Wake Up & Eat — Restaurant in Harrisburg

I accidentally discovered this restaurant the other weekend when my gf and I were searching for a now permanently closed sandwich shop. It was the most welcome surprise because I don’t know of many other independent breakfast restaurants in the University area, and because those are my favorite types of restaurants.

Firstly, I really appreciated the interior design and decorations; the place displayed a sort of no frills type of decoration as suggested in the name of the restaurant.

Secondly, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the coffee; the only place I ever get coffee when at a restaurant is at my traditionally favorite breakfast restaurant Waffle House, and now that I’ve eaten here, everything about that place pales in comparison (although I will always love Waffle House).

Now to the point of this review: the thing that really sets this place off and why it’s now my favorite breakfast restaurant in Charlotte is the French Toast Deluxe. They give you the option of traditional or Challah, and the Challah version completely blew my expectations. It was literally the best French toast I’ve ever had, not that I eat French toast very often, but DAMN. And the cherry on top would have to be the amount of breakfast meat you get for the price of the meal. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and neither could my wallet.

The quality of the food and the service at this small, unassuming restaurant nestled away in the University area brings tears of joy to my eyes. I’m glad I found this place. I even hesitated posting this review because I don’t want other people to discover it and cause the restaurant to start getting too busy because I came on a Saturday around brunch time a few weeks ago and there were plenty of seats to go around.

One last thing to note: this place sort of reminds me of a similar small restaurant in Wilmington, NC called Eternal Sunshine. Highly rated and...

If it is your first time going, please be advised: there is an App. Reserve your place online before you get there. If you don't' you could be standing with a 100% disabled Navy vet and a disabled PhD student and just be standing... Because people or bots called ahead and you will look at five or more empty tables for 30+ minutes, not because of anything logical or compassionate. It is my one gripe. Once seated and engaging staff, we were well and appropriately cared for. The quality of the food offset the cold robotic "welcome"... Come on, you are going to let two obviously uncomfortable people just stand... While 5+ tables were open and only 2 of the 7 "reservations" ahead of us actually showed up.... A breathing hostess wouldn't have marred an otherwise excellent experience. Use the app... Or prepare to be ignored. Once you are seated, it is great.... I gave this one star for service not because the living and breathing waitress was in any way deficient, she wasn't. What was deficient was walking in to 5+ empty tables, watching 2 more get cleared standing with two disabled ladies.. watching two or more additional tables get cleared, two of the "seven" parties ahead of us get seated, empty tables, empty tables, waiting... Empty tables right there. If only someone could have just seated us ... Waiting for waters wouldn't even register... Waiting to be seated while looking at open tables, with these ladies.... Hyperintelligent, physically disabled... But waiting for a table, while looking at so many open tables... The food and service once we were seated was...

So I have mixed feelings of our experience at wake up and eat. Kids had confetti pancakes with eggs (scrambled, small quantity). My wife had French toast, bacon, and side of hashbrowns. She got a fair amount of bacon. She said french toast was good (I didn't try any). Hashbrowns I had a few they were tasty (and I'm NOT a big hashbrowns fan)!

My western omelet was ok...it didn't have cheese which most places put cheese on it....could've probably added it for an upcharge! So the omelet was um ok. It wasn't Great and was not terrible....but kind of boring. Gits were ok but missing something....

Our service was pretty bad, just being honest. We barely saw our waitress, though she did come and refill my drink but not my wife's. Grant it they had a sign about limited staff...but it was S L O W. I saw many other waitresses busy at other tables. It may have just been our waitress. Service I would say was better than poor but not by much....like seriously. Though our waitress seemed polite the few times we saw her.

Food was ok but due to service and slowness I will Not be likely to come back. Especially with a few other good options within 3 miles. Three stars is a stretch for me. I would have chosen 2.5 but with better service and speed it may...