The Brief Encounter Cafe — Restaurant in Bellevue

TLDR - very basic cafeteria/military chow hall-style breakfast for premium price.

We had one Everything omelet, one order of biscuits and gravy, stack of pancakes, and one cup of coffee. Nothing was terrible but bill was over 50 bucks before tip.

Omelet tasted exactly like it sounded with all the veggies and meats. It wasn't prepared in any special way just all (over)scrambled together. To be honest I was in the Navy for over 20 years and I've had the same omelet onboard ships and overseas in chow halls in Afghanistan. Nothing wrong with it, but at 19 bucks I was expecting more.

The biscuits were the most disappointing - hard, dry little pucks of cooked flour. I've definitely had better, even at sea. The gravy was your very basic white gravy with pepper and sausage. I would be very surprised if this was made in house - it tasted like packaged or from a mix. Again, it wasn't gross, but it for sure was not anywhere near worth $16. I imagine their profit margin is through the roof with this dish.

The pancakes were chewy, which is fine, but they smelled and tasted overwhelmingly of cheap vanilla, and they come with fake syrup (you have the option to upgrade to maple syrup for $2). Stack of 3 average sized cakes with no sides and fake syrup for $11. Again, I'd be surprised if this were scratch made - the strong cheap vanilla aroma and flavor scream pre-made mix.

A weird note - and I hope the business reads this part and takes the feedback - the man giving manager/owner vibes came by our table to check on us. He slightly bent over and felt the need to put his hand on my wife's shoulder, surprising her since she wasn't paying attention when he arrived. We don't know this man, nor did we have any previous interactions with him. You can't create a friendly vibe by just touching complete strangers, it is weird and off-putting. This interaction did not affect my star rating since I assume it was an isolated thing, and some people might not mind it at all, but I thought I'd include it here in the write up. You can be friendly, open, inviting, and warm without touching people. Put another way, nobody is going to think "huh, I wish they touched me as part of their customer service". You can stop that behavior - nobody will miss it.

In the end the place gets busy and seems to have its fans, I don't know what to tell you. I like a good greasy spoon cafe breakfast, but this place just isn't it due to price and quality. Some people are going to say inflation is to blame for the prices. Inflation stops when consumers are no longer willing to pay exorbitant prices for basic things - I will do my part by not coming back...

First and last time ever trying this place I placed a takeout order for a corned beef hash meal and gravy for the biscuits, and a slice of french toast and let me tell when I say the worst it's probably the worst breakfast place I've ever tried the food was cold, presentation was terrible my pick up order was served like a kids school lunch they didn't even have the biscuits together with the gravy and once I tried it I literally couldn't bare how badly made and just overall disgusting this experience was. Theyre also overpriced to put the cherry on top so if your looking to get a good reasonbly priced breakfast like pattys eggnest this place is the wrong place to go.$20 for 2 tiny eggs a child's portion worth of hashbrowns with what looks like it was mystery meat that was supposed to be beef and a pathetic piece of what they consider french toast. Exhibit A.- how is this supposed to be appetizing I had to go to the docs office and sure enough I got food poisoning from the corned beef hash. Shut this Scamming excuse of a...

The service is excellent and the host is very friendly. There is outdoor seating and ample indoor space. They have it laid out very nicely for such a small space. The tables are very nice. The staff is very friendly and very prompt. The coffee is great! Let me say that again, the coffee is excellent. It is hot and they keep it coming. The salmon everything omelette was so delicious and they gave me an option to serve it with a side of melon instead of the hashbrowns and biscuit. I met my friend there, and they made her an excellent cheddar and onion omelette. She really enjoyed her hashbrowns, and she also got a side of melon which was fresh and tasty.

I would definitely go back to a Brief Encounter. I think that the service and food are both excellent and the price points are excellent and the parking is easy and I just don’t have a bad thing to say about this little brunchy diner spot.

Oh yeah, the restrooms are big and clean and there are 2 of them....