Rick's Cafe

Fantastic service even when the place is really busy. Fun to stop by just for a drink and appetizers before a movie or walking by.
There's is a great balcony where you could enjoy Beautiful Southern California weather.

Fantastic place. The service was great across the board. Rick's cafe food was very good and surprisingly reasonable. It was a tad warm in the

Rick's Cafe is a restaurant upstairs from the recently renovated Regency Theater in DT San Juan Capistrano. It is supposed to be a tribute to the cafe of the same name in the film Casablanca. Well, Sam is not there playing piano, no one in a white dinner jacket is kibitzing with Nazis or invaders, but the decor does have a certain Moroccan theme to it, so I guess that will have to do.

This is a great place to pop in for a light meal before or after your movie. The chef has got it going! The tomato bisque soup is delicious and way better than the signature tomato soup at Sundried Tomato around the corner. The Kobe burger was perfectly prepared, nice bakery style bun and very tasty cole slaw.
The calamari appetizer was served with a marinara that would have gone well with any pasta, it was really that good.
They have a kids menu and a wine/beer bar with some nice beer choices on tap, including an IPA that I loved.
Frankly, the food was good enough I would go back even if I wasn't going to see a movie.
Servers operate as a team, which was a good thing, because our initial waiter was distracted. Everything arrived on time, hot and delicious.
Recommended.