Little Brown Hen Cafe — Restaurant in Florence

TLDR: You're going to go here with tempered expectations around speed of service, and you're going to leave full and happy.

Some of this may be well-known amongst the locals, but for my out-of-towners...

This place is a gem - so much so that I've added it to my "must visit" list any time I'm visiting family in Eugene (which is over an hour away, btw). The way they choose to deliver service is...interesting...but as long as you understand going in that each step of the meal you are going to wait just long enough where you start looking at your watch, you'll be fine.

The food: I had the brisket stuffed hash brown special and one of their signature bacon bloody mary's. The brisket wasn't actually brisket (or if it was it was TERRIBLY mishandled during the cooking process - like to the point someone needs to apologize to the butcher), but the combination of meat, griddled hash browns, chipotle hollandaise and cheese with two perfectly cooked over-easy eggs on top did exactly what I needed it to do. The bloody mary was one of the best I've had - just the right balance of savory, spicy and citrus. Had I not been driving, many more would have shown up on my bill. Lots of care put into the food...not so much seasoning, but that's to be expected in a spot like this. Seems like a skilled short-order cook is in the kitchen, so maybe just steer clear of things that take longer to prepare correctly (like brisket...). I wish I had looked harder at the breakfast appetizers menu because the beignets looked delicious.

The service: There was only one server working the entire restaurant, inside and out. He was backed up by an army of under-18's that moved with the speed and fear of eye contact you'd expect from their generation, but at least there were a lot of them - I suspect they weren't taking orders for alcohol service compliance reasons. Maybe this was just a weird staffing day, but it definitely led to a slow service experience. Just know before you go and don't come with any kind of schedule in mind and you'll be fine.

All in all, if you've got the time to burn, you won't be disappointed by the food at this cool little neighborhood haunt. Go for breakfast and let the bloody marys carry you until it is...

My partner and I stopped here for breakfast around 10:30 on a Saturday morning. Walking in, it seemed like a busy popular spot. There seemed to be 4 floor staff, 3 wait staff and one busser. We stood at the front for almost 10 minutes before we were even acknowledged, once seated we waited almost 20 minutes just to put in a drink order. We ordered a coffee and a Bloody Mary. My coffee came out within 5 minutes, we had to ask about the Bloody Mary 20 minutes later when we finally got to place our food order. We watched people sat after us, placing their orders and receiving items before us.

The menu actually seemed like it offered a lot of variety and we ultimately had a hard time deciding what we wanted, in my experience this can be both a good and bad thing. I ordered the special of the day, and he ordered a sausage breakfast burrito. When the food arrived we were underwhelemed at the quality of it. My toast was forgotten and I had to ask about that as well. (I'll give a little slack here because I did ask to modify the order from the tortilla that was supposed to come with the special to having toast instead.) The special was honestly not so bad, but it was not worth the $23 price tag that came with it. The breakfast burrito was lacking in meat and the inside turned to mush while he was eating it. My coffee got refilled once, no one ever came to check on water or to see if he wanted another drink.

While I understand weekends can be busy, it felt like we were ignored, forgotten about and are extremely disappointed in the service. I wish I had dug deeper into the reviews before we picked this spot as our breakfast spot of the day. This restaurant also doesn't take cards of any kind. They do have an ATM on site but honestly this feels more like a ploy to get more tips just because people are tired of waiting for the staff that doesn't seem to want to be bothered checking in. We spent close to $60 on breakfast and one adult beverage. I will not be back and I wouldn't recommend this place to...

We were seated right away. I was wearing a pink pride shirt. My wife wearing a human rights t-shirt and a sweatshirt with patches about human rights. (Clearly we were dressed more left-winged) We placed our order and waited for 40 minutes before our food came out. The owner was heard talking rude to someone with a disability while we waited. They never checked on us once while we waited. My coffee was never refilled or my wife's water glass. Tables who came in after - even long after us got their food first. Everyone around us was being checked on and given drink refills regularly. We were ignored. I didn't think much about it but something didn't feel right. The owner brought us our check right after he dropped the food off at the table (weird) They were not busy. There were empty tables. He didn't even check on us after he dropped the food off. Didn't offer any refill the entire time.

I am wondering if this was discrimination. I read reviews this morning out of curiosity, and come to find out there are others who have experienced a similar thing. - particularly about the owner.

We won't be returning. Our second trip to this restaurant and a whole different experience all because of the way we were dressed? We are polite, kind people. We did nothing wrong. They were way busier last time and the servers were great. Things just dont add up.

Clearly, this isn't a safe place for everyone. Its a shame. We were hoping we had found a new spot when we come to florence...but instead have a sour taste and will find a place with service who accepts/respects everyone. - no matter who they are or where...