The Sage Biscuit Café- Downtown — Restaurant in Bradenton

We were in the downtown Bradenton area yesterday (Monday) morning and decided to stop. It was 8a and they were not busy. Their hostess station is outside the main doors. When we arrived a server/hostess was walking a dude to an outside table and said she'd be right back. She never came back. It was so humid, I finally had to step inside where I proceeded to wait again. A customer joked with me and said just go back there and get them. I said I'm walking out before I go back and get them.

Finally seated. I ordered the sage biscuits and gravy with a side of fruit instead of potatoes or grits. My husband ordered the corned beef hash with 2 over easy eggs, it came with a sage biscuit and either potatoes, grits or the fruit. He asked the server if the corned beef hash was made in house and was told yes. It was not. They did add onions and peppers to the hash, instead of serving as is from their food purveyor, so there's that. The eggs were cooked beautifully. My meal was tasty, the gravy on the biscuits could have been hotter but still delicious. The biscuits had a great flavor and were crispy around the edges.

We spent over 30$ + tip for breakfast. Which I think is a bit much but they are in a commercial building and I'm sure their rent warrants this pricing. The bathroom is not in the restaurant but in the lobby of the building. I'm not sure how you get to it, I think through the server's station between the dining room and the kitchen.

They have indoor outdoor seating as well as single seating at a counter. Parking is across the street and it's a pay to park lot. Your choices are 4 or 8 hours. Four hours was ~5$. We opted to take a chance and did not pay.

Would I go back? I mean if that's where any of my friends or colleagues wanted to go, I would. But for me and my husband, probably not. We have great breakfast spots closer to our home and less expensive. But the biscuits were...

After a long hiatus, I decided to reunite with a dear friend at Sage Biscuit. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of months due to my ongoing health issues, so I was eager to spend quality time together before she moved away (that day actually).

I arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes early on a Sunday, anticipating a wait due to churchgoers. To my surprise, I was seated promptly. My friend arrived shortly after, and we enjoyed a leisurely brunch. She ordered the black bean burrito, which she thoroughly enjoyed, while I opted for the hearty breakfast burrito. Both dishes were generously sized, and I even had leftovers for the next day.

I particularly enjoyed the creamy grits that accompanied my meal. With a touch of butter and salt (the classic way to eat them), they were some of the best I've had in a long time. Our brunch was a great way to catch up with a friend and talk about where we're both going in the near future. People come and go in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime (you're lucky if you get any of those lifetime people that aren't family). Knowing that doesn't always make it easier to say goodbye. We kid ourselves with the ole "Come and visit" , or "I'll visit you" and "Yeah, it's not that far", when really... Lives get busy. People move on.

The parking garage has a steep incline walk if you park in one of the first few spots, but it's not really that bad of a hike. It gets your heart pumping and your breath moving. It's also shaded from the sun and not very populated, so if you're sad, it's a great place to walk back to your car, and even sit for a few minutes. No one's going to see you, so take all the time you need. Blare that music in your car for a couple minutes... No...

Excellent food. Excellent atmosphere except for the wait staff who seem to be dressed for a run with athletic shirts. I was there for breakfast and got the tofu scramble. The main food was good but I got 4 slices of toast too with out any butter or kind of direction of what to do with them, my food wasn't runny or anything, so just kinda a weird addition. My friend's french toast looked amazing, lots of fruit and whipped cream.

Parking is interesting, it's paid in the lot across the street, or free in the adjacent deck when you bring your receipt from the restaurant. And also lots of stairs to walk up and down if you're not able to get through the security door behind someone on level 3 to catch the lift down.

No soy milk, but they have almond or oat milk.

Bathroom is a pain to get to. You have to leave the restaurant, go into the office building, find the bathroom is locked and realize you need a code to get into it. Then you have to go back to the restaurant, ask the server what the code is, and she'll tell you 1410, so then you leave the restaurant again, go back to the bathroom armed with the code, reach to type it in when the door magically opens... just to realize there's a lady coming out of it and if you had just waited 20 seconds, you wouldn't have needed the code, but then again, you think to yourself that there's no way to have known the lady would have come out.... Then you think back to this post and chuckle to yourself thinking of the irony and inception...