Bread and Butter Kitchen — Restaurant in Annapolis

The experience my friends and I had at Bread and Butter Kitchen today began as merely frustrating and quickly devolved into what could only be described as racist. My friend is vegan and this restaurant describes itself as vegan-friendly, so my friend asked a staff member if she could substitute a vegan egg for a real egg in an omelet. The staff member said it couldn’t be made into an omelet, but could be made into a scramble. My friend agreed and said that sounded great. She also requested for her toast to be served dry with no butter - again, because she’s vegan. My other friend ordered a BLT. When our food arrived, we noticed there was butter on the bread so she brought it in to show the staff. The staff said it was olive oil (it clearly wasn’t - it was white with foam on it) but after some convincing, they served us bread with vegan butter on the side. Then, my friend looked down at what was supposed to be her vegan egg scramble and saw she had been served a real egg omelet. We took a bite of the omelet which confirmed that it was made from real egg. Once again, she brought the food back in to be replaced. When she went back into the restaurant, the owner Monica was already acting inconvenienced and upset by our request. Finally, while we were waiting for the vegan egg dish, my friend took a bite of her “BLT” and found it was actually a completely different sandwich that had cheese, eggs, and avocado. At this point, rightfully, we were frustrated. Once again, my friend had to go back inside to let Monica know that her food was incorrect. Even though it was a frustrating experience, we get it - mistakes happen. But the way we the customers were treated for the restaurant’s mistakes was something I’ve never experienced in my life at any restaurant.

Monica started making comments to my friend about how she “needed to stop making such a big deal of it,” that it was “just food” and that she was “scaring people” by being so “aggressive” at her “family restaurant.” This is when the incident began to turn racial. My friend is a Black lesbian, and it goes without saying that Monica would not have been using that language with someone who was not Black. My friend came back outside and sat down at our table to wait for our food. While we were waiting, we were discussing what had happened and were (once again, rightfully) growing increasingly upset at how we were being treated. Monica accused us of lying about ordering a vegan omelet and said the other customers in the restaurant didn’t hear us ordering a vegan meal and said we ordered a “veggie omelet,” which of course, didn’t happen. Since when do restaurant owners survey their other customers about conversations that happened between the staff and a customer? When Monica heard us discussing how upset we were, she took away all of our food, packed it up in a to-go bag, and told my friend to leave, otherwise she was going to call the cops.

Once again, it goes without saying that threatening to call the cops on a Black lesbian for growing increasingly frustrated at being told that her request to get the food she ordered “wasn’t that big of a deal” is racist. Plain and simple racism, there’s no getting around it. When we pointed this out to Monica and said she was being racist, she repeatedly kept saying that she couldn’t possibly be racist because she’s won community awards and because her husband is Puerto Rican, as if someone in a mixed-race relationship is absolved from any racism. Monica began to escalate the conversation by pointing her fingers at us, raising her voice, slamming down a silverware holder, and clapping in our faces.

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Quick Summary: Decent place next to the water. I came on the cloudy Saturday and it wasn't too crowded. I had very high expectations coming here since it was 5 starts on Yelp. But I do not think it is a 5-star restaurant. Food was decent and so was the view, just not 5-star.

There is a lot of street parking at this location. The restaurant itself is café style where you walk in and order food. There are places to sit inside, and much more seating outside. The inside has very minimal seating as it is a small place, one table with 4 seats and a high chair bar areas facing the window with about 7 seats. But, when I went, they had the high chair seating closed since they were preparing a catering meal. The outdoor seating is nice and there is a lot of room, but not rain-proof as there is only one table under the roof.

The Burrito (7/10): I got this with both bacon and sausage. I thought it was cool that they made their own sausage here, but in my honest opinion it tasted like regular sausage that you'd buy at a grocery store. The first thing that I really found disappointing was the size of the burrito. I could eat two of these. They had good filling, but was disappointed in the size. I think the taste wasn't too bad. Mine had practically no salsa. There was just nothing really special with this burrito.

Chocolate Chip pancakes (7/10): Decent pancakes. They tasted like regular pancakes. They were good but it wasn't something that I'd want to come back here for. And again the sausage was just average.

Scone (10/10): Liked the scone a lot, good flavors and was soft.

Overall, I think the place was decent. It definitely not a place that I would make a must-go, but it was decent food. If you're in the area, I would recommend this place, but I just wouldn't go too much out of my way to go here. I had very high expectations coming here because of the Yelp score, so maybe your experience...

This spot is very much about PRIDE... so if that's your scene, you'll love it. If you're looking for a safehave rainbow hole in the wall, this is your spot. Unfortunately, they don't seem to apply the same dedication towards pride in the important aspects of a restaurant.

The girl at the counter was nice enough but not especially personable, and the dainty man who brought out our food had the personality of a wet mop.

And while many people may not come to a breakfast nook for personalities, I have an expectation for when I choose to leave my house to pay for a food experience. This one missed the bar. The only personality that existed here was framed on the wall and seemingly not shared by its employees... for it to be a gay spot, there were very few people who seemed to actually be happy. But I digress...

My son had the parfait, which was lacking in balance, needed to offset the chalky flavor and texture of using plain Greek yogurt... so we opted for a grilled cheese instead, which was only meh...

I had the breakfast hash, and it was only okay... I wouldn't return for it, and if somehow I find myself here again, I won't order that dish.

I also chose to have a hot chocolate since it seemed highly touted on the dry erase board... sadly, it tasted like watered-down warm milk.

A themed diner, albeit a bit forced, should pay equal attention to detail to building flavors in their limited menu as they do to the decor... and provide some training and leadership to the people you hire. The food industry demands two things. Customer service and good food... this diner has neither... which seems especially ironic given the flamboyant nature of the targeted...