Sabrina's Cafe — Restaurant in Collingswood

I’m not the type to be leaving these types of reviews, but it almost feels like it’s gone through a complete overhaul in staff and management since I’ve last been there and it seems some of the food has taken a dive based on this most recent experience(I think the waitress was newer so I’m gonna focus on the food specifically, she was perfectly fine). I recognized almost none of the staff(not a gripe), so that’s why I’m under the impression there was a huge change up, and it was also super busy which is what most likely impacted things.

I’ve been going there for years with my friend, and I almost always get usually the same thing, which is the tofu scramble. It’s always been fantastic and the best I’ve had. I genuinely look forward to it. But this time when I ordered it, it came out extremely wet and blocky, and completely under spiced. It tasted almost flavorless and was a texture nightmare. With very wet and undercooked veggies. Anyone familiar with the tofu scramble there, knows “wet and blocky” is not normal for that dish. You can see it in past pictures that it’s supposed to be more egg like and hefty in different veggies with a sauteed look and feel, rich with curry and turmeric. The waitress said it’s the same ingredients, but clearly someone new was making it which can make a huge difference in food quality(and maybe a change in where they get their ingredients from). Or it was a very rushed day. I genuinely couldn’t eat it because it was just so bad that I didn’t feel right letting my friend pay for it, since they offered to cover the tab this time. I have never sent food back in my life until now, and felt bad that it might lead to it being taken off the tab, but I simply couldn’t eat it and needed to at least very quietly let them know the change was not ideal.

The bacon was overcooked for the first time in all my years going there and had the taste of raw onion on them. And oddly the food isn’t brought out with the usual sides such as ketchup for the potatoes or butter for the toast. Which is a nit pick so not major, but just a strange change is all. The owner/manager offered me the chance to have something else, but I declined because unfortunately we didn’t have time to stay, but also I didn’t intend to make a big stink about it at all. I sort of just wanted to casually leave after paying at first. I couldn’t tell if she thought that was my first time having it, but I didn’t get a chance to explain to her exactly what was wrong.

It was a fundamentally differently prepared meal, and many long time customers will notice the change immediately, and it being more expensive now doesn’t help at all. And the cross contamination and over cooking of the bacon was hard to get over. Hopefully it was just this one meal even. I’ll have to try others to know if the change was wide. I’ll be going back sometime to try again and hope for the best. Maybe it was a bad day. For now I’m leaving this because I couldn’t find the owner/manager again afterward to respectfully better explain what happened and I’m just gonna hope she sees and understands. I’ll change the review up if things are different the next couple times...

If you want your eggs prepared NOT the way your order them, by all means come here. I have had eggs and omelets prepared better at a diner. I am a gourmet cook and have travelled to 60 countries thoughout the globe - eating at dives and fine restaurants. Have eaten here four times, and this is my last time in Collingswood (never a problem in the Philly places). Huevos Rancheros 5 months ago - ordre the two eggs on top to be easy over - which means runny yold - came out hard. Sent back waited 10 mins while others ate. Three times ordered the philly hometown omelet. All three times order the omelet prepared soft or olightly cooked - all three times the omelets were overcooked/brown. The servers put the order in as soft/lightly cooked and all three times with the cook doesnt pay attention or should take ESL classes.

Today out came the omelet and before the runner could leave i lifted it up and it was overcooked - gave it to him to take back and have it prepared as requested. The manager within a few minutes brought the same plate back to the table and tried to fee me some BS that its brown because of the sausage - to which i laughed and again said it was over cooked and i wanted it cooked the way requested. She brought it back within 10 mins and it was a glob of mess! swimming in mushroom water. I looked at it looked at her and questioned it again, but just gave up. The toast was cold and that was sent back. There is zero attention to detail when in my case eggs are requested prepared soft or lightly, and they come out over cooked. Even if this is prepared country style, one should still get it how they requested. Fillings are precooked and it shouldnt take that long to melt the cheese (there is a technique to premelt the cheese as well). Today's remake as I said was a runny glob of a mess with mushroom water in it - poorly presented. Never again. Dining partners omelet - they didnt enjoy it either - blaand - ever hear of salt and pepper when cooking?

Im done with this place. Service was great. Also the back room has 20 foot ceilings and sounds like a school cafeteria. Employees will be going deaf and its certainly not a good atmosphere to have a nice brinch with all the overbearing loud raucous noise in this section. The owners should invest in sound dampening/deadening/absorbing tiles for the wall and or ceiling. Very nice menu - have had some great things at the ones in Philly. However if you like eggs prepared the proper way or the way you request, don't waste your time here. Im done spending...

I called around about 3 weeks ago to find a place to accommodate our group of 15 for brunch on Monday, September 2nd. It is Labor Day so many places were not going to be open on that day. When I called Sabrina’s I was relieved because the person I spoke to specifically told me that they were open on Labor Day and “yes we can absolutely accommodate a group of 15 people, there just may be a wait” I asked if they could accommodate this large group multiple times throughout this conversation because I wanted to make sure, considering it is a smaller place and it was for a birthday. She said yes every time and just let us know that we would have to wait a bit and we should get there a little earlier than the time we wanted to be seated to put our name in so not everyone is waiting around forever. She was extremely nice! She even put us on hold to get confirmation that this was okay from someone else. Well today is September 2nd, my party of 15 showed up and we were told we could not be accommodated, we would be seated at different tables at different times around the restaurant. We were told “I guarantee you, you were not told that we could accommodate 15 people.” That’s so incredibly interesting because that’s exactly what I was told and what I was calling to ask about to begin with! I would’ve just called somewhere else if that was the case. So Labor Day, it’s 1pm, all 15 people are standing in the parking lot of Sabrina’s Cafe on my friends birthday trying to figure out where to go or what to do. Not only are they lying about telling us that they were accommodating, but they were so incredibly ignorant and just so blown away how we could even possibly ask something so ridiculous of them. Don’t know what happened, possibly some kind of lack of knowledge from the person who initially answered the phone, but they were so very rude about it and I will not be recommending or returning...