Brunch is kind of a big deal in SF. Or maybe it’s just a big deal to me. But either way, whatever you’re in the mood for – SF brunch spots will have what you need. And this weekend, my all American, California breakfast urge was satisfied by none other than Mission Beach Café.

It was a Saturday. We cabbed to the restaurant, and then proceeded to wait in line for 45 minutes. A fairly standard routine if you live in a city as trendy and food-obsessed as SF or NY (except the wait in NY would be closer to 4 months), and as long as you’re mentally prepared for the wait beforehand then it really isn’t so bad.* Besides, what kind of brunch would it be if it didn’t involve waiting hungover in some form of line?

Lucky enough that Mission Beach Café has a bench to sit on while you wait and the sun was shining making the wait entirely bearable and even partly a useful tanning session. We got into the restaurant and seated closely to our neighbors in a booth at the back of the restaurant. The place was small and had only a handful of tables with multiple attentive waiters running busily around. Our waitress was super friendly with loads of good suggestions so we started off our morning with good-sized mimosas – the classic – with a mixer of pomegranate juice. The result was heaven.

For my main I ordered the duck confit hash and side of potatoes. My meal was insanely tasty and the soft poached egg was cooked to perfection to mix in delicately with the mushrooms and duck confit. The meal was ‘soupy’ but in a warm and delicious way and the duck was melt-in-your-mouth tasty! If you want something to mop up the sauce with a side of bread might be a good call, but I’m a potatoes gal myself and couldn’t resist trying out their version of breakfast potatoes. (Which were hot, crunchy, and delicious).

My friend’s orders of crab benedict and breakfast sandwich were equally as well revered. I also heard excellent things about the mushroom benedict and wished I could have tried that as well. Overall, I’d give my meal here at Mission Beach Café a very enthusiastic review and would love to get a second chance here (perhaps at a less busy time) to give their other menu items a try.

*Coffee is your key to surviving the ‘line’. (That being said, MBC place also serves mimosas in line, which is equally, if not slightly more awesome)

4/5 stars.