The Flying Egg — Restaurant in Bethlehem

Let's work backwards here....

Server: "Was this your first visit with us?" Myself: "Yes, and definitely our last."

We had been planning on visiting this place for a while. Finally, we had a free day and decided to head down for brunch.

Upon arrival, we were told "20 minutes" for the wait. Acceptable and not a problem. Based on everything that I have read here and on other review sites, "20 minutes" appears to be the canned response - regardless of how long the wait really is.

About 40 minutes later my wife checks on our status... "10 more minutes". Okay.....

20 minutes later my wife checks yet again ... "Oh, we sent you a text but you didn't respond". Well - they sent it to the wrong number. They showed my wife on the screen how they got the area code backwards. Okay - this can happen but you will see the same story on other reviews.

If you're not going to invest in a paging system then maybe take a course on how to write down 3 numbers.

Incompetence? Maybe ... who knows, but it's not that hard to walk 20 feet to see if the people who are not responding are still sitting outside. Especially after an hour wait. Or, perhaps they're just used to people walking away out of frustration. There's no shortage of people waiting to get in - so , my guess is that as long as there is a butt in a seat, they really don't care about you or your experience.

Food finally arrives after about a 30 minute wait.

Note: Our server was good - she was mostly on the ball.

Cold fries for the wife and kid, cold eggs with my order, and something that remotely resembled chicken on my wife's sandwich. It was more like a flip flop with seasoning. There was something VERY wrong with that chicken. The other piece was fine .... but seriously, it could barely be cut with a knife. RUBBER CHICKEN!

Ended up putting the chicken aside with a giant ketchup question mark on the plate. What a joke at this point.

Now I know why there is food stuck to the walls ... people probably try to find something useful to do with their inedible meals.

Bill comes and it's $67.00 for 3 people. Portions were good , perhaps large in one case but none of that matters if the food is cold and possibly dangerous to eat.

Yes - I know I sound disgruntled. I am. I don't write many negative reviews but I felt like I had to with this one. If I didn't read that other people had similar experiences on other review sites, I might have chalked it up to a fluke but they're clearly trending in the wrong direction.

So, if you're looking for long waits, uncaring management, and cold / inedible food then fly as fast as you can to the Flying Egg .. but get there early and bring a pillow and maybe a hot plate if you want your food warm.

#getyouracttogetherflyingegg ...

The Flying Egg is a very good breakfast and lunch spot and hopefully on its way to being An excellent dining choice. My recent visit ,which was my first, turned out to be a mixed bag. Firstly, the food is very high end and creative. My Eggs Benedict were on par with what I have experienced at fine hotels such as the Four Seasons or Fairmont. I believe there is a professionally trained chef in the kitchen as opposed to a short order cook. This is a big plus for a local breakfast/lunch restaurant. Coffee was excellent, sourced from a local roaster. The server was very friendly and congenial, however he seemed a bit contrived and rehearsed. He was acting a part, trying to be a good waiter. He needs to relax and be himself. He was a good server, however, the service was awful! Everything about this place I loved, except the slow service. Upon leaving, I asked the hostess and one of the other servers what the problem was today and they related that 3 people called in sick that morning. Having taken the time to ask that question and getting the truth with their response changed my whole perception of my experience. In fact, I felt sorry for the people who DID come to work that day. The lesson here is that the truth is always what is the best tool to making a customer happy and making them repeat customers. I probably would not have ever returned to The Flying Egg but now I will ,knowing the real reason for the slow service. My waiter should have started out by apologizing for any delay that lies ahead because they were short staffed that day due to illness but they would do their utmost to accommodate us as expediently as possible and for our trouble, the coffee would be on the house that morning. This is how you can turn a bad situation into a good one, by telling the truth and coming clean to your customers. Most people are reasonable and will understand your situation and empathize with you, as they too have been in a jam like this with their jobs as well. The Flying Egg will be excellent if they communicate with, and more importantly, listen to...

I had heard many good things about The Flying Egg from my friends, so today I decided to pop by and give it a try.

It was around brunch time, so as expected, there were many people waiting to be seated. I anticipated that even though I was alone there would be a bit of a wait, which I was well prepared for. Unfortunately, I ultimately ended up not eating there. The reason? When I asked the hostess for seating for one, she looked unsure and looked all around the place. I could tell she was preoccupied, so I told her she could assist an already waiting party first. However, she stared at the current list of parties and said to me, "I understand that it's just one person, but all of these other people are waiting..." That was it. No wait time. Nothing. From that I knew right away that there would be no point of me waiting. I told her that I understood, thanked her, and left without another word.

Now, solo dining isn't something new to me, and I know I'm not the only one who has done it before. Today, however, was the first time I had felt this terrible about it. I felt ashamed for even asking, despite it taking a good amount of courage from my end. I was not expecting to be seated earlier than the larger parties just because I was by myself. If I were with another person and requested a table for two instead, then would I have been told the same thing? I could be wrong, but most likely, I would've been given an estimated wait time just like anyone else, rather than being implicitly told I couldn't be seated period. Just for having one extra person. I would've been completely understanding of a longer wait time! If the time didn't feel worth the wait, then I would've simply said thank you anyway and carried on with my day.

This is by no means a rating of the food itself nor any other aspects of the environment. Even in the midst of the busiest places, I had never been treated this way, and I am sad that this encounter ended...