Dandelion Cafe Bellaire — Restaurant in Bellaire

Updated: It took a bit but they are back to the Dandelion cafe we know and love- food tasty, fresh, from scratch- it is a gem!

Dandelion cafe as we knew it is gone- it used to be magic because of their quality fresh local ingredients and made from scratch approach on top of excellent management, even if this resulted in higher prices than other places, it was our weekly go to brunch cafe, and sometimes got take out for an early dinner. We are so sad that it has so deteriorated in quality. There has been a substantial change lately affecting almost all corner stones of their business and after our third time with even more bad food changes we will not return at least for a while. It started with them being out of Strawberries at 10am. Then a week or so later they were out of half of their dishes by 10am. Now they solved it by changing ingredients and the portion size- all the magic Dandelion had is gone. The strawberry french toast was my daughters favorite. They literally are slicing the toast in half, giving half of the strawberry cream and cut out the fresh strawberries that topped them entirely- not only does this reduce the amount of food, but a thin floppy unshapely french toast cooks entirely different and tastes entirely different compared to a luscious thick home made slice of brioche that is cooked to perfection with a creamy custardy center and fresh strawberries on top as it used to be. They exchanged the tasty seeded wheat toast that had poppy seeds with some generic tasteless "seeded" wheat. I do not know what they changed about the drinks (which were brought in 3 takes as they kept on forgetting one or another) but the Tropicana- which used to be nothing but fresh Strawberry Bananas and coconut water -tasted like it was made from powder. The Chai which I previously longed for is undrinkable and super sweet, when previously was made unsweetened. All of us threw our drinks out after a couple of sips- so it's not one person or one drink change. The tortilla's of the Taco's changed, and so did the eggs. left off the beens that we paid $2.5 extra for, but more importantly were integral to the taco. I have not seen the regular manager around lately, so not sure if it is new owner or new management that is making these horrible decisions, but every single change that was made is VERY noticeable and results in a sub-bar food product that lacks any desirability and is entirely overpriced for what it is. We never complained about the prices as we appreciate the quality food any day over portion size or price, but this is not it. Most importantly, we want our Dandelion cafe back!!!! Hopefully this can be taken as constructive criticism that is...

This was my second time coming to this place. The first time I went it was before the pandemic and I have no complaints about then. This second time, however, is a different story. I went this morning so the whole experience is still fresh on my mind. When I walked in this Thursday morning it was full and there was a line but I didn’t mind waiting. I told my sister to take a seat so we wouldn’t be left without one. Since this was my second time here I knew this place is pretty upscale so I knew the price would be pretty up there. Leticia, the cashier, was excellent (at least I think that’s her name because that’s on my receipt). Honestly, she was probably the best thing out of the experience because she was so patient with me and had awesome recommendations. Anyways, where it first went wrong was with my coffees. I ordered a small vanilla bourbon iced coffee per Leticia’s recommendation and a large iced chai latte (emphasis on LARGE). When I was called up to pick up my drinks by the barista bar I noticed the two containers were the exact same size. I thought, “Hmm, this must be my mistake. I must’ve forgotten to make my sister’s drink a large.” I checked my receipt and no, I ordered a small and a large. I even set them side by side to make sure I wasn’t crazy. Afterwards I went to the barista with the “large” drink and asked her if there was some mistake because both sizes were the same. She told me that no, they used the same cup but poured in different quantities. I took a picture to show the two drinks. Now, if she gave me two larges then that’s my bad and thanks but these were pretty small cups, I can’t imagine any smaller ones. Either way, it sounds like the barista just didn’t want to admit her mistake and made up a lie on the spot so I wouldn’t nag. I’m pretty upset I got two same cup sizes with over a dollar difference between them. Then, when the food came in, I noticed my eggs were more over easy than over medium. The yolk was still chirping. This isn’t a big deal to me, though. What was more of a big deal was that the egg whites on some part were still semi-clear and jiggly. Raw. Lastly, the seats are so close together. I had to listen to this lady’s conversation about her vacation to Hawaii during the pandemic since she was literally two feet away. I wish I had enjoyed this visit as much as the last but I’m sad my impression...

This is a place I see suggested a lot when I search "breakfast " in my area on yelp. I finally had the opportunity to try it out today. I was not very impressed with the food. The service and atmosphere were fine no complaints there.

I ordered the Bellaire breakfast. This comes with 2 egg (I ordered scrambled), 1 meat (ordered maple sausage), 1 bread ( ordered a biscuit, and there is a upcharge for a biscuit), also comes with hashbrowns. When asked if I wanted I drink I ordered coffee. I was surprised when she asked how many cups as I'm used to normally just getting refills of coffee at most places. So I said "2cups", total came out to about 20 bucks for breakfast. I'm not looking for deals on breakfast if I were I'd go to McDonald's, my issue here is there are expectations if a basic breakfast is going to be charged at this rate.

Let's start with the eggs, they were fluffy and looked nice but they are salted so heavily you taste salt not egg. The maple sausage (pan sausage) is not really tasty it's kinda off putting honestly. The hashbrowns are like short string potatoes that got tossed around the griddle in a pile then put on the plate, they aren't the hashbrowns you're used to seeing. And they aren't that good either. The absolute worst thing on the plate and I mean I wish I took a pic of this pathetic waste of flower called a biscuit.

This thing was dry as old bones. I tried to pick it up it came apart like it was a hamburger bun. It just continues to crumble away as you try to consume it. The flavor was of course poor, the blueberry jam tried it's best to help that sorry excuse of a biscuit. I wish it had been better but that's my honest opinion. The staff is friendly and attentive, the lady behind the counter would list an item (eggs) and then list options (scrambled, fried), I liked that, made things quick. But in the end the value or maybe the quality of what you are getting...