Breakfast Station — Restaurant in Florida

I am an aficionado of the American breakfast establishment, and breakfast is one of my favorite meals. It sets up the rest of your day! The place had the look of a homey one-owner breakfast nook from the outside. Turns out that this a chain, unaware of this I entered the establishment with high hopes.

I was greeted with a surprising amount of seating for such a small area. It did not feel crowded at all, but I was reminded of similar seating arrangements offered in most Subway sandwich places. There was no sign about seating that was apparent, and I had to ask whether I needed to be seated or wait. The restaurant was not full, but it had a good number of people seated for 8:30 Monday morning. I was sat down by Katie and offered coffee.

The coffee was not really anything special, in fact, a couple hours later, I realized it bruised my palette because I can still taste it at the back of my throat, and it is not a good taste at all. Throughout my stay, I was given one refill and offered another as I was getting up to leave. That is fine because the coffee was not very good and would never order it again. I am not expecting coffee house style brew, but this was lacking in flavor and did not really feel worthy of being called pleasurable by any means.

I ended up ordering a meat skillet that came with two eggs over home fries mixed in with jack cheese, diced ham, sausage, bacon with onions and green peppers. I ordered my eggs over medium. I also went with a biscuit for my bread option. Because my father likes sausage gravy with his biscuits I thought I would give it a try just in case I wanted to bring him someday.

I was delighted with the eggs, as they did come out over medium, which is a great flavor amplifier for hearty savory flavors. The eggs weren't oily either, which was a departure from most diners who griddle then steam their eggs under a hat. The potatoes looked cut in-house, but were mushy and not what I would call home-fries. There was no browning at all to them from a griddle or fryer. They were just a collection of unseasoned and bland roasted potatoes. The sausage was not flavorful at all, the bacon didn't add anything to the dish, the ham was just recognizable as ham from the color and cubes that are recognizable from frozen bags. The peppers and onions also tasted bland and unseasoned as if they were just from a frozen bag. The jack cheese didn't really have any kick to it, and was just used to glue everything together. All in all, the skillet was unimaginative, bland, and overall just filling. I was wondering if I might be coming down with covid and I was getting a lack of taste, but I could easily still taste the less than spectacular coffee, so I know it was not just me.

When it comes to breakfast, biscuits are a huge tell whether an establishment knows what it is doing. When combined with sausage gravy, the biscuit becomes weirdly elevated becoming a truly American example of breakfast cuisine. Americans and the rest of the world consider biscuits and gravy to be a sinful abomination, but once you get past the diet fads and the look of it, biscuits and gravy is simply heavenly. . .and the rest of the world has been forced to agree (at least those brave enough to try it.). The sausage gravy was not ready, and it took a long time for some to get out to me, saying that the cooks had to make a new batch. I have worked a breakfast galley for a few years, so I know how easy it is to whip up a batch of sausage gravy. It took a long time! I was given a small dish of it. . .which was fine until I saw the price they charged me for it. 3.29 for a tiny dipping saucer! 17 percent of my total bill was that tiny bit of flavorless sausage gravy. The biscuit was dry, crunchy and unenjoyable.

The tv hanging above the kitchen had video for local advertising that felt like a money-grab and was unappealing. Seeing divorce attorneys advertised on a tv screen isn't quite screaming, 'family establishment'. Advertise local lore and events.

Overall, not worth...

Breakfast station visit 8/8/24

Atmosphere was as you'd expect in a small town local cafe. We where seated promptly by a friendly server. Who was knowledgeable. The wife ordered sweet tea and enjoyed it. I ordered my typical water. The server returned with our drinks and took our orders by note pad. The wife ordered the depot with cinnamon swirl dollar pancakes. [2eggs 4 bacon, tater totts and 3 dollar pancakes.] I ordered the crunch toast combo [deep fried french toast layered with captain crunch cereal, 2eggs, 2 bacon] I asked for my toast to be heavy soaked as I enjoy a more custard consistency. Our server has informed me that they always give the french toast a good soak in the batter but he will inform the cook. The wife and I played a couple of games on our phones and chatted until the food comes to the table enjoying the delightfully smells emminating out of the kitchen galley.

