Southern Charm Cafe — Restaurant in Cape Canaveral

Southern Charm Cafe 8501 Astronaut Blvd. Cape Canaveral, FL 32920

1.5 Stars

Having been freshly exungulated at a local salon run by a fellow Mel-Hi Alum, I headed up the coast towards the next dining establishment suggested by my random name generator, Southern Charm Cafe in Cape Canaveral. Upon entering the aforementioned snap house, the first thing I noticed was the “Homemade” emblazoned above cakes, pies, and desserts. I tell you no lies; it's in the picture. However, I get ahead of myself.

My server today was an old hand at the game, Mary. She is super efficient and spent years in a previous restaurant where she was the show. She's still got plenty of game. I put in an order for some grits, one pancake, some home fries and a Porky Pig omelet. I relaxed a bit while awaiting Mary's return.

Soon enough, she returned with my grub, and I commenced the job at hand (stuffing my pie hole). I am at a loss on how to approach this review, there are so many ways. However, as I am sure my editor will fix it anyway, I might as well do it in the order listed above.

The grits were more akin to snail slime than the Southern Breakfast staple. They tasted fine; however, someone either spilled a gallon of water in the pot, or they have no idea how to cook. At all. By the time you get to the end of this review, you will know as well as I did which was the case.

After a few spoonfuls of grits soup, I turned my fork to the single griddle cake in front of me and stuffed a forkful in my mouth. I immediately removed it from said orifice. It was so inedible it reminded me of the Three Stooges gag where Shemp is served a powder puff. How in the world can you make an unappetizing pancake? All you do is add eggs, water and oil and stir the mix...

Before I move on, I would ask you to take a gander at the pics if you haven't already. Notice the shine on the spuds? Yep, that was a pound of extra grease on those puppies. They were so horrendously greasy that made my stomach churn on the way home.

Thankfully, this brought me to the last item I had to sample in this nauseating excuse for a restaurant, the Porky Pig Omelet. While it was cooked properly, it consisted of an interior that no doubt came from a Pizza Hut freezer that predates the turn of the Century. Everything in this place was crap. The saving grace of a Swill Alert was the biscuit. Somehow, this was actually delicious.

Now, back to the menu. I asked the manager if the cakes, pies and desserts were, as stated, homemade. I could tell they were made in bulk and purchased from a distributor, as I have seen this ruse before. At first, the manager insisted they were made in the back. After vigorous cross-examination, she finally admitted that they do NOT, in fact, make their own cakes & pies but buy them from a food distributor. Noticing the 14 deputy sheriff's scarfing down free food (I asked) I did feel safe from external threats, however, internally I wasn't so sure I trusted what little I just put down.

The Big Boy says, “If you want free food, join the Sheriff's Department; otherwise, this joint isn't worth the $22.00. Not by...

I went to Southern Charm Cafe based on a recommendation from a friend. We are trying out various places as we recently moved to the area from AZ. You will see that my breakfast choice is relatively the same at each restaurant we chose.

This time I went to Southern Charm cafe with my daughter. We were immediately greeted, seated and the server came over and was friendly. Service from her went down from there… as she disappeared out of sight for some time. I heard another employee asking if someone could help with one of her tables.

I had the Country Breakfast, my daughter had the kids pancake, egg, and sausage.

My meal first: The hashbrowns were just okay, I actually left quite a bit of them on my plate as about half of them were just not cooked properly. The country sausage gravy was good, but the biscuit was just okay. Overall, it was just an okay breakfast.

My daughter (who I want to preface this with is special needs) got halfway through her pancake before she said “I was so hungry, I don’t know why this pancake is so sticky”. Upon investigation of her pancake I could see that the pancake was not cooked all the way through and was in fact ‘sticky’. Because she had already eaten half of it, I didn’t bother saying anything as it was already too late to comment about it.

I listened to our server as she was talking with another table next to us, asking if they were military. This seems to be a common issue with servers in the area - as this has happened to me at more than one establishment when I’m dining alone, or dining with my kiddo. Why am I not asked if I’m military? Can a female not also be military? Could I not be the spouse of a 20 year served vet of the military and dining without him? If servers are going to ask if their patrons are military, you should ask all your tables, not just the ones were a man is sitting at it. Its completely disrespectful.

Also, I’ve never dined in this establishment. The server brought me the check and said thank you. I had to ask her if I was to pay her, or go somewhere to pay. This is something the server should be explaining when they present you with the check.

I can say Southern Charm Cafe is a one and done for me. I tried it, was okay, but don’t see the need to go back when we’ve had better meals elsewhere...

5 Star all the way! By far the best breakfast in Cape Canaveral. Let's start with the eggs benedict which was absolutely perfect and almost is never the case anywhere. To get every element of the Benedict perfect and deliver the food hot is not just an art but it's also a science. This is not an easy task for a kitchen especially a busy kitchen. You can have a talented chef and still have at least one component of the Benedict that arrives imperfect. I had the southern Benedict which came with fried chicken instead of ham and it was absolutely the best Benedict of my life and I am a Benedict lover. I will order this dish anytime it appears as a chef special. This was delicious amazing the eggs were perfectly cooked the Hollandaise was perfect the Fried Chicken was the most delicious Fried Chicken I've ever had and even right down to the English muffin which was cooked perfectly this dish blew me away. The server told me it would and she was spot on. So if you have any questions about what to order you need to listen to your server, they know what they are talking about here. My server was Fefe and she is top of the line. Lots of reviews talk about the wonderful staff but let me just say that it is such a pleasure as an industry professional to dine out and be taken care of by industry professionals. Charming doesn't even begin to tell the story.Also just wanted to say that the Grits were the best that I've ever had and you can get grits everywhere in the south. These had a base of flavor that is hard to explain I first thought well maybe the cooking liquid has been flavored with a ham bone but I'll tell you what I really have no idea what was going on with these grits but they were absolutely delicious. Just enough cheese will that going overboard although in my world there is no such thing as too much cheese, the grits arrived hot, creamy and delicious.

My dining companion had a Breakfast Platter which she loved and described as one of the best breakfasts she's ever had. The orange juice is a show stopper. Ask them about it. Tastes like fresh squeezed.

Overall this restaurant delivered and I can't wait to go back. I'm sure that they really don't need another Rave review but I just couldn't help myself. Southern Charm is a true Cape...