The Breakfast Bar — Restaurant in Duluth

I hate to write this post, but I have to share my experience. So, a friend, Nic (NY STANDUP), moved back to Georgia temporarily until she relocates permanently, and we decided to do brunch at a place with music, a great atmosphere, & of course GREAT FOOD. I sent her and Gigi (NY in da buildin') a list of places to choose from that I saw on a few Instagram influencers pages, and she chose this place. Now, the influencer hyped this place up 🙄😒, so I was like I'm sure they were invited here to eat for free or were paid, but maybe the food was great when they were here....

BEFORE WE ORDERED, Fab (NY Stand Up) says multiple times but in different ways, "The place is nice, but places with grass walls have a certain reputation, and that scares me/creeps me out..." That was our warning ⚠️ 😳 😅

When we got there, the ambiance was great, the place was packed, and I saw a lot of cute presentations of drinks and food. We ordered our $6 glassed bottled Sarasota spring water 😑. The water was refreshing 😌 for 10 oz...

Then, we asked about ordering a pitcher of mimosas... We were told you would have to pay for the bottle and whatever flavors we choose ($85-$100+). We decided to try them with single orders and picked our flavor. (Imagine the smallest champagne flute you've ever saw & super skinny.) The taste....mediocre 😂. Seriously, 😒 $14 for 8 sips of mimosa.

I'm thinking the appetizers would make up for the mimosas. We ordered the crab cakes ($25)...BLAND🥴, the sauce, mediocre 😟😔. The chef IS NOT from the DMV area NOR any coast on the eastern or southern (Gulf) side of the US....SIGH 🙄😒 We also ordered the seafood dip (hyped up, but was a let down) a lot of cheese and salad shrimp...BLAND 😔😞 (Louisiana/Creole/DMV WAS NOT in the building!!!)🥺

As I'm looking around, the beautiful brown & black faces of my community showed disappointment 😞. When you are in an establishment that we are supporting, you usually hear words like, "This is So GOOD, or my friend/cousin ordered this and said it was AMAZING".... Nope, just looks of disbelief (I can't believe I'm paying for this in this highly inflated economic period and my rent or mortgage taxes increasing substantially this year) 😢🥺😫😭. Trying to get Instagram/TikTok videos to hide the hurt, shame, & disappointment.

So on to the entrees, (the final coup de grâce or death blow)..... 😵‍💫 Visiting friend ordered the chicken (whole wings) and red velvet waffles, 2nd friend and I salmon & grits (I added shrimp), 3rd friend ordered fried catfish & grits. The Grits were SO RUNNY, they were sliding through the fork like a bowl of water 💧. We had to laugh to keep from crying 😂🤣🥺. Salmon and Shrimp BLAND 😟 Friend Fab (NY STANDUP) had a look on her face like someone slapped her, catfish untouched...maybe because they were in a pool of watery grits 🫠🫠🫠.... Gigi (NY in da buildin') had the "I can't believe I got dressed up w/my GOOD MAKEUP" for this 💩 (👈🏽that's ice cream Google 🤣).....Nic (NY Stand Up), who cooks some of the best food I've EVER HAD said I could've cooked us a better brunch...🥴😵‍💫 Taking pics and videos would be False Advertising in a sense because the presentation is a false narrative in itself....🤷🏾‍♀️

CUSTOMER SERVICE & PRESENTATION: 🔥🔥🔥 They seriously did an AMAZING job serving the 💩 (that's ICE CREAM GOOGLE) they were given to present us with.

Sssssoooooooo, if you got a bill ($100 for just you with tip) to blow, go for what you know!! (That was a little lame/corny) 🤣🤣🤣🤣 (laughing as I see my cart on Amazon is $103 😭😭😭 & I got all the food and ingredients INCLUDING CAJUN/CREOLE SEASONINGS in my pantry/refrigerator/deep freezer...