Our food arrived at the table looking delightfull. Every thing looked perfect. The bacon was crispy non burned and the tatertotts had a nice crisp on the outside and fluffy and moist inside. The eggs where perfectly cooked. Fluffy and delicious. The wife's pancakes where heaven the sugar created a caramel flavor combined with the cinnamon. No syrup was needed and if it is needed they have log cabin original. Comes time for the only issue with the food. Remember my request from my order and the reassurance from the server. The outside was crushed down where a dull knife or blunt object was used to cut the 2 slices in half. Thus crushing down the best part of the french toast. As this writer broke open the french toast he discovered this was not french toast it was a fried price of bread with cereal mixed it. There was no flavor in the french toast just fried blah. The taste was instant heartburn. It took over 10 minutes for the server to come back and ask how things where. I informed him that I was not expecting fried bread. The server he then told me that they are pre-made and put in the fridge before frying. This writer sent the food back and did not attempt to order any other replacement meal. The server did remove the meal from the bill. 10 minutes have passed and I'm sitting here still enjoying the atmosphere but again waiting on a box for the wife's food she's been done with for a while. Whe have been un able to grasp our servers attention to procure a box. This writer will be taking the bill to the register and requesting a box as the server has yet to return.

I went up to pay and informed the young lady at the register about the capt crunch toast and how I was disappointed in the quality and how it was made. She got the manager so I could inform him of the quality issue. He listened as I told him about what I feel was lacking in quality and taste. I also informed him of what our server had said when I ordered and when I sent it back. I did tell him I do food reviews and was honest about my reviews. I also let him know I would be posting good and bad I don't filter my personal opinions or experiences. I felt my experience was good minus the trench toast. I perceived the manager was not pleased with this writer and it felt a bit as I perceived we got the bill now get out don't come back vibe and attitude towards me. This also could have been just the way I perceived the interaction and not what was tried to be portrayed. When I got back in the car with out a box mind you for the wife's leftovers. She proceed to inform me the server did go back to the table and apologize for the miss information and for any thing he did wrong. So this writer would like to shout out and say thank you to the server yes there are some improvements but you where friendly and kind.

We unfortunately Ken thanks to you...

We visited here on Saturday around 11. There was about a 15 minute wait, not too bad. I did notice several other people showed up around that time, so the wait time does vary.

We had the biscuits and gravy, traditional breakfast and a kids meal as well. The biscuits and gravy tasted pretty good and priced fairly for the portion size. They offer a half order a full order or a full order and the full order is quite large. I got a side of grits and sausage as pictured below, both were okay, nothing to rave about but what you would expect at a breakfast place.

We also tried two different iced coffees, as they seem to be a featured menu item. I had the caramel iced coffee which came with whipped cream and a brownie on top, my son had the pumpkin spice coffee which is usually spiked but they offered it to him without alcohol as well. Overall the coffee was okay, really it tasted like standard coffee from the pot with really sweet creamer. The presentation is cute but once you get down to the bottom half of the coffee there is so much caramel it’s nearly impossible to drink. I was not able to finish it.

Pros: A lot of food for a very reasonable price. My son’s meal was 10.99 & came with bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and 3 pancakes. Most meals are served with a side of pancakes.

Service is great. I’ve been on 3 separate occasions and had great customer service each time. The wait staff is very friendly and accommodating.

Timely, once you put your order in the food is out very quickly.

Con’s: Occasionally there is a wait depending on what time of day you go.

Can feel a bit crowded. Once you’re seated it’s generally fine but overall it is a bit tight inside.

No restroom, unless it was really well hidden somewhere, I couldn’t find a restroom...