The Crack of Dawn Cafe — Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach

So let me just preface this by saying I hate leaving bad reviews. But the waitress said it may be a good idea as almost everything I was saying she agreed with and said there is no other way to let the owner know. I own another local business in FWB so I know how it is. I’m doing this to help. I’ve been to almost every other breakfast place in the area so I was excited to try this one. I showed up just after 12 Noon. Place was empty but that makes sense it’s lunch time. Only one other table had people. I was alone so I sat at a table. Waitress greeted me and was polite. She took my drink order and brought it super quick. I noticed 2 TVs on the wall. One blank. The other playing music. Ok cool. The volume was turned up rather high but I believe it’s because they use that to provide music for the entire place. It was a techno type mix. Cool that’s fine. The other table that had people chose to sit right next to it not realizing how loud it would be in their faces. They asked her to just please mute it so she did. So now we have complete silence. Ok no big deal. Except it wasn’t quite silence. The kitchen staff had their music turned up to the absolute maximum volume. I know cooks love to have music while they cook. That’s understandable. However if 10 was the max volume on their speakers. They were set to 15 somehow. The wall between the eating area and the kitchen is paper thin so you can hear it booming the entire time. And if you think that’s loud wait until the waitress makes 10 trips into the kitchen to grab your food which of course she has to do. But when that kitchen door opens holy smokes that volume is blaring. Ok no big deal. They wanna jam while cooking I guess that’s fine no worries. The food took rather long. Only 2 tables going. Took about 25 minutes. I noticed the other tables food came out piece by piece over the course of about 7 minutes. They were kinda confused as to why they couldn’t just receive it all within 2-3 minutes. They asked for their onion rings which the waitress says the cook forgot to make them so they will drop them. My food finally arrives and by the looks of it not too bad looking. French toast first few bites were decent until I got to one specific dark piece that turned out to be moldy so I had to spit it out. Set those aside and moved onto the hash browns, I told myself ok if this taste bad I am going to have to call it quits. I normally give places about 3 strikes before just paying and politely leaving. The hashbrowns were extremely bad. Super dry. Some sort of seasoning attempt. They make Waffle House hashbrowns seem like Ruth’s Chris. I went to pay and leave. She said how was the bacon? Crispy enough. I politely replied oh I’m actually not sure I didn’t even try it. She said huh? I said oh I didn’t try it the other 2 items I had issues with so I’m just gonna pay and head out. She kindly said no you don’t have to pay. I said no no I will pay regardless. I wanna pay and tip you as well. I told her everything. She agreed and said yes the music in the kitchen is so bad. Please leave a review so something can be done about it. Also they made need to add external speakers so whomever sits next to the tvs doesn’t have the sound directly in their faces. Or they could just have the TVs set to a channel like weather. News. ESPN. And put them on mute. But definitely not techno at max volume without external speakers mounted away from people or in the ceiling. Anyways will I go back? Probably not. Can most of these issues be resolved? Yes they definitely can. I am trying to help not hurt. I wish them the best and will recommend to people that they go and judge...

Good Morning, FWB! A new breakfast/lunch joint has graced our community, and it is worth your time, attention, and appetite. COD is in the heart of our community. They took up the location of the old Thai Lotus buffet and the experience is very different!

Let's talk about ambience, food, and service:

AMBIENCE ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: A fresh coat of sunny gold paint makes the whole room warm and attractive. They have only been open about a month so there's not a lot of artwork, etc to break up the sea of gold, but the effect is embracing. Every surface was spotless and clean.

FOOD ⭐⭐⭐⭐: I had "Big Dan's" breakfast with three eggs scrambled light, bacon, home fries, biscuits with gravy, and rye toast. My friend had bacon and one egg over hard. All in all the food was good to great. The home fries are from a more northern style of thick sliced potatoes, not diced like they do in most places. I don't know if they have a mandolin but the cuts of potatoes were varied in thickness which meant that the thickest slices were a little al dente in the center, but still delicious. Even slices on a mandolin might help with even cooking. But the point is this: THEY WERE ACTUAL FRESH POTATOES and not from a bag. I could have used a little more color and seasoning on them. The biscuits and sausage gravy were spot on, luscious and comforting, well-seasoned with a tiny hit of spice at the finish. Can we also have a round of applause for the sprinkle of fine parsley on the gravy and the eggs! It just adds a pop of color that says, I am proud of this dish! The scrambled eggs were cooked perfectly...when they put them on the plate. Apparently, the eggs got done early and sat on the hot plate for a bit while other items were still cooking. I say this for the benefit of us all: eggs should always be cooked last. Always. While they were still delicious and well-prepared, my eggs were browned a bit on the bottom from the wait. My friend's egg was underdone. She doesn't like runny yolks! Which leads me to the shining praise of this review:

SERVICE ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: The two waitstaff and Big Dan, the owner were simply awesome. They were joyful and open to witty banter and a bit of conversation. They like working there, and they like people. Plus, our server PAID ATTENTION, checking to make sure everything was right. She noticed that my friend wasn't eating their improperly cooked egg, and gave my usually quiet friend an opportunity to say why. The problem was corrected immediately and a fresh, perfectly cooked egg was out in under two minutes.

New restaurants usually take a hot minute for it all to come together - food quality and preparation, staffing and personalities, developing a customer base, etc. We talked with Big Dan for a few minutes before leaving. What is obvious is that the joy we felt in that gold paint, the simply garnished food, and the expert service was radiating from his big ole joyful heart. Dan's heart shone through it all, and I hope that his joy will develop an enthusiastic and loyal base of customers. I am certain to be among them.

I can't wait to try the "Frazer Special" and the Horseshoe layered breakfasts! And, of course, LUNCH! Until then, y'all go let Dan and company show...

This was out first visit and unfortunately probably our last. We were greeted nicely and told to sit anywhere. The waitress came over to ask what we'd like to drink, my fiance answered and before I had a chance to answer she walked away. When she got back with his coffee I guess she remembered I was there and asked what I'd like. I was presented with only the option of coffee, juice or water. Odd but I got water. We asked about the star on the menu meant and she had no idea and laughed about it. I ordered the crack of dawn special which, on the menu, says its TWO eggs, choice of meat and a pancake. No disclaimer about choices of French toast, pancake or biscuits and gravy and a side of toast. All good until I order and comes back around to ask about all of that. I assumed it'd be a pancake but it was nice to have a choice. She leaves and then comes back to ask my fiance the same thing for his breakfast. And leaves again. He starts putting the cream in his sugar and we realize we had no silverware got him to stir with. It is what it is, we'll get it when the food comes. The food arrives and I have MAYBE half a scrambled egg, 2 pieces of super thin bacon, a single piece of dry toast and a single piece of French toast made of regular sandwich bread. Im not one to fuss over food but the eggs really did it for me. How in the world can you serve someone a half an egg and call it 2? Not sure. My fiance even offered me half of his omelet because he could tell I was disappointed but knew I wouldn't say anything. We were offered our silverware at the time but never offered any butter for the toast or his grits, I had to ask for syrup for our French toast.

Totally separate note but our booth table was a piece of plywood that had been lacquered over and drilled into a table base. This restaurant was just all over the place with the tables, the waitress not knowing the menu or the questions to ask in the moment or what to preemptively offer, and the subpar food. In the end we paid $37 for 2 plates of food, 1 cup of coffee and water and I left feel hungry. I hate giving a bad review but I felt this need to be addressed and I wish I'd had the forethought to take a picture of our meal for...