I was hoping this was going to be one of my better reviews... Let's jump in. The Order: Seafood Dip, strawberry cheesecake pancakes, the Duluth, waffles, and tap water. The Good: Walked in and had instant seating and friendly staff. One big party was seated and other smaller tables but not extremely busy. The dip came out quick and was amazing. It had an abundance of seafood and cheese, it was very hot, seasoned well, and the portion of bread that came along with it was enough to last through the dip. The dip was definitely the highlight and set the tone for the rest of the meal. The waffles were good, the bacon was cooked thoroughly and crispy, the grits were on point and didn't taste like restaurant grits, the pancakes were good and had a distinct flavor definitely not buttermilk. Overall the food was good, staff kept the tables clean instantly and it was a nice bright and open environment with both indoor and outdoor seating. The Bad: When the dip came out we had to eat from the main dish because we didn't receive appetizer plates until halfway through. When we finally received the plates i had to return mine because it was noticeably dirty. After enjoying the dip and having my expectation elevated, things started to shift unfavorably. The food took too long to come out prompting the server to come over and explain that the kitchen was backed up. Once the food was delivered I discovered that the appearance quickly out performed the execution. I ordered The Duluth with eggs with cheese and the potatoes. It looked like i only received barely one egg with no cheese. I asked the waitress and she explained that it was cheese in there and that they use white American cheese. She then offered to have more cheese added and i declined because it was already late. The potatoes were overly seasoned, overpowering the taste of the veggies and potatoes themselves. The pancakes were more of a misrepresentation of what was advertised/pictured. Instead of a whipped cheesecake topping and strawberry glaze, it was more melted icing and syrup. Not what was to be expected from looking at what was in the menu. I had to ask and wait a couple times for condiments to be delivered to the table, not offered a refil or additional drink a single time(and I only had tap water, and Yes I was aware the menu said "no refils" for other drinks). When it was time to leave i asked for a printed receipt, i waited so long for it that I just got up and walked towards the door, she said bye and thanked us for coming and then said "ohh your receipt" and went and printed it out. This unfortunately overshadowed the previously stated and made my experience a less than desirable one to cause me to make the 30min drive to come back. To really make your mark in the breakfast restaurant space you really have to focus more on the details and execution over the appeal and presentation. That's what draws and keeps...

I don’t even know where to begin. This was a first time, hot mess, will not be returning experience. My mom picked this restaurant for brunch to celebrate her birthday with the family.

When our party of 6 arrived at 12:53 pm we were told it would be a 1.5 hour wait. The family was okay with this wait (first mistake) as I would never wait over 30-45 mins for food. There’s not much of a waiting area inside the restaurant so we stood outside to wait. As time went on I went inside to check on our status & I was told that they called my phone with no answer. I never received a call & again we were standing right outside the door the entire time and no one ever came out to call my name. There were two other parties there dealing with the same issue as us. There was a-lot of back & forth between myself and other customers with 2 different “managers”, miscommunication between the two hostesses, a-lot of more waiting & offered free mimosas and mango lemonade for all the customers waiting. AND during all of this chaos one of the “managers” was seen sitting and mingling with their VIP table as I’m hearing the hostess tell another customer she can’t guarantee what the wait time is because it’s taking time to turn over the tables & they have managers working the kitchen line.

At this point I was ready to go but my mom drove 45 minutes & got everyone together for her birthday so she was trying to stick it out through the chaos that was happening. After about 1 hour & 20 mins of this disorganization the hostess started going outside to call people’s names and stopped accepting walk ins as the restaurant clearly couldn’t handle their reservations and walk-in waitlist customers at the same time. I’ve eaten at many many many restaurants and I’ve never seen anything like this before.

When we finally got seated we were given a heads up that the kitchen was backed up. I did warn my family to put something in their stomach before they came & I’m glad everyone listened. Our waiter was very friendly & attentive in checking in on us before we got our food & during the rest of our meal. Mostly everyone enjoyed their food besides the Lobster Mac & cheese which my sister said was too salty. My mom loved the aesthetic of the Red Velvet Waffle Tower that she was determined to have for her birthday but 3 of us tried the waffle and it was rubbery. The regular waffles that came with the chicken & waffles meal were really good though. The staff also does a birthday celebration song with a chocolate cake that my mom enjoyed as well.

Although the food was good, the un-organization of this restaurant will not have me back anytime soon. My husband has heard of this place & wants to check it out as well but after I told him about my 3.5 hour day experience here he agreed that no food is worth all...