The Roost Cafe — Restaurant in Chico

Where to start.

The decor looks like Elizabeth Gilbert threw up in a barn. It was one "live laugh love" painting away from being Chardonnay Chic. Though, given the... Color of the town, it's not surprising.

Food. B. A. T. Benedict, and chorizo Benedict.

I can emphatically say, I will never order anything that requires a poached egg from here again. Both mine and my partners Benedicts had one egg poached properly and one severely underdone (hard whites not cooked all the way through and easy to get salmonella from depending on how the eggs are stored)

Bacon on the bat was good. Chorizo on mine was well seasoned and flavorful. English muffins underneath were cooked well.

Hash browns moderately undercooked. Seared well on the top half but near raw/sweaty in the middle.

"Home fries" if you can call them that... Basically one large red potato that is steamed and sliced in mandolins instead of cut into chunks and sauteed. They had all the texture of a wet fart and my Irish answers would have scoffed at anyone treating a tuber with such disregard.

On top of that, the onions and bell peppers that came with the potatoes were again, nearly raw. I've never seen someone steam an onion but... I wouldn't be surprised if that's what went on here.

The hollandaise on both left much to be desired.

The OJ was great. The coffee was mid at best.

The only really decent thing about our visit was the waitress. She was friendly, attentive, helpful, and apologetic.

At a whopping $55($65 with tip) for 2 benedicts, 2 ojs, and 1 coffee. This is an ABSURD price point for such unbelievably mediocre food.

The search for a decent breakfast in Chico...

This will be my first Google review. I will be giving this restaurant a 2. My wife and I have just finished eating there for the first time. Perhaps they were having an off day. I had the Irish Benedict and got a side of pancakes. Both things were raved about in other reviews. I will start with the hollandaise. In my opinion i woukd say the hollandaise was not homemade. And underseasoned. My corned beef was cut into huge hunks. They were dry and some pieces were burnt. There was an absense of onions peppers which i have never expierienced from any other irish benedict. The potato pancake that accompanied the benedict seemed to be mashed potato that they formed into a patty and seared. I will say it was seasoned properly. The side of pancakes i got were very flat and blah. I then took fake syrup which was tasteless and added it to the blah pancake. A standard for Benedicts is soft poached eggs. When I received my bededict I soon discovered they took the cop out and served it with over easy eggs. Being from the restaurant business myself I have made alot of different meals in my time. Perhaps I have become picky and have set a standard or perhaps some people are not picky enough. These are my opinions and everyone's is different. Hope the next person has a better experience than I. To add one more thing the service was subpar. The waitress greeted us and didn't check in with us after except to take our order drop off the food and then drop off the check. My experiences in restaurants are...

We've always driven past The Roost when it was on Park Ave, but never stopped in. When we heard it flooded, and planned to move to a newer location, we vowed to stop in for breakfast... We finally did 1st thing on a Sunday morning. Arrived at 7am, and had our choice of seating in this spacious establishment. After ordering our coffee, my wife and I perused the generous menu which included more selections than I first thought, and made our selections... She had the breakfast special (2 eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and 2 petite cakes) while I had the Roost Omelet with hashbrowns and toast. We waited about 10 minutes for our breakfast as we enjoyed our coffee. Once on the table, we were surprised by the attention to detail and the attentive staff. The eggs/omelet were perfect, the hashbrowns crispy, and Her bacon was flawless (NO extra grease and crispy). The ingredients used appeared to be fresh and reflected in the meal. We finished, enjoyed another round of coffee, then paid our bill and left. Why NOT the last, 5th star, you ask? It's a bit pricey... there are cheaper breakfast restaurants in Chico, some with larger portions than the Roost. I have a feeling that the newer building, decorations, and accompaniments have raised their prices, PLUS they might have to compete with Cafe Coda 2 blocks away. All in all... it was worth the try after so many years, and we may be back for more at...