Famous Toastery — Restaurant in Charlotte

My girlfriends and I visited for brunch this past Sunday and we had a blast! We arrived shortly after 12p and experienced a wait time, which was expected since it's Sunday brunch, but we didn't mind because the time went by fast as we chatted while waiting to be seated. The location is tucked away in a Ballantyne shopping plaza across from a pub and a farmers market, very welcoming scenery, with a front porch, family reunion, vibe. I loved it!

We were seated and immediately greeted by our waiter who took our drink orders. Of course we started off with waters and lemon but then, mimosa time! The orange juice was freshly squeezed and you certainly haven't tasted a mimosa until you've had one with fresh squeezed oranges. It's a wonderful distinction from bottled juice from concentrate with champagne. There is a machine located near the bar area, where you can watch the oranges get cold pressed. I enjoyed the small attention to every detail in the crafted menu and drinks.

The waiter returned for our food order and we each ordered something different to add variety to our table. I ordered the crab scramble, with wheat toast, and grits. (You have an option of toast. They offer white, wheat, or rye) One of my girlfriends ordered shrimp and grits, and my other girlfriend ordered the Western omelet with potatoes and white toast. Everything was DELISH! My grits were just right, creamy/not watery, my crab scramble had real crab, not imitation meat, so I was immediately sold from the description on the menu, and it did not disappoint once it came to the table.

Did I mention we were there for brunch? Haha, so we ordered mimosa flights after finishing our food. We each attempted to order different flavors but ultimately ended up with the same flights. We ordered traditional orange, peach, pineapple, mango, and cranberry. They were our of passionfruit but I can only imagine how that one tasted, if the others were freshly squeezed. Yum!

A lot of thought went into the planning of this restaurant and it shows. Although we were there for a brunch, I loved the family atmosphere the restaurant gave, so yes, it is kid and infant friendly. We sat near the cutest baby!

We will definitely be back for a...

usually, i'll go to the location closer to my house, but i had errands to run nearby so i went to this one instead.

there were only two workers on the floor, and they were hosting and serving. it was the middle of a tuesday, so i can't blame them for expecting it to be slow. there weren't too many other people there, but they all came in at once and i could tell the servers were overwhelmed. i used to be a server myself, so i can't blame them for doing the best they can. our server was nice and was patient with us (i have social anxiety and it took me a minute to find my voice) despite being stressed. the food, however, was a different matter.

my usual location has a pumpkin stuffed french toast that i was looking forward to, but this one doesn't have it. no big deal. i ordered the pumpkin french toast casserole instead, which is sort of like a pound cake. food took a while to come out (again, they were clearly understaffed, so it's not their fault). the french toast casserole was pretty gross. i'm a huge texture person, and the inside was sticky yet dry, almost like it was undercooked. i've never ever sent food back in a restaurant before, but i had to send this back. i ordered a side of bacon as well and requested it crispy, but when it came out it was flimsy and cold.

in place of the french toast casserole, i ordered the pumpkin crepes. there were only two tiny crepes for $16, which was ridiculous. they were also super mid, and the crepe part itself was too thick, so it tasted like ravioli. i went with just my mom and my brother, and it was over $60 for just the three of us, and for small portions with absurd prices.

the place itself is pretty cute, but the women's bathroom was FREEZING. also not a huge deal just kinda odd.

one thing i will say though is that the cold brew coffee was really good, and i'm super picky about my coffee.

all in all though i will not be returning to...

For starters, there was no over waiter or waitress, so it was very difficult to get service at the table at all. When I did get seated, they wanted my drink order immediately, so I asked what they had and was told, "only Coke products", which I found odd for a brunch place. I ended up checking the menu afterwards and saw there was a lot more options.

The wait staff didn't have anything for babies in car seats. They refused to bring a high chair to place upside down and didn't have slings, so my baby was on the floor, which wasn't ideal.

I ordered the classic eggs Benedict. It was the worst eggs Benedict that I've had in my life. (My favorite breakfast food). The Hollandaise sauce tasted disgusting, which ruined the dish. I think that the Hollandaise sauce broke while it was made. The home fries were literally smashed potatoes. The lack of flavor was terrible.

My son's meal was 1 egg and bacon, which literally was just that (with a pitiful slice of an orange, which looked more like decor than anything else). It definitely wasn't worth $9. He took one bite of the eggs and refused to eat the rest of them. I tasted his eggs and they had a microwaved flavor. No wonder he didn't eat them.

My grandmother-in-law's cup was cloudy and when it was brought up, they changed it to a red cup. Looking inside the beverage was still cloudy looking, so not sure what happened there.

The worst part was the ladies restroom. It was freezing. Definitely as cold or colder than a refrigerator. They definitely needed to turn the heat on.

I will not be going back due to the food not being worth the price, the service was bad, and clearly they don't want people using...