Graze Brunch Kitchen — Restaurant in Ho-Ho-Kus

GEORGE FOR PRESIDENT...

why choose graze??? a business is not only about making money... this spot is a dad a son, and an "adopted son" getting together to make a spot that "makes people smile"... yes the dad, and co owner GEORGE is somehow connected to Brooklyn... "that is where I'm from"... my name is Donald Levine, (i am more spirit, than human) and i spent many many many a decade living on Montgomery St., (crown heights) and my legacy is I told a "FKD" how to enjoy the experience of food... food is a celebration, and food is a "gathering point" & escape from daily life... don't worry about your daily struggles. My protege' got his usual eggs benedict... he thoroughly enjoyed it... my protege said something poignant... "come for the fries, stay for a meal"... nobody cares about the truth, everybody wants a story... this is the place where stories are born!!!

this is a distillation of our two experiences here... (a party of 3, two females (25 ish yo, 34 ish yo and one male 50 ish yo). i can only speak for my protege... (FKD) the first time there, he only ate the artichoke dip (delish, a bit under-seasoned, but that's why god invented salt and pepper, in his opinion could use a bit more sour cream...) and the french fries... (game changer)...

the following day, my protege', FKD got his standard order, eggs benedict... he commented must have been one of his top 10 eggs benedict experiences... my guy, has eaten A LOT OF EGGS BENEDICT IN HIS LIFE... wowowowowow!!! sorry for this non-sequitur review... it's hard at this age to keep my ideas straight... i was born in 1921, yes, that makes me a 104 yo... (funny not funny)...

PROS: PEOPLE CARE... our first time here were were served by the famous golfer, vijay singh... (yes a double entendre, the famous golfer doesn't work here, but his namesake does)... QUALITY INGREDIENTS: these little red tomato like things made our dining partner, TtE, (a high end kitchen expert) literally exclaim in ecstasy... (and i paraphrase) "wow, these little red thingies are delish" THIS PLACE IS SPECIAL... our other dining partner, HaH, (got offered a new job while we were dining)...

CONS: The space is tight... the sound levels can get painfully loud, we had a human cackler sitting adjacent to us.... no bueno... Service time... always could be shorter... it's just TtE, being a "perfectionist"... good things come to those who wait... the parking...

Had a family brunch with my mom and brother and we decided to visit Graze for the first time. It is a very busy and popular place we arrived just in time to get the last open table. We were greeted very warmly and were sat right away when the table was set up.

We made our coffee orders and our brunch order (Americano, cappuccino, and an iced shaken espresso, omelet, burger, and steak & eggs). Our coffee orders came out first and we all loved the coffees they were great. But after that it goes a little downhill with the service, which is why I gave the service 3 stars. Our food orders took an extreme long time to get to our table and we took noticed because tables that were sat after us were served before us. Only until I politely asked the waiter’s to see what happened to our food order did he communicate to me that there was a mix up with our order. They mistakenly gave it to another table that had a similar order.

Personally, the mistake doesn’t bother me because mistakes happen, no one is perfect. But what you do after the mistake is what counts and I would have preferred that the waiter approach our table to let us know what had happened versus me having to ask. It bothered me because we were sitting for a good while seeing other people get served and we were starting to feel ignored.

But when the food finally arrived there were no complaints with the food it tasted great and we were satisfied with the food. The waiter did try to remedy the error by discounting our coffee orders from the receipt. The reason why I gave a 4 star instead of a 3 star is because is because the quality of the coffee and food and the fact the waiter did try to remedy the situation but only after I inquired about our food order. Dispute the error we do plan to return and I do recommend for people to check out this great...

Today I visited Graze for the first time with my daughter for brunch. We were very warmly greeted by a gentleman who opened the door and invited us in.

He immediately asked if we’d like to dine indoors or outside. We chose indoors. My daughter and I would learn that this kind gentleman, George, was in fact the Owner of Graze.

Shortly after we were seated a friendly waitress offered us menus. After perusing the wonderful variety of dishes we decided on Eggs Benedict and the Grand Mariner pancakes to share along with two Arnold Palmer’s. Please see the photos attached here.

As we were finishing our meal we engaged George in a brief conversation regarding the charming new restaurant he designed.

We complimented him on the changes he made from the former cafe that was previously known at this location which we often frequented having lived in Ho-Ho-Kus for many years.

After our brief conversation he asked us how we enjoyed our meal choices. We shared they were both absolutely delicious. The portions were so plentiful we had to ask our lovely waitress for To Go containers.

The service provided us was great and the atmosphere delightful. We had an overall wonderful time. We look forward to returning in the very near future.

I’d also like to thank George for the kindness and warmth he exhibited while we dined at Graze. Kindness is something we can all appreciate. We just need to see more of it; more often.

I highly recommend checking out Graze if you’re planning to visit the area, I suggest you include Graze in your dining out plan. You will not be...