The Toasted Yolk Cafe — Restaurant in Elizabethtown

I hate that I have to say this....but this will be a bad review. I was SO hopeful. Great concept, great location...but not worth the money AT ALL. Note: my reviews always come from either extreme dissatisfaction or extreme satisfaction, 100% honest opinion.

What we ordered: The Arnold (eggs benedict), the Big Ben omlette, and the fried chicken sandwich (plain, just bun and chicken).

Also ordered Jackies Morning Rita, and a lemonade.

First, service was great. The greeting staff and server were great. But great service can't hide average food.

The arnold was good, but I do think the hollandaise sauce was broken, it tasted mostly like butter and was not smooth pale yellow. it had gold-like specs that I think was the seperated butter. But butter is delicious so it tasted good regardless. This was my first benedict ever though, so maybe a benedict enthusiast can try and evaluate.

The hash brown casserole. No for me. It is basically a mushy rice square with the flavor of potatoes, kind of, and an attempted browned top. The top was brown, but none of it was crispy. Decent flavor but it's mushy potatoes with mushy rice. Tastes decent but I wouldn't pay for it again.

The Big Ben, absolutely flavorless. I mean how?! On my life, IHOP is KING in omlettes. this could not even compare. Better than Bob Evans, but no where near IHOP. not in size, ingredients, flavor, customization, and price. My biggest disappointment here.

The friend chicken sandwich had a toasted bun...but it was like a stale toasted bun because it was rock hard on half of it. We asked the waitress for a non-toasted bun and she kindly gave us one. Also, this place doesnt have barebeque sauce...I find that really bizarre. They have a barbeque ranch but...why?? Just have barbeque and ranch and people can mix how they want....but I can't seperate the barbeque from your ranch.. The chicken was also just average, soggy middle, and my sister said they can get the same thing at Mcdonalds for half cost. The fries were mostly soggy and limp, and when my sister went to dump them from the plate into her to-go container, some went right in, but the bottom ones slowwwwy slid down the plate due to the oil/grease.

On price....mimosas or cocktails will run $7-11. Fountain drinks run around $3.50. Same for tea and lemonade. My sister said the lemonade is so basic you can get it at a gas station. Normally I don't fault for drinks, but... I ordered the Jackie's Morning Rita ($10.50) and... for the first time...I am telling you that drink was ALL alcohol. Personally I don't mind but WHOA. I had to squeeze that lemon and orange in there to make it work. Every dish is mostly 11.99 and up. An add on of bacon is almost $4.

I forgot, the ladies next to me...one ordered a BLT. It looked amazing, crispy, delicious, and she said it was, but...again, 11+ dollars. Rallys has a BLT for 2 bucks. And better fries.

If it had affordable prices for the average food it has, I would go daily. But it's not worth it at all. 2 stars because the food is edible, but thats it.

Design: NOT anyone's fault at the restaurant but the design is lacking. its a hotbox when you come in the door and only so many fit. it feels like a hot sardine can. people have to shuffle by the narrow entryway into the restaurant as people try to come out of it. If you are seated on the side of the wall that shares the entry way, you will hear a constant BANG on the wall from people opening and closing the entry door.. It didn't bother me but it did bother my sister. Parking lot is there but hard to find an open space, but that is not their fault. No points coming off for that or the design. I imagine as business slows from being "new" that parking will be...

Very similar idea to Another Broken Egg and Wild Eggs all the way down to the coffee mugs. The presentation and marketing is well executed. The Toasted Yolk is literally a menu item with a fried egg in a piece of toast! All of that is what gets you in the door but what brings you back is atmosphere, good service and good food. I’ll give the atmosphere a 4 of 5. It’s pleasant, bright, clean, not too loud, well decorated and laid out. The service was a 3.5 of 5 just because the food was slow to come out. I placed a to-go order for food and coffee and they brought the coffee out first. It sat there getting cold while waiting on the food. The waitress was nice and efficient and kept the glasses full. And now for what really matters. I ordered 2 eggs over medium, hash brown casserole, crispy bacon and 1 piece of French toast. When the food arrived, it was just better than lukewarm but nothing was hot. The eggs were perfect and that’s where it ended! The bacon was chewy…more like jerky… and not crispy. The casserole was just weird looking. It was actually gray in color. Not very inviting when I’m expecting a golden toasted cheesy look. It was fine (Feelings Internally Not Expressed) but had a mushy consistency as if it had been pre-chewed and was very bland. The French toast was average. Typically, adding a nice thick syrup can elevate even an average pancake or French toast but this was an epic fail. I tipped the syrup dispenser over the French toast expecting a rich, thick pour when suddenly it was as if Niagara Falls relocated. A rush of watery syrup exploded onto the plate…and off! What followed reminded me of eating a bland syrup from the elementary school cafeteria that didn’t elevate anything but my motivation for leaving this review! If you’re looking for breakfast food, go to McDonalds, Cracker Barrel or Panera Bread. If you want to go to the new “hot spot”, this might be for you. But hurry, because over time, it will become just like the food…just better...

I had been to the Toasted Yolk once before about a year ago and was excited to take my friend there for lunch this week. Unfortunately, our experience was not the same as my previous visit. The food was top notch. Hashbrown casserole is the best I've ever had, and my sandwich was absolutely delicious! The service, however, was abysmal. We entered and waited several minutes to be seated but saw no sign of a host or any employees at all. Others finished their food and left, and we finally took menus for ourselves and walked to the bar. Still no employees. Finally, someone came out of what I assume was the kitchen but she did not acknowledge us at all. I flagged her down and asked if we could sit anywhere we liked. She mumbled something and showed us to a table where she took our drink orders. She did bring our drinks a few minutes later but disappeared again before we could order. Several minutes later there was still no sign of her. We flagged down someone who was clearing tables, who told us she'd get our server. The second woman then came back and told us she'd handle our table and let the first server handle a couple who had just come in. We finally got to order about 25-30 minutes after we'd arrived. Our food came and the server asked if we needed anything else (we'd needed refills on our drinks for a long time prior to that). She brought the refills and disappeared yet again. We had to flag her down to bring our checks and get yet another drink refill. We were at a conference and on a time crunch, never dreaming that it would take well over an hour to be seated, order, eat, and pay. The restaurant was not crowded; there were maybe four or five other tables with people while we were there. As I said before, the food was wonderful. I may or may not give this place another try, but the service failure will likely lead me to try other places instead...