Breakaway Cafe — Restaurant in Culver City

This is the best lunch in Culver City. Price and portion are reasonable. The quality is way higher than I get at other places paying more. The chef is doing some real magic. Been looking for bay cities type sandwich shop closer by. Breakaway cafe is it. More than satisfied with their chicken pesto sandwich. Well seasoned with creamy pesto and spicy side salad. Chicken was roasted to perfection. Looked like it was carved from whole chicken, or was separately roasted-- succulent and well seasoned. Matcha pistachio toast was very creative. Also have had the Mediterranean sandwich with I think haloumi cheese, eggplant, garlic butter, heirloom tomatoes on just the perfect crusty/soft bread. I'm sorry no disrespect to other nearby shops with eggplant sandwiches but this one here is where you can find one that has flavor and seasoning. Honey croissant was really nice texture, not dry, not too sweet; reminded me of a good asian bakery. Not that much seating (some tables inside, some outside on wide sidewalk). I have personally never had a problem getting a table when I arrive. Food comes out pretty quick which is perfect for a lunch break. Staff are kind and helpful. Just a gem of a place. There is a free parking lot just east to the entrance.

Edit: Not always consistent. Don't know if chef was away or new staff but sandwich bread was stale/very tough and potatoes were not the special recipe they've usually consistently delivered. If you have an off day try again....

The Baseline: For a Breakfast Cafe they must have quality eggs (preparation/product), coffee must be good (roast quality/flavor), baked/pastry/bread products must be flavorful, reasonable wait/service time, and existence of uncommon combinations.

Food: The food is excellent and exceeds the Baseline. My eggs were prepared over easy and had a silky, smooth cooked exterior and the yolks were the right amount of runny. The toast was properly crisp and properly soft on the inner bread, recommend the sourdough. I had the drip coffee which was flavorful and the beans used smelled/tasted properly roasted. I also had the shakshuka which is a little more common in LA but not everywhere so they had some uncommon offerings (also the breakfast burrito bread pudding and Muesli look interesting to try on future visits.

Service: It did take a little longer for us to get seated on the day we came but that was a weekend around 10am. Once we ordered and were seated the service was excellent. My water glass was not empty and the staff were friendly.

Ambiance: This is a nicely decorated cafe in the walkable section of Culver City across the street from Helms Bakery shopping area. The cafe was busy and had a good vibe with other patrons enjoying a good breakfast on a weekend.

Overall I will come back when the...

A seriously delicious brunch. I have passed this place many times, but yesterday morning was my first time trying it. The menu is not very large, but they do have a lot of great options. You order at the counter and then they bring the food to you. They have outdoor and indoor seating, but parking will be street parking. We were lucky and were able to find a parking space less than a block away. The food came out pretty quickly, so the service was definitely prompt.

I started off with the Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, and I was actually not a fan. The rice at the bottom was a bit hard, and there wasn’t nearly enough chicken in it for my taste. I followed that up with the Bread, Butter & Jam and it was very good. We ate all of it, and we’re very happy with it. For my entrée, I chose the BLTA and it was actually really great. Tons of bacon on it and a lot of avocado. I would highly recommend it and would order it again. We also ordered the Breakfast Sammie and it was small in size but big in flavor. The brioche bun really made it.

Overall a really solid breakfast or lunch option in Culver City. The pricing was fair in my opinion, especially compared to some other breakfast places not far from this one. I plan to be back in the future to...