Carolina Coffee Shop — Restaurant in Chapel Hill

Living in CH for a few years now, I really appreciate how reliable, cozy and decent CCC is. The town doesn’t have too much on tap, but CCC is a nice brunch, great booth seats, wonderful service, and pretty good prices! The food is nothing to write home about, but it’s also not an outrageous price. $10-14 meals. Coffee runs from $3. They have loads of breakfast set options, the eggs are real and fresh, and they have vegetables !! I feel like that is often rare for American breakfast dining.

This is a good spot for meetings and catching up with friends. Pretty much no need for reservations, except maybe some “busy” weekends (eg parent’s weekend or a big game).

Coffee is pretty good. Could be stronger. They have lattes, espressos, cold brews, teas, etc.

Eggs are good. What about the avocado toast? Man. It’s decent. I just thought as a civilization we figured out world class Avo toast- why haven’t we spammed the recipe everywhere?? Thankfully they provide a lemon. But the slice of bread needs to be a thicker cut. I think the avocado is also not 100% fresh, almost like it’s mixed with mayo or something. Salt, pepper, maybe some chili flakes. Although we are in the South so I’m not too surprised about the spice profile - you can try asking, the servers are super friendly!! You can (and should) add Eggs, your way. If you have opinions on poached eggs, keep them to yourself and order sunny side up.

Overall, if CCC were in a city like New York with more competition, it’s a 3-4 star review from me. But because of how rare and useful this atmosphere is in Chapel Hill, it’s a 5. Good subsistence breakfast spot to have a 1-2h conversation.

Oh and notably, the staff are phenomenal. So detail oriented...

We are currently seated in the restaurant. The food may be good but the greeters at the door are flat out incompetent and inflexible and lack any kind of customer service. We were a party of 6. We called 30 mins prior to arrival on Sunday (on Saturday morning they told us they don’t take reservations) but we could call ahead and check the wait before we came. When I called this morning, the wait was 30 mins. We arrived and the same guy at the door said the wait is 2 hours. Then we saw we were 6th in line and 20 mins later were were zero in line. They split us on 2 different tables. Ok. We sat down. The table next to us opened up, we asked if we could join the two tables, they said it was a fire hazard. We said, ok, let’s move our family to the table next to us, even if not joined. All was agreed, and then we see them seat another family at this table. There was no apology for the screw up. Establishments like this will eventually close, we will never be back and will be sure to post this experience in social media. Maybe service doesn’t matter to you, but we will choose to spend our money where it is respected.

Also, please clean your window sills of food if you put a table next to them. Nobody wants to sit next to dirty window sills with food from previous service. And your water glasses need washing too.

I appreciate you worrying about the fire Marshall, but also try and worry about the FDA. The Hygeine of your floors and restaurant...

I was there for two hours because the food took a long time to come out. In that entire time, my server only checked on me twice. Once to get my drink order and the second to get my food order. After I paid my bill, I let her know I was still working on my food. But when I later tried to get her attention to ask for a box, I was ignored for 20 minutes. Several staff members saw me trying to wave her down and did nothing. Eventually, I had to get up and ask the hostess for a box myself. Even after I kindly explained how long I’d been waiting, no one apologized or acknowledged the delay. The food, thankfully, was a highlight. My steak was slightly overcooked, but the chimichurri-style sauce on top added enough flavor and moisture to make up for it. It was served with bread it had a nice toasted, possibly olive oil finish that I really enjoyed. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and the mocha I started with was delicious and made with quality coffee. I forgot to ask for dairy-free milk, but that’s on me, not the restaurant. The hash browns aren't traditional; they’re little fried cubes of potato—crispy, just salty enough, and with a perfect texture. Even though they weren’t what I expected, I ended up liking them. Pricing is fair for the quality of the food. It’s just a shame that the service left me feeling so irritated and overstimulated. It was loud, hot, and frustrating not to get help when...