hour, and/or offered the high schoolers a cheap lunch deal and they’d solve low engagement and imminent turnover.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Pesto Chicken
CM Champ
My date loved the pesto chicken wrap and is is very picky. She raved. That’s rare. Burger 🍔 was very mid and I understand that gas grills aren’t easy but you can’t depend on a laser thermometer to tell you when the meat is cooked. When there’s zero char marks and the meat is barely even cooked that’s not great. The secret sauce was imperceptible and the bun was soggy after a minute or so. I get it’s aged to run a business and this place has some attractive attributes. Pesto wrap for the win.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Tyler Charlesworth
Beyond burger was super dry and boring but coffee was good, staff was friendly, and atmosphere was nice and local feeling - and why does one leave the house really? :)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
John McCory
Great party room for your event. Good selection of food and beer. Clean bathrooms. Nice staff, 2 thumbs up.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jason Bodenheimer
For the most part, I love this place. I have one complaint: THE FLIES!!! Y'all gotta do something about the flies here. It actually calculates into my decision of whether i want to brave the flies or not. They are everywhere.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Erik kennedy
Loved the cozy feeling and the food was amazing. Genuinely a great place with great food
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Pesto
Joan Lippman
Fantastic take out spot in this very popular shopping center. Helpful, caring staff make the orders quickly and well. My husband enjoyed his wrap a lot and my avocado toast was excellent! It gets crowded to wait so I ran next door to the little market while my husband waited.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wendy
Oh my gosh I wanna eat there every night. Great place after a long day at work. Totally relaxing comfy spot to eat, read, recline and also talk with really nice people. The bacon brie hamburger was sooooo good last night, cooked on outside BBQ, that I wanna go back for another right now. The homemade chips and pickles on the side are also calling me back. I love this place. Great atmosphere. I’m not a soda drinker but I love their sodas (I didn’t plan on doing a review, but I’m glad I took a picture of my yummy burger…I’ll go back and take a better picture 😊👍
Kid-friendliness: I loved it that there were kids having a great time playing in play area outside. My bay window seat had a view of them having so much fun
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brianna Russell
Great atmosphere, prices are a bit high for what you get.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Amanda Bell
The fact that it cost $27 for a latte and a microwaved sandwich makes me furious. At least serve real food.
I just got back from LA I checked Trailhead out in September and really enjoyed their pastries, thinking they were honestly better than a lot of the places in LA. But once I got back today and decided to grab a treat it just tasted different.. i’m not sure what changed but didn’t love the new taste.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Vince Prep
We love this place for its charm and quality. It’s a nice place to sit and do some work or chat with friends. A lot of local kids come by after school. I am not yet a regular, but I would like to be. I’ve had coffee and tea. I’ve never had a full meal, but I’ve had some snacks, and a sandwich or two. Truthfully, there is not much around to compete with it so I think they have the market cornered. That said, I think the owners and the managers work hard to stay relevant and stay connected. It feels like a truly community place and I’m grateful for that. There’s also a nice supermarket nearby called harvest which has a nice deli and other items so you can kill two birds with one stone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Green Fire
Appreciate having a place close by. Good beer selection, always sad about ltd food selections.
Robert Cubley
Great service and open air environment.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: The Saus Burrito
Andrew Gomez
Guy was more focused on trying to put the mac down on some customer vs making sales. This isn’t your center stage moment. Distracting your barista with videos, until she burns shot ain’t the move either. Big ups for having a La Marzocco as the workhorse.
