The Flying Biscuit Cafe — Restaurant in Chapel Hill

I have been to this restaurant twice, once in March 2024 and once in April 2024. The first time, it was a perfect and amazing experience through and through. The pancakes were delicious and moist, the food came out fast, the waitress was kind and attentive. I would especially drill that they had chicken sausage and turkey bacon. Most brunch places will only have pork options, and I don't eat pork. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted that the chicken sausage and turkey bacon were both delicious, thick, and flavorful. The restaurant is a bit loud, but not overly so. I enjoyed my experience so much that I went back a couple of weeks later for another visit.

During my second visit to dine at the flying biscuit, the experience left a lot to be desired. The food took a long time to come out. On top of that, half of the food that I ordered never came. We tried to wait, but after waiting 5-10 mins, the rest of my food had not come. Nobody ever explained why it did not come out or where the rest of my food was. I tried to inquire about where the rest of my food was, but the waitress had disappeared and did not check on our table at all.

At this point I had to start asking other waiters for help because we could not find our waitress. When they finally got a hold of our waitress and asked her where's the rest of the food, she had no idea what I was talking about. I said "pancakes and two side of bacon that I ordered never came to our table". She looked at me with a glare, spun around quickly and ran off. No comment, no apology, no explanation for where the food was, no nothing. I had no idea whether the rest of the food was ever going to be served or not. We waited for about 10 more minutes to see what would happen. Absolutely nothing happened. I never received any food and nobody offered any explanation. At that point, we decided to close our bill and leave. We told them not to bring the rest of the food (which, they did not seem concerned about anyway) so we could get out of there. I am not sure why the waitress was acting so strange. Maybe she was new and needs more training. Name was Christina .

Overall, I just could not believe that the Christina the waitress disappeared, that half the food did not come out and that nobody felt the need to explain whether the rest of the food was coming or whether the order had even been placed. And certainly no apology was issued for the inconvenience. You're a restaurant. You have exactly one job: serve food. I don't understand why something very simple became very confusing and difficult. You literally have one assignment and could not do that.

Horrible experience. Next time, will probably try somewhere...

After reading such positive reviews about Flying Biscuit, I had high hopes when I recently took my parents here for brunch. Starting with the positives, the food was pretty good. All of our eggs were made well, and the potatoes with the moon dust were delicious. The biscuits were also great, with a fluffy inside and a nice, sugar coated golden crusted top. They are served with a really delicious apple butter, which we all enjoyed. My pancakes were a little rubbery but the eggs and biscuits made up for it.

There were a bunch of negatives about the experience though. We had a party of 5 and it took nearly half an hour to get seated. Several smaller parties of 3 and 4 were able to get seated right away, which was frustrating to see, especially while waiting with a hungry child. I don't understand why we couldn't just squeeze 5 of us into a smaller table to make the wait shorter. There was also nowhere to wait; we could either wait outside in the blowing wind and rain, or wait inside awkwardly standing 2 feet away from the hostesses - pretty much right in their face. There was nowhere to sit while waiting either, so we stood for half an hour, alternating between being wet and cold, and feeling awkward for standing right by the hostesses.

After getting seated, almost our whole party needed to use the restroom. The men's room and the women's room only have one toilet each apparently, so there was a long line outside each one. For such a large restaurant, it seemed odd that the restrooms would not be larger. I understand this is not within the wait staff's control but I have to mention it, as it delayed our waitress from taking our orders.

After our food arrived, it was tough to flag down our waitress. She disappeared for long stretches of time so I had nearly finished my meal before I could find her again to ask her to refill the empty maple syrup container on our table.

I think I get the appeal of this restaurant if you're coming with a small party, don't have children, and don't have to wait. But for us, the experience was not very good and I probably won't...

I wanted to enjoy this restaurant for Sunday brunch but I do not recommend. Firstly, the ambiance is somewhat glum. The restaurant is in a long and narrow space and is crowded with tables. We were originally seated at a table that should not be a table -- it was immediately outside of the entrance to the dish pit and around the corner from the bathroom. It felt like it could have been a practical joke. We ultimately sat outside which was far better. The front of house staff is generally younger, maybe high school aged, but courteous enough.

The menu is large and disorienting, but I felt confident going for the standard Eggs and Bacon breakfast. The biscuit came out ahead of the meal and was fluffy and layered, but it lacked salt and tasted like margarine rather than butter or lard. It also had a dusting of sugar on top and was served with apple butter - more like dessert than a savory biscuit.

The entree was not served with a biscuit... The eggs were undercooked (over very, very easy not over medium as ordered) and the bacon had an odd flavor like they used too much artificial smoke. There was an off taste to the eggs as well. I guessed it may have been towards the end of a busy Sunday and the griddle needed to be cleaned... don't know. I left one of my two eggs and most of the bacon behind. How you mess that up, I don't know. I also opted for the potatoes instead of the grits, and they were served hot and crispy with tasty seasoning.

No one else at the table enjoyed their meals either. Nor did our food all come to the table together. We sat waiting for another plate of eggs and grits that for some reason didn’t come out with the others. The hollandaise on the Eggs Benedict was also oddly sweet and gelatinous. Out of the four of us, we all left unappealing food on our plates. Maybe some garnish or greenery would have helped. The meal was $60 for the four of us before tip. Also - it should be noted they bribe patrons for Google reviews with "FREE BREAD PUDDING," so take these reviews with the grain of salt that should have been in the...