Since I already had a Doordash account but never used it before, it took slightly longer than I expected to get me set up, but not so long that our lunch order came too late. Both the website and phone text messages alerted me when the food was being prepared, picked up, and on its way to our home. Cheerful Doordash deliverer James arrived at our doorstep at 2:20 p.m. with our food in a large paper bag that had my name and a heart symbol written on it.
Once we unpacked our meals, the title of each sandwich was written on each cardboard container. My mother ordered a tuna melt with a side of Hawaiian chips, and I ordered a pesto panini with a side of fruit.
My Meal
The Pesto Panini comes with several slices of turkey, mozzarella cheese, tomato, spinach, and pesto mayonnaise on toasted and buttered sourdough bread. The sandwich was cut in half diagonally. Most of the bread held up well, though the bread at the edge where they cut the bread was a bit flimsy. The bread was sturdy enough to stay together as I ate through it.
The taste of the smoked turkey, tomato, and pesto mayonnaise hit my taste buds first. I counted a few slices of turkey in my sandwich, which had two benefits. It ensured I could taste the turkey and it wasn’t overwhelmed by the pesto mayonnaise. And I could eat the entire sandwich from top to bottom instead of in pieces.
The spinach seemed to be lost in the rest of the ingredients because I couldn’t see or taste it. I only knew the mozzarella cheese was there because there was a thick slice that didn’t melt around the edges of the sandwich.
The side of fruit, which came in a small lidded cup, was all green: kiwi fruit chunks, honeydew melon chunks, and several large green grapes. The fruit was a nice and light counterweight to the sandwich, and all the fruit was flavorful and neither too hard nor too soft.
Mom’s Meal
The Tuna Melt is straightforward: tuna salad with melted cheddar cheese and pepperoncinis, which are also known as Italian, Tuscan, or Greek peppers. The sandwich also comes with jalapeno peppers at no extra charge if you ask.
Pepperoncinis are too hot for my mother, so when I ordered on Doordash, I left a comment in the order to hold the peppers. Café GoGo held the peppers. My mother thought the tuna salad was flavorful with several pieces of chopped celery and onion mixed in, and the thick layer of cheddar cheese on top was a good complement. Unlike my sandwich, her bread didn’t seem to be buttered and was lightly toasted.
The small bag of Hawaiian Brand Kettle Potato Chips is the same as you can find in any grocery store. I ordered this bag without my mother’s knowledge because I know she likes Hawaiian chips (and Hawaii in general), and I also had a chance to eat a couple of the chips. They were crispy and salty, but I didn’t taste any difference between these chips and any other kettle chips.
The Verdict
The only thing we should have done was to put our sandwiches in the microwave for about 20 to 30 seconds to let the cheese melt because the cheese was more solid by the time we ate our sandwiches.
Our lunches were good and satisfying, but otherwise unremarkable. Perhaps that’s the point: Café GoGo gives you a lunch that fills you up with good ingredients so you can get on with the rest of your afternoon. Though we both had a mild aftertaste from our sandwiches—my mother tasted tuna and I tasted pesto mayonnaise—the aftertaste was gone in an hour.
The cost of our meals was $20.45. Ordering through Doordash gave me the opportunity to get a coupon from the Honey website discount plugin in Google Chrome, and the discount covered our Doordash delivery fee.
So, we bring out our green light for Café Gogo, and we had a good experience with Doordash, too.
Want to Try Them?
Café GoGo is available for take-out and delivery orders from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on weekdays, and they’re closed on Sundays. They’re located at 615 New York Ranch Road inside New York Fitness.
You can visit their Facebook page for specials and visit their website to view the menu and e-mail them. When you’re ready to order, you can do so on the Doordash website or by phone at 209-256-8044.
Amador Business Ticker food reviews are adventures in local dining with Editor Eric Butow and his mom.