We live in the San Marin neighborhood in Novato and really really wanted to make this our usual neighborhood spot. Unfortunately it’s just too overpriced for what you get on all accounts and a bit of a gamble. From breakfast/coffee to lunch/beers; It’s all objectively 20%-30% too much. It went from ‘we’ll be here regularly’ to realizing ‘it’s a real treat as an expense and not worth it when food is hit or miss’. We’ve had food where we’ve said it substantiated a $18-$20 pesto chicken sandwich (sandwich only, no drink, post tax & tip), and had times were the food/topping portion was so bad and a rip-off we swore to never come back. Sandos are made in front and put in a subway style toaster for quick heating. $6+ coffees and $8+ beers are not the answer either. The focaccia bread is generally exceptional, everything else is mid-tier at best. There appears to be a high turnover of cooks/staff that may allude to the differing service quality. I’d say “check it out if you’re in a pinch and hungry after a local hike on Burdell”. Otherwise I’d say go next door to the market and get a made-to-order sandwich from the deli for $10 and a Pliny for less than the cost of a sandwich at Trailhead.
It is scary because I really believe the place would be slam packed if they just lowered their prices $3-6 on everything (ie, margins), had $7 beers/happy hour, and/or offered the high schoolers a cheap lunch deal and they’d solve low engagement and imminent turnover.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Pesto Chicken
My date loved the pesto chicken wrap and is is very picky. She raved. That’s rare.
Burger 🍔 was very mid and I understand that gas grills aren’t easy but you can’t depend on a laser thermometer to tell you when the meat is cooked. When there’s zero char marks and the meat is barely even cooked that’s not great. The secret sauce was imperceptible and the bun was soggy after a minute or so.
I get it’s aged to run a business and this place has some attractive attributes. Pesto wrap for the win.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Beyond burger was super dry and boring but coffee was good, staff was friendly, and atmosphere was nice and local feeling - and why does one leave the house really? :)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Great party room for your event. Good selection of food and beer. Clean bathrooms. Nice staff, 2 thumbs up.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
For the most part, I love this place. I have one complaint: THE FLIES!!! Y'all gotta do something about the flies here. It actually calculates into my decision of whether i want to brave the flies or not. They are everywhere.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Loved the cozy feeling and the food was amazing. Genuinely a great place with great food
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Pesto
Fantastic take out spot in this very popular shopping center. Helpful, caring staff make the orders quickly and well. My husband enjoyed his wrap a lot and my avocado toast was excellent! It gets crowded to wait so I ran next door to the little market while my husband waited.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Oh my gosh I wanna eat there every night. Great place after a long day at work. Totally relaxing comfy spot to eat, read, recline and also talk with really nice people. The bacon brie hamburger was sooooo good last night, cooked on outside BBQ, that I wanna go back for another right now. The homemade chips and pickles on the side are also calling me back. I love this place. Great atmosphere. I’m not a soda drinker but I love their sodas (I didn’t plan on doing a review, but I’m glad I took a picture of my yummy burger…I’ll go back and take a better picture 😊👍
Kid-friendliness: I loved it that there were kids having a great time playing in play area outside. My bay window seat had a view of them having so much fun
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great atmosphere, prices are a bit high for what you get.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
The fact that it cost $27 for a latte and a microwaved sandwich makes me furious. At least serve real food.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
I just got back from LA I checked Trailhead out in September and really enjoyed their pastries, thinking they were honestly better than a lot of the places in LA. But once I got back today and decided to grab a treat it just tasted different.. i’m not sure what changed but didn’t love the new taste.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
We love this place for its charm and quality. It’s a nice place to sit and do some work or chat with friends. A lot of local kids come by after school. I am not yet a regular, but I would like to be. I’ve had coffee and tea. I’ve never had a full meal, but I’ve had some snacks, and a sandwich or two. Truthfully, there is not much around to compete with it so I think they have the market cornered. That said, I think the owners and the managers work hard to stay relevant and stay connected. It feels like a truly community place and I’m grateful for that. There’s also a nice supermarket nearby called harvest which has a nice deli and other items so you can kill two birds with one stone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Appreciate having a place close by. Good beer selection, always sad about ltd food selections.
Great service and open air environment.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: The Saus Burrito
Guy was more focused on trying to put the mac down on some customer vs making sales. This isn’t your center stage moment. Distracting your barista with videos, until she burns shot ain’t the move either. Big ups for having a La Marzocco as the workhorse.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
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