Heritage Cafe — Restaurant in Aurora

I went here expecting something phenomenal because of the reviews and pictures. I was… perhaps a little too optimistic? But please know that I’m not a breakfast snob or even someone who consistente eats “breakfast food” for breakfast, so take these thoughts with a grain of salt haha.

The service was great! Attentive, friendly, knowledgeable, polite. I always had water, and they accommodated our questions and delays in ordering. We were seated promptly and taken care of! Atmosphere was fine:)

The place seems fairly standard for pricing in this area and type of food; I’ve included pics of the menu from today (5/18/24). Some things, like most of the a la carte options, were a little too steep for me to go for them even though I did want to try their biscuits and gravy and their hash. Still, for what they’re giving you, the prices do seem reasonable. It kind of boils down to whether you’re willing to pay the up charge for locally sourced foods. I assume you would be if you’re going to go to a breakfast place like this.

The hollandaise sauce… well, sadness. I was so excited about it that I did indeed order it a la carte (which, by the way, was a very reasonable price, especially comparatively. I think it was $2.50?). It was runny :/ and not incredibly flavorful (maybe not enough salt or acid in the recipe?). I wanted something thick, almost like a cousin to gravy, but this was differently less viscous. I love hollandaise sauce and find it difficult to make, so I maybe I will give them another try on some other day. Maybe today was an off day; their menu really gets excited about hollandaise sauce haha.

The stuffed French toast was delightful on the inner side of the toast, but I did find the crust to be dry :/ I was expecting something smothered in berries, and I found the berry topping to be pretty modest. I personally think, at $16/dish, that French toast should be delightful whether it’s the inner perfection of a pudding-like consistency or the outer edge of the bread. I felt like this dish kind of dropped the ball and was relying on me to use syrup (which I did not, but I did use it to soak up the rest of the hollandaise sauce because I don’t like to waste food and I think the bread benefited from the saltiness of the sauce). I think the dish could be improved by soaking the bread more in an egg mixture. The cream, when I ate it, was delicious! The description of the dish perhaps set too high an expectation for me. Maybe if I go back, I’ll give something like the monkey bread a chance.

For the record, the bread base itself was very delicious, and it’s my understanding that it’s baked in house. The staff seem very proud of their baker(s), and I find that endearing and wonderful.

I was overall more impressed with my poached egg’s presentation than with the haphazard whipped cream presentation on the French toast dish I ordered. Again, at this price point, I’m hoping for quality ingredients and a quality looking dish:) it certainly didn’t look disgusting; maybe just a bit lazy.

I kept an eye on what other people ordered, and I saw lots of what looked like gravy or hash. Delicious! Beautiful presentations for most of them. I didn’t see anyone order the stuffed French toast in my vicinity :/

Overall, would I go back? If they want to comp my meal for me to review more dishes, I’d happily make the half hour trip out!! But I probably won’t go to the effort to go on a regular Saturday, even if family is in town that I want to impress. Perhaps, if I’m already in the area with a breakfast lover, I’d pop in because the service is great and the food is made with quality...

We visited this place 02/15/2025. My wife ordered a latte, and the chilaquiles, I ordered the chicken fried skirt steak, a black coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice and a virgin Bloody Mary. My son had the chicken and waffles and a hot chocolate, one of my daughters had the Charlie's sandwich, the hash brown balls, and the Valentine hot chocolate. My other daughter had a classic breakfast from the kids menu along with a Valentine hot chocolate. We also had the monkey bread as an appetizer.

Starting with the fried skirt steak, it was poor to say the least. The breading didn't stick to the protein at all and ended up being more of a mush than anything. The steak was overcooked, and had no flavor at all. The jalapeño gravy was probably the only thing that had any flavor and even so, just salt. The eggs were cooked as ordered, the hash browns were a little undercooked as well. The chilaquiles are an absolute joke and should be removed from the menu immediately. Tortilla chips are not chilaquiles. Not much more I can say than that. My son's chicken and waffles had the same issue as the skirt steak with the breading. I would recommend actually marinating the proteins for added flavor, and maybe a double fry to get the crispiness one hopes for, with a "fried" protein. My daughter complained about the hash brown balls being mushy on the inside and being undercooked. Aside from that, she didn't complain about the sandwich. The classic kids breakfast was as expected. I think the pattern here, is stick to the basics and you'll be alright. The monkey bread was probably the highlight of the entire meal, and between the 5 of us, we didn't finish it.

As far as the service goes, our waitress was attentive for the most part, all though she did mix up my wife's latte order and brought her a mocha latte. My wife tried the mocha latte and didn't like it, so she requested a regular latte, like she ordered, and didn't end up getting it untill we were finished with our meal in a to go cup, hence the 4 star rating for service. Aside from that, she was great.

The Bloody Mary was mediocre, although that may be partially my fault because it had no alcohol (I don't drink, but enjoy mocktails). The freshly squeezed orange juice was pretty average as well. Again, we were comparing it to OPH's freshly squeezed oj, which is stellar by the way. The kids enjoyed their hot chocolates.

The atmosphere was clean, well lit, and welcoming but the tables seemed a little small for large parties. It felt a little crowded. Parking was a little tight, even though we lucked out and got a great parking spot. The location is in a busy shopping center and noticed few parking spots.

Overall, we would give this place another try but probably stick to a more traditional breakfast and maybe visit...

8/21/25 i visited heritage cafe, place of seating was outside.

i picked this place bc of a special occasion && i’ve also been here before.this review is really for “us” if you get my drift.

anywho, i visited this cafe with my sister && my nephew, we only got as far as ordering the carafe! i asked if i could get multiple juices && or purées our waitress (not sure what her name was) told us we could only have one for an entire bottle of sparkling wine. after asking her multiple times different ways about wanting multiple purées she finally gave in && said we could order multiple after telling us we could only have one.

our waitress brings out 2 glasses which had residue on them, so we kindly asked for different glasses, the new glasses had maybe pulp from orange juice, by this point the waitress was annoyed && told us she’d bring us a different waiter, mind you we didn’t ask for a different waiter! at this point i’m also annoyed so now i want to speak with a manager.

our new waitress comes out, i speak with him && ask where the manager is, he tells me there isn’t a manager they just have a shift lead. i then proceed to ask him well why didn’t your co worker inform me of that? of course he says “i’m not sure i wasn’t out here”. i don’t go back && fourth with him, at this point i ask for plastic cups. while i’m asking for that a guy from the kitchen came out with new glasses, you can take a lucky guess if those were clean or not.

the owner of the restaurant held the door open for a elderly couple that was sitting outside && asked if everything was okay blah blah. i looked at the guy && asked him if he worked here, he said he’s the owner && asked what was wrong, now i’m even more frustrated.

on top of the the reasoning why i was even out, && being lied to about there not having a manager i was at my breaking point, i couldn’t speak so my sister did for us.

i told the owner what happened && asked why the waitress lied to me about there not being a manager he said “i don’t know i can’t speak for her then (laughed)”. i wasn’t asking as if i wanted him to answer it was more of a statement. the owner was very condescending, he told me if i didn’t like the service we could leave before he mentioned we could stay there && they would comp our meal. he said our first waitress was one of his best && she’s been there for 4years which i couldn’t tell because she was very annoyed && hurried to send us a new waiter. all of that was irrelevant due to how she treated us as soon as she offered drinks with only one juice/ purée for a whole carafe of sparkling wine! as 2 black women && a black child i would never be back at this establishment again after the way we were treated especially by...