Sugar Mama’s — Restaurant in Baltimore

I've ordered twice, and the pros and cons are: Pros: I have not eaten french toast in well over 20 years, and I was craving chicken and waffles or pancakes. Prior to ordering for the first time, I read reviews which overwhelmingly were about how good the french toast was. After debating with myself, I ordered the french toast platter, and completely agree with the reviews. The french toast is the best I've ever had! I'm still not a french toast lover so I won't order it from anywhere else and don't want it homemade, but I'd definitely order it again from Sugar Mama's! Another pro is the friendliness of the young lady (squeaky voice) at the counter/register She was very professional and welcoming during both visits, to all customers. Another pro is the simplicity of ordering and ease of paying online. Portion sizes are good.

Cons: First visit, I ordered the french toast platter which comes with sides. The eggs were not good (tasted like eggs you'd get at a 2-3 star hotel that includes breakfast. One review said tasted like powdered eggs. I don't know but not tasty). Also, I absolutely love bacon but did not like the bacon from here. I've never thrown bacon away, but the only thing I completely ate was the french toast. I also gave the grits a try thinking a "soul food" business would probably have tasty grits. They weren't the worst I've ever had but also weren't good because they were cold. I decided I needed another order of grits during my second visit. A few days later, I ordered chicken tenders and waffles with a side of cheese grits. The waffles were okay. All 3 chicken tenders were over-fried so hard and not good. Ironically, as I waited for my food, the young lady looked at the fryer and asked the cook if they were done, and she said no. Based on the wait time, and the look on the young lady's face, it seemed that the tenders were (or should have been) done. Sadly, they were overcooked. My second time ordering confirmed the grits weren't good, and the slab of cheese (barely melted) made thfe grits worse. I think the biggest issue is the timing of cooking the food. When I placed the first order, the app had the pick-up time for approximately 25 mins later, but about 5 mins after ordering, I received the text that the food was ready. So, it took me about 12 mins to get there, and once there, lots of people were waiting. The young lady told me she was waiting on two of the sides. After about 15 minutes, the food was ready. Needless to say, almost 30 minutes had passed so the food was no longer hot or warm. To avoid an issue with the given pick-up time vs. actual time the food was ready, for the second visit, I did not order until I was out front. The time given and the time I received the text to pick-up were more in sync the second visit. Again, other people were waiting, and I was told the chicken tenders weren't ready, so I waited. After leaving, I sat in my car and sampled the food. Unfortunately, the tenders were hot, but again, the grits weren't good because they were nearly cold. The waffle was ok. Of course, it doesn't take breakfast food long to get cold. Those who are cooking may need to do a better job with time management because cold eggs, and especially cold grits are not good. They have to also consider wait times because during the first visit, once I arrived, there was about a 15 min wait due to the others who were waiting, and many orders were still coming in. The young lady at the register was bagging several orders, getting drinks, having people sign, and sorting through the receipts of the new orders that were received. All of that affects food that is waiting to be given to customers who were standing there waiting, and by the time, you get the food, it's cold or lukewarm, at best. Several reviews talk about the wait times which means business is booming, and that's great, but time management is needed so customers aren't...

Sugar Mama's staff need to work on their customer service skills and professionalism, as well as operations and management (ordering, communication, problem solving, time management, etc). I called in my order today at 1:28 PM. While ordering, although she was extremely friendly, I questioned the young lady's competence because I had to repeat myself multiple times, she often inquired if she'd asked me something previously a few times, and when she read my order to me for confirmation, she still had it incorrect. I only ordered 2 things. Upon ordering, I was informed that it would be 20-25 minutes. I arrived shortly before 2:00 PM and paid for my order. At that time, my sandwich was done, but was informed that it would be another approximate 10 minutes for French toast. The rest of my food was done and would have been sitting there and getting cold. I inquired as to why there would be an additional wait time ultimately bringing the total time to almost 40 minutes for 2 things. It wasn't crowded. When the young lady (the same lady who took my phone order over the phone) went to share my concern with who I am assuming is the owner or manager, she responded "so what you want your money back for it?" Other than that, she never communicated with me to attempt to resolve the issue. A more appropriate, customer-first response would have made a big difference. Instead of that being her initial and only communication with me, a simple explanation or apology for the additional wait time would have sufficed. So at that point, I asked for a complete refund of everything. Instead of refunding the money to my card like I paid, she attempted to be passive aggressive and pull out a wad of cash to show off her "big bills." Anyways, because she only had "big bills", she gave me back more than what I paid. I was able to use that "extra" money to buy my lunch elsewhere. My money will not be spent where people lack basic customer...

All I can say is, “thank you for other restaurant for not opening to the public your regular time!” I stopped into the city to patronize a Black Owned spot I discovered at inner harbor a couple of months ago and planned to try them when I returned to Baltimore. Well, their delayed opening had me back to the drawing board for breakfast; Google. I decided to try SUGAR MAMA’s, great pics. About 8:45, parked right in front and waited for them to open. At 9 o’clock on the dot, someone was turning the lock to open the eatery. I didn’t know what exactly I wanted so I had a mini smorgasbord, shrimp and grits(yes the pepper and onions are ok), fish platter; scramble eggs and potatoes, and an order of french toast (how could I pass over them? They looked so good on the grill.) I sat right in my car and started on my fish, seasoned and breaded just right for breakfast, the potatoes had a unique sprinkling which agreed with my taste buds and the eggs had a little fluff. I wanted to sample everything so next came to French toast, as I wait for the grits to cool. Babae….let me tell you, I’ve never had French toast like that! I don’t know if it’s a cinnamon sugar, or the way it’s cooked but it was soft, not soggy with a slight crust on one side, 🤷🏾‍♀️. I had to limited myself. I’d been shame to order more….that day(went back the next day and got 2 orders to go). I had the grits about 6 hours later. I didn’t heat it up, just dumped it upside down on a plate and enjoyed several forkfuls. I believe the spice was a more manageable, for me, with the temp of this bowl. The next day, in addition to FT, I ordered chicken wings. They were plump, juicy, not salty, and once again, not breaded to the point one with be tricked thinking there was more than it actually is. I managed to take some pieces to FT to share at work in CT. people were calling relatives in the DMV asking about y’all!!! The sweet polite workers should not go...